Page 2 of Just One Season

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I pull my bag onto my lap and slide my phone out to check new texts, which are unsurprisingly all in a group chat with my best friends. It’s been over a decade since the three of us left James Madison University in Virginia, but we’re still close, even though we’re scattered all over.

January

How’s your revenge plan going, babes? Show your dad what’s what yet?

Raleigh

I can’t believe you really left DC. I never thought that would happen! How’s Max?

Me

Who’s Max?

Raleigh

…Ron’s dog? Er, your dog?

Raleigh

Also, shouldn’t we really want revenge on Ron since he’s the one who cheated on you?

Me

We hate him too, sis, but I have thirty-three years of resentment for my father overshadowing a two-year relationship with Ron

Me

Also, he goes by Waffles now. Or Zeus

January

You’re going to give that animal trauma by changing its name every other day

Me

Here’s Waffles/Zeus

I snap a quick photo of Waffles/Zeus and send it to my friends, biting back a grin and glancing up briefly to watch the hockey players gather around the coach on the ice.

Me

How unoriginal was Ron to name his dog Max? I mean, no wonder he’s a miscreant

January

This is a case of nurture, not nature

The coach claps his hands five times in quick succession and the noise echoes in the quiet arena, startling me.

And apparently my dog.

Waffles/Zeus leaps into the air and sprints along the glass barrier, pulling the leash right off my lap.

“No! Hey!” I stand and lunge, my phone clattering to the ground along with my bag, which spills my laptop, a notebook, various pens, a stack of tissues, and god knows what else onto the ground.

Waffles/Zeus doesn’t just run, he also barks like a freaking mad man. Mad dog?

“Waffles! Hey! Shit!” I push my wayward red curls from my eyes as I stumble over my belongings and after him.

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