Page 26 of Drop the Gloves
“But aren’t you worried you might get stuck somewhere you don’t want to be?”
“What, like Manitoba?”he joked.“There’s good and bad in every city and team, and even being ambitious, I don’t think I’ll make it to every NHL team before I retire.Having a team is all I need, and I’m not worried about finding new ones.”
Evan weighed his words carefully.“With the way you play,” he said slowly, “you’re not worried about burning any bridges?”
Barczyk didn’t even hesitate.“Not really.I put up good numbers.I’ll always find a team.And if a team has their panties in a bunch about something I did on the ice, then they’re not a good fit for me, anyway.I mean, if I can go from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and have management not think it’s an issue, I’m good.”
“I guess.”Then, because apparently joking around with Barczyk was a thing he did now, he added, “Good numbers?Like what, PIMs?”He hadn’t checked recently, but he was pretty sure Barczyk was always top ten in penalty minutes.
“Abs, you givin’ me shit right now?”He put a hand to his heart.“I’m hurt that you think my career is based solely on my penalties.”He paused, then said, “It’s also on how many fans love to hate me.”
“That’s not something to brag about!”Evan said, though Barczyk’s amusement was infectious.
“Isn’t it?Y’all hated me while I was in Philly.Don’t even try to deny it.But how many Barczyk jerseys have you seen since I joined the team?I’ve been in Pittsburgh a couple of months, and I can’t go anywhere around town without seeing someone wearing my number.”
It was true.The same Pittsburghers who’d complained about him last season had fully embraced him and loved nothing more than to cheer him on after big hits.
So instead of arguing, Evan said, “You can’t keep it up forever.You can’t be getting into fights all the time when you’re thirty.”
“First of all, I ain’t thirty yet.Second of all, why the fuck not?”
“Because you won’t want to?”
It was Barczyk’s turn to look at him skeptically.“Maybe,” he conceded, though Evan could tell he was just humoring him.“So anyway, there aren’t a lot of fighters on the Nor’easters right now, but I still recommend you hold off on dropping the gloves until we get in another practice sesh or two.”
Evan swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat.He hadn’t thought about their last practice until just now, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to think of anything else for the rest of the flight.“Okay,” he said, his voice hoarser than he’d like.He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“We’re gonna be too busy on the road,” Barczyk went on.Thankfully, he seemed unaware of Evan’s squirming; if he noticed, maybe he’d attribute it to takeoff.“There’s a gym at my apartment with a padded area.I don’t know if they have boxing gloves or anything, but we could figure something out.”
Practice.At Barczyk’s apartment building.Would he expect Evan to go to his place too?The only thing that had saved Evan the last time was they’d been at the rink, so escape had been easy.How was he supposed to run away if he got hard while hanging out in Barczyk’s living room?
Ugh.That was the worst sentence I’ve ever thought in my life.
“Yeah, maybe.”Any hope he’d had of Barczyk giving up on this was long gone.As soon as Evan had taken him up on the offer, he should’ve known he was stuck.
That’s not true.Barczyk might nag me about it, but if I said I wasn’t interested anymore, he’d let me stop.
So the real question was, did he want to stop?While he had no idea how effective Barczyk’s lessons were, theyfelteffective.It’d bolstered his confidence (though not his interest in getting into a fight; more like his confidence that he’d make it out without looking like an idiot), and Coach Jack had encouraged it.Even if he never fought again, it might help how the coaches saw him.And somehow Barczyk was not the worst person to hang out with.
Y’know.Except for Evan’s dick going rogue.
Once, he reasoned.Just once.It won’t happen again.
...right?
It won’t.It’s not like you find Barczyk attractive.
...well, youknowhe’s conventionally good-looking, but you’re not attractedtohim.There’s a difference.One-hundred percent.
“We’ll figure something out when we’re back in town,” Evan added, because they should.Maybe not at Barczyk’s apartment building.There had to be neutral ground somewhere.
“Cool.”Barczyk offered Evan his fist (which he reluctantly bumped) then dug through his backpack.Pulling out ginormous headphones, he put them on his head, keeping one ear open.“I’m gonna take a nap.Lemme know if we’re gonna crash or if someone does something stupid, ‘kay?”
“You’d want to know if we’re going to crash?”
“Hmm, good point.Only wake me up if someone does something stupid that I should make fun of.”Then he slipped the headphone over his right ear.Within seconds, Evan could feel the slight vibration of a bass line, followed shortly by Barczyk’s light snoring.Evan stared at him for a moment before shaking his head and turning back to his own phone.He did not get Barczyk at all...but he was turning out to be not nearly as bad as Evan had thought.That was something, at least.
Riley
