Page 27

ERIK

B efore I tell you about our real first date, the answer is, yes, I did have to climb out through the bathroom window. Yes, it was a ridiculously tight squeeze. And, yes, I was completely naked.

I want you to know that Kayden panicked so badly that he couldn’t let me get dressed and then act like I was there to meet him about team business. No, he wanted me out of the house the hard way.

The things we do for love!

But that’s not all. You should know something about Buffalo’s Westside: All the houses stand extremely close together.

There was literally zero chance that no one noticed the naked guy in Kayden’s back yard.

There’s probably footage on some guy’s security camera.

Like, I’d never felt so embarrassed in my entire life.

I put my clothes on as quickly as I could and fled… but realized I had no shoes!

Oh, and I have one more thing to tell you. Kayden Preston sucks his thumbs when he sleeps!

I’m not joking. I woke up a couple times in the night.

Call of nature and all that. It was pretty dark in the room and everything, but one time it honestly looked like the arrogant man had his thumb in his mouth.

When I returned from the bathroom, he’d pulled it out. God, I wish I’d taken a picture.

Actually, I wish I could’ve had a picture of the way Kayden looked in bed the rest of the time. So peaceful. When I slipped back under the covers, I scooted up beside him and threw an arm over him. This wasn’t just different than sleeping with the girlfriend I’d had back home.

It was better.

Anyway, we decided on the Colter Bay Grill on the corner of Delaware and Allen for a nice dinner date. Low-key, you know? This time, I had the chance to dress up nicely for him. He wore the same dress shirt with gray dress pants he had for our first date at his home.

We sat by the window in the bar area where we could barely hear ourselves over the music.

“Ever been here before?” he asked.

“Nope.”

“Bro, you’ve been missing out. They’ve got the best wings in the entire city of Buffalo.”

“You mean it’s not The Anchor Bar?”

“No, dude, that’s where the Buffalo wing was born. This place perfected it.”

“That’s cool. I might just get a burger.”

Kayden lifted an eyebrow as if choosing anything over chicken wings constituted some mortal sin, at least in the city of Buffalo.

When our server came, Kayden ordered Pepsis for both of us, as well as two double orders of wings. The server, a lean, dark-haired young man who could’ve been a student at Larkin, headed back into the kitchen before I could say anything.

“I told you I was thinking of getting a burger,” I said.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Then you just ordered for both of us.”

“I wouldn’t think of it that way.”

“Why not?”

“Because you only said you were thinking of getting a burger. Did you actually have your mind made up?”

“Well, no but…”

“You would’ve taken forever to make a decision. I made the decision for both of us.”

“But wings sit in my stomach forever.”

“Jeez, you really aren’t from Buffalo, are you?”

He smiled. I didn’t smile back. I realized that this sort of thing was part and parcel of dating Kayden Preston. Amazingly, I didn’t feel deterred. He presented a challenge, and I was up to it.

“Besides,” he said, “it’s my chance to open you up to something new. Canadians don’t eat wings.”

“Yes, we do. How else would I know that they sit in my stomach forever?”

“But you don’t eat real wings.”

“Oh God, what do you mean by that? Please tell me because I’m just dying to know.”

“No one loves a smartass, De Ruiter. Real wings are from Buffalo.”

“Whatever you say, dude.”

To say Kayden seemed distracted after that would be an understatement. My teammate glanced around the Colter Bay Grill constantly like he was either looking for somebody or expecting someone he knew to breeze through the door.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Nothing.”

He focused on me again, like his attention had never strayed, but I knew better.

“It doesn’t look like nothing,” I said. “Waiting for someone?”

“No way, dude. It’s nothing. Oh hey, I forgot to tell you, I brought you your shoes.”

“Gee, thanks so much, but I really prefer going barefoot.”

“There’s that wiseass edge again.”

We sat silently for a moment, Kayden glancing out the window here and there, and my eyes never left him. God, he looked so good, especially when I saw the way the light shining through the window struck his face.

Come on, man, stay in control, my inner voice said. Don’t give in until you’ve moved to the next step .

I appreciated that Kayden had made sure to look so good for our first “real” date. And I was glad that he hadn’t argued about it. But we had so much to talk about, and I worried about how he would react. Like, if I told him how much potential we had together, he would downplay it.

I would take the lead like I had before.

“You know this is going to be the first of many, right?” I asked.

“Many what?”

“Dates, dude.”

