Page 102 of Wish You Were Mine
“The hockey game?” I glanced up from my lab notebook.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I saw your meet’s not until Sunday, so you’ll be in town, right?”
“I should be around,” I said. “And Nora and I were talking about going to the game.”
“Cool. It should be a good one.”
We went back to measuring out the solution for the next step in our experiment, our gloved hands moving in near-synchronized coordination. This was our third week working together and we were getting into a rhythm—not just with the lab work, but the easy, banter-filled conversations that helped pass the time.
“If you do make it to the game,” Brody added, “then you two should also come to the after-party. It’s at my house this time.”
“Which means that you and Josh can’t get thrown out ifyou get into another fight, right?” I smirked, glancing sideways at him.
“Right.” Brody chuckled under his breath. “Though, I doubt we’ll get in a fight like that again since he seems pretty happy these days.”
“Oh?” And before I could stop myself, I asked, “Because of his new girlfriend?”
“Yeah…” He hesitated, the corners of his mouth tightening before he said, “I know that’s probably weird for you. But he seems like he’s in a good place. Don’t think he’s even had a drink since our fight.”
Relief stirred in my chest, tentative but real. I wanted to believe that. Because the worst parts of Josh—his volatility, the moments that had left bruises deeper than skin—had always surfaced when he was drunk. He’d only ever truly lost control when alcohol was in the mix.
“That’s good,” I said honestly. And I meant it. I wanted Josh to be happy. I wanted the best for him, really.
Even if there were days I still wondered why he couldn’t have been happy with me.
“Anyway,” Brody cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, “the party should be fun. Definitely not planning to get wasted like I did last time. So I shouldn’t end up in any stupid fights.”
“Gotta keep those fights on the ice, right?” I teased, picturing the usual chaos of a hockey game—gloves flying, punches thrown, refs trying to drag players off one another.
“Right.”
He started gently swirling the flask, watching the pale blue solution deepen a shade. “Are you excited for your meet against LIU? Didn’t you take home the all-around against them last year?”
“I did.” I blinked at him. “I-I’m surprised you remembered.”
“It’s hard to forget…” He shrugged, suddenly looking a little bashful. “Your floor routine was seriously impressive last year. I still don’t understand how one of your tumbling passes was even humanly possible.”
“Thanks.” Heat rose to my cheeks. “That routine was brutal. But it ended up being one of my favorites.”
“I could tell,” he said, his mouth tilting into a quiet smile. “You always looked like you were having the time of your life out there.”
“Did you go to a lot of our meets, then?” I asked, tilting my head. I’d known Brody as one of Josh’s teammates, had seen him at parties, but we’d barely exchanged more than a handful of words until this semester.
“I went to most of them,” he said softly, almost like he wasn’t sure if he should admit it.
“Well…thanks for coming. Home meets are always more fun when there’s a big crowd.”
His smile deepened, and just for a second, I swore I saw a flush creep up his neck. “It was my pleasure.”
And the way he said it, warm, almost hesitant, made me wonder if he’d just revealed more than he meant to.
Was it possible that all the times he’d teased Josh about asking me out hadn’t been teasing at all? Had Brody maybe, actually, had a thing for me?
The idea of Brody secretly crushing on me all year—it was sweet. He was a cool guy.
And maybe, in another life—or at least a different semester—I might’ve even liked him back.
But right now, my heart had set its sights on someone else.
