Page 60 of Hitting the Goal Line
He body checks a Florida player and is able to take the puck away, and send it flying to Liam, who takes a shot at the net but the puck is stopped by the goalie. That would have been an awesome assist and given the collective groan that sounded through the crowd, I wasn’t the only one that thought that.
As Blake goes back to the bench, I feel my phone vibrate in my hand. I had taken it out to take pictures, but have been so enthralled in the game, that I completely forgot to open up my camera.
I look down at the screen and I see it’s a text message from the number that I saved only a few hours ago.
A smile spreads across my face when I see it and I can’t help but to open it right away.
It’s a selfie of Elijah as Blake skates by.
Blake looks like the epitome of concentration, all the while Elijah looks like a total goof ball. I love it.
“Who can possibly have you smiling that big?” Patty asks, taking my attention away from my phone.
Feeling like I got caught looking at something that I shouldn’t, I quickly lock my screen and turn to her with a nervous smile on my face.
“Nobody,” I answer feeling a little bit guilty. There’s no reason to feel guilty. I’m not doing anything wrong.
“That smile doesn’t say nobody,” she says, raising her eyebrows at me like I’ve been caught.
She isn’t going to drop it, so I might as well show her.
I quickly unlock my screen and show her the picture that just landed on my phone.
“Oh my god, I love that picture,” she says, almost letting out an awe. “Who’s the guy?”
I don’t have to look up to know that Patty is looking at me with a smile on her face. Instead of looking at her, I try to keep my concentration on the ice.
“Somebody that I met a few hours ago,” I admit, feeling a blush creep up my cheeks.
“And he already has your number?” Patty questions, and I make the mistake to look at her. Sure enough, she’s smiling. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile that big.
“Yeah.” I feel my blush get deeper. “We ran into each other, literally, and when we both said that we were coming to the game, he asked me out for coffee and for my number, and since I thought he was cute, I gave it to him.”
“Sophia, that’s awesome,” Patty lets out, wrapping an arm around me.
“It is?” I don’t know why but I always thought that Patty hated whenever I told her I was seeing someone. She always gave me the same tight smile, the same one my mom would give when I told her the same thing.
Deep in the back of my mind, I know why they act that way. Both of them are hoping for the day where me and Blake get together. I’m pretty sure they have been hoping for that day since we were teenagers, but it hasn’t happened and by the way things have been going, it never will.
While, my heart still beats for Blake, I’m too stubborn to let him know. It’s not only me, though, Blake doesn’t see me in that light anymore, because if he did, he would have said something.
It took him years to tell you that he saw you differently the first time, he might be doing the same thing now.
As much as I want to believe my mind that that is the case here, I don’t think that I can.
I’ve lived with that thought process since we moved to Chicago two years ago, hell, I’ve probably been thinking that well before then, and I can’t continue living with it. It isn’t far to me to hold onto something that isn’t there. As much as I don’t want to, I have to move on from Blake, no matter how much my heart hates me for it. No matter how much my head tells me that maybe one day, I might get the courage to tell him how I feel, how he makes my heart sing. I can’t continue to wait for that one day to possibly happen. We’re best friends, we’re roommates, and that’s probably all we will ever be.
“Sophia.” Patty’s voice pulls me out of my head. “I want you to be happy. So of course, it’s awesome that you found interest in someone. My son may not like it because he has always been protective of you, but this isn’t about him. This about you. And as long as you are happy, I’m happy for you. I will be rooting for you and…”
“Elijah. His name is Elijah,” I finish for her.
“Elijah. I like that. Hopefully, it can go somewhere,” she says, giving me a wink.
I smile back at her. “Yeah, hopefully.”
Our attention is brought back to the game with the buzzer goes off singling that a goal has been made.
My first look is to the ice, and I see the Florida players celebrating. My shoulders sag a little, when I see that the game is now tied, with six minutes left on the clock.
