Page 80 of Starstruck

Henry clapped his hands together as he leaned forward, resting his elbows onhis knees. “They’re insane out there, the games I’ve been to… my God, do they kill it.” He angled his head around to face me. “And I must say, I’m glad you’re here. I didn’t think you’d come.”

I narrowed my eyes playfully, watching him as he leaned back into his seat.“Why not?”

Henry shrugged. “I had a feeling I’d missed my shot, but I must be doingsomething right if you’re here.” His smile sparkled at me, and as the lights lowered around the rink, the chants from the cheerleaders from behind the glass bounced off the walls and the crowd roared, I felt like trying to figure this guy out, trying to see the twist in his smile that Tristan promised me was there, would be pointless.

But regardless, I had to get over Tristan, and I wanted to think that I knewmyself well enough to trust that I was right about Henry, that the person I’d come to like whilst we dove head first into textbooks and research for that presentation was the person who was sitting next to me right this second.

I let the commotion of the ice take over my thoughts, my smile hiking higherwhen the announcer called out numbers eight and twenty-two, knowing that my friends were down there and doing what they clearly had the talent to do. The heckles from the Lions fans—faces I’d recognised from the hallways—whooped and hollered as the klaxon sounded and the game against the Michigan State Spartans got underway.

The ice was instant chaos, the way it usually is with Lions games. Wewere the leading team in the entire collegiate cup, and for good reason. And I knew they were my friends, so I was probably biased, but they really wereruthless.Not in a cruel way, but in the way they dominated the ice, their focus sharp, their movements unstoppable.

As I tried to keep up with where the puck was—the tiny thinggetting lost between the green and midnight blue jerseys—I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I slipped it out of my pocket without taking my eyes off the ice, but once I read the name across my screen, my heart froze, and my eyes abandoned the game.

Tristan

Today at 19:03 PM

look up

Without distracting Henry, I subtly lifted my eyes from my screen, the lowlights making it hard to spot him, seeing as though he could slip into the darkness so easily. But I found him, after another scan of the seats, watching me from the other side of the rink.

I took a moment to reacquaint myself with him, feeling like it had been yearssince I last saw him. His hair still swept over his forehead, in that effortless way I seemed to love. And although it was breaching minus four degrees in here, he still had on a white shirt that showcased his arms. The tattoos I tried to guess the meanings of even harder to make out from over here.

Like it always did, I felt my heart rate spike, those thoughts and feelings I’d felttowards him revving their engines and making me remember how much the guy sat next to me had to do in order for him to match what I felt for Tristan.

I studied him for another moment, like he was doing with me, before I watchedhis phone screen lit up his face, just as my phone vibrated in my hand again.

meet me outside.

When I looked back up at him, he was shuffling his way past the away fans,sulking down the steps like he was trying to escape something. I caught my breath before I twisted to face Henry, who luckily was still invested in the game.

He must have clocked the panic in my eyes when I turned to him, forcing himto shift his attention onto me and his arm to snake around my back. “Hey, you okay?”

I had to catch my breath again. “Yeah… no, actually. I…” His eyes roamedmine, but all I could see when I looked into them were Tristans. I squeezed them closed as I shook my head. “I’m just gonna head to the bathroom; I’ll be back in a minute.”

“You sure you’re okay?” Henry asked, staying near me as I stoodup.

I shook my head as I made a bee-line for the steps down to the rink floor.“Yeah… I’m fine. I won’t be long.”

I twisted back around and sprinted down the steps and into the darkness of therink, somehow feeling Henry’s eyes follow me all the way out of the room. I brushed past the sea of latecomers, all heading back towards the commotion of the game, while I was on a different mission. I sucked in some precious air once I’d made into the lobby, my body sighing when I saw the rain sprinkling the glass doors that lead to the exit, so I threw the hood of my yellow hoodie up and braced the rain.

The door hinges groaned as I pushed it open, the rain-soaked chill slipping inas I stepped outside. The door clicked shut behind me, and I looked around, scanning the dimly lit parking lot until I spotted Tristan just off to the left, standing under an umbrella. His silhouette was unmistakable, shadowed in the glow of the streetlamp.

I marched over to him, not sure where this sudden urge to be near him camefrom. I didn’t question it; I just let it pull me closer until I was standing under him, tucked under the edge of his umbrella.

“You’re alive,” I said, my voice flat as I wrapped my arms over my chest.

The orange light from the streetlamp above us lit up his face as he cranedit—that sarcastic smile he wore like an outfit shining down on me. “Of course I’m alive; I’ve just not felt the best this week.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Tristan shrugged, the raindrops that drummed against the umbrella dispersingas he did. “I’ve had a lot on my mind, Gold’s, and I didn’t want to burden you with it.”

Burden me with it?

The words stung me in a way I wasn’t prepared for, and if the rain wasn’t soloud, I’d have probably heard it crack under the weight of knowing that Tristan saw himself that way.

A low ripple of thunder that broke through the clouds startled me, and as therain grew heavier around us, I edged further under the umbrella.I looked up at him, my mouth parting as I shrugged my folded arms—

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