Page 97 of The Fake Date Agreement

As we were having a break between periods, Reid had glanced up at the screen and bolted from the players’ box.

I’d been confused as had everyone else, until we’d seen him kiss Tobie. The rest of the team had cheered with the crowd until Coach glared at them. Everyone stopped, but Caleb bumped my shoulder and said out of the side of his mouth. “She must fucking hate that kiss cam. And you know what? So do I.”

Her last experience with the kiss cam had scarred her. Tobie would have walked out of the arena and never returned if she’d faced another humiliation because of it.

But she hadn’t because of Reid, who put himself firmly on the firing line for doing something so insane that none of us can believe he’s still on the team.

Coach spent an hour after the game screaming at him.

He’d walked into his office, then was back five minutes later to scream at Reid some more.

And yet, after being chewed on, spat out, and chewed out some more, Reid hasn’t lost his stupid smile two hours after the game ended.

We skipped the after-game party because of Tobie. She’d left the arena soon after the game, texting to say she was tired and going home, even though we’d told her she could come to the locker room to celebrate with us.

After a quick shower in the locker room, we headed to Reid’s room to talk.

“You don’t know her,” Caleb says, frowning.

He’d been tense during the first period, and after he’d scored his first goal, I caught him doing something he never does. He looked up at the stands.

At Tobie.

Caleb denied it when I asked him about it, but I saw it.

Reid snorts. “I don’t need to know everything about a person to know how I feel. I don’t want this to be pretend with Tobie,and it doesn’t feel like it is. She feels more real to me than anyone I’ve been with before.”

I take another sip from my beer as I process his admission. Reid is all about feelings, so none of that surprises me.

“Because of the kiss?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I felt this way before the kiss.” He stares into the distance. “She’s funny.”

“Funny how?” Caleb asks.

The fact he’s still here is a surprise. The old Caleb would still be camped out on the ice. Maybe because he didn’t miss a shot, but I don’t think that’s why.

I laugh as Reid fills us in on the skating lesson he gave Tobie and her clinging to the rink side. Even Caleb is trying not to smile at Tobie’s fear that she would fall through the ice to Australia.

“She’s sweet,” I say.

“She’s special, and she doesn’t realize how special she is,” Reid says softly. “I want to be the one to show her and make her laugh. Make her happy. You know?”

I do know.

“The championship is around the corner,” Caleb warns.

“I’m not saying that I’m going to abandon all hockey for her. Just… I know this isn’t the best time to fall, but when I’m with Tobie, things just feel right. Like I’m in this bubble with her, and that’s all that matters.”

“Being with her is easy.” I sit back on the bed and think about how I feel when I’m with Tobie. “She wants nothing from me. I don’t have to pretend to be someone I’m not. And she doesn’t wear a mask at all. I sat with her on a bench in the quad for an hour, and I could have sat there for another hour, and it wouldn’t have been long enough.”

“You like her too.” Caleb blinks at me.

“I do.” And I hadn’t expected to.

Tobie is opening my eyes to how much I’ve missed having a relationship that wasn’t just meaningless, empty sex. I want something deeper with someone I can be honest with and who will be honest right back. I want Tobie. Not just because she’s beautiful and listens better than anyone I’ve ever met before, but because being with her feels right.

I sip from my beer as Reid stares into space, and Caleb bounces his gaze between us for the next several seconds.

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