Page 67 of Bad Pucking Roommate

“I saw that.” Niko shakes his head disapprovingly as he skates by me.

“Saw what?” Luca frowns as Tripp hops up and down from the bench shouting, “Me too. Next time skate around him in a full circle when you flash that sexy wink. He’s guaranteed to pop a boner.”

“Boners are bad in hockey.” Xander shakes his head at him.

“Come on, guys,” Noah groans as he skates toward the bench where we’ve all started to gather. “No winks, smiles or air kisses.”

“Air kisses?” Luca snorts. “That’s something you do to taunt the other team.”

“So is winking.” Niko points out. “The only acceptable gesture is a fist bump. Or a bro hug if you score. With the puck,” he says before Tripp can add his own commentary.

But Tripp is quick on his feet and has another retort ready to go. “Fist bumps are lame. Why not a little butt smack? You see those all the time in football and soccer.”

“You watch football and soccer?” Niko frowns at him.

“Have you seen the fine asses that fill out those football pants?Dayum.”

“Fair point,” Niko agrees, “but that isn’t really a thing in hockey. Fist bumps or bro hugs,” he repeats. “Anything more and Justus gets this lovesick little smile on his face.”

“I do not,” I object on instinct.

“You really do,” Xander shoots me a resigned look.

“Fuck,” I groan, and four heads swivel to face me with their jaws hanging open while Luca beams at me.

“You swear?” Noah asks.

“When he’s feeling overwhelmed.” Luca tries to choke back his smile, but not before I see him fighting it and break into a grin of my own.

“This is the problem,” Niko groans to Luca. “You’re looking at him all proud and he’s preening. This is never gonna work.”

“In their defense, this is hardly representative of the actual game environment,” Xander points out.

“It’s not just games they have to worry about. It’s practice, travel, PR events,” Noah sighs heavily. “And I’m starting to think the more pressure we put on them to act normal the harder it’ll be.”

“What do you mean?” Luca asks.

“If you two are standing across the room from each other I bet you’ll be sneaking looks whenever you can, which is only gonna draw more attention. But if you’re standing together at least it might look like you’re having a conversation instead of pining away for each other.”

“I’m not following,” I say. “I don’t think I have to look at Luca to know where he is, so why would I have to sneak a peek at him.”

“It’s not that you’d sneak a peek to know where he is, it’s that your eye is constantly drawn to him, whether you’re conscious of itor not.” Niko slings his arm around my shoulder. “It always has been, honestly, but before it was more of an observation and now it’s full-on infatuation. So, since your poker face sucks, maybe sticking you two next to each other will minimize the longing looks.”

If Luca and I hadn’t already confessed where our heads were at this would be the most mortifying conversation of my life. Fortunately, he heard it from me first instead of having these guys spring it on him.Who knew the truth just spilling out of me would work to my advantage for once?

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” Noah says stoically. “We have practice tomorrow, a game in two days, and that charity dinner at the end of the week.”

“Ugh, the one for the cancer society?” Luca groans.

“You don’t support cancer charities?” Tripp gasps dramatically. “What kind of monster are you?”

“It’s not that.” Luca shakes his head. “The event itself is cool since it combines the top athletes from all the Denver teams and we get to hang out with them while we raise money. It’s that the guy who gives the keynote speech every year has the most monotone voice, and drones on forever. I literally can’t keep my eyes open. Coach actually fined me ten grand for falling asleep one year.”

Tripp snorts. “Please tell me you took a nosedive into your plate. Or had drool trickling out of your mouth.”

“Why do you find the idea of me being humiliated funny?” Luca asks him.

“Don’t take it personally. I find everyone’s humiliation funny.” Tripp shrugs indifferently. “I think it’s a residual effect of wishing karma would knock my parents on their ass. I used to daydream about that, and I think it spilled over to include everyone.”

---