Page 154 of Staying Selfless

“I’m surprised you stopped drinking long enough for the hangover to actually kick in,” I tell my brother between famished bites of my burger. “You’ve been drunk since Cam’s birthday.”

“Finally putting that college tuition to good use, I see,” Mary teases with a pinch of his cheeks. “You make me so proud.”

“You can all shut up.” Marc laughs. “I have a 4.0. So what if I want to have a little fun?”

No one argues with him because he’s right. There’s no reason Marc shouldn’t have some fun. He’s got his grades on lock, and he never really had the chance to let loose when he was an undergrad. The problem is, it’s not like Marc to party as hard as he has been since everything went down with Ali. That’s not my brother.

“UMass won,” my dad states, scrolling on his phone. “Damn. 6-1. They’re going to be tough, EJ.”

And there it is. The confirmation that today was my last game on home ice. I was fully expecting it, but that doesn’t keep the pit in my stomach from jolting in disappointment.

I can’t believe it’s over. And soon, college hockey as a whole will be over too. Whether it’s the next game or after a Frozen Four championship, college hockey is on a time clock for me. And two weeks is the longest it can last.

“I’ll get our flights booked.” Mary grabs her laptop while mindlessly tossing back fries.

“You sure you can’t come?” I turn to Logan with an edge of desperation.

She snakes her palm onto my thigh, calming me down. “I wish I could, but I have a midterm on Friday night. We wouldn’t make it in time.”

“Who the hell schedules a midterm on a Friday night before spring break?”

“We’ll be watching, though,” Marc reminds me. “That game is slotted to be televised. Saturday is going to be nuts between the game and spring break kicking off. The whole campus will be watching.”

The whole campus. The whole state. The entire NHL scouting team. Everyone.

I down my burger in no time flat, trying to fill the ache in my stomach. But I know it’s not hunger-related. It’s the nerves, the anxiety, and the excitement that keep me from feeling full. We are one win away from going to the Frozen Four and three wins away from a National Championship.

“You gonna finish that?” I ask my brother, nodding towards his untouched burger sitting on the coffee table.

“Nah. Go ahead. I’m still hungover as fuck. I think I just need to get to bed.” He stands from the couch.

“So proud,” Mary adds with sarcasm.

“Night all. Love you.”

“So, who is going to fill us in?” Mary questions, looking back and forth between my girlfriend and me. “Ali was absent from the game, and Marc is...well whatever that is.” She motions towards the stairs.

Logan and I look at each other with a nervous glance, neither of us wanting to be the one that puts Ali back on Mary’s shit list. The two of them finally got along at Gabe’s wedding.

“Marc and Ali are no longer seeing each other,” I state in a cautious tone.

“Well, no shit, Sherlock,” Mary laughs. “Do I want to know why?”

Once again, Mary, Logan, and I hold a staring contest with one another, my dad not giving two shits as he eats his dinner in silence.

“Ali wasn’t ready to commit to Marc because she’s dealing with some personal stuff, but she didn’t explain that to him, so he found out in a not-so-wonderful way. Then Marc got his feelings hurt, rightfully so, so now he’s channeling them in an interesting fashion,” Logan says, stringing her words together and not taking a breath.

“Got it.” Mary nods her head in acknowledgment before going back to her task of booking airline tickets on her laptop.

“Got it?” I question. “That’s it? Aren’t you going to rip Ali a new one for doing to Marc the exact thing you were worried about?”

“No. Why would I?”

“Because that’s what you did with Lauren. You hated her after everything that happened.”

“I never hated Lauren. I just thought she sucked. And I thought that long before she cheated on your brother,” Mary explains. “And Lauren and Ali are nothing alike. Yes, Marc got his feelings hurt like I suspected he would, but it happened. It’s over. Now he needs to move on.”

“I’m not sure he’s ready to move on from Ali,” Logan chimes in with honesty.

---