Page 13 of Finding the Forward: Part Two
Chapter Four
Grif
Nerves shot through me as I entered the arena full of skate smash fans wearing both Manhattan Maimers and Boston Blockingjays jerseys.
Dean had outsourced my big romantic gesture to the Knights group chat. Apparently, the Maimers had glitter-bombed our locker room. They’d also hidden a bunch of our equipment after defacing it with Maimers stickers.
The team consensus was that something needed to be done in front of the Maimers before our equipment managers quit. Sure, the Maimers were going on the road, but if anyone could wreak havoc from afar, it would be them.
Now, here I was. Alone. Wearing an unofficialTeam Momjersey that Carlos’ brother-in-law’s print shop made me while carrying a handmade sign and a teddy bear.
Skate smash was all about the nicknames. There were lots of signs forHave No Mercy, Grievous Bodily Charm, Rusty Nails,and the like. The fact that Verity had a nickname all her own only cemented that she wasn’t simply their underage rookie’s chaperone, she was one of them.
In skate smash, if you fucked with one of them, you fucked with the whole team. Considering it was even rougher than hockey, that was quite a threat.
I squeezed past an empty seat and two teenage girls, one wearing Mercy’s jersey, the other Kaiko’s. They both had long, colorful nails, big hoop earrings, lots of glow necklaces and smelled of fake strawberries.
Beside the girls was an empty seat, then mine. The seats were directly behind the Maimers’ bench, only the glass separating us. It felt odd to be here but not playing. The same family owned both our team and the Maimers’, so we shared not only the training facility but also the ice, benches, and stands.
On the other side of me sat a bunch of women a little older than me, who sounded like they’d started drinking a few hours ago.
One of the teenagers I’d passed to get to my seat eyed my sign and jersey. Her eyelashes were done in Manhattan Maimers colors–red and black. She made a face. “Gross. You know she’s taken, right?”
“Um, I do. She’s mine. I’m surprising her tonight.” I grinned at them even though my belly twisted a little, hoping those words still held true.
“Um,no.She’s dating some sports dude. What does he play?” The other one snapped her gum. Her ponytail had Maimers colors andblinking lights.
“Ice Rugby, maybe?” The first one shrugged.
Two more teenagers, one with their cat-eared hoodie up, the other wearing a beanie, entered the row heading towards the ones sitting next to me. One carried hot-chip nachos, popcorn, and a lime whirl with a bendy straw. The other had dinosaur-shaped pizza nuggets and ice cream.
“We’re sitting here? You’re shitting my dick,” the one with the hoodie up said as she handed the first girl the ice cream. She, too, had glow necklaces.
The girl with the red and black eyelashes took the ice cream and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Told you my pops got us good seats.”
“This is better than a blowjob from a dinosaur. I’ve never sat this close before.” The guy in the beanie handed the second girl the nachos and sat on the far empty seat.
Wow, they made me feel old. I didn’t understand half of what they’d said.
The hoodied one sat next to me, bumping my leg. “Sorry, dude.” She looked over and sucked in a breath. “Fuck me dead and bury me preggers. You’re Grif Graf.”
“Shit.” The guy leaned over and waved. “Hey, Grif Graf.”
“Who?” The girl with the eyelashes blinked.
“The chief whacker of haters for the New York Hits People with Sticks,” the guy added.
“We saw him last night on TV. He scoredthreegoals and gave Team Mom the jersey,” the girl next to me with the blinking ponytail added. “Wow, dude. What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for her.” I gestured to the sign. “She made me a sign the first time she came to one of my games.”
“Oh.” The one with the ponytail snapped her gum. “You’re her actual sports dude. Huh.”
That’s all I got? Ahuh?I did like being referred to as thechief whacker of haters. Maybe I should add that to my social media profile. Along withsports dude.
“Can we get a selfie?” The beanie guy held up his phone.
The lights blinked, and an announcer’s voice boomed, “Welcome to tonight’s game featuring the Manhattan Maimers and the Boston Blockingjays. It’s blanket toss night, with all blankets going to the crisis units for the Manhattan Omega Center and the New York City Police. Tonight’s special guests are the Brooklyn Blankets, our local all-omega skate smash team.”
