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Our Regionals results gave us a newfound confidence on the ice that carried us through the next few weeks.

Kappy tapped out of practice early one Friday, saying his legs needed a break.

Patrick laughed. “All good. I think we’re ready for Sectionals.” His eyes went to his clipboard. “Which brings us to the next order of business.”

I lifted myself up on the boards to sit and grabbed my water bottle.

“We need to put something together for the Gala,” Patrick said.

My eyebrows flew up. “You think we’ll make it to Nationals?”

“Gala?” Kappy stretched his quads. “Is there gonna be food?”

I choked on my sip of water.

“Not that kinda Gala,” Patrick explained with a chuckle. “It’s an exhibition, like an ice show. It’s tradition for skaters to participate in one after the US Nationals and again after the Olympics. They’re meant to be a fun way to come together and show off easy but fancy skills.”

“Wait,” Kappy frowned in thought. “That’s what you were Daisy Duke for!”

I paused. He watched that ?

“You skated to a country mash-up, right? I liked those little shorts.” He wagged his eyebrows.

Of course. Blushing profusely, I smacked him upside the head, making him laugh.

“I’ve already run through all the scenarios,” Patrick continued. “I’ve scoped out everyone who will be at Sectionals. If you guys skate the way I know you can, you’ll fly through to Nationals, and I don’t wanna get caught in a lurch without a show number.”

“So, what should we do?” I asked.

Patrick squinted at his clipboard and scratched his cheek. “That’s the thing, I’m kinda stuck. We’ve already used all my ideas through the years. How about each of us brings a couple ideas to practice tomorrow?”

________

Back in my apartment, we went to our usual corners. Even though it was only 8 p.m., I could hear Kappy fully snoring on the couch.

I closed myself in my room, but without the costumes to work on, I felt fidgety and unbalanced, like I was forgetting something I should be doing.

Carl let out a low meow.

“I know, baby,” I pouted, grabbing him up to snuggle in bed.

Flipping on the TV, I settled on the newest thriller. I loved scary movies and all things Halloween. Watching scary movies made the scary parts of life feel minor. You couldn’t be upset about your lame love life while watching a damsel in distress running for her life through the woods, ya know?

My limbs were heavy with exhaustion, but between the screaming wind and harsh rain pelting at my windows and this intense movie, my eyes were wide open.

Of course the movie ended on a cliff-hanger, so I dove right into the sequel.

The main character on the screen darted into the woods, scrambling away from her killer. She had a hand on her car when something grabbed her ankle. She opened her mouth to scream and—

The screen went black.

I immediately threw the covers over my head.

What. The. Fuck?

My whole body trembled with panic.

Shit, shit, shit.

Maybe that movie wasn’t such a good idea.

Maybe—

“Ahh!” A scream tore from my throat, because someone was standing over me . Gripping my blanket over my head, I battled with the intruder. Carl let out a hiss. Wildly flinging my limbs, I felt my foot connect with something hard.

“Ow, fuck! Piper!”

Realization dawned on me like a bucket of cold water poured over my head.

Peeking out from under my blanket, I saw his familiar outline, and… and… Oh God.

“Carl! No!” Scrambling out of my twisted blankets, I jumped to my feet and tried to dislodge Carl from Kappy’s head. “Shh! Carl, baby, c’mere!” Finally gathering Carl, I snuggled him into my chest. “I’m so sorry,” I squeaked out.

“That really hurt.” Kappy held his jaw. “Jesus, Piper.”

“You scared me,” I said sheepishly. I scrambled for my phone to flip on my flashlight, illuminating a shocked looking Kappy with new cat scratches on his face.

His shoulders heaved with a breath. “The power went out, I was making sure you were okay.”

“You didn’t knock,” I said weakly. “How was I supposed to know it was you?”

His eyes bulged. “Uh, because I’m staying here? I thought you were sleeping, I didn’t want to wake you.” He touched his cheek, then inspected his hand for blood.

The adrenaline left my body, and I couldn’t help it, a giggle popped out of me.

“You’re laughing? Great, real great,” he deadpanned. “I feel concussed.”

“I’m sorry. I really am,” I offered, biting my lip to hold my emotions.

He shook his head. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Wait, the power went out?” That explained the TV shutting off, but that was not good news. It was already a cold November night. Without power, my apartment was about to become an ice box .

“What should we do?” I held Carl tighter.

He eyed my cat with uneasiness. “ We should not be near that wild animal.”

I couldn’t necessarily argue with him, seeing as he was sporting new claw marks. Cringing, I deposited Carl in his favorite sleeping place and pushed Kappy from my room.

