Page 53 of Rookie Move
In for the night.
Didn’tthatjust give him ideas. He could picture her in the king-sized bed in her quiet hotel room. He wanted to spread her out on the bed and... Yeah. He’d need a few hours just to check off the top few items on his to-do list with her.Can I come up and visit you?
The reply was immediate.It’s not a good idea.
He thought it was.Seemed like a good idea earlier today, he pressed.
That was a mistake, was her quick reply.
Leo groaned out loud.
“Your girl disappear on you?” Silas said from beside him.
He looked up quickly, shoving the phone in his pocket. “Maybe. But I can be patient.”
Silas laughed. “Can you? ’Cause you don’t look patient to me. You planted one on her in front of a couple hundred people, like sixty seconds after breaking up with what’s-her-name. And let’s not forget your hot mic moment. It was stylish. But itwasn’tpatient.”
“Shit.” Leo took a pull of his beer and grimaced. Silas’s thoughts on the matter were unfortunately valid. Since stepping off the plane from Michigan, Leo had behaved like an ornery toddler more times than he cared to count. “You make a few good points.”
His roommate laughed again. “Calm down, dude. She’s single and she has been as long as I’ve known her. Most of the team is lusting after her, and she doesn’t ever notice.”
Now that was more interesting than Leo wanted to admit. “First time I ever asked her out, she didn’t believe me. Mighta been my cheesy pick-up line, though.”
“This I gotta hear.”
Leo chuckled. “We were sixteen, and had the same physics class together.”
Silas snorted. “Please tell me you didn’t offer to get physic-al.”
“It wasalmostthat bad,” he said while Silas laughed. “The teacher was trying to get us all to understand circuits. So he said, ‘Who wants to be part of a human circuit? Ineed two volunteers.’” Leo could picture the scene like it was yesterday. Georgia sat a couple of rows ahead of him, and he usually spent physics class watching her instead of the teacher. He’d had his eye on her for a while before he got up the nerve to make his move. “So Georgia raises her hand. She was always fearless.” He chuckled at the memory. “Like,hell yeah I want to conduct an electrical current with my body. So I raised my hand, too.”
“Of course you did.”
“Right? I’d take an electrical shock to stand close to the prettiest girl in tenth grade. So the teacher puts us side by side, and he asks us to hold hands, so I knew I made the right decision.”
Grinning, Silas killed his beer.
“Then we each put our free hand on this metal conductor on a special battery the guy had. He switched it on, and nothing much happened. ‘But Leo—don’t let go if you don’t want to be shocked,’ the guy said, because if we broke the circuit, I’d feel it on my end.”
“So of course you let go,” Silas guessed. “Because sixteen-year-old boys are all geniuses.”
“Wait, were you there?” Leo joked. “Of course I let go. And it wasn’t a big shock, just a little zap. And Georgia just shook her head. After class I followed her to her locker and asked her to go to the homecoming dance with me. ‘There’s a real spark between us’ is what I said.”
“Smooth.”
“Right? And first she looked at me like maybe I was making fun of her. So I asked her two more times and she finally said yes.”
Silas pointed his empty beer bottle at Leo. “And that’s why you made it to the big leagues. Never give up, dude. Tomorrow could be a big day for you.”
“You never know.” Leo finished his own beer. “But just in case, I think I’d better pack it in for tonight. Gonna need to hit the morning skate hard if Coach is going to decide I’m indispensable.”
Silas gave him a salute. “Go on, soldier. At least youhave a fifty percent shot of playing tomorrow. It could always be worse. You could be the backup goalie.”
“Right. Sorry.”
Silas shrugged. “See you in the morning. We have yoga first.”
“Of course we do.” Leo walked out of the bar, shaking his head.
