Page 142 of Suck My Puck

Lucas looks down at the jersey. “I’m okay.”

“More than okay. He helped his team win the state championship last year. He had a heck of a save in the last few minutes of the game,” his dad says.

I grin at Lucas. “Dude. Stop being modest. It sounds like you’re great.”

A proper grin appears on Lucas’s face. “Okay, I guess I’m pretty good.”

“You have any advice you wanna give me? I could always use some pointers when I’m in the net.”

Lucas laughs. “Me? Give you advice? No way.”

“Come on. You saw how I sucked at the beginning of this season.”

“Yeah, but you’re better now,” Lucas says. “Besides, even when you sucked, you were still better than Sokolov. He’s all flash, no substance. You’re way more skilled.”

My teammates and I burst out laughing. We spend the next few minutes talking and joking with him. Before we leave, we take a photo with Lucas.

I reach my fist down and bump his. “When you’re better, we should have a training session together.”

He grins, his blue eyes big and bright. Then it fades. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get better. I need a bone marrow transplant and no one I know is a match.”

I look up and see the stricken look on his dad’s face. “He’s an only child, and his mom and I aren’t matches.”

“I-I’m sorry…” My chest feels like it’s about to crack in half. Fuck. This poor kid…this poor family.

I feel like such an asshole for not being able to say something more, something helpful. But I can’t think of a single comforting thing to say or do.

Lucas offers a sad smile. “It’s okay. Thanks for hanging out with me. And thanks for the jersey.”

I swallow back the boulder in my throat and nod. “Would it be okay if I came to visit you again sometime?”

His eyes are bright again. “Yeah, that would be awesome.”

When we leave the room, my eyes are burning with tears. The guys are quiet as we make our way back to the elevator. I hit the button for the lobby. The whole ride down is silent. I notice all the guys’ eyes are red.

“Fuck,” I mutter. “That poor kid.”

“Yeah,” Del says. Xander and Theo nod quietly.

The elevator doors glide open. We walk out and wait in the lobby for the rest of our teammates to finish up theirvisits.

An uneasy feeling drags through my gut. I wish I could do something, anything to help Lucas.

The elevator across from us dings. The doors glide open and out walks Sophie. She came to help out with the hospital visit today. She’s smiling at first, but when she sees the four of us, her expression sobers.

“What happened?” she asks. Xander tells her about Lucas and his leukemia diagnosis.

Her expression turns pained. “Oh god, that’s awful. Pediatric cancer is heartbreaking.” Her eyes turn misty. “That rotation in med school was so hard. It was wrenching seeing kids that young fight cancer. I’d go home and cry after almost every day.”

Xander hugs her.

“Lucas’s dad said that he needs a bone marrow transplant, but his parents aren’t matches and he’s an only child,” Xander says.

Sophie lets out a heavy sigh. “That’s so tough. Usually in cases like that, your best hope is to receive a bone marrow transplant from a relative.”

“So if your parents or siblings aren’t a match, you’re screwed?” I ask, feeling defeated.

She shakes her head. “Not necessarily. Sometimes a stranger can be a match. There’s a National Bone Marrow registry that I’m sure Lucas’s doctors looked through to try and find a donor for him. There are millions of donors on there. Right around nine million, I think, which sounds like a lot, but it can still be so hard to find a match. I mean, there are more than three hundred million people in this country. In comparison, the registry really isn’t that big.”

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