Page 62

Grant

If someone had told me last September that I would be a Frozen Four winner and in a serious relationship, I would have laughed.

But here I am, sitting with Brooke's legs in my lap as we hang out, waiting to leave for the party after finishing out finals.

We are heading back to my parents' to visit for a couple of weeks during the summer before helping Brooke work on turning The Drop into a business.

Life is good and calm again, the balcony doors wide open, letting in a breeze, and I'm just chilling with my girl.

"Will you quit staring at me?" She laughs, kicking my leg and shutting the laptop in her lap. "Real stalker vibes."

"You wish I were your stalker." I scoff, grabbing her legs and tickling her side, and she laughs, trying to push me away, but I grab her hips, and she moves to straddle my lap.

"Hmm, hot hockey guy following me around all day?" She pretends to think about it, playing with the hair at the back of my neck. "Nah, you're too tall; you'll block the sun out."

"This is a weird conversation," Adam sings as he walks into the apartment with Bear in tow.

We groan at not having locked the door again.

"Don't look at me like you were the last one in," she poked my chest playfully, before standing up and walking to the kitchen.

"I swore I locked it," I mumble, standing and joining them in the kitchen, where Adam has already set up shots.

"It's a good time to let you know. Brookie gave us a key for when you're away." Adam grins, handing me a shot. I look at her accusingly, but she just gives me a cheeky smile.

"So, you're telling me you didn't know?" Cami's yell comes through the open balcony door.

"For the millionth time, no," we hear Gunnar yell back. " Because I would have loved to have avoided this."

"What's going on?" Bear whispers, and we don't have to wait long as Cami bursts into the apartment, slamming the door behind her, which immediately opens again as Gunnar walks through red-faced.

We look at them from the kitchen, not saying anything, just waiting.

"Gunnar got a job." Cami scoffs, addressing the whole room.

"Er, okay?" I ask slowly. "That's a bad thing." I look at Gunnar, who is shaking his head behind Cami.

"It's at my family rink," Cami shouts, and we all relax, sighing.

"I didn't know!" Gunnar whines clearly over the argument. "The rinks are called Green Street ice."

"My dad interviewed you!" she shouts.

"He didn't say his last name."

"Okay, okay, what's bad about this?" Bear asks, picking up two shot glasses and holding them out to both of them.

"Cami's working at the rink all summer." Brooke smiles at Cami, who grabs her shot and downs it before grabbing Gunnar's and downing that one, flipping him off after.

"You couldn't have picked any other rink?!" Cami continue, and Gunnar flops down on the sofa, and I grab a beer, passing it to him.

"This is going to be my entire summer, isn't it?" he asks, putting the bottle to his head, likely trying to soothe the headache that's forming as Cami continues to shout at him.

I walk over to Brooke and wrap my arms around her.

"When do you reckon they'll figure it out?" I whisper, and she turns to me with a smile..

"Hopefully quicker than we did." She pecks my lips with a kiss, and I slide my hand behind her neck to deepen it before she can pull away.

"Grant Anders, get your lips off my best friend. I'm in crisis and need her support," Cami shrieks somewhere in the background, because all I can see is Brooke right now.

I pull back, laughing with Brooke.

Yeah, life is good.