Page 159 of Hockey Bois
Nick shook his head. “Nah, I’m beat. Besides, if we stay too long, we’ll get roped into singing around the fire.”
“Really?”
“Probably not, but we shouldn’t risk it.”
They snuck out. They didn’t bother with goodbyes, only waving at the few people who noticed their departure. Nick’s car waited for them at the edge of the driveway, and it wasn’t long before they were on the shitty gravel lane that led to the main road.
“You have fun?” Nick asked hesitantly. If he was going to pretend nothing weird had happened, they had totalk, right?
Brady was staring out the passenger window at the moonlit sky. “Yeah. Good group. Everyone was really nice.”
“It helps that you didn’t wear a Pens jersey,” he joked. Even to him it sounded stilted.
“Damn, you should’ve suggested that earlier.”
They rode on in silence, the car jostling on the uneven road until it finally hit asphalt again. They passed a few other driveways scattered through trees and brush, and Nick tried not to count the seconds.
“You wanna head to my place tonight?” he offered. “Could finish watching that movie we started the other night…”
As much as he wanted this whole thing behind them, he didn’t want their night to end so abruptly. He longed for more time to gauge how Brady was reacting. Maybe Jenna was right; maybe they’d reached the point where they needed to hash things out so that little, random moments couldn’t shatter them.
“I dunno…” Brady sounded genuinely conflicted, which made Nick’s heart ache more.
There was a real problem here, some unspoken thing between them. Nick wasn’t sure how to cut it down or take it apart before it festered.
Clearly Brady didn’t know either.
“Y’know what?” Nick said, changing tacks. “I got a radar gun. We could pick it up, grab some sticks, and head to a parking lot to see who has the hardest shot?”
Brady turned, eyes sparkling in the dark. “I do,” he said. “Easily.”
“Big talk. You gonna prove it?”
“If I have to.”
“Then put your money where your mouth is.”
“Are you saying webeton who has the hardest shot? Because if you’re putting money on yours, you could just hand it over now.”
Nick wanted to scream in relief. Hockey was always the way through to Brady. This wasn’t what theyshouldbe talking about, but theywere talking. “I wasn’t saying we betmoneyper se…”
Eyes on the road, he could only imagine Brady raising a curious eyebrow. “And what exactly would we be betting, then? You gonna wear my Pens jersey when I smoke you?”
“I was thinking sexual favors. But if you’re willing to risk wearing a Caps jersey, who am I to—”
“No, we’ll do the sex thing. Not that I’m going to lose, but just my luck I break a stick or you rig the radar or something.”
“Ovechkin broke a stick in the hardest-shot contest once—”
“Please do not compare me to Ovechkin.”
“Greatest goal scorer of all time, but okay.”
He couldn’t explain the eagerness that took them over. They stopped by Nick’s place and grabbed the radar, sticks, pucks, balls, and a few beers. There was a high school nearby, abandoned for the summer, and he was pretty sure the teacher’s parking lot backed onto the woods nearby. Perfect place to set up.
“You ever used that thing before?” Brady asked as he watched Nick perch the radar against the curb.
“Nope. Hope it works.”
