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He sat down and checked his messages. There were two: one was from his mom, wishing him luck in his first regular season pro game.
R: Thanks. It went amazing. Will call you tomorrow to fill you in. Love you!
The other was from Amara, asking how the game went.
R: I'm gonna need you to jerk me off before every game. I absolutely fucking killed it tonight. Fill you in later.
He hit send, then realized he had forgotten something.
R: Miss you.
She didn’t respond, but he knew she was at work.
“You’ve got yourself quite the following already, Rook,” Hayes said, showing him his phone screen. He had Instagram pulled up and was weeding through the comments under the Islanders’ game post. Almost all of them were praising Ryan’s performance tonight, and quite a few were comments from girls about how hot he was and if he was single. “Check your DM’s. Let’s bet: how many thirsty birds in there?”
He opened the app and checked. “Well, what’s your guess?” he asked Hayes.
“I’m gonna go with 15.”
“Close, 12.” He laughed, scrolling. “Holy shit. Literally all of them want to meet up for sex. Every single one. They’re not even trying to hide it.”
“What did I tell you? Great time to be single, Rook.”
He put his phone down and closed his eyes. There may have been 12 women trying to have sex with him, but there was only one he was even remotely interested in at the moment.
“What? You’re not gonna set one up for later, slut? The bars should still be open for a minute when we get back. Betcha Osi will hit that shit up with you. Yo, Osi!” Hayes yelled, but Ryan waved him off. “Nah?”
“It’s just, I kinda…can’t. Right now.”
“Ohhh,” Hayes said. “That time of the month, eh? You still got a mouth, you know?”
Hayes nudged him, and he nudged him back. “Dick. I just…I kinda have something in the works right now, and I’m curious to see where it goes.”
Hayes’s eyes got wide, and he punched Ryan’s leg. “It’s that roommate of yours, isn’t it? You two finally bang? About time.”
Ryan blushed. “No, we didn’t. We hooked up a little last night though. I don’t know, man. I really like her, and that like, doesn’t happen to me. Ever. And I…don’t know why I’m telling you any of this.”
“Maybe because that’s what friends do, tell each other shit.”
“Friends. Right.”
“Look: I like you, man. I know you can’t stand me…”
“That’s not tru…”
“Save it, Rook. She tells me everything. I know you don’t like me, but I’m hoping that’ll change. What’s your problem with me anyway? Secret time: let it fly.”
“Fine. You’re mouthy, you’re cocky, you’re nosy, and you’re constantly busting my balls.” Ryan was shocked at how quickly those words flew out of his mouth. He didn’t even have time to think of a good lie.
“OK, the first three are spot on. But I bust your balls because I know you’re better than the weak-ass bullshit you’ve been putting out the past few weeks. Look at tonight. I’d like to think my ball-busting played a role in that.”
“Of course you’d like to think that.”
Hayes made a face. “What’s your real problem with me? Come on, don’t hold back. Say it out loud.”
Ryan was pretty sure what he was getting at, but he didn’t want to bring it up. “That about covers it.”
“It wouldn’t have anything to do with me and Amara, would it?”
