Page 24 of Fresh Ice
“Let’s order something. I can’t be bothered to make stuff right now. Should I Grubhub while you talk to your dad?”
“Nah, I don’t need to talk to him today,” Alonso brushed off.
Levy stared at his phone fastidiously. “Oh, yeah, I’d noticed that he only calls you when we lose. What’s up with that?”
Alonso managed not to roll his eyes at Levy’s lack of subtlety. “Well, what’s he supposed to say after a win? Well done? You rock?”
Levy looked at him like he was crazy. “Uh, yeah?”
“I can’t learn anything from a ‘good job.’”
“I mean…not every conversation with your dad has to be a learning experience. And anyway, getting complimented builds up confidence. It’s notuseless.”
Alonso shrugged. “It’s fine. I don’t need to be coddled.”
“I wouldn’t call congratulating someone after a wincoddling.”
Alonso clenched his teeth, irritation making his jaw ache. “I don’t know what you want me to do about it.” Not everybody could be as good as Levy—as deserving of praise.
“I don’t know, maybe don’t pick up the phone when he calls after a loss,” Levy suggested.
Alonso was startled into a laugh, although it sounded hollow in his ears. “That’s…I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
Alonso opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, words choking his throat. “Because…I can’t. Can we drop this?” he mumbled.
Levy sighed. “Okay, whatever you want. I just, like…I don’t know. Don’t like seeing you sad or whatever.”
Out of everything Levy had said, that stumped Alonso the most. “I’m not sad.”
Levy side-eyed him. “I mean, sure.”
Levy dropped the topic that day, but Alonso should have known that wouldn’t be the end of it. From then on, Levy dragged Alonso into his conversations with his parents after games, be it a win or a loss.
Alonso knew it wasn’t a coincidence that the chats with Levy’s parents after losses would always take place immediately after Alonso talked with his dad, but it was difficult to be ungrateful.
Sometimes, Levy would even leave Alonso alone with the iPad, claiming he had to shower or go to the bathroom. Alonso would sit there with Levy’s parents talking to him like he was part of the family, and he never knew what to feel.
They were so supportive it made him ache.
Yeah, being invited into the obvious love they had for each other was amazing, but it also called up grief for something he’d never had. For something he hadn’t even known he wanted.
“You don’t have to force me on your parents, you know,” Alonso said one time after a particularly long conversation in which Levy’s mom had told him all about a movie she had watched, about a recipe she was making, about her own mom. It had been intimate and moving to have someone share that kind of stuff with him, but it was overwhelming, too.
Alonso wasn’t sure if he deserved their kindness. It wasn’t like he had been particularly open with Levy.
“Dude, fuck off. They love you. They’d kill me if I didn’t let them talk to you,” Levy said so genuinely, Alonso could only blush and turn away.
More than anything, talking to Levy’s parents made Alonso realise how generous Levy was. How active he insisted on being in making other people happy. In taking care of them.
Alonso was completely self-centred compared to him. He was so involved in his own insecurities that he didn’t often think about how he affected other people.
Being Levy’s friend made him want to change that.
CHAPTER FIVE
Alonso sank into the booth as he watched Levy flirt with a petite Omega at the bar. Around Alonso’s table, the rest of the guys were talking loudly at something or other, but his head was too fuzzy with alcohol to follow the conversation.