Following him out, I watched Kappy move in my kitchen like he owned the place. Pulling a lighter out of a drawer, he lit my favorite fall candle and busied himself making two bowls of Captain Crunch.

Balancing one bowl in the crook of his arm and a spoon hanging out of his mouth, he brought the candle and two bowls over to the living room and placed everything on the ottoman.

Instead of plopping on the couch, he took a seat on the ground and stretched out his long legs before digging into his cereal.

Taking the bowl he made for me, I slowly sank to the floor.

Watching him over the little flicker of light, a laugh popped out of me, making him arch a skeptical eyebrow. “Sorry, it’s just…we’re having a candlelit dinner,” I explained, pulling a blanket off the couch to wrap it around myself.

He nodded while enjoying his bite. “Sorry it’s not more impressive.”

With a small smile, I ate a few bites of my cereal. “You have any ideas for our Gala routine?”

He scratched his cheek. “Let’s talk about something else.”

“Okay.” Tension flew into my chest. Skating was our safe topic. I was honestly afraid to wade into anything else with him.

He ate another bite, and I waited for him to chew. “Tell me something about the last few years,” he finally said.

“What do you want to know?” I dropped my spoon, appetite now gone.

He shrugged. “Did you date anyone?”

My heart picked up speed. “Did you?”

He stared out the window opposite me, contemplating for a second. “No one seriously. You?”

“I tried,” I said with a snort. “Many times. Never worked.” I pulled my knees up and hugged them to my chest.

His brow furrowed. “Why not?”

“Well, the last guy cheated on me,” I supplied.

“Bastard,” he swore with a mouth full of cereal, making me stifle a laugh. “How’d you find out? ”

“We went golfing. I was sitting in his golf cart when a dating app notification popped up.”

He scowled. “What’d you do?”

“I wish I did something more impressive,” I said with a sigh. “But I just made his profile his screensaver.”

He grinned and pointed his spoon at me. “Atta girl.”

A stupid little dose of pride coursed through me at his praise. “It was a very awkward ride back to our cars. What about you? Any crazy stories?”

He arched an eyebrow. “What’s crazy?”

I gave him a deadpan look. “You’ve been in the NHL for years now, there’s gotta be some crazy stories.”

“Eh, I feel like all the seasons have kinda blurred together.” He placed his empty bowl on the little table.

“A lot of games in a lot of different cities. In my downtime I like to hang out with Colt, JP, and Lu. It was crazier when we were younger. There were always the occasional girls trying to break into our hotel rooms. It didn’t happen to me that often. You know who it happened to a lot?”

“Who?”

“JP.”

I blinked at him. “ Our JP? JP McQuaid?”

He grinned. “That’s the one. He’s got that whole quiet broody thing going on, the ladies love that. Plus, there were those pictures that leaked.”

I knew what he was talking about—right around the time he was making a name for himself in the NHL, pictures of him and Ali were leaked online. The way he stood up to the press and refused to release her name made him even more attractive and shrouded him in a bit of mystery.

“Well, I think the ladies love you just as much,” I said. “I’ve seen all those thirst traps of you on social media.”

His face spread into a shit-eating grin. “You have, have you?”

Rolling my eyes, I threw a pillow at him.

He laughed. “I’m kidding.” He studied me for a second, and I was grateful the lights were out so he couldn’t see how much my cheeks were flushing. He still had that way of looking at me that made it feel like he could see all my thoughts. He rubbed his chest, distracting me.

“What’s wrong?”

“Huh?” His eyes dipped to his hand. “Oh.” He chuckled. “I think your heel got me.” He shook his head wryly. “Tried to break my heart. Again .”

I gasped. “Hey, you’re the one who—”

“I’m joking , Piper,” he said with a laugh. “Okay, now let’s talk about the Gala. What should we skate to?”

My eyebrows tugged together, confused at the sudden topic change. “I’m not sure. I feel like I’ve done so many of these shows that I’ve used up all my ideas. You have a favorite song?”

He opened his mouth once, twice, before finally speaking. “There is one song I’ve always loved.”

“Yeah?”

He tilted his head. “It’s slow.”

“I like slow sometimes.”

“‘Thinking Out Loud’ by Ed Sheeran,” he dropped. “You know it?”

I practically swallowed my tongue. Yeah, I definitely knew it.

“But…we can choose any vibe we want. We don’t have to…” I cleared my throat. “We can even do, like, Linkin Park or Blink-182 or any of the punk stuff you used to love.”

His face gave nothing away. “But I like that one.”

“Okay, but that song’s just really…really romantic.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Is that a problem?”

I gulped. “No, I think we’re good actors.”