Page 22 of Puck Drop
Earlier this morning, after I spelled out to her all the reasons why we couldn’t go public with whatever we had between us, I could see her obvious disappointment. It’s like we’re starting over from square one, except that this time, it would be her who could get in trouble if they found out about us.
The thing about that is that I’m not sure how much she actually cared about it. I guess she has something to fall back on if she loses her job here. Going back to her father would be the easiest thing.
That puts a whole lot of weight on me. It’s me who is hesitant to take the risk and go public with her. What happened in New York affected me a lot. I am not willing to jeopardize my career, especially not when it is on the right track. It’s a much better track than I was on before coming here.
With that said, guilt eats at me. I am pulled in two different directions, and I’m not quite sure which one is more important to me.
Elizabeth’s beautiful face floats through my head, making me question everything. The fact that she followed me here tells me how much she cares about me. In fact, she told me last night that she still loved me.
“Fuck,” I mumble to myself.
Deciding that I will come up with a good plan for both of us, I rinse off the soap coating my body before stepping out of the shower. There’s a large white towel waiting for me on a small stool right outside of it. I grab it and start drying off, then wrap it around my waist. When I glance in the stall next to me, I seethat Sebastian got out before me. With a little bit of luck, he left the arena already as well.
My wet feet make a flip-flopping sound against the rubber slides I got on as I make my way back to my locker. The room is fairly quiet, with most of the guys either out in the ice room or in the showers. There are only a few in here. One of them is Sebastian.
“I was waiting for you.” He grins at me, and I flip him off.
Not in any rush, I take my time with getting dressed. When finally done, I glance at Sebastian, noticing how frustrated he looks with my lack of enthusiasm to chat with him.
“The fact that you’re dragging your feet about talking to me is very intriguing, so you know,” he informs me. “I was going to drop it, but now, no way.”
Finally realizing that I won’t get out of this, I drop all my stuff in the gear bag and zip it up with one aggressive move. I yank it off the floor and turn around to face him.
“After you, princess.” I bow down and motion for him to walk ahead of me. The move manages to attract the attention of the other players in the room. They snicker and cat call while we make our way out.
Once in the parking lot, my eyes instinctively go over the cars I see out there, hoping to spot Elizabeth’s car. When I do, my heart picks up a little, hoping that I catch a glimpse of her. I was totally focused while at practice, but now that my brain has time to think, it is obsessed with wondering what she’s up to and if she misses me.
Thankfully, Sebastian decides to unknowingly interrupt my train of thought. “Let’s go to that pizza place by my house.”
“I’ll follow you there.”
I make my way to the truck and throw my bag in the back. Just as I am about to open the driver’s door, I decide to scan theparking lot one more time. No Elizabeth, at least not that I can tell through my squinting eyes.
The drive to the pizza place is long, but only because of the traffic and not because it’s far. I park my truck next to Sebastian’s large SUV, then make my way inside the restaurant where he’s already secured a table.
“The sun is wild,” I comment when I take a seat across from him while I push my sunglasses high on my head.
He nods in agreement. “Dude, I literally see spots when I’m out without sunglasses. I sure hope I’ll get used to it. But it sure is bright. I had to pay extra for some heavy-duty curtains on my windows so it doesn’t feel like I am under sun surveillance at all times.”
“Sun surveillance,” I laugh. “That’s a good one. And it sure feels like it.”
A waitress approaches our table, and we take a minute to go back and forth about what we want on our pizza. We end up deciding on an extra large, with half of it containing what I want, and the other with his weird stuff.
“Who the fuck puts pineapple on pizza?” I ask once the waitress is out of ear shot. “It makes me gag just thinking about.”
“For your information,” Sebastian points a finger at me, “pineapple is very healthy for you.”
“On a pizza?” My voice comes out higher than intended.
He just shrugs. “I’ll make sure to ask the new junior nutritionist about it when I see her.”
And just like that, all my amusement dies.
“Very smooth in the way you brought her up,” I comment, hoping that I am not giving anything away.
Sebastian leans over the table, like he’s a little kid. “I actually thought it would be harder for you to get where I was going with that. But now that we are on the same page, so to speak, I’ll get right to it.”
“Please do.” I roll my eyes at him, aware that he probably knows a lot more than I thought.
