Page 19 of Our Bender

“You guys are so fucking weird,” Duke muttered. “Got any extra food? Claire’s going to her sister’s for dinner. She’s pissed at me,” he said with a sigh. “Casey could have warned me directly on the phone that she was goin’ there instead of being so damn mysterious.” Claire’s sister, Addie, was married to Casey. Duke stalked into our kitchen without being invited and grabbed up one of our Chinese food containers, then started opening and closing our drawers, searching for silverware.

“What’d you do?” I asked, slowly getting up. I needed to get some food for myself before they ate everything.

He tore off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. “I said something dumb but it wasn’t eventhatbad. I’ve said a lot of dumber shit,” he admitted.

I snorted at that. He really wasn’t the best with his words, but neither was she. Their competitive streaks were not their friends sometimes.

“She won’t even answer her phone now,” he continued. “She texted that she doesn’t want to eat in my presence. That’s so unlike her. I think she’s stressed with skating stuff again. I fucking hate figure skating, dude. She’s retired one day, she’s not the next. She won the fucking Olympics. What more does she want with the sport?”

I cocked my head to the side, weighing the resentment in his words. He was there for her through the last few years of her skating journey, even opting to miss games last season to be at her important events, including the Olympics– which she did win.

I cleared my throat, trying to choose my words carefully and not make his relationship mess any stickier. “Have you asked her? Have you thought maybe she wants to fully retire but she’s scared of what comes next? Hell, I’m scared as shit about change. How would you feel about retiring right now?”

“Yeah, dude,” Garcia scoffed. “I’d be scared. The rink is all we know.”

“Yeah,” Hassik agreed. We all waited for him to add something else, but he shoved a forkful in his mouth. He was truly a man of few words. He was so quiet I forgot he was even around sometimes.

Duke swallowed hard, but stayed silent, telling me he really hadn’t communicated any of this with her.

“Well, I wouldn’t let that go too far,” I advised him.

He looked up at me with tired eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you should go to Casey’s. Go eat with her right now. Go apologize. Be very calm.” I heard my old friend’s voice in my head as I said, “Don’t get mad at her, reassure her.”

He pushed the food away from him and dropped his fork. “You think?”

“Yeah, and ask Casey for advice. He went through most of Addie’s skating career with her. I remember them talking about it when I was a kid. I mean, he fucked shit up with her for a bit, but they figured it all out. He might have some advice.” I shrugged. “Worth a try.”

His face went blank. “You really think I should go there now?”

I nodded.

His jaw set with a look of determination. He pushed his chair back and power-walked to the door, looking like a man on a mission. Hassik and Garcia stupidly started clapping for him.

“Let us know how it goes!” I yelled right as he threw our door shut behind him.

“Well boys,” Hassik said, looking at me and Garcia seriously. “Fortune time!”

Hockey players were known to be superstitious, but the public only knows half of it. We’re freaks about it. We can’t mention any team doing bad, because the next game against us, they’ll crush us. We can’t mention our stats against a certain team or that we feel we’re gonna get a goal aloud, because all of that will make the opposite happen. My biggest issue was that I needed to be the last person touching the ice. That wouldn’t be a problem if I was talking only about my own team, because everyone would respect it and let me have the last step… but other teams have picked up on it now, and they try to fuck with me just to get personal. Now I end up going back to the locker room to sit for a minute fully dressed and then sneak back out to touch the ice again, just in case.

“Mine says, ‘good things are coming, just keep swimming.’” Garcia’s face cracked in confusion. “I think they stole that fromFinding Nemo.” He shrugged and went back to eating.

Hassik opened his fortune and his face paled. “You will soon receive a letter from your lost love.” His eyes bounced between us.

“Shittt,” Garcia said with a tight grimace on his face.

Hassik did not need to be reminded of his lost love right now. As our goalie, he needed extreme focus. Just mentioning his ex-girlfriend’s name sent him into a downward tailspin, meaning he’d lock himself in his room and listen to old emo ballads and attempt to play really horrible guitar tunes for days on end. Actually, that better not happen because I’m pretty sure Garcia hid Hassik’s guitar after the last time and probably doesn’t remember where he even put it.

Hassik visibly gulped. “Do you think Fr-”

“Nope,” I cut him off with a stern look. “Remember the rules of the loft,” I reminded him. Number two on our list was that the name “Francesca” was banned from being uttered aloud.

I quickly cracked open my own fortune cookie to change the subject.

I carefully read the little paper once in my head to make sure I had it right, then cleared my throat. “Beware of strange changes in the last days of the year. Bad luck will haunt you to allow for good fortune in the new year.” I flicked the tiny piece of paper away from me and rubbed my forehead. “Fuck guys. This sucks.”

“Tough break,” Garcia said, but the fucker had a giddy smile on his face.

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