Page 27 of Empty Net

The thought of trying to stop pucks right now is making me queasy. Or maybe that’s just the booze trying to talk back. I don’t know which.

“Go!”

Coach Smith blows his whistle, making nearly all of us jump, and we take off at a slow pace. It’s funny because Lawson could easily win the fastest skate competition without breaking a sweat, but today there is no chance any of us will win anything.

“Ten bucks says Lawson pukes first,” Keller says, skating beside me.

“Twenty says it’s the old man,” Hayes chimes in behind us.

“I’m not…” Locke swallows down the urge to vomit. “Old.”

Keller laughs—or at least it sort of sounds like a laugh—and says, “You definitely can’t hang, that’s for sure.”

“Shut up, Kells. You’re barely hanging on yourself,” Lawson argues.

For the first time, Keller doesn’t have a comeback, probably because he knows Lawson is right. It’s funny because I was drinking so much because I was dancing and having a good time, as were the other guys, but Keller? I don’t know why he got so drunk, especially since he stood on the sidelines, rolling his eyes at us and shouting obscenities nearly the entire time. I’m not sure if that makes me more curious as to why he was drinking so much or sad because it was obvious he was doing it alone.

Still, it doesn’t change the situation we’re all in right now.

“I hate this,” Dash, our other goalie, grumbles. “I’m glad it’s you in net first instead of me.”

“I wouldn’t be so happy about that. The first few clappers will be a breeze, but they’ll eventually gain energy. You’re going to get the worst of it.”

His mouth drops open like he’s just now realizing it, too.

I laugh, then pat his shoulder. “Sorry, bud.”

He hangs his head with a muttered “Fuck” as we finish our lap. Lawson keeps going as we all get set, me between the pipes and the other guys forming a poor excuse for a line. Usually, they’d be stick-handling pucks, flipping them into the air, and shooting them down the ice. Now, they’re all just standing there, using their sticks like life rafts, and there’s no doubt they are the only things keeping them afloat.

The first shot comes from Locke, who winces as he swings back for a slapshot, and not because he feels terrible about tossing the puck my way. He just feels bad in general. Next up is Keller, who is a little more eager to toss it my way, but it’s still nowhere near his usual pace. The rest of the team take their shots, and we go through the line a few times before I swap spots with Dash, who I swear is now green, and then skate over to the bench to grab water.

“You good?” Hutch asks before squirting a stream right into his mouth. He swishes it, then spits it out onto the ice before doing it again, this time actually drinking it.

I nod. “I’ll live.”

“Quite a party last night.”

“It really was. Didn’t expect to drink so much, that’s for sure.”

He starts to laugh, but it turns into a grimace. “Yeah, that’ll happen when Auden and Lilah get together. It’s like they revert to their college days and see who can do the most shots.”

Lilah.

Once again, my mind drifts back to her pert ass and the fact that I left her lying on her floor this morning. Did she ever make it back into bed? Did she take the pills I set out for her? Has she had any fluids? Something to eat? Is she even awake right now? The concern for her is at an all-time high, and I’m not sure why. Is it because she’s my fake girlfriend now? Or is it just because I’m like everyone says—too nice for my own good?

“You two seemed to hit it off.”

It’s not a question, but it’s notnota question either. It’s almost like Hutch is fishing for something. I don’t know what, but I decide not to indulge him. Something about it tells me to keep quiet, especially the whole faking-being-her-boyfriend part. Given how we’re both barely functioning this morning, we haven’t discussed the repercussions of our decisions last night, and I’m not sure when we will either. Maybe I should swing by her place later to check on her. And I guess maybe figure out just what all this scheme of ours entails.

“She’s a nice girl.”

He nods with a smile. “Yeah, she is. And talented as hell, too. Auden was so excited they were working together again, even if it was just a team party. She wouldn’t stop talking about it.”

Lilah was like that last night, too, though I’m not sure she even remembers. Every chance she got on the dance floor, she’d ask me what I thought about the party, if the decorations were too cheesy or if they were classy. I think I told her about fifty different times that it was the perfect combination of laid-back and classy, and I meant every one of them.

“They going to do more?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. Right now, Auden is just sort of doing whatever makes her happy in that moment, and she deserves that. They both do after how hard they worked.”

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