Page 8 of The Final Faceoff
Hailey: You know I’m right. You get stressed choosing what socks to wear before games.
Leif: Excuse me, those choices MATTER. Sock consistency correlates directly to save percentage.
Hailey: Oh, sorry, I forgot you’re a highly sensitive, delicate creature.
Leif: That’s correct. Respect the process.
Hailey: I do. Deeply. So, what’s the actual problem? You don’t like the contract? The money? The years? The fact that you’ll have to move to another city?
Leif: That last one is high on the list of concerns.
Hailey: If it’s New York, just say yes. It’s the place I visit the most. We might end up hanging out more often.
Leif: You’re not making a good case.
Hailey: I knew it. You fear my influence.
Leif: I fear many things about you.
Hailey: Like what? Be specific.
Leif: Your ability to befriend strangers in the span of two minutes. Your terrible taste in men. The fact that you think pineapple belongs on pizza.
Hailey: Okay, first of all, I don’t THINK. I KNOW. Second, what’s wrong with my taste in men?
Leif:Do you really want me to answer that?
Hailey: No, actually. Moving on. Back to your crisis. You don’t like change, but you also know you need this. So what’s holding you back?
Leif: Everything. The new team. The new locker room. The new crease. I have to find a new fucking corner to stretch in before games. My entire pre-game ritual has to be reworked.
Hailey: Oh, no. Not the corner.
Leif: Don’t mock me. This is fucking serious, Hailey Jean.
Hailey: Don’t middle name me. I know it’s serious. I’m just saying . . . maybe this is good for you? You wanted the change, why are you being so reluctant?
Leif: Because now that it might be real, I have my doubts. Is the money enough to go through this fucking shitshow?
Hailey: It is. Just take it and stop overthinking.
Leif: You sound like Jacob.
Hailey: Your agent is smart. Also, he doesn’t coddle you, which I respect. That man deserves a raise for dealing with all your goalie neuroses.
Leif: I don’t have neuroses.
Hailey: You re-tape your stick in the exact same pattern before every game, step onto the ice in the same order, and once refused to sit on the team bench during warm-ups because the energy was “off.”
Leif: . . .
Hailey: Yeah. That’s what I thought.
Leif: Whatever. I just need to make a decision.
Hailey: Are you stalling because you’re afraid of making the wrong choice? Or because you’re afraid of making the right one?
Leif: You’re insufferable.
