Page 127 of Need You to Choose Me

The next forty minutes are spent doing drills, passing pucks, and going six-on-six. I score two more goals, get slammed into the boards as payback by Moskins, and take down Gentry by sweeping my stick against his, and getting his skates caught as I glide past him.

Clarkson watches from the center of the ice, his eyes piercing into me as I dominate the ice. He’s either going to chide me about not playing by the rules or congratulate me for getting the points.

By the time practice ends, I’m covered in sweat and want nothing more than to jump in the shower. The captain of the team slides up beside me as we get off the ice, bumping me with his shoulder. “You good?”

“Never better, Cap.”

He’s skeptical. “Try not to take anyone out during our game. If you play like you did today, we’d do better with you on the ice, not in the penalty box.”

“Gentry started it” is my only reply.

He eyes me, making my lips twitch up because he knows it’s bullshit. “If you want to see playtime, I suggest you try not letting any of them bait you. We actually have a chance at taking the first game if you have a repeat of today. There’s no way coach would let you sit it out.”

Pride has my shoulders squaring a little straighter. “That’s the goal.”

“So who are you doing it for?”

It’s not just for one person. But that isn’t what pops into my head. It’s a pair of green eyes—light, mint. And a pair of full lips that are usually painted pink. Olive is always there, in the back of my head, reminding me that she’s always been here.

We make our way to the locker room side by side behind the others. “I’m doing it for a lot of people.”

He makes a thoughtful noise. “Make sure some of those people are prepared for the game then. The first one of the season always gets a little chaotic. Especially since it’s against one of our biggest rivals.”

I don’t think I need to prepare Olive. If anything, I need to prepare the people forher. I’ve seen what she’s like at games. Whenever she’d attend college matches, I’d hear her voice above anybody else’s in the crowd. Usually telling us to destroy them. I can only imagine how she is at her brother’s games.

Clarkson smacks my chest and walks toward his locker on the opposite end of the room. As I strip out of my uniform, I stare down at my sweaty jersey, tracing the edges of my number before tossing it onto the bench.

If she’s going to attract attention at the game, then she’ll be wearing my name while doing it, so everybody knows who she’s cheering for the most.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Olive

After properly avoidingmy mother and the millions of prying questions she has since the pictures leaked of Alex and me, I decided it was time to bite the bullet. A week seems like plenty of time to let someone cool off, right?

“You’ve been ghosting me,” Mom accuses as soon as she picks up.

I push open the door to the Anthropology Building and into the sunshine. “I’ve been busy.”

It’s a poor excuse, and one she definitely isn’t buying into. “I’ve texted you. How long does it take for a return text? Do you remember when that boy in high school stopped replying to you and you were sad for months?”

She has to bring up Jordan? “That was forever ago. And I was inmiddleschool.”

Not that it makes much of a difference.

“And you were sad! Imagine how I felt when my own daughter did the same thing to me.”

Okay, now I feel bad. “I’m sorry, okay? But I knew you would hound me about Alex and the pictures and why I didn’t tell you. I wasn’t ready to talk.”

Mom is quiet for a long moment. “Okay. Are you ready to talk now? Because I have questions.”

Of course she does. “Alex and I are together” is the first answer I give her.

“Was he the boy from before?”

She’s perceptive. “Maybe.”

“Oh, Olive,” she says. “I knew you had a crush on him. It was obvious whenever we’d go to one of your brother’s games.”

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