Page 87 of Her Goal
“But that’s not the worst of it. He left me with the bill.”
“It’s not uncommon for people to split it on the first date,” Delaney says carefully.
“No, I mean he just left. I excused myself to use the bathroom and he was gone.”
Ella breathes, “No way.”
I nod.
Whit says, “A date and dash is unforgivable.”
“Cheapskate.” Ella shakes her head. “Literally.”
Jess leaps to her feet, arm lifted like she’s wielding a sword. “Revenge is ours.”
We all look at her in silence.
“Too much?”
“Thanks for having my back, but …” I trail off because this just really drives home the point. I’m not enough. Never have been. I’m fine for a chat about hockey. Know my way around a conversation about dekes and drop passes, who won the finals, and the promising prospects for the season. I’ve won fantasy hockey three times. But I’ve never had a real date. Or even a guy genuinely interested.
Maybe I should have a pity party. Just me, myself, and I to get it out of my system because while my best friends mean well, maybe it’ll just never happen for me.
The girls split off into conversations about bad dates. Delaney was once taken to a timeshare seminar. Whit tells a story about a guy who argued with her about what they’d do ifthey had a million dollars. She shut it down after thirty minutes, telling him that she did have a million dollars—back when she worked a corporate job in the city.
“So what’s next for you?” Cara asks.
Margo says, “The Cobbiton HoCo, of course.”
“Since it’s just for the Knights, shouldn’t it have the team name in the title so Nancy Linderberg doesn’t think she can show up?”
“I like the CoHoHoCo,” I suggest.
Heidi says, “What about Hockey Town HoCo.”
“Has a ring to it,” I say, then immediately regret the word choice.
“Still too broad,” Gracie says.
I know it’s silly to let anything that happened in high school have any bearing on my life today, but I made the mistake of holding out for Hunter to ask me to a school dance. He said proms were for losers. I suggested we do something fun instead. He said he had band practice.
While what people say on social media might be one big fabrication after the other, photographs don’t lie and the next day, I saw several with Hunter at a prom party getting cozy with a girl from our chemistry class.
I convinced myself the guys in the band insisted Hunter go with them to the party and he was probably just helping Vicky get home safely.
I’m really starting to wonder about the stories I’ve told myself about the Roboveitchek brothers.
26
HUDSON
Every team hasits rotten puck, er, apple and I have a weird feeling that Grimaldi is that guy on the Knights—the guy I sent Leah on a date with—yes, I’m that dumb. I’m meeting with Beau to review some hockey footage, which probably means we’ll watch, I’ll talk, and he’ll grunt.
The guy is just built that way.
I swipe my Ice Palace pass and am reminded of sneaking in here with Leah when she made me learn spins. When the nausea and dizziness set in, I thought she was trying to torture me, then she taught me how to work my way out of it and how to avoid it altogether. Now, uneasiness slithers through me and it’s not because I’m meeting with one of the grumpiest guys in hockey who is also our other goalie.
As Beau flicks on the television and we settle into some comfortable home theater-style chairs, I can’t shake the feeling … or thoughts of Leah.
