Page 5 of Icebreaker
Decision made, I slung my backpack on my shoulders and set off for the rink on the other side of campus. Thankfully, our school wasn’t that big. It only took me about ten minutes to get there. I went around to the employee entrance and let myself in the side door. To be safe, I double-checked the lock and the alarm setting. It only took me about five seconds to reset the system, so no warning was sent to the security office. Therewas a guard who patrolled the area, but he never came into the equipment area.
As work-study assignments went, mine wasn’t the worst option. Even though I was an information science major, budget cuts across the board kept them from offering spots to anyone except grad students. Instead, I was farmed out to any available opening, which had landed me at the bottom rung of the equipment room.
Once in the back office area, I looked around for a blanket but came up empty-handed. I suppose I could use a towel, but it didn’t seem worth the effort since I wouldn’t be able to cover my whole body with it. If I’d been better prepared, I would’ve grabbed an extra one out of my dorm room. I had my hoodie and a coat, so I’d be good enough.
The best prospect I had for getting some sleep was in the players’ reception area. The couches in there were comfortable enough, and I’d be able to stretch out. I pulled my books out in the hope of getting a few extra hours of studying.
Before I even got started, my growling stomach derailed my thought process. If I didn’t quiet my stomach, studying or sleeping wasn’t happening tonight. Maybe I needed to set a timer to make sure I went to the cafeteria during the proper time?Ugh.
Before I could convince myself I was stealing, I helped myself to a couple of granola bars and some Gatorade. It wasn’t super filling, but it would hold me over until tomorrow, and I even set my alarm to ensure I would be awake long before anyone was here for practice.
After triple-checking my phone alarm, I settled in with my snacks and books, ready to read for a bit. I pushed aside any worries about my roommate. That could be tackled tomorrow. I didn’t feel like dealing with the housing office, especially since it was the end of the year and they’d probably tell me to deal withit. As a junior, I had one more year, so the chances of getting stuck with Landon as my roommate again were pretty slim.
All I had to do was figure out how to hold on until the end of May.
“Ellis? Ellis, wake up.” My enticing dream about a sweet hockey player who liked me for me suddenly seemed alarmingly real when his voice was in the actual room with me. A gentle jostle to my shoulder made the clues pile up. My dream had taken a turn for the worse.
“Umm.” I cleared my throat and tried it again. “Uhh, what are you doing here?”
“Babes, I’m not the one sleeping in the reception area, but to answer your question, I came in early for some cardio so I didn’t have to fight for a treadmill.” I sat up on the couch and tried to shake the sleep from my head. Gaaah! My neck had a crick because my makeshift towel pillow had fallen apart.
“I’m not doing anything wrong.”
“I didn’t say you were, but I don’t understand why you’re here. Is everything okay at home?”
“Silly, I don’t live at home.” Oops. His eyes narrowed slightly. Where was the golden retriever?
“You know what I mean. Is everything all right in the dorm?”
I remained tight-lipped and found something fascinating over his shoulder to stare at.
“So that’s a no on everything being fine at the dorm.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t say it was fine either,” Brennen pointed out gently.
I hated it when he was nice to me. It made my crush worse, and I didn’t want a crush on him. Brennen Tate was out of my league, and not just because he was a hockey player.
Well, obviously that was part of it, but the bigger part was how effortlessly cool he was. He smiled at everyone, and they all smiled back at him. I’d never met anyone who didn’t have a good thing to say about him. And all that niceness came off as genuine. It was super annoying in the ways that made me feel bad for even thinking negative thoughts about him. Brennen had been born under a lucky star.
On the other hand, I stammered and desperately tried to think of something not dumb to say whenever he was around. It was super annoying, but the worst part was that if Brennen knew I had a crush on him, he’d be absurdly nice about it. Humiliating across the board.
“Are you homeless or something?” Brennen’s voice was concerned. Ugh.
“No, I just couldn’t stay there last night.” I thought I had saidagainunder my breath, but Brennen’s head whipped up.
“What does ‘again’ mean? Is someone hassling you there?”
“It’s just stupid roommate stuff.”
“Have you talked to the RA about it? It’s quite literally their job.”
“The year is almost over, so housing will just tell me to figure it out for a couple of months. And I will.”
“Can I tell you a secret?” Brennen rose from his crouch and plopped down on the couch next to me. He crossed one ankle over his knee and dropped his arm across the back of the couch. His fingers were dangerously close to touching me, and I forgot to breathe a few times.
“A secret? If you want to, I guess.”
