Page 24 of Replay (Toronto Blaze #3)

Am I Going to Look Stupid?

Josh

I was pretty stoked about that chat, till I wondered if part of it was her making sure we were just friends. The friends thing was good, but could we never move past it?

I sent her some memes and “how are you doing” texts when we were on the road.

Friends could do that. I wanted to move on to spending quality time together.

But if I made it too date-like, she might say no.

If she told me it wasn’t happening, I’d have to respect that, but I wanted as much time to woo her as I could before she had a chance to shut the door on us.

Figuring out when we were both free was also a thing. I played on average three nights a week. Half our games were away, so unless we played our crosstown rivals we were on the road. Katie had a couple of evening classes. She wasn’t the professor, but kind of was so she had to be there.

I had to come up with something we could do together that wasn’t too datey and then find an opportunity when we were both available to do it. I spent a lot of time trying to solve that problem.

Even at practice. Which wasn’t like me. I normally didn’t think of anything else while I was on the ice, but Katie was important.

I didn’t get distracted while I was actually doing drills, and definitely not when I was playing.

But times like now, when Coach was working with the third line, I sat on the boards, watching with part of my brain while I weighed ideas.

Asking her to dinner would definitely be a date activity.

I’d gotten away with it when we were going to the season opener, but that was kind of thanking her for keeping me company at the game.

And giving her tickets to watch with someone else when we were playing this badly?

Didn’t seem smart. I needed to be sneaky until she remembered how good we were together.

Maybe a group activity. Or something two people did with other people around. The guys I hung out with were my teammates, and did I want them in on it? Not unless Jess was there, so Katie had someone she could relate to. I didn’t know any of Katie’s friends here in Toronto.

If there was a Tolkien film coming out, I could book an advance screening since I was a hockey player and we had fans.

But there wasn’t one. There were a few things I could get preferential treatment for, but which of those things would she like?

We’d gone to a driving range with Cooper and Callie in the summer, but Katie wasn’t into golf.

“Middleton!” I jerked my mind back to practice and dropped off the boards.

“Yes, Coach.”

“Enough daydreaming. Is that what’s wrong with this team? Got something more important to think about?”

“No, sir.” Didn’t need to give the man more reason to be pissed. It was too late though. We were still losing games, playing like shit, and he was frustrated. I’d given him a chance to vent that, and that was on me. I definitely had to deal with the Katie thing so it didn’t impact my play.

I stopped for the trainers to check out my knee after we got off the ice. Everything was fine, no pain to report. Guys were coming out of the showers by the time I was stripping down.

“What was that?” Oppy asked, flicking me with a towel.

“Sorry.” Coach had kept us an extra half hour after my slipup.

“It’s not like you to flake out like that,” Deek, my other linemate, said.

“I know. It’s a personal thing, and I’ll keep it off the ice, I swear.”

Barnes passed by. “Still that girl?”

“Oh, right. That’s why he’s not focusing on his game?”

“I’m focusing just fine, fuck you very much.” I currently had more points than anyone else. Sure, we were just a few weeks in, but…

“What’s the problem?” Oppy leaned against his locker, watching me closely.

“It’s not a problem,” I argued.

“Well, you were distracted and Coach got pissed. You’re normally his golden boy.”

I huffed. “I’m trying to think of a way to hang out with her, as friends.”

“I thought you wanted to date her.”

“I do, but she’s not ready yet. I need something fun we can do together that isn’t too much like a date.

And then after we spend a lot of time together, we can be more than friends.

” Everyone frowned. “It worked in high school. She was my tutor first. Then we started hanging out and pretty soon dating, for almost two years.”

Royster slapped my shoulder. “Okay, we have to help Ducky find some way to impress his ‘friend’ so they can move into having sex again.”

I glared at him, because it wasn’t just about sex, but if they could think of something I hadn’t, it would help.

“A nice restaurant?”

“That’s boring, and also, definitely a date.” I’d come up with that idea on my own.

“But if he can use his reputation to get into someplace expensive with a long wait list…”

Bongo turned to me. “Does she like that? When you use your hockey influence?”

I shook my head. “Not really. If she did, she’d have asked me for stuff, right?”

Everyone nodded. We all got hit up for favors and gifts.

“We need something not boring, and not too much of a date. Something friends can do.” Oppy frowned, like it hurt his brain to think that hard.

