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When we’d hang out and watch Netflix together, every time I suggested we watch something like Gilmore Girls or Bridgerton, he’d look at me like I asked him to take a walk around the block naked with his underwear on his head.
“Wow, Tuck. That’s a great way to approach life,” I feel compelled to admit.
“I’m winning you over, aren’t I?”
“Let’s not get crazy,” I reply without missing a beat, drawing another laugh from him.
After a couple beats of silence, Tuck asks, “By the way, is something on your mind? Something, I don’t know, bothering you?”
I quirk my eyebrow and turn my head to him. “Why?”
He shrugs. “Just seems like something’s troubling you.”
“Like what?”
Another shrug. “You tell me.”
“So on top of being a Swiftie and an auto mechanic, you’re a mind-reader now, too?” I quip.
“I’m a man of many talents.” He takes advantage of being backed up at a stop sign to turn to me and wiggle his eyebrows suggestively. “Many talents.”
After rolling my eyes, I stew on his words for a minute. Of course, he’s right. I do have something on my mind. But Tuck McCoy is the last person I should be opening up to.
As true as that is, the words still come to my mouth, almost involuntarily. “I have sort of a dilemma.”
“Hmm,” Tuck hums thoughtfully, encouraging me to say more.
“I mean, it’s not really a dilemma. I have two options, and I already know which one I’m going to take. It just sucks turning the other opportunity down. My dad just called to offer me a solid role in a big production of a great play, Last Bus Out, running over the summer. It would be the best opportunity of my career so far. I’d be acting in front of my biggest audiences yet, major critics would come to showings, and I’d be sharing the stage with one of the best stage actors in the country. But I’ve already accepted an internship at an accounting firm for the summer.”
“Last Bus Out,” Tuck repeats, chewing on the words. “Sounds like some artsy play where the entire thing happens during one bus ride and it’s nothing but the passengers talking to each other.”
“That’s … exactly what it is, actually,” I say, a bit astonished at his accurate guess.
“So, you’re taking the role and you feel bad about letting your internship down,” Tuck says, like it’s obvious.
I furrow my brow. “No. I’m sticking with the internship.”
“What?” Tuck asks, surprised. “But you said this play would be the biggest thing that’s happened for your career so far.”
“Acting isn’t the only potential career I have to worry about. Making it in acting is always a long shot. I need to make sure I have fallback options in case it doesn’t pan out, and this internship is important for that.”
“Fuck that,” Tuck replies, stridently. “You’re too damn talented to pass up a big opportunity to make sure you have fallback options.”
Disdain is thick in his voice when he says those last two words, and it makes annoyance rise in my chest.
“That’s easy for you to say,” I retort.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
I huff. “It’s supposed to mean that you don’t have to worry about what happens to you in life. You’re going to be fine no matter what. More than fine. You can just play hockey and goof off about everything else, and the worst-case scenario is your dad gives you a high-paying job at one of his companies. Me, I have to work to set myself up with a life that can provide me economic stability. That requires making sacrifices.”
“You think I don’t make sacrifices?” His question comes with a bite. “You think I haven’t had to work hard to make it to where I am in hockey?”
“I’m sure you’ve worked hard. But you don’t understand that sometimes people can’t throw every practical concern to the side to do what they really want to do. Sometimes they have to buckle down and make disappointing decisions for the benefit of their future, because their future isn’t already determined.”
“My future sure as hell isn’t determined,” Tuck says, mirroring my own combative tone now. “I want to play professionally. You think my family’s money can buy that opportunity for me? No fucking way. I have to work hard, give it my all every single game, study footage, assess my own weaknesses, and practice nonstop, just for a shot at a real pro career.”
“Exactly. You’re able to give hockey everything you have, because you don’t have to worry about what happens if it doesn’t work out.”
