Page 55 of Pucked and Pregnant

“All of you, penalty box. Now.”

We all know better than to argue. Shame quickly replaces the adrenaline from the fight.

This time, when I look at Dimitri and Aiden, I see my friends. Friends that now have bloody noses and split lips along with a smattering of bruises from our fight.

That’s when it hits me. We’ve been friends for over a decade, and this is what we do to each other over a girl?

Liv will be so disappointed if she ever finds out. I clear my throat awkwardly.

“Things got out of hand. We should have talked about this after what happened in New York. I’m sorry.”

“I was out of line. I shouldn’t have played so dirty with you, both of you,” Dimitri admits.

Aiden sighs. “I never should have rubbed things in at breakfast nor should I have kept it from any of you. Things have just been so…”

“Complicated?” I suggest.

“That works. And instead of talking about it like we should have, we went at each other’s throats. Look at what we did. We just beat the shit out of each other and might have screwed the team over. They might even bench us tomorrow.”

“And we’d deserve it,” Dimitri says, rubbing at his bruised jaw. “Look, I know our relationship started with a fight, but I don’t want it to end with one too.”

“We’re grown men, we should be behaving better than when we were teenagers, not worse.” Aiden shakes his head ruefully. “I don’t think I can apologize enough.”

I can’t see it, but I’m pretty sure a cartoon lightbulb manifests over the top of my head.

“Maybe that’s the answer.”

“What do you mean?” asks Dimitri.

“Well, when we were teenagers, we kept everything out in the open with what was going on between the four of us. There were no secrets the last time we were all seeing her. Maybe that’s what we need to do. Go to her, tell her what happened, and let her tell us what she wants, because it seems like she’s got at least one of us on her mind.”

“Not exactly,” Aiden says. “The last time we were together, she said something that made it sound like she’s got conflicting feelings about the two of you as well.”

“I think Connor’s right. What’s happening between us is exactly like when we were sixteen. And since younger us seemed to have more sense than we do now, we need to do the same thing we did then.”

Dimitri nods in agreement. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

“I appreciate the vote of confidence, but what if she wants the same thing she wanted when we were sixteen? How the hell are we going to manage that without killing each other?”

“We figured it out then, I’m sure we can figure it out now. We just have to be better at talking to each other about everything, keep a clear head and keep jealousy out of it.”

“There’s no sense in borrowing trouble from tomorrow. We’re already up to our necks in it today.” Aiden grimaces. “Let’s just talk to her and see what she has to say.”

“Works for me.”

“Me too.”

“Are we good?” I ask.

“As long as we keep things out in the open, we’re good,” Aiden says.

“I can do that.”

“So can I.”

I glance up to see Coach making his way over. I brace myself for the worst.

“Looks like you finally worked out whatever bullshit you had festering,” he says. “I hoped shoving all three of you in there would do the trick.” Then his eyes narrow. “It did do the trick, right?”

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