“You said she’s smart, right?” Mitch asked.

I nodded. “She’s here doing her master’s. In math.” Yeah, I was bragging.

“And you think she’d date down to you?” Bongo teased.

That was a good question. “I hope so.” But maybe she was out of my league now.

“Ducky, that was a joke.”

“Maybe it’s not. I mean, hockey doesn’t last forever, and then she’d be stuck with me?” Right now, I had money and was known to some people, but she hadn’t been jumping over the chance to be with me, had she?

Mitch spoke up. “I’ve got it.” He was tapping on his phone, looking things up. “Yeah, this will work. Find out when she’s free.”

“What is it?”

He grinned at me. “An escape room at Castle Loma. She gets to use her brain, and you can have dinner after.”

I frowned. “Am I going to look stupid?”

“She’s in STEM, right?”

“STEM?” Oppy was frowning again.

Mitch explained. “Science, tech, engineering, math. Those are traditionally male-dominated fields. She’s probably had to prove herself over and over again.”

Had she? I should ask her about that. I’d never considered that, because she’d always been so brilliant at math that it was a given. “Okay, so still want to know why I should do something I won’t do well at.”

“You are going to go and let her shine. Let her use her brain, and instead of competing with her, you support her. That’s going to win you major points.”

Approving murmurs came from around the room. That sounded good. Really good. I was never going to fool Katie with how smart I was. She’d been my tutor, so she knew. But I could definitely support her when she showed how smart she was.

An escape room. That wasn’t a super romantic thing. But if she felt good about me after… “Yeah. Let’s go with that.”

“We can go with you, make sure everything goes smoothly,” Royster added.

“Oh, hell no.”

“Ah, come on Ducky. We wanna hang out with her too.”

I shook my head, recognizing disaster when it was right in front of me. The guys began to argue about whether or not they should be on this non-date. Then Fitch nudged me.

“Yeah?”

“How important is it that this really not look like a date?”

“Kinda?”

“Then maybe take a few of the guys along. Maybe Jess—JJ’s sister. They seemed to get along when we were all out at the Top Shelf.”

He had a good point.

I stood up. “Hey, assholes.” The conversation dropped. “A few of you can come along. A few . Like, JJ if he brings his sister.” I considered. “And Cooper with his girlfriend.”

JJ turned around from where he’d been dressing. “What?”

“Bring your sister and come along to the escape room.”

Mitch, who was dressed and ready to leave, explained to JJ. JJ turned to me with his rare smile. “Oh, this sounds like fun. We’ll be there.”

“I’ll check with Callie,” Cooper said.

Good. Two math people along, and JJ and Cooper were guys I could trust not to embarrass me. Not too badly, anyway.

“Do Jayna and I get to come?” Mitch asked.

I nodded. He’d thought up the idea after all. That was eight people—big enough to not be a date.

“It can’t all be couples,” Royster pointed out. He was right, but JJ and his sister weren’t a couple.

Unfortunately, I’d lost control by then.

* * *

Katie

I hadn’t seen Josh for a week and I was second-guessing myself.

I’d been pissed at my parents and wanted to prove to them that I could see Josh and not get sidelined.

But they had a valid point. Getting involved with him again, even if we kept it to the friend zone, was complicated.

And friend zone was all I could do. I was still thinking about my conversations with Nora and my parents and not completely settled in my program at school, thanks to my misogynistic maybe something less taxing advisor. I did not need more complications.

I’d dithered over whether I’d done the right thing asking to see Josh again, and then whether I should actually see him again.

I’d worried that the kiss might have made him think I wanted to date again.

Turned out, I didn’t need to worry. When we were finally able to find a time we were both free, he’d suggested an escape room at Casa Loma, which was fun and not too intense for two people who were walking a line between friends and more.

Unless he thought we’d be going back to his place or mine after.

I got to fret about that until he picked me up with Daniel and JJ and Jess in the back seat.

We were definitely staying on the friend side of that line. Good. Very good.

So why the hell did I feel…disappointed?

The only free seat was the front, so I let myself in without debating it. Twisting my head around I said. “Hi, Jess. Nice to see you again.”

She smiled at me. “Couldn’t let this be too hockey player heavy. Did you officially meet my brother, Justin?”

“I don’t think so.”

He nodded his head. “Nice to meet you officially, Katie.”