Page 28 of Unrecognizable Player

The name has completely escaped me. I was probably too busy trying not to stare at Alexei’s biceps in his t-shirt while he talked.

“He had like a Polish or a Russian name or something,” I snap my fingers. “Mischa I think?”

Her head snaps back and her eyebrows shoot up. “Mikhail “Mischa” Pawlowski? From the hockey team?”

“Yeah, that’s him.”

She’s definitely gone red now. “Are you sure?”

“I’m positive. He said Mischa asked him to ask me if you were single because he wants to ask you out, and that he’s not an asshole, otherwise he wouldn’t have asked.”

The – excitement? I think – has faded from Alice’s face as she steps back in beside me and picks up our walk. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to-”

“I mean, I’ve seen him playing hockey, he’s really good, and I did think he looked up into the stands an unusual amount but, oh god, has he only ever seen me in my band clothes? Do you think he has like a fetish for that sort of thing? Like a music nerd fetish? Is that a thing?”

“Alice, stop, you’re spiraling.”

She lets out a big breath. “You’re right. Okay, I’ll go if you go.”

“You’ll go where if I go?”

“On a date, with Mischa Pawlowski.”

A laugh splutters out of me. “Alice, I can’t go on your date with you, you’re 21-years old, it’ll be weird.”

“No it won’t, not if it’s a double date.”

“Who are we double dating with?”

“Alexei.”

I stop dead again. “Alexei isn’t into men.”

“He doesn’t have to be. It can be a friendly date between you two and a romantic date between me and Mischa.” Her lips quirk up at that last part.

“I didn’t know you had a crush on a hockey player. I thought they were all balls of testosterone going around shouting ‘protein!’”

“Neither did I until you just told me he has a crush on me. Now I kind of like the idea.”

She stops in front of me and starts tugging my arm. “Steffy, please! When do I ever ask you for anything? And it might be fun.”

I do not want to go on a date-not-really-date with a hockey player/my roommate who seems to strongly dislike me, but then, I’m betting neither does he. There’s a very easy way to get out of this without making Alice mad at me.

“I’ll go if Alexei agrees to it.”

“Yay! Thank you, you’re the best.” She starts kissing my face and I feel kinda guilty, knowing Alexei is obviously going to say no.

“Sure I’ll go.”

“What!?”

Alexei was home when I got back to the apartment, sitting at the kitchen table with a stack of books and a pot of coffee. And I did not expect him to say yes to this thing.

“I said I’ll go, I’ll just let Mischa know. And it’ll have to be through the week or a Sunday because we’ve got back-to-back games against Quinnipiac this weekend.”

“Oh um… okay.”

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