Page 15

Grant

An hour later, we are still sorting through Brooke’s boxes, except for Cami, who’s taking “a break,” scrolling on her phone and occasionally showing us funny videos. “Woah,” she blurts out.

“What's up, slacker?” Adam glares at her while still digging in his box. “Ooh lookie.” He holds up a troll doll. “Can I?” He wiggles his eyebrows at Brooke.

“Sure, but I’m making a note of the things you’re taking, and the list is getting weird,” she replies, narrowing her eyes at him. I can’t help but chuckle. I’ve moved closer to her now, and the moment we had last night hasn’t changed things between us..

“Do you know how many people have re-posted your picture from last night, Grant?”

“Huh?” I frown, digging my phone out, completely forgetting about the vote I put up last night after Brooke left. “Looks like the verdict was keep, and lots of DMs asking if they can buy it.”

“No way,” Brooke gasps, leaning on my knee from where she's sat on the floor to look, and the others come over and crowd around my phone too. “How many votes?”

“Just over a thousand votes,” I answer, showing them all.. They all drift off to their previous spots except Brooke, who pulls her box closer to me, which I will not complain about.

“Wait, so people would just buy a sweatshirt because you wore it,” Cami scoffs, lying on her back on the sofa. “That's crazy.”

“Apparently.” I snort, too shocked by the figures to be cocky about it or give her shit. I even think that’s a little nuts; I’m just a college hockey player.

“So, people would pay for clothes you guys have worn,” Brooke mutters, and I turn towards her as her brows furrow.

“I need a project for my business class that I can promote and organise. What if I promote a second-hand clothes sale but get the hockey team to model it,” she asks, sitting up on her knees to look at me.

I lean forward, giving her my attention.

“It’s sustainable, and also, we can donate the profit to a charity the team supports,” she adds, as if I need convincing.

“Oh my God, B, that’s a great idea. We can go to places like Goodwill and look for vintage sports stuff.” Cami gushes, sitting up at the prospect of shopping.

“That sounds like it could be cool,” Adam says, surprisingly also looking interested. “We always have to do some sort of charity shit each year.”

“Do you think your coach would go for it?” She looks at me again with that hopeful look that makes her green eyes pop, and I already know I would do just about anything to make sure this happens for her.

This girl is confusing the shit out of me. I can’t get her out of my head.

I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t spent this much time around another girl who I wasn’t dating before, but I feel like all my usual lines blur when I’m around her like I usually wouldn’t go to this much effort to make a girl happy unless it meant I got something out of it.

“Maybe I can talk to him about it at practice tonight and set up a meeting.” I smile down at her. “I think it’s a great idea, Brooke.”

Her face lights up, smiling, and I would work every day for the rest of my life to get a smile like that again. See thoughts like that? Am I turning into Gunnar? I shiver involuntarily. No.

“I need to get a plan together; can you send me the number of messages and votes from that picture?” she asks, picking up her phone from the floor.

I nod and start typing out a text with screenshots of the DMs and votes. I only look up when Gunnar walks in without knocking.

“Hey, man, what if we had been having some intimate time in here?” Adam mock-shouts in outrage.

“Like Cami would let you near her,” he huffs, walking around the sofa to settle among the boxes.

“True.” She laughs and earns herself a pillow to the face from Adam.

“How are you doing, bud?” I ask before the war breaks out between Adam and Cami.

“Eh, I can only say it isn’t what it looks like so many times before; she just needs space to calm down.

” He runs a hand over his hair, and I notice Cami and Brooke look at each other and wince.

“Thought I would come over and help with the boxes and make myself feel better looking at Brooke’s mess. ”

“My misfortune is not your comedy set,” she growls, chucking her empty box at him, which he catches laughing and starts to break it down.

“You can play our game.” Adam bounces in his seat like a child. “Who finds the best item wins? I’m currently winning with a troll doll.”

“No one has agreed upon that being a solid item.” Cami pipes up, dismissing him.

“Yeah, I found the Little Miss Pageant Queen badge in my last box, and that’s currently the official winner,” Bear agrees, and we all nod in agreement. It's a disgusting pink with rhinestones covering every bit of it.

“You did pageants?” Gunnar laughs, grabbing a box.

“No comment.” Brooke sighs, hanging her head, scowling.

List of items Adam has taken:

My little pony VHS tape

Hamster ball

Pokemon cards

A sign saying “Live Laugh Love”

Troll doll- note he named it Trixie