Page 21 of Goaltender Interference

“Hey, buddy,” he said, when Gabe opened the door for him.

“Hi!” Gabe took the bag. “Come on in, Soupy. I even cleaned up for you so, like, you should feel pretty special.”

“I already do,” Aiden said solemnly and followed him into the kitchen. If it hadn’t had Gabe in it, Gabe’s apartment would have been almost as soulless as Aiden’s house. But Gabe had personalized it with pictures of his family and colorful prints hung everywhere, and the couch was covered with so many pillows you could barely even sit on it.

He watched as Gabe bustled around, opening the take-out containers and pouring the soups into bowls set up on his kitchen island, spooning the sesame salad and gyoza onto plates, very carefully not looking Aiden in the eye. They sat down at the stools and ate in silence, Aiden mostly pushing the food around on his plate and Gabe stealing glances up at him when he thought Aiden wasn’t looking. Aiden tried to stop his leg from bouncing, but he couldn’t.

“Look, Gabe, I did want to apologize to you for my behavior that night.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Yes, I do. It wasn’t fair to you, especially since I know you were just concerned for a friend.” Gabe flushed, like he was about to say something else, but Aiden pushed onward before Gabe could get it out. “I did want to offer you an apology, because I was an asshole and you didn’t deserve it, but I also wanted to, uh, give you an explanation because I know that wasn’t in character for me.”

“Okay,” Gabe said, his chopsticks frozen in midair.

“I don’t know if you remember the conversation we had last year, when you asked me if I’d ever dated another player.”

“Of course I do.” The tips of Gabe’s ears were flushed darker, and he couldn’t look Aiden in the eye.

“And I told you that I had, and it hadn’t ended well?”

“Yeah? Oh, shit, you were talking abouthim?”

“Yeah. We used to...well. We were together for almost five years.”

“What—I’m—” Gabe stared at him, speechless for the first time since Aiden had known him. “What?”

“It was the first time I’ve really seen him off the ice in over a decade. I’m sorry. Like I said, it wasn’t fair to you. It was just a shock, and I wasn’t prepared for any of it, especially not after drinking.”

Gabe looked down at his ramen again. “I mean, I guess, if it was still that bad after all this time. It must have been really serious.”

Aiden had one of those memories he wished wouldn’t surface at such inopportune times but that he couldn’t seem to stop having. Matt in bed with him, rolling over with his stupidly determined expression. Taking Aiden’s chin in his hand, forcing him to look.Well, whyshouldn’twe get married?

“Yes. But I was young and stupid, and I fucked it up, and now here we are. But I still shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I won’t do that again, I promise.”

“I forgive you, obviously,” Gabe said, still a bit flushed. “Especially since you bought me lunch.”

No matter how Aiden tried to change the subject, the conversation was still awkward after that, Gabe obviously wanting to ask more but holding back out of either embarrassment or respect. Twisting the wrapper from his chopsticks in a tight spiral, he looked from the half-eaten food to Aiden and back. “But it was ten years ago, right, you don’t still have, like,feelingsfor him, right?”

Aiden shrugged, uneasy, his fingernails digging into his palm. “Not that kind of feeling. Okay. Let me help you clean up.”

He could feel Gabe’s eyes on him the entire time.

Later that evening, alone in his home again, Matt asked, “So what the hell do you even do in your spare time these days?”

Aiden had known it was a bad idea, but after leaving Gabe’s apartment, he had been seized with the unaccountable,intrusive thought that heneededto talk to Matt. He spent most of the afternoon trying to talk himself out of it, but after he made dinner and cleaned up, he finally gave in. He’d called and Matt had picked up almost immediately. They had talked about mostly nothing for the last half an hour. Aiden hadn’texactlyforgotten how much he liked just talking to Matt, but it was strange to be reminded of it as he was actually doing it.

Aiden, sitting on his roof deck, stared out at the horizon and its riot of oranges and pinks. “It’s all spare time. Absolutely nothing. Today I walked home from Gabe’s just because I had nothing else to do. It was five miles? I don’t know. Took me an hour twenty.”

“So retirement’snotgoing well.”

“Fuck, no. Try to sign somewhere if you can, because it’s justmind-numbing.”

“You know...about that.”

“What?”

“I’m not sure if our GM is really interested in bringing me back after this season. We’re tight on cap space, and I guess the optics of paying me a league minimum and shoving me on the fourth line after everything I’ve done for them—it’s easier to let me go.”

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