Page 10 of Punchline
“I’ve got practice in the mornings,” Ethan said. “But I can be here by five on Tuesday and Thursday. Sundays are totally open.”
Today was a Tuesday, so… “This Thursday, then?”
“Perfect.”
“Great.” I held my hand out and he shook it firmly. “And you’ve got homework,” I told him. “I want you to bring in three videos of hockey fights that stand out to you, and we’ll analyze them together and look at what works and what doesn’t. I’m learning here too—fighting on ice knives sounds like hell to me, so I want to make sure I don’t steer you wrong.”
His expression softened a little. “That’s nice of you.”
“Don’t sound so surprised,” I joked.
“I’m not—I mean, I’m not surprised you’re nice, you look—nice. Really, um, nice.” He shook his head. “Okay, I’m gonna go, but it was good to meet you and see you in two days.” He spun around and headed for the edge of the mat, getting his shit together in record time. “Bye, Carson!” he called out as he left the gym.
“See ya, Berns,” Carson called out as he came out of the office. We watched him leave, and then Carsonturned to me with a huge grin on his face. “Dude! That was hard to watch.”
I frowned at him. “He’s not that bad,” I protested.
“Not the moves,” Carson said with a groan. “The crush!”
“What?” I wasn’t following.
“Ha, you can’t be that blind.” Carson’s grin dropped away. “Oh damn, you actually are. Jake. Ethan isintoyou.”
“No he’s not,” I said immediately, because Carson had to be wrong.
“Yeah, he is,” he replied. “I’ve hung out with him at our place, I’ve watched him skate dozens of times, I’ve seen him with fans, and he’sneveracted like that before.”
“Like what?”
“Like a guy who’s so into the person he’s looking at that he forgets to breathe.”
“He was breathing just fine,” I muttered, but… now that I thought about it… “Shit, really?”
“Yeah, really! His whole ramble about you being ‘nice’ at the end there, I thought he was going to swallow his tongue.”
“Should I stop working with him, then?” Crushes happened in classes all the time, but Ethan was a private client. I wanted to make sure he got what he needed out of our sessions, and if he was distracted by being around me…
Or if I’m distracted being around him, let’s be honest.
Carson, to his credit, took my question seriously. “I think it’ll probably be okay. You’ll get used to each other and find a groove. And if it becomes, like, athing, just let me know. I can step in and help if you need it.”
Well, shit. “You’re a better friend than I deserve.”
Carson clapped my shoulder. “I’m exactly the kind of friend you deserve. And hey, Beth has the mat tonight. Youcan join me and Marek for dinner and watch his brother kick ass in tonight’s game.”
Or I could go back to my apartment and eat dinner alone, then listen to a podcast on self-actualization and do some journaling like my therapist suggested I do every day. Then again… Ididneed to learn more about hockey. “Sounds good.”
If I was really going to help Ethan out, then I needed to learn as much as I could about his sport. It would be a nice break from agonizing over my own.
CHAPTER 5
ETHAN
Before I’d left practice to go to my first lesson with Jake, Marek had texted me about hanging out at his and Carson’s place to watch the Seattle Rainiers game on TV. Of course I’d agreed to come, because hello, when was I going to say no to watching hockey? Especially when it meant listening to Marek chirp at his brother through the screen. Those two were such brothers, it was hilarious, and when Jan would text Marek during intermissions, it was almost as entertaining as the game itself.
So, yeah, no shit I was going to their place.
But maybe he could’ve mentioned that I wasn’t theonlyone invited to hang out and watch the game.
