Page 4 of Lucky Sucker

“Okay guys,” I said, pulling focus. “I got given access to the team social media accounts, which means, I finally get some say in stuff. You know how Rico didn’t want to participate in any of the trends, I wanna go in the opposite direction. You’ve all seen how those other teams can get millions of views; I think we could try it out.”

Jordan raised his hand as his goaltending mask dropped between his legs. “I’d love to get in on that action,” he said. “I want to be like kapow, whack, you can’t score against me.” He demonstrated what he meant with his hand whacking against his arm. “You know, and stuff like that.”

“Dream big, Jordan,” Liam chuckled. “No offense, you know, because I’m in defense, but you’re hardly saving goals left and right.”

“But it’s for a video,” he said.

I clapped, silencing them. Probably less impressive given the size of the group. “You’re only a sophomore, Jordan, you’ve got plenty of time to make an impression on the world. We kinda need to showcase what we’ve got and catch the attention of scouts. Someone I know who got recruited right out of college had an online following, it helps.”

The team socials had about fifteen thousand followers altogether. It was nothing compared to the sixty thousand the football team had, but football in general had a larger following. Hockey, on the other hand, required actual skill, without getting into a fight with them about it, but we were on sharp fucking blades cutting through ice to score goals, they were just running up and down field.

“We could always do one of those lip-sync thingies,” Zachary said. “You know like they do on that one show where the people dress up.”

All eyes turned to Zachary. “What show?” I asked, although I kinda knew what he was talking about.

“Noah, you know what I mean,” Zachary said. “Come on, it’s the—”

“RuPaul’s Drag Race?” Noah said, looking around the locker room. “But I only know that because of a girlfriend I had who watched it. I’m not—I’m not gay.”

We were all quiet for a second before bursting out into laughter.

“It does sound gay though,” I said, and the laughter stopped. “What? Like it’s super gay, it’s not like I said a slur. I didn’t say f—”

Zachary tssked. “Oh man, I’m not sure you can say stuff like that anymore. You know.”

I suddenly felt like I’d put my foot in my mouth. I wasn’t homophobic, I was—a lot of things, but I wasn’t one, scared of gay people, and two, had never been around gay people. I couldn’t name a single gay person I was friends with.

They all stared at me now, waiting for me to say something. “I don’t have anything against gay people,” I said. “But I was just saying, it’s probably gay, like a gay TV show.”

Nope. I was digging my grave now. They continued to stare at me, their mouths on the verge of breaking into smiles or complete disappointment.

“My ex liked it, though, and it was fun,” Noah said. “I’m just comfortable in my sexuality.”

“Yeah, yeah, my too,” I said, a bit forming in my stomach and wishing to consume me from the center out. “You know what, we should all watch it and see if there’s something we can do. Like the lip-syncing stuff, sounds fun.”

“There’s more to it,” Noad added. “Like they dress up and stuff as well.”

I felt like I was being trapped in committing to something I had no clue about, or at least, hardly any clue. “Right, well, I don’t mind. If it’s something that could go viral for us, in the best way.”

“Yeah,” Zachary said. “So, no morethat sounds gay.” He laughed, and so did everyone else. “You know, in case anyone here is gay.”

I feared I was losing them, and I hadn’t even started the semester as captain yet. I was just glad it was only the six of them who heard me say it. “Right. Well, I have no problem with that. We’re a team, I’ll support everyone.”

Once it was over and I got laced in my new skates, I finally found my peace on the ice. It was absolute bliss in the stark overhead lighting, bouncing off the ice as if illuminating the entire place. On match days, all the seats around the rink were full, and there were strobe lights putting on a show.

The only person in the rink seats currently was coach, but in the corner of the rink, sat up on the top row, there was a gay. He was scribbling onto a pad of paper, and just as he looked out at me, we made eye contact. The same guy from the diner, I couldn’t forget that face, deer in headlights.

“Lucky,” my name was called, distracting me. Liam tapped the puck in my direction. “I thought we were doing penalty shots at Jordan. We’ve got to get him prepared.”

In the goal, Jordan was in a wide stance with his knees nearly crossing, trying to make himself appear scary. He even opted for a growl, which was very audible with the empty rink. “Come on,” he shouted. “I’m ready to pitch that video idea for real. See if you can score.”

I played with the puck, side to side with my stick. All I needed was a short skate toward him, guiding the puck, followed by a swift shot and right between his legs it went. “Idea denied,” I said. “What’s Elena even coaching you on?”

Elena was the goaltending coach, although given Jordan wasn’t on the A team, he probably wasn’t being trained as hard as Tyler was.

Looking back out into the stands, Coach was now making notes, and the guy was gone, or moved seats, I couldn’t find him again.

“Try again!” Jordan said, swinging his stick and the puck sliced through the air, but with no real direction, forcing Noah to swing into action and chase after it.

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