Page 82 of Grumpy Darling

“Listen up!” Coach shouted. “The school paper is doing profiles on everyone on the team. Paige will be chatting with each of you, one at a time. Please don’t embarrass me, your teammates, or yourselves. Remember, your moms will probably read these interviews. Grayson, you’re up first. The rest of you, with me.”

He blew his whistle again, and the team followed him back to center ice, leaving me alone by the bench.

Paige had taken a seat, and she was still hugging her notebook tightly, a sign she was feeling anxious. Her eyes were on the ice, so I was sure any nerves she might be feeling would have more to do with interviewing the team rather than the fact we’d spent the night in the same bed.

“Thank God Coach Ray let you go first,” she said, patting the bench beside her.

“You’re doing the interviews?” I asked as I sat.

“Bonnie needed the help.” She nodded, but then her eyes flicked back to the ice. “She also thought it was a good chance for me to talk to Damien. And, uh, show off one of my new outfits.”

“So, this is all part of your plan?”

“I guess.” She shrugged. “And before you say anything, I know I didn’t get approval from my dating coach. But Bonnie is kind of tough to say no to. And it is a good idea, right?”

“Yeah...” What else was I supposed to say? She was here, looking gorgeous, ready to interview the whole team. I could hardly tell her to pack up her notebook and leave.

“Is it crazy? Me writing for the school paper?”

As far as I was concerned, that was the least crazy part about all of this. “Not at all. You’ll be a great interviewer. Do you remember that story you wrote about the puppy your parents got you? They had to send it back a week later because they realized they were too busy to look after it? Totally had me tearing up.”

“Don’t remind me. I was eight when I wrote that.”

“Most heart-wrenching thing I’ve read in my life.”

“That’s because itwasheart-wrenching! It would have been impossible to write that story and not make the reader cry.”

“I’m just saying, I can see why Bonnie would ask you to help. If anyone can wear a sports journalist hat, it’s you.”

“Thanks, Gray.” Her gaze was soft, but then she straightened her back and opened her notebook. “Okay. Are you ready for my questions?”

“Sure.” I leaned back on the bench as I waited for her to begin.

“Is it okay if I record your answers?”

“No problem.”

She set up her phone, then looked down at her notebook. “Question number one: what’s your favorite food?”

I didn’t get a chance to respond because Paige immediately mumbled the answer to herself. “Ice cream. Especially chocolate.” She’d taken the words right out of my mouth.

“Next question,” she said, once she’d written down the first answer. “What movie can you recite line-for-line?”

Again, she answered on my behalf, almost like she was interviewing herself. “You’re going to sayMiracleor some other hockey movie, but we both know the true answer isMean Girls.”

She didn’t even take her eyes of the notebook as she scrawled the answer down.

“That’s not my fault,” I grumbled. I only watched romcoms because she wanted to. Although, I had to admit, they weren’t all bad.

“Sure it’s not,” she teased. “Okay, what’s something no one else at school knows about you?”

This time she just wrote the answer down without saying anything. I tried to crane my neck to see what she’d chosen, but I couldn’t make it out.

“Wait, what are you writing? If you know it, it doesn’t count.”

She laughed as she looked up from the page. “I challenge you to tell me something I don’t know.”

I could easily think of one thing; the way my heart was racing as I stared into her eyes. That wasn’t exactly something I wanted to be published in the school paper though.

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