Page 135 of Two Guys One Puck
Seaborn: A lot.
Seaborn: What are you going to do when I’m playing professionally and guys are picking fights all the time?
Ktytor: Wait until my team plays them and murder them.
Seaborn: I don’t think your coach will like that.
Ktytor: I don’t care.
Seaborn: You’re incorrigible.
Ktytor: I’m not looking that up. I have to play.
Seaborn: Good luck. Don’t disappoint me and lose.
Ktytor: I can’t believe you even think that’s a possibility, ???????.
FORTY-ONE
SEABORN
“Funny seeing you here,” I say as Ktytor takes a seat in the box next to me.
He laughs. “Did you hit your head, baby doll, and somehow not remember you punched me first?”
“You deserved it,” I snap back.
“I deserved it? You’ve been up my ass all game,” he growls, and I have to bite back a laugh, not wanting to seem too unhinged.
The fans around the box are always listening. We’re two periods into the ECAC Conference championship, tied 0-0, so Ktytor and I get heated, but instead of the rage I’ve felt during other games, I’m not mad at all. He absolutely deserved the punch I threw, though. And with the way he smiles through our whole fight, he enjoys every second of it and pushing me there.
“You heard me. You pushed my buttons until I hit you.” I side-eye him.
He smirks. “Is my job. Maybe you should learn to control your temper.”
“I won’t be doing that.”And you don’t want me to either, I finish in my head.
They win the game in a last minute goal but it’s not Ktytor who scores.
We line up to congratulate them.
“Told you we’d win,” Ktytor whispers when he gets to me. “You owe me.”
“I do, and don’t worry. We’ll beat you to win the Frozen Four.”
“Not on your life.”
A week later,Ktytor sits next to the hospital bed in the middle of the living room, whispering back and forth with my father while we wait for the official NHL Central Scouting rankings to publish. We have ESPN on and keep refreshing our phones, but nothing yet.
He hands my father more food as they laugh, thick as fucking thieves. We’re here for spring break, but it’s only for a few days because we go right into the Frozen Four regionals when we get back.
My father is home in hospice care, and I’m glad the season is almost over so I can be here as much as possible. My teachers told me I could do the rest of my work online, too. So once the season is done, I can focus here.
I’m glad Ktytor could get away with me, even if it’s short because I won’t see him again until school’s over unless we play again during the Frozen Four. Then, depending on what happens, we might have a month or two to spend together before going our separate ways to camps, so we’ve got to hold on to every moment we can get together. And I don’t know how my dad will be doing. Everything feels like a sprint right now and I just want it to slow down.
“Are you going to tell him?” Emily asks, taking a seat next to me.
“Do you think I should?”
