Page 15 of Wrong Pucking Jersey

“You love me!”

“A shame that I do,” I admit and take my shot. “Fuck. We’re going to feel this in the morning.”

“Better than staying home! We’re supposed to get shit-faced after getting the news we both got internships! What sports team do you think we’re going to get?”

“I mean, if we get hockey, that would be pretty cool since we’ll stay here,” I admit. “Then again, we could get baseball and head to Toronto to watch the Blue Jays prep for their season.”

“Not just watch,” Mack emphasizes. “We’re nurses, Mickey! The team nurse at that. Imagine... surrounded by tall, muscled beasts all the time until one of them is injured. Then you get to run to their aid, in slow motion, like a Babe Watch Rescue Mission, and give them CPR!”

“Why do I feel like you’re confusing us with lifeguards?” I point out but smile back at her. The alcohol is really getting to her head now, which only encourages these tangents of hers.

“It’s the same shit,” she brushes it off. “We just run with a stethoscope around our neck instead of lugging some floaty thing to save the drowning player.”

“No player is drowning in a field of grass.”

“Skating rink could crack and boom. Hockey players sinking to their doom.”

“You’ve been watching too much Final Destination.”

“Nah! They wouldn’t die! That’s why we’re here!”

“Girl, we’re nurses, not life-saving doctors.”

“Hey, nurses save lives, too. We all remember that pandemic that had us shut down for three years. It was thanks to us nurses who went over and beyond to save the day, or else the whole healthcare infrastructure would have collapsed and burned to hell.”

She may have a point.

She continued explaining to me the importance of our roles as nurses and all the various possibilities in our hands now that we’d been accepted into our internships.

We’d find out where we’re being placed at the new Strattonville Stadium, which replaced our very outdated stadium and was only possible because the Toronto Maple Leafs funded it. I guess they were hoping to help build another Canadian team from the ground up, even if it meant they would have to face them at some point, but with every province investing in new hockey teams, this could be the new trend of 2025 that spreads throughout the sports industry across the globe.

Which means more team nurse positions.

I’m about to take my third shot when I pause midway.

The music is playing in the background, the familiar song stealing me away from whatever Mack is saying because it’s that special.

Used to be special.

My head moves over to where the little dance floor is, knowing well I won’t see the man I’m searching for, yearning for—all thanks to one song.

My eyes are teasing me, though.

Right there, in the middle of all these bodies of drunken men and women, stands the man I haven’t seen in five fucking years.

The man I texted last night, saying how much I missed him and our similar taste in music.

My Heartbreaker King.

The leader of our crew, which ended up parting ways.

My other ex…

To think he’s standing there, all 6’5” of him. Honestly, he looks a bit taller compared to when I last saw him, but from this distance, he’s sinfully delicious in all black.

His eyes have always been the true thief of my attention, and tonight is no exception. Gold like honeycomb, with hints of black, green, and brown. They call to my soul, just like his presence makes my heart hammer in haste and my body hum in urgency to be in his personal space.

I only ever felt this connection with one person.

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