Page 61 of Role Model

Harris: Ha. This house is the opposite of quiet.

Troy smiled at that, and wished Harris was with him, filling his lonely apartment with earsplitting laughter. While he tried to think of something to write back, Harris wrote, I actually just stepped outside for a moment. It’s totally calm and peaceful out here.

Then he sent a photo. Snow was gently falling on a giant yard, with trees behind. Troy could see Harris’s truck off to one side.

He wanted Harris to send a picture of himself. He wanted to see him with snowflakes in his hair. He just wanted to see him.

Troy: Looks nice.

Harris: Perfect Christmas weather.

Harris: But I’m looking forward to being in Florida next week.

That message was followed by a string of palm tree emojis. Troy had almost forgotten that Harris would be joining the team on their road trip down south. The thought warmed him more than the Florida sun probably would.

Troy: Me too.

In an attempt to be cute, Troy added a flamingo emoji.

Harris didn’t reply, which meant Troy spent most of his Christmas Day staring at that damn flamingo. Finally, around nine o’clock at night, Harris wrote, Just got home. Did you do anything fun today?

Troy sat up from where he’d been lying on the couch, grinning like a loon, and wrote, I called my mom, which was true and sounded cooler than I spent the whole day hoping you’d text me again.

Harris: Aw. Where is she today?

Troy: Brisbane. Australia.

Harris: Holy shit, really? I’ve always wanted to go there.

Troy had never given much thought to going to Australia himself. The few times he’d traveled for non-hockey reasons, it had been to Mexico or the Caribbean with teammates. He and Adrian used to make vague plans to go to Hawaii together one day.

Harris: I love Australian accents.

Troy smiled and wrote, G’day, which was close to flirting without being too obvious about it.

Harris: If you’re trying to seduce me, it’s working.

Heat raced up Troy’s neck, but he laughed and wrote, LOL to let Harris know that he wasn’t taking that seriously. His dick was, but Troy wasn’t.

They texted back and forth for over an hour, and in that hour Troy saw at least eight emojis that he hadn’t even known existed.

All in all, it was one of his best Christmases.

Chapter Thirteen

“Stop working so fucking much!”

Harris grinned up at Bood from his plane seat. “I can’t! A big win like that means I have a ton of work to do.”

Bood clapped him hard on the shoulder and continued down the aisle, already yelling something at Luca Haas.

It was the first week of January, and the Centaurs had started their road trip with a huge 4-1 afternoon win in Raleigh and were now headed to Tampa Bay. Tomorrow would be a day off they were all looking forward to, away from the frigid winter weather of Ottawa. Despite the fact that everyone who’d played in the game was probably exhausted, the plane was a party at the moment.

Harris was joining in as best he could, but he also had his laptop in front of him, and was working hard updating the team’s various accounts, replying to fans, and taking phone videos of the celebrations happening on the plane. He’d edit them so nothing too personal was posted online.

He was sitting alone because he wasn’t being much fun at the moment, but he was enjoying the whooping and hollering all around him. Some people liked listening to rainfalls or birds chirping to relax, but Harris always felt most at ease when surrounded by happy people.

“First star of the night: Troy B-B-B-Barrett!” Bood called out.

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