Page 51 of Unrecognizable Player

“Yeah, let’s go. It was nice to see you again Eve.”

“Call me,” she shouts as we walk away. “We’ll have brunch sometime.”

Alexei doesn’t drop his arm until we find Alice and Mischa drinking cocoa by a food truck.

“Was that Dorian?” Alice asks.

“Yeah.”

“That dick.”

“Right?” Alexei agrees.

“I was going to come and help, but it looked like you guys had it under control.” She smirks.

Mischa smiles at us like a kid who isn’t in on the joke.

“We were making Stef’s dickhead ex jealous,” Alexei explains.

“Oh, cool.” He looks down at his cocoa before his head snaps back up. “Wait, who was your ex, the guy or the girl?”

“The guy,” me and Alice say at the same time.

“Oh, cool.”

Alexei slaps Micha on the shoulder. “You want a hot dog man?”

“Fuck yeah.”

“Come help me then.”

I take the seat next to Alice on the bench and she links her arm through mine.

“Okay?”

“Yeah actually, seeing Dorian with another guy wasn’t as shit as I thought it would be.”

She grins. “Hmm, I wonder why.”

“What does that mean?”

She makes a gesture of zipping her lips and my face flushes. I can’t help but look over to where Alexei is standing at the food truck, laughing about something with Mischa. He looks so carefree, until Mischa turns to the food truck guy to order his hot dog and a concerned expression etches itself onto his face. He turns back to where we’re sitting and our eyes meet for a second before we both panic and look away.

12

ALEXEI

Stef’s quiet on the journey back home. I hook my phone up to Brown’s stereo and try to focus on the music instead of the weird atmosphere.

Should I tell him I only put my arm around him and called him babe to make his ex jealous? I was just being a good roommate. Would he believe that? Because I don’t.

Being out there on the ice with him,fuck it was nice. Watching him wobble around all cute like Bambi. Getting an excuse to touch him. Let his hair tickle my face. Smell that aftershave he wears. The damp sweat starting to seep through his shirt. Wondering what his shirt will smell like later when he takes it off…fucking hell man.

“Who’s this?” He gestures to the music coming out of the speakers.

“This is Frank Ocean.” Why do I blush? He doesn’t know who the fuck Frank Ocean is obviously. I remember when Mischa borrowed my phone and listened to one of my playlists and I was worried having Frank Ocean on there was like a big sign telling everyone I was gay. But he just asked me to send it tohim and playedLostin the locker room on repeat for weeks until everyone got sick of it.

I don’t know how to control the heat in Brown’s car and it’s getting warm. The smell of Stef’s aftershave and shampoo getting impossible to ignore. I’m sure there’s a hint of fresh sweat in there too. Not the nasty kind that gets into hockey gear and festers, but that nice, fresh kind. Is it possible for someone’s sweat to smell like sunshine and sex?

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