Page 15 of Our Offseason

I pushed myself to stand tall. She hated that I was now taller and could look down at her. She only made it up to my chest these days, and I loved it. I felt like her protector. “Says me,” I said firmly.

She laughed in my face and turned on her heel. “Oh, Duke. You’re funny,” she said as she walked away.

I felt my face burn red and I was momentarily rooted to the spot.

She was moving quickly toward the workout room, and that pushed me to follow her.

“I wasn’t trying to be funny, Kessel. I’m serious. We should go back to class,” I urged as I fell in step with her.

“Youcan go if you want. No one’s stopping you.” She pushed the small workout room open.

I felt my eyebrows knit together. Was she planning on working out?

She pulled the mat and a muscle roller out, lined them up against the white cinderblock wall, then laid down and closed her eyes.

“What are you…?”

“I’m sleeping,” she burst out. “Shhh.”

I strolled over to sit down next to her. “But what if someone comes?” I whispered.

She huffed with her eyes still tightly closed. “I am so tired that I do not care, Duke.”

That felt like a punch to the gut. I felt bad she wasn’t getting enough sleep. What had Griff told me over the summer? Sometimes you didn’t know what people were going through at home, so make sure you were always nice to everyone…? Something like that.

Her breath fell into a relaxed rhythm, and I knew she was sleeping… So I took the opportunity to smooth her braid out. Now that I was alone with her, I could admit that she was so pretty. The prettiest girl in the world. She was like an angel. My angel.

I sat there keeping a look out for her almost the whole hour. I kept my brain busy by going through hockey plays. When there was about ten minutes left, I shook her small shoulder to wake her up.

She rolled up to a sitting position against the wall. “I didn’t hear the bell,” she complained as she rubbed her eyes.

“Ten minutes left,” I told her. “So you’ve been doing this every day?”

“Yeah.” She cut her serious hazel eyes to mine and pointed an accusing finger at my chest. “You tell anyone, Duke Callahan, and you’re a dead man,” she warned.

“Nah,” I chuckled. “Your secret's safe with me. But… why aren’t you getting enough sleep?”

She twisted her lips, assessing me, then reached toward me to brush her dainty fingers through my hair. My heart pounded hard against my chest. She’d never really touched me like this before.

“Your hair gets lighter in the summer, you know that? Right here on the edges especially.” She touched some corner strands that I knew were sticking up. While I knew she was just trying to avoid telling me the reason why, that was the first compliment she’d ever given me… and I suddenly cared a lot about my hair. Weird.

“I’ll miss it when it’s mostly brown again,” she said with a slight pout on her face.

Great. Now I didn’t want it to get brown again either. I shook my head out. “You didn’t answer my question.”

She sighed and turned away from me. “My parents scream at each other all night. They’re getting divorced.” She hesitantly looked back at me to see my reaction.

I felt my mouth form an o but wasn’t sure what to say.

“Don’t tell anyone,” she demanded in the usual tone she regarded me with. But I could tell there was worry in her eyes. She stuck out her pinky. “Pinky promise me, Duke Michael Callahan.”

I rolled my eyes at her use of my middle name. Sav yelled at me a while back in the rink using my full name and Claire was within earshot. She never forgot it. I quickly reached out to wrap my pinky around hers. “No, I won’t tell. Promise.”

“Pinky promises are forever,” she sing-songed.

“Yeah, I know,” I said as we dropped our hands apart. “But you sure this is safe here?” I gestured to the weight room around us. In the back of my mind, I heard my dad lecturing my sister and I about always sticking together and making sure we didn't go anywhere alone…

She shrugged. “It’s fine.” Then she quickly hopped to her feet and did a handstand against the wall. “I come here all the time. I belong in the gym more than in English class.”

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