Page 63 of Pucking Grey

I hug her. “Thank you. I’m going to get ready for bed.” I stand up and take the cotton pad to throw it away. “And Sydney, tomorrow will be all about flirting with the hockey boys at the party. Just us girls doing some harmless flirting.”

She nods, smiling at me and then I leave for my room.

Chapter 18

“Where’s Maddie?” Ace asks while I hang out with the guys in the man cave. We’re drinking a few beers with a hockey game on the screen.

I shrug at him because Madison hasn’t been here all day. I noticed her books were missing, so she must’ve gone to class. But I know she doesn’t have a night class, and she’s not back yet.

Ace doesn’t question me further, and I appreciate the space. I don’t need to talk about girls because I can’t ever fucking figure them out. I take part of the blame for her ghosting me. I took her to the ice rink in the middle of the night after flirting with her for the entire road trip and asked her if she liked me. I got too comfortable. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking asking her that after she nervously rambled her heart out. Of course, I scared her away. I take a sip of my beer, not knowing if I should text her to see if she’s okay or if I should just wait to see her tomorrow.

Since Ace noticed that she’s gone, I might be fucked.

“Should I text her?” I blurt. Knox looks my way, but I’m talking to Ace. Ace pushes Knox’s shoulder to keep him in check. Knox minds his business and watches the game.

Ace says, “Did she disappear on you?”

I sink deep into the couch. “I don’t know. It’s late now, isn’t it?”

He checks the time, and it is late. She should be here by now.

Ace says, “Isn’t she your girlfriend? Do you care about her?”

I blow out hot air and shake my head. “I don’t know.”

“Just fucking text her,” Knox says. “How did the road trip go?”

“Yeah, did something happen?” Ace adds.

I sip my beer, looking at these two fuckers I shouldn’t be taking advice from. “Nothing bad.”

Knox says, “Text her man.”

Ace shrugs at me, so I pull out my phone. They have no context about anything that’s happening between me and Maddie. I’ve kept my mouth shut. They must think that something’s wrong with me if my new girlfriend is fucking ghosting me. You know what? I don’t fucking care. I need the support. I stand when I pull up her name on my phone. “What the hell am I going to say?”

“For one, ask if she’s alright. Not like her to disappear, right?”

“Right.” I agree. I open our text message thread and tap away.

Grey: Are you ok?

“Okay, I sent it.”

“Sent what?” Ace asks.

“I asked her if she was okay. What the fuck else?”

“Oh my god,” I barge into Sydney’s room. Thankfully she’s not in bed yet. “I’m sorry for not knocking, but he just texted me.”

She’s sitting at her vanity with her laptop open. Her face twists into confusion. “Who?”

“Grey,” I shout.

She puts down her pencil and takes off her glasses.

“We never text,” I reassure her. Maybe once in the past, but that was it.

“What did he say?”

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