Page 28 of What Are the Chances
Tripp nodded in understanding. “I love Netflix and fucking.”
I suppressed a laugh. I swear hockey and girls were the only things Ryan and Tripp thought about sometimes. Suppose it wasn’t all that different for me either.
“Is this the same girl you coerced us all into going camping for?” I checked.
“Yeah. But we only fooled around a little then.”
Levi snickered. “You threw a fucking camping festival and all it got you was a blowjob?”
Ryan balked, his face morphing into what appeared like shame. “A very intense make out session actually.”
We all fucking lost it. The guy was confident as hell, and he’d barely even scored more than I had. This piece of news was definitely helping with my mood.
“Cut it out fuckers. This girl will be worth the long game, which continues tonight.” He shot a pointed look in my direction. “You better not bail on me, Caufield.”
Loosen the reins.
“Don’t worry. You can count on me.”
*
Grace and Stella were already inside by the time Tripp and I rolled up. Riley was chatting to them freely, as though they were all friends.
I sat as quietly as I could on the other side of the partition. I liked hearing her speak normally, like the person she actually was when she didn’t know I was lingering around the corner.
“You’re lucky you weren’t there, Stels,” Grace said. “It was so bloody cold. If it wasn’t for Levi and his insane body temperature, my tits would’ve literally frozen off.”
Riley laughed, the sound better than a post-goal buzzer.
“Did you end up crashing with a friend, Riley?” Grace asked.
Riley’s automatic cough seemed innocent enough, but I knew Grace’s question had knocked her.
“Ah, yeah. I was all good.” She mustered some confidence. “But you’re right, sleeping alone was not an option.”
Girls and their ice-cold blood.
When they rounded the partition, Grace’s eyes lit up once she spotted us. Riley’s not so much. But at least she wasn’t looking at me like she’d seen a ghost again. We’d made a little bit of progress.
“You survived practice, huh,” Grace mused.
“Just,” Tripp answered. “Coach is a fucking sadist. I’ve never been bag skated so hard in my life.”
Riley snickered at that. “Sounds like you deserved it.”
Tripp gestured to me with a nod. “No thanks to this guy. Will was playing his own game all night.”
I opened my mouth to defend myself, but I was hung up on Riley’s comment. If she thought we deserved it, then that meant she knew the score. She’d never kept tabs when we were dating.
“Levi mentioned the whole team was off,” Grace said in my defence. “But hey, a chance to redeem yourselves tomorrow night, right?”
This week was a gruelling one. A game last night, another tomorrow, and then the most important on Saturday night. As if sensing all the hits that were about to come my way, my shoulder spasmed. I did my best to hide it.
“Who’s up next?” Riley asked, wiping her palms on her leggings.
Tripp jumped up. “Me. I’ve got class after this.”
Like last time, nobody hung back, so by the time my turn rolled around it was just Riley and me. Were my friends doing this on purpose? Maybe. Did I hate them or love them for doing it? I wasn’t sure.
