Page 56 of The Substitute

Teddy scrunches up his brow, thinking about my question really hard. “I’ll wait till he’s distracted by you and run past.”

“So you would rather live with the image of my death for the rest of your life?” Sometimes I really can’t help myself. His thought process is so strange sometimes.

He pauses, and I swear I can hear the gears in his head skipping.

“Switch me beds.”

I laugh and hold my ground. “Nope. You picked your bed.”

He turns to face me, crossing his arms and looking as stern as he’s able to. “I won’t be able to sleep in this one, which means my cataract reflections will be slothy. So if we lose tomorrow, it’s on you.”

It takes me way too long to understand what the fuck that means. A part of me wants to hold my ground, but I also can’t risk us losing a game over a bed choice.

With a sigh, I grab my bag and move to the other bed. Rooming with goalies is the worst.

Teddy smiles and grabs his stuff, then shuts himself in the bathroom. The volume on his music is so high that I can hear it comfortably from where I’m at. Are his eardrums bleeding?

Bubbly by Colbie Caillet cuts off, and he answers what sounds like a FaceTime call.

“How do you always know when I have my cock out?”

I groan and dig for my noise-canceling headphones. The last thing I want to do is listen to Teddy have video sex.

Absolutely not.

“You sent me a picture?” his boyfriend questions, and while Teddy is laughing, I find my headphones and shove them over my ears. Blissful quiet.

I pull up YouTube and play white noise, then open Spotify to play music over it. It’s the best way to make sure I hear nothing coming from that bathroom.

Tobi: Did you make it to the hotel yet?

Ambrose: Just got into my room.

I snap a picture sitting up in bed and send it to him.

Tobi: GASP is that a shirt? I didn’t know you knew how to wear those indoors

Ambrose: I have to leave for dinner in a few minutes so I don’t have enough time.

Tobi: Excuses excuses.

Tobi: Do you have a roommate?

I hesitate to tell him who it is since I know they don’t get along well, but I don’t want to lie to him either.

Ambrose: Yeah, I do and you’ll never guess who it is.

I don’t tell him it’s my own fault. I don’t need to give him more fodder.

Tobi: If it’s the other Ellis, I’m sorry for your pupils and eardrums

I laugh out loud this time.

Ambrose: So far my pupils are safe but I’m concerned about his eardrums.

Tobi: Pretty sure one too many pucks to the head have fucked up his hearing

Ambrose: I don’t think that’s how it works.