Page 80 of Hockey Bois
But every time he thought he’d made the decision to act, he’d see Brady again and his resolve would waver. If Brady were just a pretty face, it wouldn’t matter. There were plenty of hot guys out there. The problems would come when Brady opened his stupid mouth or did something, and Nick would be right back where he started, pining for someone who wouldn’t move forward. They didn’t interact with each other, but Nick was close enough to observe him interacting with others, and yeah, Brady was still the complete package, still a sweet guy, still rocking that dry sense of humor.
Still hiding behind his undefined sexual orientation and/or fear of commitment.
Ugh.
Basically, his head and his heart were on different pages, and Nick needed todosomething that would jumpstart the whole “moving on” thing.
Leave the team? Not an option. He was a member of the Jagr Bombs as much as Brady was, and quitting seemed too extreme.
Get laid, as Max had suggested months ago? Ehh, he wasn’t interested. His attraction to Brady wasn’t solely sexual, so that didn’t seem promising.
He needed to go smaller than that.
Unfriend him on Facebook? Petty, stupid, and ultimately useless since his whole goal was to get to a place where they could be friends again.
Oh.
Nick closed out of his conversation with Jenna and opened up his one with Brady. There wasn’t anything new there, and it brought up his oldest message.
Jensie from Hockey (7:17 p.m.)
hope you have a safe trip cya in the morning
Stupid, thoughtful Brady from three weeks ago.
Instead of deleting the conversation or the number, Nick opened the contact details. His fingers flew over the screen as he quickly, effortlessly made the change he needed.
He closed the contact info, the fruit of his labor already evident.
Brady (7:17 p.m.)
hope you have a safe trip cya in the morning
Nick had been building him up as this ideal for so long, the cute guy who was sweet and good at hockey. As “Jensie,” he was too much of a reminder of all the things that had grown between them. For his own sanity, Nick needed to tear that down and start over.
“Brady” was just a guy Nick happened to know from hockey. A good guy, but a regular guy.
And with that small gesture, he took his first real step forward and away from Brady Derek Jensen.
*
At the next game, Nick was early for once. He’d skipped his post-work run and gone to the rink at a decent time. He was in desperate need of some out-of-game practice, and a warm-up before puck drop was an easy way to do that.
Unfortunate side effect? When he got to the locker room, it was him, Brady, and Guy.
Guy was preoccupied with putting his gear on, headphones in, completely oblivious to the world around him. This was a standard part of his pre-game routine and effectively made his presence irrelevant.
So really… it was only him and Brady.
Fuck his life.
Nick paused at the door, took a deep breath, and decided to jump into the deep end.
“Hey,” he called. Actions and words needed to go hand in hand. Saying Brady was a regular person meant treating him like a regular person.
Brady didn’t look over. He stood there, diligently re-taping the blade of his stick.
Nick tried again, a little louder this time. “Hey.”
