Page 3

Lilly

“God, they're all so sexy.” Lakelyn fans herself as we sit in the stands watching the hockey team at practice.

I let out an umph sound in agreement. Hockey players are a different kind of species all together, and you can’t tell me any different. But I'm not going to voice my opinion around her, if I mention I find them attractive, or “sexy” as she described them, she’ll make sure she does everything in her power to make none of them notice me.

Not that I care if they do or not anyway. After my previous relationship that ended four months ago, I’ve decided to avoid dating for a long, long time.

“What sort of questions are you asking?” I turn in the chair to face her.

“I was thinking star signs, you can tell a lot about a guy from his star sign,” her eyes are practically heart shaped as she looks across the ice. “Oh, and I was gonna ask a few of them for their numbers, you know for research purposes.” She winks.

“You need to ask them serious questions, Lakelyn.” I could already feel a headache coming along that’s going to remain the whole semester from being forced to interact with her. “Like what got you into hockey? What's your goal in life? Who’s your biggest inspiration? You know, questions like that.”

“Those questions are boring,” she scrunches her nose. “I'm more interested in the size of their dicks. Who cares about life goals? I don’t have any,” she pauses, pursing her lips as her eyes shimmer. “Actually, maybe learning about their life goals will come in handy.”

Sighing, I pinch the bridge of my nose. “How can you be okay with not having any life goals?”

She scoffs, picking the flint off her jeans. “Why should I break my back working when I can find someone who can provide me with everything I need?”

Is she for real? “There’s more to life than living off someone else’s success,” I take a breath, willing myself not to get too agitated. “Don’t you want to feel proud of something you’ve achieved on your own?”

“Not really,” she shrugs, moving a strand of her blonde hair from her face. “I’d rather enjoy my life without all that added stress. Plus, what’s wrong with wanting an easy life?”

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting an easy life,” shaking my head, I glance to the ice. “But I feel like you’re wasting your potential, you could do so much more if you just tried.”

Looking at me, she bursts out laughing. “You’re funny, Lilly. Like hilariously funny.”

“I wasn’t trying to be.”

“Anyway, I bet Chase has the biggest dick. Honestly, look at the size of him,” she glances at him with lust in her eyes. “He’s like seven foot tall, can you imagine what his dick looks like?”

One.

Two.

Three.

“Lakelyn, stop talking about cocks.” I hiss.

“Just because you haven't had one in a long time, don't get aggy with me.” She shrugs.

I laugh. “I happen to be very satisfied in that department, thank you very much.”

I am not at all satisfied in that department, but she doesn’t need to know that.

“I thought Kyle broke up with you?” My ex’s name coming from her mouth has me seething.

“I broke up with him, me .” I lowly growl, emphasizing the last word.

“Sure, okay.” She purses her lips.

Shaking my head, I ignore her and turn toward the ice to continue watching the guys. She brings out her nail file, filing her nails down to the core, or at least that’s what it sounds like. It’s the type of sound a chalkboard makes when you drag a piece of chalk down it, and the noise makes me physically cringe.

Clenching my jaw, I refrain from saying something. If filing her nails keeps her quiet, I’m not going to complain.

“I'm going to the restroom.” She announces as she stands.

“Cool.” I respond, not even glancing at her as I lean back into the chair .

Lifting my legs onto the chair in front of me for comfort, I look down at my notepad and chew at my lip as I tap my pen against it. Lakelyn asked if she could be the one to ask the questions, and I happily agreed to that. But I have a feeling she'll be asking all the wrong ones. I know she’ll be asking the wrong ones, so I decide to write down a bunch of random questions and circle the main ones I want to ask.

A shiver courses through me, making me pull my cardigan tighter around myself for warmth, and I snuggle into it, letting our a sigh. Nina did tell me to wear something more fitting and warmer, but I waved it off saying I’d be fine. I was in fact not fine, and I could already hear her scolding me over this.

I’m used to the cold with my hometown becoming Antarctica by the time winter rolled around, but I severely underestimated how cold it would be here. Do they have the air con on too?

The sound of skates slicing across the ice and the occasional thud of a puck hitting the boards fills the air as my eyes dart around from player to player. My eyes zero in on Hunter and Chase as they weave pucks in between bright orange cones, the former tilting his head back laughing at something the latter said.

Both of them were announced as co-captains this year, the first time that’s ever happened in Riverside Dragons history. When their Coach spoke about it, he said it’s the best decision he’s ever made in his thirty plus years of being a Coach.

My eyes zero in on Greyson, the team’s goalie next as he makes an impressive save. I read on the Riverside Dragons website that he’s one of the top ten goalies in college hockey, and even though I know fuck all about sports, I knew enough to know that was impressive .

Continuing to watch him with curiosity, he sagged his shoulders and leaned against the goal. I could see him heaving a breath in before taking a glove off his hand and bringing it to his helmet, moving a few strands of hair away from his eyes.

My head tilts to the side as I watch Chase skate up to him. They engage in a conversation that clearly had Greyson annoyed because I could see his jaw clenching from here, but not wanting to intrude on their conversation, even if I couldn’t hear what they were saying, I shift my attention to Coach Gillingham who stood behind the boards speaking with two of his players as he pointed aimlessly at the clipboard in his hand.

Lakelyn and I met with him briefly before practice began so he could introduce himself. He explained how he’s been a Coach here longer than the oldest player on the team has been alive, and expressed how much joy coaching brings him, especially when he sees his players advance to the NHL and further their careers.

The look in his eyes when he spoke about the team was one of deep admiration. He spoke about them like they were his sons, his own flesh and blood, conveying that coaching them was the most fulfilling thing he could do. And even when he said, with a grunt, that they were the most annoying bunch he’s ever had to coach, you could still hear the love he had for them in his voice.

Drifting my eyes to my phone to check the time, I note that it’s been ten minutes since Lakelyn said she needed to pee. Where the fuck is she? I glance around and spot her down by the door that leads onto the ice, flirting with one of the guys as she twirls her hair around her finger.

Professor Davenports words circle my mind. Suck it up and deal with it . But if this is the first day, and she’s already down there flirting instead of being up here with me going over the outline for the article, how am I meant to suck it up and deal with it?

And how long is it going to take before I completely lose my shit with her?