Page 92 of One More Time

“I didn’t ace my grades,” I said instead.

“If you weren’t so cute I’d punch you. You got high marks in all but one of your exams—and that was still well over a pass.”

I rolled my eyes because we’d had this argument before. It was biochemistry, which made no sense to me whatsoever. I didn’t remember learning any of the stuff in high school, and suddenly I had to teach myself a lot of nonsense the Australian school system failed to offer. If it hadn’t been for Hunter, I would have failed.

So, I wasn’t just angry at my grade—I was pissed that I couldn’t show him how good of a tutor he was. I wanted to ace that stupid exam for him. He spent way more time than he had available teaching me and I’d let him down.

“Baby, you knew fuck-all to begin with. A ‘B’ is an achievement on its own. If you’d only gotten a pass, I would have been proud of you.”

I hated that he knew me so well.

Cal appeared by the door, holding his bag in his hand. “Tyler, are you still good to drop me to the ice?” His bunky old car had broken down last week, and I promised to help him since he did the same for me. I checked the time, spitting out a curse when I realized I was behind schedule.

I quickly got myself ready and headed for the door. When Hunter stopped me with an arm around my waist, I tried to fight him—I didn’t have time to be late. I needed to drop Cal off before we had to be ready for the trip to Minnesota for the Frozen Four.

I stopped fighting when I saw my large coffee thermos in his hand. “Take this, grumps.” He swatted me on the ass and kissed my cheek. “You will be on time, and everything is going to be fine.”

My anger and anxiety dispersed to make room for the tingling on my cheek.

Cal’s competition wasn’t too far from our college, and I drove in silence. Yes, I said silence. With Cal in the car.

“Okay, you’ve been M.I.A for a while now, and you’re really quiet today. Have I done something to piss you off?”

Cal whipped his eyes to me, and it was then that I noticed the dark rings beneath them.

“What? No, of course not. I’ve just been busy with practice; this routine is kicking my ass.”

Well, I at least knew he wasn’t lying about that. The practice he required made me look like a slacker. He was up and out before me most days, only returning after Hunter and I had fallen asleep.

“Everything okay? Other than the routine?”

Cal looked out the window, and his silence made me glance over. He gnawed at the inside of his cheek. He didn’t look like my full-of-life friend, and I suddenly felt a wave of guilt. I had been so swept up in my own shit that I hadn’t made time for my best friend.

“Other than my piece of shit car breaking? Oh, and my boyfriend cheating on me—again.”

Thankfully, I was caught by a red light which let me look at Cal when anger began to boil my blood. “What?”

“Can you tell me something? What is it about me that screams ‘Hey, cheat on me’?”

“Nothing about you screams that, Cal. You’re hot, funny, talented—and a great friend.”

Cal rolled his eyes., “You’ve never made a pass at me.”

I reared back in disbelief, flinching when a honk blasted behind me. I accelerated but let his words swim in my head, trying to find the appropriate answer.

“Cal, that doesn’t reflect on you. Hunter, he—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Sorry, that was a dick thing to say. Hunter is your boo, your everything. I am just feeling insecure. Ignore me.”

“Cal, those guys are dickheads.”

“I knew Sunday golfer was, but Eric? I thought things were different.”

I sighed, navigating my way into the skating rink parking lot.

“Eric was an attractive guy, but he didn’t really match your energy.”

I parked as Cal seemed to think that over. “Well, I suppose he was more my Joe to my Taylor than my Travis… Why didn’t you say anything?”

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