Page 15 of Hand Picked
I propped my chin on my fist. “Are we sureI’mthe one who’s doing that?”
“It just would’ve been easier if no one had ever brought it up.” Webb must’ve realized he sounded like a petulant kid because he sat up straighter and blew out a breath. “You make shit… complicated.”
“But if we were friends…” I leaned across the table and grabbed Webb’s hand impulsively. “When things got complicated, we could put our heads together,” I slurred with drunken sincerity. “Anduncomplicate’em.”
Webb snorted. “You’re like a motivational poster with arms and legs, Luke Williams. Don’t you ever get tired of acting so fucking cheerful?”
“Freakin’ exhausted!” I wiped away the last of my stupid tears and grinned at him. “But I can’t help it!”
Then Webb laughed out loud. And for a single drunken minute, it felt like things between us were starting to calm down…
But they were just heating up.
ChapterFour
WEBB
Damn, Luke Williams was hard to dislike, once I got over hating him.
“Hockey… is like life,” Luke informed me, sipping on a Rusty Spike with his dark hair standing on end and his cheeks flushed dark pink.
I nodded sagely. “Profound, yet true.”
“There are many nets, obviously. Everyone has their own net.” He gestured with his glass to encompass the entire world in his metaphor. “And some of us are red guys.” He pointed at himself. “And we are just trying to do ourjobsand run the puck down the… the…”
“Ice?” I suggested.
“Yes,” Luke agreed gratefully. “We are trying to run it down the ice so we can smash it in the net with our hooks, because that’s what we are born to do. And some people are blue men.” He pointed at me. “And they’re trying to stop us from smashing by smashing us instead. And that’s annoying, Webb. It’s annoying. But it’s kindayourjob. So I’ll allow it. It’s okay.”
“Thank you,” I said sincerely.
“But then there are the black-and-white stripey dudes, and they just… they blow their whistles and throw up roadblocks when good people are just trying to do their job. And all of a sudden, everything is stopped and nothing is fun anymore. It’s like everyone isfighting. They restrain the men in the plastic boxes, and it’s all so excessive and confusing. That’s what I think anyway.”
“Uh-huh.” I nodded. “And I think you’re drunk.”
“Maybe so.Maaaaybeso. But I’m also not wrong.” Luke sucked down more of his drink, and a tiny bit of liquid dribbled down his chin.
I wanted to lean over and wipe it off with my thumb, and it was getting harder to remember why I wasn’t supposed to do that.
“Just let the men do their jobs!” he shouted, smacking the table with his palm. “No more plastic boxes!”
“Fuck yeah!” Alan Laroche pointed across the bar at Luke and grinned. “Exactly what I’m saying, Williams! The refs areblind, eh?”
Luke looked startled for a second, like he’d forgotten where he was. “So blind!” he told Alan. To me, he murmured, “What, um… did I miss?”
I ran a hand over my mouth to hide my smile. “Penalty for elbowing,” I explained. “You can ram a player but not with your elbows out.”
“Oh. Yeah, that sounds dangerous.” He frowned like the elementary school teacher he was. “Okay, so maybesometimesplastic boxes are necessary.”
“Imagine that? The NHL will be grateful for your support,” I said solemnly.
I’d stopped counting how many drinks I’d consumed after the third round Luke and I had ordered together, but it was safe to say I was far, far drunker than I’d been in two decades.
I was so drunk, I was listening to my nemesis neighbor expound on hockey as a metaphor for life, which was the highest level of drunk.
Luke grinned and knocked his booted foot into mine companionably, and I grinned back. When he turned his head to look at the TV, I noticed a tiny smudge of dried purple poster paint on his face, and a warm, affectionate kind of feeling came over me that I usually only got when Aiden, Hawk, or Gage did something sweet.
Okay, no, wait, correction. I was listening to my nemesis neighbor expound on hockey, and I wasenjoying it. So much so that I wasn’t sure it was remotely accurate to call him my nemesis anymore.That’show drunk I was.
