Page 25 of Grumpy Darling

“So, do you think Damien is still the right guy to... you know...” I wasn’t sure I could finish the sentence, but Paige was watching me expectantly.

“To . . .” she prompted.

A sinkhole tragically opening up beneath my feet and sucking me down would be more comfortable than this conversation. “Kiss,” I replied. “Is he still the guy you want to kiss?”

Her cheeks warmed and she tucked a stray hair behind one ear. “Why? You don’t think he should be?”

“Uh, I don’t know. It’s Damien, isn’t it? We know him. He’s not a blank slate, like Bonnie said.”

“Well, have you threatened him recently?”

“No.”

“Then I think we’re good.”

“But . . .”

“Yeah?”

“I, uh, just figured with your history, he was probably in the friend zone.”

“The friend zone?” She stared at me for a moment, but then it was like a light bulb flicked on in her head. “You think he won’t want to kiss me because we’re friends?”

“That’s not really what I meant.”

“You don’t think friends can turn into something more?”

That question was essentially the bane of my existence, and her asking it to me directly had me dreaming about sinkholes again. “No, I’m not saying that.”

“Because we were friends a long time ago. Maybe we aren’t anymore. Also, I’m pretty sure the friend zone isn’t some impenetrable fortress. People can come and go.”

Was she serious? I didn’t know whether to feel suddenly hopeful or totally disheartened. Could you really just leave the friend zone as easily as that? Not in my experience. I was so firmly entrenched in the zone with Paige, I was practically its mayor. Maybe she was just trying to convince herself the friend zone was no big deal because she wanted to be right about Damien.

Either way, I hated that I’d made her doubt herself. She was now questioning whether a guy could possibly want her, and once again, it was because of me.

“You’re right,” I said. “It was a long time ago, and he’s an idiot if he’s not interested in you now.”

“I don’t know about that,” she said, a soft smile gracing her lips. “But I guess we’ll just have to see. You just make sure you don’t scare him off, okay?”

She playfully wagged a finger at me, but there was an uncertain look in her eyes. Was she really worried I’d try to ruin this for her on purpose? I guess she had every right to be. It seemed I had inadvertently scared away a few guys already, and right now every instinct in my body was telling me to do the same to Damien. But as much as I wanted to give in to the protective urges pulsing through me, I knew I had to keep my thoughts to myself.

“I won’t,” I agreed. Just because I wasn’t going to warn Damien not to hurt Paige didn’t mean I couldn’t still deal with him if he did. The thought gave me some small comfort.

“This is me,” she said, nodding to the classroom we’d just arrived at. “I know you have practice after school, but I’ll see you at home tonight?”

She darted into the room before I could reply.

As I watched her disappear through the door, I couldn’t help but wonder when my life had taken such a drastic wrong turn. Sure, Paige’s friend zone wasn’t my dream destination, but at least it was safe. It was comfortable. Things had suddenly gotten out of control though, and I had no idea where we were headed next. Paige was determined to find a guy to kiss, Damien had reappeared just at the wrong time, and I’d somehow ended up agreeing to help with the whole situation. But I was the absolute worst person for the job. All I wanted to do was pull Paige into my arms and kiss her myself so I could bring this nightmare journey to an end.

I just had to hope I’d already suffered enough for one day. I should have known things were only going to get worse.

It was only his first session with the Ransom Devils, but it didn’t take long for Damien to make himself at home. He was everywhere on the ice, stealing the puck and shouting instructions to other guys like he’d been training with us for years rather than minutes. I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle the remainder of the season with his overexuberant attitude. The fact he was a decent player only made everything worse. He was fast on his skates, and his passes were all smooth and direct. He was also unbeatable in defense.

Having a talented player join the team wouldn’t normally concern me, but Damien and I were both defensemen. He was coming for my spot on the team, and seeing as I was struggling with a bad knee, he might actually have a chance at taking it. I still needed to prove my worth to the coaches at Ryker, so I couldn’t afford to let my injured knee or Damien Stone get the better of me.

“Damien looked pretty good out there,” Reed said. “Could be a handy addition to the team.”

I grunted, and that one sound was apparently enough for him to know exactly what was going through my mind.

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