I said it loud enough for him to hear it over the music. He glanced around like I’d said something obscene and worried what those around us would think.

“What’s the problem?” I asked.

“You don’t have to be so loud, bro.”

“Yes, I do. I can barely hear myself think in here.”

“I know, but?—”

He didn’t have to say what he was really thinking.

I knew it for both of us. If I said it loud enough, others would hear me.

They would know that we weren’t a couple of hockey bros out eating wings together.

We were way too overdressed for the occasion.

They would see that we were really on a date. The first of many, like I said.

That threatened Kayden. He couldn’t deny that. I’d already decided not to care what anyone thought. Life’s too short for that, right?

“Anyway,” I said, “I’m expecting that this won’t be just a one-off. If we’re going to keep doing what we’ve been doing, then we’ve got to keep going out like this. In public. Anyone can see us.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got you.”

“But we can try something smaller, more intimate. Do you know a place we can go that’s a little quieter?”

“There’s always The Italian Village. It’s on Grant Street.”

“I’ve seen that place. It really is kind of small.”

“Yeah, but the food is incredible. I’ve been going there since I was a kid.”

“So, do you think we can have a nicer second date by going there?”

He tensed up again. It was because I’d used the word “date” in front of a room full of strangers with the music cranked up so loud they would almost certainly never hear me anyway. Talk about paranoia.

He just nodded.

“You don’t have to get all worked up just because I used the word ‘date’ in front of you,” I said.

“I didn’t get all worked up. I just asked you to keep it down, that’s all.”

“But why would I need to keep it down?” I found my voice growing louder, just to piss him off. “It’s not like I offered to blow you right here and now.”

Kayden’s eyes shot open like he worried someone really would hear that one. Then he turned and saw our server towering over him with two large plates full of wings in his hands—and a huge smirk on his face.

“Hey, you got a problem?” Kayden asked the server. “Something funny?”

“No.”

“Well, maybe you’d like my friend to blow you right here and now instead.”

The server’s eyes widened. He set the plates down in front of us and hurried back to the kitchen

I’m telling you, Kayden looked ready to have a panic attack on the spot. I covered my mouth but couldn’t stop the laughter. Oh yeah, I could’ve outed myself really easily thanks to that one, but it was worth it to see Kayden about to breathe into a paper bag.

Now Kayden looked like he wanted to kill me. His hands balled into fists, like he would’ve loved to knock me out. The even better part was that we weren’t on the ice, so he couldn’t do it. Would he slug me in a restaurant full of people?

“Sorry,” I said, “I didn’t realize he was coming up behind you.”

“Just shut up and eat your wings, would you?”

I had to admit those wings looked insanely delicious.

Steam rose from them the moment I removed the pretzel bowl.

When I bit into my first one, I understood why Kayden had insisted on ordering them.

But let’s not forget that my real beef was him ordering for both of us, a total no-go.

Think of it as a power play. Anything he could do to stay in the driver’s seat for anything and everything between the two of us.

That wasn’t the only thing Kayden did to irritate me during this date. You know what his most infuriating act was?

The way he ate his chicken wings.

Oh sure, he could’ve taken a bite off the sides of each one, eating the meat in three or four bites like a normal human being.

But he couldn’t do that. Not Mister Kayden ‘Hotshot’ Preston.

He had to stick an entire wing into his mouth, making it practically disappear, before pulling it out.

The bone would be almost free of meat before he tossed it into the bowl.

If you ask me, that constituted nothing more than showing off. Wait, that’s being charitable. Really, it meant he ate like a pig when consuming anything other than a romantic homemade meal.

But he didn’t stop there. Hell no. He talked while he ate. Oh, and he got wing sauce all over his face. He might’ve been a hockey star and drop dead gorgeous, but he loved to wear his dinner with pride.

The worst was when the check came. Instead of asking for separate checks, he took the bill and threw his credit card down.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Paying.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You make so many jokes about jail, I figure you won’t want us to get locked up for skipping out on the check.”

“I wasn’t going to say we should skip out on the check, Kayden. I just would’ve thought you’d want me to pay my share of the bill, that’s all.”

“Don’t worry about it. Already taken care of.”

Kayden spoke in a that’s-just-how-it-is tone. Like, he couldn’t have possibly allowed me to help pay for the meal. It was a knock on his pride, I guess. God, he drove me nuts.

It was also one of the most Kayden Preston things I’d seen from my teammate yet.