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He laughs and walks closer to hand me the food before sitting in his spot again. “Don’t worry about me. I ate at the airport on the way here.”
“I wasn’t worried,” I say, pulling out the plastic utensils that came with the meal. My mouth starts to salivate when I smell the aroma.
I unpack the containers and eat in silence for a few minutes while the two of us stare at the television. There’s some reality survival show on the screen that I’m not really watching.
“Oak and Mads are moving into the new apartment soon.” Chase breaks the silence.
My chest clenches when I think of Madison, but I do my best to camouflage my reaction. “Oh, yeah?”
He’s watching me a little too closely. “I figured you knew since you gave them all your furniture.”
“I did know,” I say. I take another bite of my burger.
“What’s going on there?” he asks, not taking the hint I was hoping my silence would provide.
“With what?” I play dumb.
“You know what,” he counters. “The last time I saw you was the weekend you and Mads were all over each other at the concert and at dinner.”
I narrow my eyes at him as I hesitate before taking a drink of soda. “We were never all over each other, Matthews.”
He scoffs. “Okay, man … whatever you say.” He pauses for a moment before forging on. “So, what’s the status with you two?”
“The status?” I furrow my brow and shoot him a look. “Are we really doing this right now?”
Chase sighs. “Look, you gotta give me something. If I fly back home in a couple of days and I have no info to report to your sister, she’s gonna kill me.”
I chuckle. “You are so whipped.”
“And you’re not?” he challenges.
I stare at him as I shove a handful of fries into my mouth, buying time and ignoring his insinuation. “There is no status.”
He purses his lips and narrows his eyes as he studies me. Then, his expression relaxes, and he nods his head up and down slowly, as if he’s solved a problem. “Okay … I see.” He turns his attention to the television screen as if the conversation is over.
“You see what?” I can’t help but press, surprised he didn’t put up more of a fight for information.
He shrugs. “It was just a summer thing. A fling. It’s all good, Ollie.”
Something about Madison being described as a fling doesn’t sit well with me. She wasn’t a fling. She wasn’t just some girl or a meaningless hookup. She was so much more.
“It wasn’t a fling,” I grumble.
His eyes shift over. “What was it then?”
I put my food aside and sink into the couch.
What was she to me?
She was a surprise. Getting attached and giving a shit about a woman this summer weren’t on the agenda. But then there she sat, looking all beautiful, clouding my mind, and stealing my attention. She was infuriating, always pushing my buttons and pissing me off. She was magnetic, drawing me in. She crept inside until she was living rent-free inside my head. She was spontaneous and fun. She forced me to live in the moment and forget about all the things I worried about constantly. She was authentic and unfiltered. She was electric and pulsing with energy. She stripped me down and hit me right where she knew I’d bleed the most. The left side of my chest. My heart.
She was a distraction I couldn’t afford, but one I couldn’t resist.
With all the thoughts swimming in my head, the one that comes out of my mouth is, “She was everything.”
Chase watches me quietly after my declaration. It’s the most honest I’ve ever been. He doesn’t give me shit. He doesn’t push for more. It’s like … he just knows. Probably because he’s been there with Oakley.
My college coach’s words continue to ruminate inside my head, like they have been the past few days. “It’s a hard life, even for someone who loves hockey as much as you and I do. It becomes important to have something to come home to. A place to lay your head, a family that’s waiting for you …”
