Page 19 of Lucky Sucker

“Very single. Always have been, despite any rumors.” And I knew there had been a new rumor every week since my freshmen year about me and a girl.

* * *

In the kitchen at the Icehouse, Julia was snapping her fingers at players as they came in and tried to snack on anything that wasn’t the allotted portion of fruit or veggies, she’d already sliced up for us.

Julia had worked for the team for about ten years, so way before I’d even thought about coming to Caldwell College. She was in her mid-forties, silver streaks of hair from her temples which attempted to blend in the light red hair she often kept in a tight bun on the top of her head.

“No chocolate,” she snapped at me as I opened the fridge door.

“I’m not getting chocolate.”

“Good, because it’s for a cake I’m making later,” she said.

I grabbed a vitamin water and turned to her. “Why?” I didn’t want to ask too many questions, but it was unusual she’d be making a cake, especially when we were all supposed to be on strict eating plans.

Standing over a large industrial size pan in her chef white clothes, she furrowed her brow at me and cocked her hands on her hips. “You don’t know?” she asked.

“Clearly not. Fuck. Is it a birthday?”

“Bingo,” she chuckled.

“Are you gonna leave me guessing? Whose birthday is it?” I asked, opening the bottle with the intention of drinking the entire thing. I didn’t think I could keep anything down after some of the feeling that had come over me this afternoon and it was now almost dinner time.

“Jack,” she said, quietly, almost mouthing his name. “Don’t worry. It’s tomorrow. I assumed you knew, captain.” She gave me a little wink. “Also, you didn’t take one of the lunches I prepared for you. So, what did you eat? If it’s bad for you, we can keep it a secret, I won’t let Maria know.”

Maria was the nutritionist who worked with some of the teams on the campus. We’d still yet to have the start of semester talk from her like usual. It was always the same stuff, fueling the body, and telling us never to starve ourselves. It was always accompanied by another two doctors, one of them was a sports psychologist and the other our physician.

“Has anyone mentioned a plan?” I asked her.

“I’ll trade you information,” she said, grinning from ear to ear.

“Oh no, that’s a dangerous game, you’re gonna ask me to tattle. Even as a sophomore when I first moved in, I knew not to do that.”

She clicked her tongue. “Worth a shot,” she chuckled. “Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes, so make sure you’re around, otherwise you’ll be getting it cold.”

“Gotcha.” I gave her a salute.

I strolled through the house, hoping to see someone. Everyone was in their rooms, apparently, and I didn’t blame them, it was the first day back, my brain was ready to turn off as well.

My room was the biggest, a perk of being the captain. Two large windows, letting in all the light with a view of the mountains surrounding Maplehaven. I could’ve stared out of the window forever, at least while the sun was setting and seemed to be swallowed by the earth.

A text buzzed through on my phone.

It was from Wren, saved with a small orca and a ball of yarn.

—Thank you for taking care of my knees earlier. They’re not damaged, don’t worry. And thank you for the interview answers. But I might omit the girlfriend question, I don’t want your inbox full of girls asking you out on dates. Let me know if there’s anything else you want me to include in the write-up.

I read the message over a couple times, tying to recall the questions. There were a lot of them, and some of them were joke questions, but they were interesting.

—Thank you for thinking up ideas with me as well. I’m sorry I couldn’t get you anything from the merch, I didn’t really think about the store being closed when I said it. And you can keep that question in, I’m not looking for a girlfriend anyway, so it’s fine.

As soon as I sent it. I knew what I’d just implied to him. I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend, but maybe I was looking for a boyfriend.The sickness came back up in my chest, it wasn’t something I’d thought about before. Besides non-serious high school girlfriends where it was just kissing, I’d never really thought about it.

And now, everything was weird. Like someone had slapped me and they’d loosened dirt in my ears. It was like life made a little more sense now. I kinda had the hots for Wren. It was as clear as day, he had this quiet infectious energy about him that tingled me the way nobody else had managed to touch me with before.

—Is that like a religious thing?he asked back.

Maybe my weird unintentional coming out moment to him had just gone over his head. I didn’t know if I preferred that. I still had a lot to come to terms with myself.

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