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“Duh, of course.”
Only we stayed there, staring at one another for a little while longer. Until we heard the sound of his parents moving around outside his room, and we had no choice but to get up before they came looking for us.
***
“That’s bullshit!” I shouted as I jumped from my seat. I turned to look at Matthias, who was sitting next to me. “You saw that, right?”
He gave me a shy smile. “I saw, but I can’t say I understood what was going on.”
We were at one of the Canfield hockey games. I had dragged Matty with me, and to be fair, this was the first game he had ever been to. He wasn’t really a sports kind of guy.
“So, Keith Newman is the right defensemen,” I told him as I sat back down. “He’s supposed to stop the left winger on the other team from scoring. He’s supposed to stay in the right corner and in front of the net. To help Tommy.”
“What you said made absolutely no sense but keep talking. Your face lights up like fireworks when you get excited. All pretty and sparkly,” Matthias teased.
I stuck my tongue out and tossed a handful of popcorn at him. “I’ll show you pretty.”
I chuckled, then turned my attention back to the ice. Canfield was up three to one, but that didn’t mean the opposing team couldn’t pull off some miracle before the timer ran out.
“No offense, Blake, but you’re not my type.”
“Sorry that I don’t have blue eyes and dark, curly hair. Or those dimples you like.”
Matthias made a noise in his throat, and when I looked at him, his face was bright red. “Right, well, we all know I have a thing for Killian.” He kept his gaze on the game.
“How does your new boyfriend feel about that?” I asked. When Matty didn’t answer, I leaned closer. “Or is your silence telling me that Killian is your new boyfriend?”
He swallowed nervously. “What if he was?”
“Jesus Christ, Matty, what are you doing?” I sighed softly as I watched Tommy squat in front of the goal.
He was so damn flexible. I shouldn’t find that so damn hot, right? He tried to take me skating once, to teach me, but all I ended up doing was falling over and over again until I was afraid I would end up black and blue. I was pretty sure Tommy came out of the womb wearing knee pads, a mask, and carrying a hockey stick.
“How do you think this is going to end for you?” I asked quietly.
Matthias ducked his head, and his blond hair covered his face. “That maybe Killian feels the same way about me that I do about him. He’s sweet to me when we’re alone.”
“He’s hiding you. He doesn’t want anyone to know he’s dating you.”
I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth when I realized that’s exactly what Tommy and I were doing. I wasn’t ashamed of being with him, though. I knew exactly how I felt about my best friend.
“Matty?” He looked up at me. “Don’t let him treat you like some dirty secret.”
A commotion on the ice had me turning my attention to the game. A player from the opposing team skated full blast right into Tommy and shoved him into the goal. Tommy went down, but he was back up in a heartbeat, and that’s when the fight broke out. Gloves were thrown, and fists went flying. That was a rare thing to see with a goalie.
I was back on my feet, as was everyone else, as I tried to make sure Tommy wasn’t hurt. The crowd went wild, screaming and hollering. This was what I hated about hockey, while everyone else seemed to love it. The fights, the way everyone was rooting for blood and carnage. I just wanted my boyfriend to be okay.
The referees dragged the players apart, and I finally got a good look at Tommy. His mask was missing by the time it was over, and I felt my heart leap into my throat. This was a high school game, not NHL. I had watched plenty of them with Tommy. Pucks and sticks to the face, giant men beating the hell out of one another. That was something I was going to have to deal with when we got married.
“Does that happen a lot?” Matthias asked.
I shook my head. “No.”
My stomach clenched. I wanted to go to him, but that wasn’t something a friend would do. Even a best friend.
“You should go check on him,” Matthias told me as I eased my body back into my seat. “He’d want you there.”
I tried to force myself to smile. “He’ll be fine.”
