Page 14 of Puck Shots
“No, nothing like that. She’s actually a forensic scientist.”
“Cool,” Cosmo says as the waitress delivers the check. “So you got to like work on real crimes and stuff over summer?”
“Sort of,” I reply, and reach for my wallet.
“I got this,” Luka says, grabbing the cheque.
“I can pay for mine,” I offer, but Chang shakes his head, and Cosmo slings his arm over my shoulder again, sending a flurry of butterflies through my stomach. The way his body heat radiates through me where we touch, makes me lose all focus for a moment. Is he talking? I should be listening. Wait, what did he say?
“Huh?” I say, and Cosmo laughs.
“Luka always pays; his family is like private jet rich.”
“Yeah, I don’t mind, really. I can afford it.”
“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should,” I reply, and that gets them all looking square at me again.
“You know what, you’re right. Pony up, boys. Luka, tonight dinner is on us,” Cosmo says, and I fish a twenty out of my wallet and add it to the pile on the table, then grab a five to put in for Luka’s meal, too, and Cosmo pulls back his arm and climbs from the booth.
“I’m headed back to the house, how about you guys?” he asks as I slide out to follow, but the rest of them shake their heads.
“Whistle Blue’s playing on stage in a bit. I’ll stay for a song or two and see you back there,” Luka says, and the guys all say the same and settle in, waving over the waitress to order a round of drinks.
“Looks like it’s just you and me,” Cosmo says, and I try not to show him how happy I really am at the thought of us walking under the stars together all the way back to the frat house.
He could have stayed when they said they were hanging out to watch a band, but he didn’t. He wanted to walk back with me. It’s no big deal, right? Except, I think I really want it to be?
We’re walking for a few minutes before he says anything. The silence is usually where I find my peace. In this setting, alone with Cosmo walking in the dark together back to the house, silence is making my heart race faster and my palms get all sweaty. I shove my hands in my pockets.
“So, how did you enjoy your prize?” Cosmo asks.
“I found it pretty interesting, actually.”
He laughs. “I’ve never really heard anyone describe hockey practice as interesting.”
“Well it was to me.”
“Was it the way I kicked everyone’s butts racing up the ice?”
“Yeah, it was. I’m not sure what you know about physics, but it’s about so many different things, and one thing is movement. Like the way you move on the ice and how it differs from the way the other guys do. I think I have you figured out,” I say, and he’s suddenly a lot closer than I thought, his arm brushing against mine as we walk and sending ripples of warmth through my thin jacket.
“I’m not sure I have you figured out just yet.”
“I’m not that complicated,” I reply, pushing my glasses back up my nose, and he nudges my side. When I turn to look his way, I find him so close. He holds my gaze for what feels like forever, those piercing blue-gray eyes boring into my soul. I have to stop staring. I’ll freak him out, and he’s basically the only guy in the house that doesn’t look at me like they’re wondering what the fuck I am doing there. I mean, I know his brother asked him tokeep an eye out for me, as a favor to my brother, but this feels like more than a favor.
The toe of my shoe catches on a raised crack in the sidewalk. Time slows, my arms flail as an audible gasp escapes my mouth. My legs scramble to catch up with the forward motion of my body before gravity can take hold. Then, his arms wrap around me, surrounding me in his warmth as we spin together in place, before down we go. Gravity almost always wins.
Only as I lay there on top of him, his strong arms still holding me tight, hovering mere inches above those gorgeous lips, I can’t help but think, maybe, just this once, I might be the real winner here.
5
Cosmo
“Welcome, pledges, to Boston University’s Kappa Omicron Kappa house,” Leo Salamander and president of KOK says via megaphone, waking up the pledges in the rec room with a start. The rest of us KOK brothers crowd behind Leo watching. “Your journey starts today, and if you thought getting through the front door was enough, you are sorely mistaken,” he continues. I remember this speech. I heard it last year. Well, most of it. Mom always said I’d sleep through the end of the world. It took two brothers tipping my air mattress on its side to finally wake me.
I smile at the memory as I watch the new pledges climb out of bed and rub their eyes awake. The next four weeks, these guys will be put through their paces, used for every menial task in the house, and also tested on the history and rules of Kappa Omicron Kappa. I remember Eli rattling off rule seventeen when those guys were hassling him. If he really has the other rules down, too, he’s a step ahead of the pack, but it’s not just aboutdoing everything you’re told and knowing how this place works, it’s about building connections with the guys who live here. Fuck, it’s probably the only reason I got in. I think I got three of the rule questions wrong and was the first to skip out on the gross jobs the second a brother turned their back. It was the friends I made in those few weeks though that scored me my place, I think. Eli’s not like most of the guys in the house. But he can make them see that’s a good thing. Like last night. It was kind of adorable watching him struggle to stay on top of all the conversations. When he looked completely lost, I just had to whisper a few tips in his ear.
“Flash here has your assignments,” Leo says, and I jump up onto the box beside him, which just happens to be the box at the foot of Eli’s bed.
