Page 51 of Inside the Penalty Box

I couldn’t help but giggle at the face she made as she got up and went into the kitchen, bringing us both back some Gatorade. While I sat there, I replayed our conversation earlier, how he seemed to not be bothered by anything. However, my problem had seemed to monopolize the conversation. Maybe he just hadn’t wanted to upset me again, or perhaps Lorelai was right and he knew nothing about it.

“Here,” she said, dropping my favourite blue Gatorade in my lap. “What are you thinking about?”

“Just about our conversation from last night. Lorelai, I really like him. and I’d hope he wouldn’t hold something like this back from me after the events of the other night. I’d hope he’d be upfront and honest with me, especially if this is true and it is his baby.”

“If it’s bothering you so much, why don’t you message him?”

I glanced at the time. It was a little after three. From what Dylan told me, they’d be just arriving at the arena by now. This was also an important game, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to bring something like this up before it.

“I don’t know.”

“Okay, how about this? We’ll finish cleaning, then we’ll order in some pizza and wings, then we’ll get ready and watch the game. You can text him while we wait for food if you still want to.”

I thought about her suggestion and nodded.

“Okay.”

Soon we were back into the swing of cleaning, and I’d forgotten about the news, at least as much as one could forget about the news after seeing someone accuse the man I liked. We each took a quick shower, and while Lorelai ordered pizza and wings, I got changed into my sweats. I was about to leave my room when I spotted Dylan’s jersey in my closet and threw it on for good luck.

“Alright, get over here and sit down. Now are you ready to watch your first hockey game?” Lorelai questioned, dropping two cans of soda onto the coffee table, along with two plates.

I nodded. “I’ll probably have a million questions.”

“That’s fine. Ask whatever you want,” she said, looking up at me. “What the hell do you have on?” she questioned.

I looked down at myself, wondering if I had underwear stuck to my pants or something from the wash.

“The jersey? Where the hell did you get that?”

“Oh, Dylan gave it to me, didn’t I tell you?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“When we went on our date, he gave it to me.”

“Oh boy. You are done for.”

I frowned and glanced at my phone and then looked back at Lorelai.

“Why?”

“Everyone knows you’re his now.” She winked.

I grabbed my phone again, looking to see if he’d messaged.

“If you want to message him, I’d do it now. Candace told me Phil said the guys were just about done getting ready. Maybe we should send him a pic of you in his jersey.”

I shook my head. “No, I’ll just wait to talk to him after the game.”

It was then Lorelai got up off the couch and quickly turned, snapping a picture of me. She began furiously texting as I frowned.

“What are you doing?” I questioned.

“Sending it to my brother so he can forward it to Dylan.” She giggled.

I got up and tried to rip her phone from her hand, but she bolted to the door just as the bell rang. Moments later, she returned with our food. The aroma of wings and pizza were enough to make my mouth water. I quickly opened the wings and took some, passing it to Lorelai, who took some as well.

I leaned back and took a bite of my pizza and watched as the guys skated out onto the ice. The camera immediately panned to Dylan. He skated around the rink, raising his stick in the air as fans cheered.

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