Page 28 of Time to Shine

“Excuse me,” he said, standing up as best he could. “I need to...”

Casey was still frowning. “Okay. You sure you’re not freaked out about—”

“No! I promise. I just need to use the bathroom.”

Mercifully, Casey stood and moved into the aisle. “Hey, Petey. How’s it going?”

“Not bad, killer. How are those knuckles?”

While Casey chatted with Pete Leandros, Landon made his escape to the bathroom. He generally hated airplane bathrooms because he didn’t fit in them at all, but at least he’d be alone.

When the door was safely locked behind him, he leaned against it and closed his eyes. Why did he have to be so uncool about everything? Why couldn’t he just enjoy the hospitality of a teammate who barely knew him without getting weird about it? Why would he be upset that Casey was going on a date with someone? Obviously—obviously—Landon had no right to be hurt. Casey was helping out a teammate, and it was absolutely not his fault that Landon was finding it hard to ignore things he hadn’t felt in ages. Things that swirled hopefully in all the empty places inside him.

If Landon were built differently, maybe he and Casey would hook up one night. Maybe one thing would lead to another, and they’d both say, “Hey, why not do this? Might be fun.” Maybe it wouldn’t mean anything more than watching TV together did; just something to do before bed.

But even imagining that filled Landon with so much anxiety he wanted to tear his skin off. He didn’t want to hook up with Casey.

So what the fuck did he want?

He supposed it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to get it. He needed to pull himself together, go back to his seat, and pretend to be a much more laidback person than he was.

At least he and Casey would be separated a bit on this trip. They were in different hotel rooms, and clearly Casey had his own plans for their free time. Maybe distance would clear Landon’s head.

But when he returned to his seat, and Casey smiled at him and randomly asked if he thought walruses were weird, Landon really doubted it.

Chapter Ten

“Aw, man,” Casey said as he bent next to Tristan Hoffman outside the faceoff circle, “the crowd sounds like they’d really like you guys to score a goal. Why are you letting them down like this?”

“Did I not punch you in the mouth hard enough the other night or something?” Tristan snarled.

“When did you hit me? Sorry, I didn’t notice.”

“You’ll notice in about five seconds if you don’t shut up.”

“Oh, I’ll be long gone in five seconds. If you manage to catch up with me, I’ll show you how to score a goal.”

Tristan didn’t get a chance to reply because the puck dropped, and Casey took off, as promised.

And, okay, he didn’t score a goal, but he did get the puck back to West at the point and he scored a goal, so not bad. It wasn’t a necessary goal, because the score was now 5-1 for Calgary, but it was an enjoyable one.

All in all, it had been another pretty excellent road trip for Casey. They’d lost in overtime in Seattle, which was annoying, but it had been a hard-fought game on both sides. And tonight’s trouncing of Vancouver had erased any pain from yesterday.

Casey’s night off had been fun too. He hadn’t been on a proper date in ages, and it had been nice having dinner with someone one-on-one. He liked Devon, and if they lived in the same city, maybe Casey would even consider going on more dates with him.

The sex had been top-notch too. Devon was very talented.

So the past couple of days had been decent. The only thing that had been a little off was Landon’s mood. The guy was quiet and not the least socially awkward person in the world, generally, but he seemed to be intentionally distancing himself from Casey on this trip. Casey tried not to read too much into it, but had Landon already had enough of him? Or was he more bothered by Casey’s sexuality than he was letting on?

He hoped not. It would make things weird when they got back home.

During a commercial break a few minutes later, Casey leaned on the boards in front of where Landon was sitting. “We could stop at a grocery store on the way home tonight. If you need anything.”

The game was a Sunday afternoon matinee, and the flight home directly after the game was a quick one. Casey found himself looking forward to relaxing at home with Landon.

“If you want,” Landon said. He only glanced quickly at Casey, and then away. “We don’t have to. I can go tomorrow.”

“I don’t mind.” Casey took a risk and tapped the brim of Landon’s ball cap with one gloved finger. “I heard there’s a Christmas version of Cap’n Crunch. I want it.”

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