Page 81 of Slapshot
“I hate that she’s always waiting for the other shoe to drop, for people to disappoint her. And I hate it even more that that’s exactly what people have done to her all her life. She thinks everyone is going to let her down because past experiences pretty much guarantee it.”
“And you don’t want to be another person that proves she’s right?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think there’s anything I can do to make her believe me.”
“So, walk away. You’ll have a clear conscience that you did everything you could and there are plenty of girls out there that would be a lot less hassle. Do you wanna go out tonight?”
I groan and elicit another chuckle out of him.
“Give it up, Vonne. You and I both know you’re not really ready to give up. But for tonight, I’ll play along.” He grabs two beers from the fridge. “I’m texting a few of the guys. Let’s get stupid.”
I down one beer and am working on the second when Jonah walks in the back door. “I brought tequila and a case of beer. What are we feeling?” He lifts both hands.
Ash ushers him forward. “Both.”
The back door opens again and Tate steps inside. “Hey, sorry. It was hard to pry myself away from Maggie.”
“Not helping right now,” Ash says.
“Sorry.” Tate takes one of the beers. “How are you doing, buddy?”
“Swell.” I unscrew the cap of the tequila and toss some back straight out of the bottle. I immediately regret that.
Tate takes the bottle and sips in solidarity. I love these guys. No questions asked, no fucking games. They’ve always got my back.
“It’s really over with you and Kaitlyn?” he asks.
“Definitely.” My chest aches with the finality of it. I won’t go after her. Not again.
“I can’t believe she quit. I thought for sure she’d change her mind and show up at practice.”
“She did. I ran into her while I was waiting for the laundry.”
“Did you convince her to come back?” Jonah asks.
It doesn’t escape me that the guys want her back as much as I do. I wasn’t blowing smoke up her ass, she really is good at being our manager.
“Genius here yelled at her.” Ash points his beer in my direction. “I doubt we’ll be seeing her around anytime soon.”
“Real smooth,” Jonah says with a chuckle.
The bottle makes its way back to me and I take another healthy drink. The back door slams again. I glance up to see who else is here to witness the drunken spiral I’m about to go down.
“What the hell, Lex?” Kaitlyn storms in and stomps her way in front of me. The cold radiates around her, but she is fire. Eyes blazing, cheeks red from the freezing temperature outside.
The guys go completely still except their heads which volley between me and Kaitlyn with rapt interest.
“Uhh…” I stand.
“I was trying to pour my heart out to you, and you ran off before I could tell you that I want you too. I was trying to fight for you.” Her arms are flailing, and I’ve never seen her so fierce about anything. She’s a beautiful force of nature. “That’s why I made sure you still had a job and why I’m still doing the laundry for the team. For you, you big dummy.” She shoves at my chest. “I screwed up and I’m sorry. I should have believed you, but I was scared.”
It goes quiet. My teammates are staring at me with open, gaping mouths, waiting to see what I’m going to say or do. They’re easy to ignore as I study Kaitlyn’s face for sincerity. “Earlier that was you fighting for me? That timid, soft-spoken girl?”
“I was getting there!” She tosses her hands up again and looks to the ceiling. “I needed you to know how sorry I was first. Because, I am, so sorry. You deserve every opportunity that comes your way, no matter who puts them in front of you.” She kind of screams the apology, but it still warms something in my chest.
A half crazed and half delirious snicker escapes from my lips. “Wow. I totally misread you. I thought you were saying goodbye. You’re not used to groveling, are you?” I lean in with a playful smirk. “Pro tip, usually when someone’s fighting for you, you realize it.”
Like now.
