Page 76

Kota

W ith an empty seat on either side of me, I held my breath as the puck was minutes away from dropping.

Miraculously, Lane had skated his way onto the ice, and considering he was across the state just a few hours ago, it felt like he teleported here.

But even with his relaxed demeanor, there was still no Bridget in sight. My texts to her wouldn’t even go through because the service in this arena sucked.

I had no idea if Lane found her, if they talked, if things got worse, nothing. I knew nothing. And if we weren’t moments away from my boyfriend’s tournament game starting, I would’ve been running around trying to find signal.

Right now, it felt like I had to either figure out where Bridget was or wait and watch the start of my boyfriend’s game.

Either way, I felt guilty.

“Kota!”

Turning my head, a glowing girl with a caramel-colored ponytail waved my way, and I stood.

“El!” I jumped up, greeting her as she scooted through the people in our row to meet me.

Arms flinging around each other, I smiled, taking in a whiff of her floral-smelling Juicy Couture perfume.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said, setting her black clutch down as she sat beside me. “I didn’t want to be rude and find my spot while they were still singing the anthem. Where’s Bridget?”

“Hopefully coming soon,” I sighed, leaving it at that. Eyes skimming over her, my smirk turned devious. “Just friends, huh?”

El looked down at Matt’s jersey. “Yep,” she muttered, but it didn’t sound like she was even convinced.

“Mhm, right.”

“Hey,” she grinned, playfully pushing my shoulder. “We are just friends. Unlike some people.”

“I know, I know. It’s the plot twist of the century,” I chuckled, my eyes following Crew as he positioned himself for puck drop.

“You still need to tell me all the details,” El said. Glancing at her, I tried to follow her line of sight, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she had her eyes glued on Matt. “Most of what I know has come from Matt.”

I snorted. “So, it’s probably false information then?”

“Probably,” she laughed.

After Matt found out about Crew and me, I received a long array of text messages from El, demanding answers. I’d given her a shortened version of events, but she’d been begging me for the full story ever since.

I, on the other hand, was much more interested in whatever was going on with her and Matt.

It was funny to me how El and I had never met in real life, yet it felt like we had, as if I’d known her for years. Obviously, she could never replace Bridget as my best friend, but I hadn’t had a lot of close girlfriends growing up, so I was thankful to have a new one now.

The second the puck hit the ice, hockey sticks were battling for it, and Lane secured it quickly. Just like countless previous games, I struggled to keep up with the pace, half the time not knowing where the puck actually was. Everything was moving in fast forward.

Ramming into an opponent, Matt sent him falling to the ice like a fly.

“Yes!” El screamed, clapping. “Let’s go, Matt!”

“Mhm, just friends.”

Smiling, she shook her head. “Don’t tell me you’re hopping on the ‘El and Matt bandwagon’.”

“Who says I’m just now hopping on? Maybe I’ve been on it for a while.”

El’s eyes stayed on the ice, squinting as her head snaked around, following the puck. “Hate to break it to you, sis,” she said, “but I’m not gonna date Matt.”

“Why not?” I groaned.

El’s eyes matched her hair color, pure caramel under the fluorescent lights. “He’s my best friend,” her voice dipped with a wave of emotion. “It would be too complicated,” she shrugged.

“But—”

“Hey!”

I turned, catching B’s smiling face as she took her seat to my left.

“Oh my gosh, B!” I squealed, wrapping her up in a hug. Burying my face into her hair, I sighed. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Softness creased her features, and relief shone through her eyes. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

Lightly pushing her arms out of the way, I beamed. The number 1 sat comfortably across her chest; her beautiful strawberry locks were covering it right now, but I knew Avery was spelled across her upper back and it overwhelmed me with joy.

“Everything’s good?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “I’ll tell you later.”

“Okay.”

“Hi!” El intervened, stretching a hand past me. “I was hoping you’d be here!”

B smiled, greeting her, and the two caught up for a few moments while I sat back and watched the game.

When Matt held off the defense well enough for Lane to successfully pass the puck off to Crew, giving him the chance to sink it into the net, all three of us leapt up.

My heart felt so full.

This was exactly where I was meant to be right now.