Page 120 of Falling

When the national anthem is finished, I look up into the stands and see her. Wren’s sitting down, wearing my jersey, which she stole the other night. She sees me and smiles wide. I swear my heart almost falls right out of my chest. Kennedy sits beside her, smiling too, but Scarlett frowns. I tear my focus from them when the whistle blows.

Whatever it takes.

“I just can’t getover that shot. It was, like, completely legendary,” Kennedy exclaims for the hundredth time.

Wren, Scarlett, and Kennedy invited themselves over to my place after the game, and I couldn’t say no. I’d have rather gone out for food with my girl and explained to her how hockey works a million times, but I don’t mind hanging out with our friends. Gray, Harry, and Xavier tagged along too, and I’d get better luck trying to take a kid from a theme park than get them out of my house.

While we were in Palm Springs, both of our friend groups got a lot closer without us, which is good. I kind of like the way our friends merge together with how different everyone is, but I love it. Despite how much they’ve hung out, Kennedy is still not over the way hockey works and how my shot wasn’t at all “legendary.”

I was able to get in two goals while Xavier and Gray got one in each. Gray needs to learn how to chill more on the ice because he was in the penalty box for half of the game. We all helped each other assist along with Tyler and Bryan. Overall, it was a really good game. I thought we were guaranteed a shutout in the first period, but Drayton were a lot better than they were last season.

Today’s game seemed to ease some of the pain in my chest. My first game back was hard, and I struggled to flow with the team like I did last season, but something shifted today. I didn’t feel that suffocating pressure or get distracted by thoughts of Carter. If anything, thinking about him only pushed me to play better, and that’s the feeling I’ve been searching for for months.

“Calm down, Ken. You’re going to boost his ego even more,” Wren says, giving me a small smile. She leans her head on my shoulder as I wrap my arms around her waist while she sits in my lap, now wearing the shirt I got her for Christmas. Across from us, Kennedy and Scarlett give each other knowing glances.

“I don’t mind it one bit,” I say proudly. I turn to Wren. “It’s not like you’ve eventoldme congrats since the game was over.”

Wren’s face turns red at my teasing. Shehassaid well done. Once with a huge hug and a kiss when she ran up to me when the game ended and then again when we got home, on her knees in my bedroom with my hand in her ponytail.

“It was a good game, though. It helped that they couldn’t play for shit.” Gray laughs. “They looked like they only just learned how to skate.”

Wren snorts. “You spent more time in the sin bin than you did on the ice, so can you even say that?” she retorts, seeming genuinely disappointed with his performance, and everyone laughs as she shakes her head.

I look at her, unable to hide my grin and the raging hard-on I’m sporting. “What did you just say?”

She tilts her head. “What? About the penalties?”

“Nah,” I say, shaking my head. “I want to hear you say it again.”

“You want me to say sin bin again? Is this a new kink of yours, Davis?” she asks, innocently batting her eyelashes at me.

“It might be,” I admit, having to readjust my jeans just at the thought. I lower my voice and groan. “Fuck me.”

“I can make that happen.” She bites softly on my ear. I press my fist to my mouth and groan again. I’m convinced she is determined to torture me for as long as we both live. Everything about us now feels so natural. She fits in so well with my friends, and the way she hasn’t been able to stop touching me since we left campus makes me think that maybe I’m not the needy one in the relationship anymore.

“Please don’t,” Kennedy cuts in, grimacing.

“Yeah, please don’t,” Harry agrees, dismissing us with a wave of his hand. “Can we move on past the game? As much as I love hockey, I don’t want to talk about it all the time.” He takes a swig of his beer. “How about truth or dare?”

All the girls look at each other and smile.

Scarlett groans. “Been there and done that. Not the smartest idea with this bunch.”

“Why not?” Harry asks, clearly oblivious to the 2021 Christmas Incident.

“Because it brings out a lot of shit that no one needs to know about. Like how Scarlett had sex in the business classroom and how these two can’t keep their hands off each other,” Kennedy explains with a waft of her hand in our direction.

“That is not true,” Wren retorts, sliding off my lap and trying to sit beside me, but there isn't much space, so half her leg is still on my thigh anyway. She pulls her hands in between her thighs and squeezes them together. “See?”

“See, what? That you can last two seconds without making out?” Kennedy says, raising her eyebrows. “It’s gotten alotworse since you came back.”

“I second that,” Scarlett announces, but she's grinning.

“Me too,” Xavier and Gray say in unison.

Gray stands up and walks toward the kitchen, no doubt to raid my fridge. He’s going to be disappointed when he notices that Wren threw out all of our junk food. He fiddles with the speaker and changes the song toSave Your Tearsby the Weeknd.

“Whatever. At Christmas, it was a dare. It’s not like we were doing it for no reason,” I say, looking over to Wren, who has the biggest smile on her face.

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