Page 28 of Puck Drop
Logan’s body tenses a bit. “I can’t. I have practice really early in the morning, and I don’t have my bag with me.”
I nod in understanding. “That’s okay.” My voice comes out like a little squeak of excitement. “I’ll get a bag ready for myself and come spend the night at your house.”
The surprise on his face makes me wonder if maybe I am pushing too hard.
“Actually, I can’t,” I rush to save myself. “I’m still not familiar with getting around the city, and I don’t want to be late in the morning.”
Logan nods in approval. “That’s a good plan.”
“Do you have time for lunch together tomorrow?” I ask, mostly to distract myself.
“Oh,” Logan hesitates. “Maybe we should keep it under wraps at the arena for a while. How about dinner tomorrow night?”
I continue smiling, but I am not feeling the excitement from mere moments ago. I don’t understand why we have to keep our relationship a secret if it would not interfere with our jobs. It’s almost as if…
As if he doesn’t want anyone to know about us.
Just like before.
NINE
Logan
“I think I fucked up,”I tell Sebastian.
For the last couple of weeks, he’s become a really good friend to me, more so than any of the other players on the team. It’s probably because we played together before, so I automatically gravitated toward his presence. Now, I find myself running to him every time I need a good soundboard.
“Is this about the girl?” he asks right before taking a large bite out of the candy bar in his hand. “Is she coming on too strong?” Small particles of chocolate fly out of mouth.
“Dude,” I shake my head at him. “Chew with your mouth closed, what the fuck.”
He takes the time to chew and swallow before talking again, but he’s got chocolate all around his mouth.
I stare at him in disbelief. “I have to tell you, man, that your aunt will never find you a girl who’ll want to stick around after she sees you eating like this.”
“I’ll just have to find a girl who’s as messy as I am,” he shrugs, seemingly without a care in the world.
“Your house would be invaded by ants,” I deadpan.
Sebastian glares at me for a few moments before picking up a paper towel and wiping at his face.
“Is this you trying to avoid talking about the girl even though you’re the one who brought her up?”
I laugh at that. It’s funny because it’s true. I don’t even know why I want to talk to him about Elizabeth.
“Seriously, what’s going on?” he asks, his tone matching the words.
“Well…” I let out a long puff of air. “I told her no one could know about us because she could lose her job,” I start.
“But…”
I put a hand up to stop him. “I know. That’s why I went back to her and told her there was no problem with people knowing about us.”
Sebastian looks at me in total confusion. “That should solve all the problems,” he says. “But you make it sound like it’s a problem.”
I sigh. “That’s because after that I told her it wasn’t a good idea for anyone to know about us, and that we should keep it under wraps.”
Sebastian rolls his eyes at me before going back to his candy bar. “I have no idea why you’d wanna complicate your life like that,” he tells me. “You either want to be with this girl, or you don’t want to be with her.” He points at me with his candy bar. “But if you play stupid games, you’re going to win stupid prizes.”
