Page 12 of Puck Shots
Luka calls out, “Flash, it’s coming to you,” then sends a puck flying across the ice ahead of him. Cosmo collects it on the way up and then sends it into the back of the net raising his hands in triumph as he slows and skims around the back of the net, meeting Luka at the side.
“I’m done, boys,” he says, and the others finish their last run and join him at the edge. Most of the guys head into the tunnel, but one of them pulls off his helmet and nods my way. My stomach flips as a few heads snap toward where I’m sitting. Cosmo just smiles and waves, sending a swirl of butterfliesthrough me instead, as I feel my lips pull up into a smile, too. He says something to them that I can’t make out, and they turn away and walk past him into the tunnel.
“We’ll be about ten minutes, just have to shower,” he calls up to me, and I nod and wrap my arms around myself, the room suddenly so much colder now that he’s gone.
I wait out the front of the rink, contemplating ditching and heading back to the house. He doesn’t really want me hanging out with him and his friends. What will I even talk to them about? I struggle at home talking with Dad and John, too. Mom’s always been the one I connected with more and it had nothing to do with being gay, and everything to do with her being a forensic scientist. While John never wanted to know anything about what Mom did for work, I begged her for weeks to let me watch her in the lab. Strict protocols meant I had to stay outside and watch through the window of an adjoining office, but it still flamed my love of science.
A couple of guys come out, jump into cars and leave, none of them paying me much mind. Maybe they left already, and this is like a hazing thing. Invite the pledge out and then ditch him. I wouldn’t even mind, not really. Watching Cosmo on the ice was the highlight of my day. I can still picture him flying down the rink, miles ahead of the rest of them. I close my eyes and rest my head back against the brick wall, picturing it again. Imagining the way his body moves in a perfect combination of strength and control.
“Are you asleep?” Cosmo asks, and I laugh as I open my eyes.
“If I was, I could hardly reply now, could I?”
He shrugs. “You could talk in your sleep for all I know.”
“That’s true.”
“So you do?”
“Do what?”
“Talk in your sleep.”
“Not that I know of, but I could. I wasn’t sleeping, though. Just…” I can’t exactly tell him I was picturing his strong thick thighs propelling him down the ice. “Umm, relaxing, you know, while I waited for you.”
“Cool. Well, you remember Luka,” he says, and Luka nods and smiles my way. The rest of the guys look really confused to see me waiting for them.
“Yeah, hey, umm, thanks for inviting me.”
“Thanks for finding the president’s lacrosse stick before he got home and kicked Flash out of the house for good.” Luka laughs, and we start walking towards a neon sign that reads,The Rook.
I follow them in, weaving between tables until they crowd into a booth near the small stage set up in the back.
“In you go,” Cosmo says, gesturing to the booth seat circling the large round table.
“I can’t.”
“Why don’t your legs bend?”
“They do, I just… nevermind. It’s fine,” I say sliding into the seat, my heart racing the whole time.
I’ve never really been great with small spaces and the idea of being trapped between two guys, though the main attraction in more than one wet dream, is not really filling me with anything but terror right now. Cosmo slides in after me, and a huge red head sits on my other side.
“That’s Rover,” Cosmo introduces, and the redhead, Rover, leans back to offer me his hand.
“Hey,” he says, squeezing my fingers tight for a second before letting go.
“Hey.”
“And that’s Micky, Hewie, Pete, Chang, and Ferris, but these guys all call him Reddy, and Luka, of course,” he goes on to say, and each of them nod at their name and offer small smiles but little else.
“Guys, this is Eli, he’s a legacy at KOK, and the reason I’m still a brother, apparently.” That gets a few chuckles, and the waitress arrives and takes down our order. I keep mine simple, burger fries and an OJ, and then sit back as the English language morphs into some unknown sports slang.
“You were absolutely buzzing out there today, Flash,” Hewie says, reaching out to grab his diet coke as the waitress returns with our drinks.
Chang, who’s sitting on Cosmo’s right, slaps his hand on his shoulder.
“Bro, you were like a ghost out there, I couldn’t even catch up.”
