Page 9 of What It Means To Be Found

“I don’t even need the happily ever after,” Josh shrugged, “Just a few chapters of vividly descriptive fucking.”

“What are you talking about?” Beck asked, her head leaning in between Josh and me.

“Hockey romances,” Josh replied.

“Oh,” Beck nodded once, her face taking in a dreamy look as she stared out on the ice. “Those are nice. Has Court shared her alien erotica with either of you yet?”

“What?” I turned in my seat to face Beck. “Alien erotica?” That did not sound fun to read.

“She has!” Josh turned a little to face Beck as well. “It started off as a joke. Like, I genuinely was not interested in the book at all. But that writer got me hooked on the story! And the way he greeted her the first time—”

“Oh, I know!” Beck gasped, gripping Josh’s shoulder in comradery.

“I’m sorry,” I interrupted the two of them, “Alien erotica? Aliens? Little green men?”

“I’m telling you,” Josh rested one of his hands on my shoulders then, while Beck’s still rested one his, as if he was initiating me into the alien erotica consumers club, “It sounds terrible. But it’ll catch you by surprise.”

I laughed again at that, shrugging. “Send me the title, and I’ll add it to my list.”

“Oh, you better add it near the top. It’s…” Beck kissed the tips of her fingers as if she was a chef giving a stamp of approval over a meal. “It’s wonderful. Ten out of ten.”

I didn’t believe her, but I appreciated her and Josh’s enthusiasm.

Everyone erupted into cheers then. Josh had even stood up from his seat to whistle his celebration, making Beck pull her hearing aids out of her ears until all the excessive whistling died down.

The Ducks must have just scored a goal. I stayed sitting in my seat as I clapped, scanning the ice as if I had been watching the game this entire time instead of learning about my friends' enthusiasm for alien erotica.

One of the players on the opposing team (something I only knew because they wore white jerseys) cursed, and punched his hockey stick down on the ice, glaring at our little group who was now loudly chanting variations of “twenty-nine!”

I guess Logan was the one who scored that goal everyone cheered for.

Whoop-de-doo.

I clapped and put on my polite smile, going out of my way to avoid eye contact as Logan skated by our group and lifted his hockey stick up in a hello. I was too busy ignoring Logan entirely, which was why I had noticed the opposing team’s player, number eighteen, watching the whole interaction with anger.

What a child.

The game went on, alien erotica taking a back seat in the conversation as everyone chatted about how well Logan was doing. What position he was playing. Why he was put in the time-out box.

It took all of my willpower to avoid rolling my eyes when Logan had stolen the puck from the opposite team and started speeding down the ice. Nobody was in his way as he pulled his stick back and scored through. Another goal, another stadium erupting with cheers at his success.

God, he was probably going to be so annoying about this.

As everyone else was standing up and cheering, I noticed number eighteen glaring at Logan’s cheering squad (us, it was us) once again. I met his gaze and lifted an eyebrow.

He responded by giving me the finger, with his glove and everything.

It was so absurd, I started laughing.

Not only that, but when the others noticed me laughing all I could do was point at number eighteen on the opposing team and choke out bits and pieces of, “He flipped us off.” Which made the others laugh too.

Did number eighteen like that? No, no he did not. He flipped us all off again, making us all laugh even harder.

Seriously. What a child.

The players were circling around the ice, getting ready for the next play, when Logan noticed us as well and cocked his head to the side at all our laughter. Courtney sat forward in her seat, her hands moving rapidly, and as soon as she lifted her middle finger, I realized that she was telling him what we were all laughing about.

I couldn’t see Logan’s facial expression that far away through his hockey mask, but by the way his head dropped and his shoulder shook a couple of times, I figured he must have been laughing too.

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