Page 56 of Fear of Falling

“We’ll see lil rebel” I teased, smiling as she laughed on the other side of the phone. Her nickname was starting to fit her more and more.

My phone buzzed in my hand, drawing my attention to the ESPN notification. I couldn’t help but click on it.

Toronto Knights break their losing streak by winning against the New York Huskies 3-2. Captain Wyatt Boone has returned to form as he dominated the ice. The Big Three—Boone, Hall and Young were the lead scores in tonight's game.

I ignored the dig about our previous losses and continued reading the article as it listed stats and different plays throughout the game. I typically try not to read articles about the game. Especially if we’d lost. I’d learned the hard way that all it did was tear you down further.

“Wyatt?”

I was so caught up in reading the article, that I’d forgotten Josie was on the other line.

Smooth move, dickhead.

“Sorry, I was reading an article on ESPN about the game.”

“Was it good or bad?”

“Not too bad. Slight dig at me but I’m used to it.” You can’t play a sport at a professional level and not be able to take criticism. Especially from the press.

“Random question,” Josie started. “Is it hard having to sit at an after-game interview after a loss?”

“Yeah, it is. Reporters rub your nose in your shitty performance. Trust me, no one wants to sit there and have your mistakes repeatedly shoved back in your face—and then have to read about it online afterwards,” I sighed. “But it’s the price you pay to do something you love. The sting never goes away, you just learn to move on from it.”

“Well, I thought you were amazing tonight. That last slap shot was insane. The way you, Trevor and Bryton moved down the ice,” Josie all but gushed.

I leaned back against my pillows listening to her recount moments of the game. I’ve never had a girl know anything about hockey. Puck bunnies pretend to know so they can sleep with players, which doesn’t count. The one serious girlfriend I had in high school only went to a few games and spent most of the time on her phone.

So, listening to Josie know what she was talking about was…I didn’t even have the words for it. I could listen to her talk about hockey all day long. Or just talk in general, if I was to be honest.

“So aside from hockey, what else do you like to do?” I asked, fishing for some ideas for our date tomorrow. I hadn’t planned on asking her out the way I did.

“Hmm, that’s a loaded question.” She shuffled once more. I pictured her getting comfortable on her bed, phone lying next to her like mine was.

“I love photography, which is a given. There’s this amazing art display atGallery 460downtown. It’s supposed to be amazing,” Josie said, her passion evident in her voice. I wished I was talking to her in person so I could witness the way she lit up when she talked about something she loved.

As she continued telling me about the gallery, an idea came to mind. It could be a long shot, but if I pulled it off…with my phone still on speaker, I scrolled through my contacts. When I found the one, I was looking for, I quickly typed out a message and hit send. I knew it was late, but I needed to have everything in place before I picked Josie up for our date tomorrow.

21

JOSIE

Wyatt: Wear something comfortable and warm.

Ichecked Wyatt’s text for the hundredth time in the last half hour. When I woke up an hour ago, the text was already waiting for me. I texted him back asking what he had planned for our date today, but the man was tight lipped about it.

What the hell does warm and comfortable even mean?

This was our first date, so obviously I wanted to look nice, which was hard to do with little-to-no information on what we were doing. Although, I had to admit I was excited to see what he was so secretive about.

Needing help with an outfit, I wasted no time grabbing my phone and Face Timing Tasha. The phone only rang twice before her face popped up on the screen.

“I need help,” I said before Tasha could even utter a word.

“Hello to you too.”

“Wyatt is taking me out on a date in an hour and I have no clue what to wear.”

“Did he tell you what you guys are doing?”

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