Page 55 of The Trade Deadline
you clearly need to sleep
you’re talking nonsense
good night ryan, enjoy your family trip
night lasse
try to stay out of trouble until i get back
* * *
Lars didn’t stay out of trouble. The next afternoon, between rounds of peeling potatoes and tearing apart bread for stuffing, Ryan checked his phone and found a video from Lars waiting for him. Worried about what the contents of said video might be, he disappeared into the bathroom to play it and nearly dropped his phone in shock.
“Hey guys, say hi to my buddy Ryan,”Lars said, the video in selfie-mode to show Lars in hockey gear. The video flipped to the main camera, showing a crowded locker room full of men and women of all ages, all also wearing hockey gear in a mix of colors that screamed pick-up game. They waved eagerly and shouted at the camera a mix of“Hi, Ryan!”and“Hi, RJ!”
Lars panned the whole locker room before reappearing in frame.“Have fun in Montana. I’ll try not to get better at hockey while you’re gone.”Then he gave a goofy smile, his hand coming up to block the camera before the video ended.
I’m sorry but did you just play a pickup game??
He hated that there was no immediate response. It made him resort to drastic measures: going to social media and searching the Lars Nilsson and Blue Crabs hashtags. He soon found some posts from a few hours ago about a mysterious player showing up at a local pickup, playing way too well and earning suspicion. Some of the blurry pictures definitely showed Lars, but he’d opted for a plain black jersey and what must have been his helmet and hockey pants from Team Sweden. It was barely a disguise, though the cage instead of a visor did help obscure his face more than usual.
There was no chance he’d ever make it through a whole pick-up without getting recognized, though. The more recent posts were mostly just some variation of “LARS NILSSON CAME TO OUR PICKUP!” usually with at least three exclamation marks and a picture.
omg you really DID play in a pickup game
you’re crazy.
It was frustrating that he didn’t get a response until hours later, his phone vibrating in his pocket. He immediately scrambled to take it out, no longer caring if his family watched his enthusiasm with suspicion.
i might have and i might be
there’s a rink a few blocks from my apartment
i saw they had a pickup this morning so i went
it was fun
i’ll bet
if you weren’t already a fan favorite, they’ll love you for that
they’ll love me more when they see us in the playoffs
if we can make it i’m sure they will
i promised you we would
i haven’t forgotten
“Boyfriend or girlfriend?” one of his sisters asked knowingly.
“Neither.” Ryan turned off his phone and shoved it back in his pocket. It took more effort to scrub the stupid smile off his face and pretend he had no idea what she was talking about. “What?”
His sister shared a look with their mom before shrugging. “Nothing, apparently.”
Blushing furiously, Ryan ignored his phone the rest of the day. It took a monumental effort to do so, especially when he could feel the occasional ping of a new notification. In bed that night, when it would be safe to talk and let his face make whatever goofy expression it wanted to, he could get Lars to tell him all about his adventures in beer league hockey. For now, he needed to focus on his family.
Because if even one of his sisters realized he had a crush on a teammate, they’d never let him live it down. Worse, they might encourage him to do something incredibly dumb like tell Lars Nilsson he wanted nothing more than to relive that one night in Geneva.
