Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114467 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114467 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
“Time will tell,” the other guy says, and now the referee drops the puck.
“What’s going on with you two?” Zara asks, and I look at her. In my whole life, the only person I’ve never lied to is Zara. Not that I didn’t try, but she always spotted it. She would know.
“Nothing,” I tell her, looking back at the television. It’s not a lie because there really isn’t anything going on. “We’re friends.”
“Bullshit,” she says, and I look at her.
“He’s a recovering addict who can’t get involved with anyone,” I tell her. “That’s what it boils down to.”
“But if he wasn’t recovering, would you go for him?” she asks, and my heart starts to speed up. I don’t want to admit it because I don’t want to put it out into the universe. I want to deny, deny, deny.
“He plays hockey,” I tell her. “You know my stance on that.” It’s not that I don’t like hockey players; it’s just that I’m not interested in dating a hockey player who is going to go on and on about my family name.
“It was one guy,” she says, bringing up the one who fucked me for all other hockey players. “And he wasn’t even good.”
“I loved him!” I shout at her.
“You were fifteen!” she shouts back.
“I practiced my name with his.” I tell her about the insane amount of times I changed my last name to his.
“Oh, please,” she says, rolling her eyes.
“Liam broke my heart. All because he wanted to be in Dad’s stupid summer league hockey camp.” He started dating me on March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day. I was totally head over heels in love with him after a week. He started coming over more and more, our make-out sessions started getting shorter and shorter, and he started spending more time in the family room. Then he tried out for the team and didn’t make it. Well, five minutes after he got cut from the team, I got cut from the girlfriend role. “Asshole.”
She shakes her head and then a horn from the television makes us both look up, and we see that Philly just scored and are celebrating while Viktor and Evan skate off with their heads down. “Fuck,” Zara says, tossing me my phone. I watch the television, mesmerized by the replay and how it went off Viktor’s stick and into the net.
“Well, I guess he can score goals for the other team,” the announcer says, and when it shows Viktor on the bench, his head is low as he looks out over the ice.
“How much time is left?” I ask her.
“I thought you hated hockey?” she says, and I answer by giving her the finger. I turn and watch the screen as it goes to intermission. I grab my phone and scroll through Instagram, and I’m not paying attention “It’s not a good idea,” Zara says, and I look at her.
“What are you talking about?” I ask her.
“You and Viktor and the whole let’s be friends bullshit.” She doesn’t waste any time with the bullshit, and I want to kick her, but she’s pregnant, so I don’t. “You need step away from the whole situation. You got him his house, so it should end there.”
“There is nothing more,” I tell her. “Honest.” She raises her eyebrows at me. “Okay, fine, he’s hot, and he’s sexy as fuck. But”—I tell her—“and there is a huge but, it’s never going to go anywhere. I know that. The cards are on the table.”
“Yeah, well, the house of cards is going to fall soon, and I don’t want you to get crushed by it,” she says and then laughs. “Fuck, that was a good line. I’m going to put it in my notes.”
“You’re an idiot. You know that?” I laugh. The game comes back on, and for the next seventeen minutes, nothing happens. They get several chances to score, but it’s always stopped. When they have two minutes left, they pull the goalie. “Why, why are they leaving the net empty?” I ask her.
“So they can have the one-man advantage,” she says, but I stop talking when the announcer’s voice starts to go a bit louder.
“Intercepted by Petrov.” The announcer’s voice gets louder with anticipation, and then I sit up. “He makes his way around Gustoff who tries to check him into the board, but he’s a second too late. Petrov skates to the center, and he scores.” I jump up out of my chair with my hands in the air.
“He just scored,” I say, grabbing my head with both of my hands. “Holy shit, that was so good,” I say, but I don’t take my eyes off the screen as Evan goes to Viktor and jumps on him. “I don’t know about you, but if my man was looking at another man like that, I would be a little worried.” I wink at her, and she now flips me the bird.