Page 56 of Between the Blue
thirteen
HIM, THIRTEEN YEARS EARLIER
When you’ve gotten everything you’ve ever wanted, it’s hard to have to work for something.
I know. It makes me sound like a prick. But it’s true.
I’m the leading goal scorer on my team this season.
As always.
I have straightAs in my classes.
Because, as always, no teacher is gonna be responsible for benching me.
I have recruiters from the top three hockey colleges in North America and countless of other incredible schools in my email inbox.
Just like I have for years.
My parents make sure I have the best hockey gear money can buy. And the nicest car. And anything else I need. And don’t.
The same way they have my whole life.
I have so much. I know that.
But all I can focus on is what isn’t mine.
Or what isn’tyetmine.
Her.
I kissed her.
She kissed me back.
Even spent the rest of the evening with me. Let me walk her to her car in the early hours of the morning once we’d sobered up.
Let me kiss her again.
And, since then, she’s given me complete mental whiplash.
I never know what to expect with her.
Never know what version of her I’m going to get.
Whether she’s going to look at me like I hung the moon or like I’m a ghost from her past she’s been trying to escape. If she’ll throw herself into my arms or keep me at a distance. If she’ll respond to my texts or leave me hanging for days.
And I don’t know what to make of it.
Listen, I’m no player.
I have nowhere near the stats (or ambition) of someone like Sutty in that department.
But, I won’t lie. It’s not like the opportunity isn’t there.
I’m not oblivious. I see the way girls look at me. On the ice and off. They’ve been throwing themselves at me since junior high. But, honestly, it never meant anything to me before. They all blurred together.
But not her.
