Page 29 of Skating to Him

“She does? Damn.” He tsked. “I guess it was a good thing he was there then, so you had someone who understood what you were going through.” He narrowed his eyes. “Then why did you two stop hanging out? Seems to me it would have brought you closer together.”

“Who says we stopped hanging out? It’s only Wednesday.” I straightened. And I hadn’t said a word to Rowan in class this week, which was a dick move. But it wasn’t like he was trying to talk to me either.

“Do you have another study date planned this week? Is he coming over tonight?” He watched me.

He was on to me. “No, not this week. He’s…he’s busy with, uh, with shit.” I dipped my head and clenched my jaw. I was about to dig myself into a hole. It would be pretty easy for Myles to talk to Rowan at practice and find out I was full of shit.

“Okay.” He cocked his head. “Just seems like something happened between you two.” He peered at me. “But I’ll let it go.”

I puffed out a breath. “Yes, please do.” Maybe I should invite Rowan over to study to prove a point and make it look like things were okay between us. Avoiding each other was childish. I’d make a point to talk to him next week.

“Anyway, keep me updated on your mom. Sounds like she’s better for now.” He stood.

“She is. For now, things are okay.” I shouldn’t have kept Myles in the dark. He was my best friend. I rose and wrapped my arms around him, patting him on the back. “Thanks, man.”

“Anytime.” He squeezed me around the waist and let me go. “What about Ace? Are you going to tell him?”

“Not yet. I’m still processing it, you know?” I focused onhim. “I don’t want people judging my game based on my mom’s illness.”

“Ace isn’t going to do that.” He smirked at me. “Come on.” He poked me in the belly.

I thought for a minute. We needed a solid defense on game days, and that included Ace. “Yeah, but he’d worry about me, and I’d see it on his face. I have to play pretty close to him. Let’s leave it for now, okay?”

“Sure. It’s up to you, eh.” With a deep inhale, he looked around him. “I need to go back to my assignment.” He squeezed my forearm. “I’ll be here, though, if you need me.” He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a Gatorade out of the refrigerator. “You want one?”

“Yeah.” I bent over my backpack and slid my laptop out. Might as well start on my own assignments.

He grabbed me a Gatorade and set it down on the table in front of me. “What about Halloween this weekend? Are you going to invite Rowan?”

Shit, I’d forgotten all about it. Ace had wanted us all to go to The Club. No, it would be better to go alone. Maybe I’d find another guy and forget about all this shit with Rowan.

A week had passed,including some fun at The Club for Halloween. But Myles had been the one to get a hookup. He’d been so drunk that I’d ended up taking care of him all night. But my mind was clear enough now to have a chat with Rowan and get whatever was going on between us out in the open.

After practice, I caught Rowan in the hallway as everyone was leaving. We’d been able to execute our drills and play well all week, but it’d felt robotic like we’d both been going through the motions. “Hey, Mackenzie.” I jogged to him, following him out of the arena doors and into the parking lot and mid-morning sunshine.

“Yeah?” He stopped and held his hand over his eyes. “What’s up?”

“Can we talk?” My gaze met his and my heart skipped a beat. After more than a week of avoiding him, the feelings were still there, dammit.

“Sure.” His gaze raked over me and stopped on my lips. “When and where?”

“What are you doing now? Do you have a class?” My gut tightened. Was I ready? What the hell was I going to say?

“I’m free for a few hours. My next class is this afternoon.” He tilted his head. “My apartment’s not far from here.”

My eyes widened. Was it a good idea to be alone with him like that? Clearly, it didn’t botherhim. Maybe he’d gotten over his bi-curiosity. My chest stung. Hell, I was afraid of him liking me, but I still wanted him to like me.

“Or…not. You want to grab a coffee or something?” He eyed me and dropped his hand.

“No, we can go to your apartment. Tell me the address, and I’ll meet you over there.” I slipped my phone out of my pocket, my pulse quickening. Nothing was going to happen. We were just going to talk.

He gave me his address, and I entered it into the map app on my phone. “Cool, see you over there.” I patted him on the shoulder and strode to my car.

A few minutes later,I strolled up the pathway to Rowan’s first-floor apartment, passing a pool area with blue fencing under big willow-looking trees. As I stopped at the apartment number he’d given me, my heart beat like a wild animal was running laps in my chest. We were only going to talk. When this was over, things would be back to normal between us. Whatever that was. As I lifted my hand to knock, the door popped open.

“Hey, Tyler, come on in.” Rowan stepped aside and waved me in.

“Thanks.” As I ambled inside, I looked around the place. The furnishings weren’t half-bad for a college student, with a squared-off fake leather couch centering the main room and dark wooden tables. A television rested on the opposite wall on a console that matched the tables. “Nice place.” It didn’t look like hand-me-downs like we had in the squad house.

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