Page 59 of Save the Game

“Last year a bunch of the freshmen got plastered and managed to break into one of the basketball courts. We were trying to round them all up and get everyone back to the dorms before we all got into serious trouble,” I explain. “We ended up having to call Coach to come help us.”

“What were they planning on doing in the basketball court?” Luke asks, grinning.

“Who knows,” Carter shrugs, “but they had spray paint, toilet paper, and at least two of them were naked when we got there.”

Luke tips his head back and laughs; I watch him, smiling helplessly as my heart performs a gymnastics routine in my chest. His skin looks darker than usual against the white of his t-shirt, and there is a faint coating of dark stubble along his usually shaved jaw. He’s got his hand on top of mine, where it’s still resting on his leg, and every now and then he squeezes my fingers like he wants me to know he’s thinking about me. Tearing my eyes away from him, I catch Zeke watching me; he smiles knowingly, and leans his weight back into Carter.

“Coach Mackenzie was not happy,” Vas adds, and Carter smirks.

“He was pissed,” he says delightedly. “He woke the rest of the team up early and made everyone run wind sprints.”

Luke whistles, long and low. “Even the drunk freshmen?”

“Oh yeah. I’ve never seen so many different shades of puke in my life,” Carter muses, still sounding disproportionately excited about this story. Zeke scrunches up his nose and gently pokes Carter in the stomach with his elbow.

“We’re eating, Carter,” he admonishes.

“My first year on the baseball team, some of us had the bright idea to miss curfew on an away game—" Luke launches into a story, voice rising and falling with excitement. Whatever animosity might have existed at the start of the evening is long gone; we’re just a group of guys, catching up and telling stories over too much food. It hits me, then, just how much I’m going to miss this when I graduate. I hope, if anything, I’ve got a pair of teammates on my NHL team that I can count on the way I can with Carter and Vas. I don’t need a big group of friends, but it would sure be nice to have at least this many.

We stay far longer than I’d originally planned, the darkness outside the bright kitchen pressing in on the windows as we tell stories around cold Mexican takeout. Luke’s hand finds the back of my neck, thumb rubbing gently along the short hairs there as he listens to Zeke talk about his plan for a Master’s degree. Beside me, Vas looks like he’s going to fall over if he doesn’t lay down soon. I lock eyes with Carter.

“Time for you two to leave,” he says, pointing at Luke and I. “Vas, you’re staying in the guest bedroom, right?”

“Am I?” He asks, blinking sleepily.

“Yes,” Carter says firmly. “Zeke and I are going to go?—."

“Do not say what I think you’re going to say,” Zeke interrupts him, blushing. “Buffoon.”

Carter smirks and swoops down to kiss him noisily on the cheek. Luke stands up, hand leaving my neck and brushing down my back as I join him.

“When’s the next time you’ll be in town?” I ask Carter, suddenly feeling sad. He’s been gone since the end of last season, yet right now I miss him more than I have all year. “Maybe we could get together again?”

“I’ll text you,” he says, walking us to the door. I brace myself, but he opens it gently and waits for Luke and I to step through. “I’ve got a busy schedule coming up, but I’ll try to be better about staying in touch. Sorry about that.”

He looks slightly abashed, like I’m going to give him shit for not reaching out more often. “I will, too. It’s been a…interesting year,” I add, clearing my throat and looking over at Luke who smiles sadly at me.

Carter leans against the doorframe, one heel propped up against his calf, arms crossed as he watches us and scowls. I sigh, already anticipating what he’s going to say before he says it.

“Don’t fuck with Max,” he warns Luke. I roll my eyes. Why does everybody think I need a fucking bodyguard?

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Luke replies silkily, and brings our linked hands to his mouth and kisses the back of mine. He pulls me toward the car and opens my door before walking around to the driver’s side.

Angling my body so that I can see him better, I wait until he’s reversed out of the driveway and we’re on our way back to his place before I speak.

“So, that was fun,” I say, and Luke nods.

“It was. I like your friends.” I raise an eyebrow at him; he glances over, smirking. “Yes, even the mean one.”

“I seriously don’t know what that was all about,” I admit, scratching idly at my cheek. “I mean, he’s always sort of like that, but not usually so protective of anyone other than Zeke.”

“Mm,” he hums. “Maybe Coach Mackenzie isn’t the only one who noticed that something was bothering you.”

Surprised, I turn away and look out the windshield. It hadn’t occurred to me that Carter might have picked up on anything of the sort; I’d been new last year, and most of our interactions occurred at practice and games. I wouldn’t have pegged him as being perceptive enough to notice any changes in somebody he’d only just met. Unsure of how this makes me feel, I look over at Luke again, worried.

“Really? You think he…you think he might know about what happened?”

“No,” he says firmly, “I don’t think that at all. But you spend a lot of time with your teammates; maybe he noticed that you weren’t sleeping, or that you lost weight. Didn’t you tell me you dropped fifteen pounds and Coach Mackenzie talked to you about it?”

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