Page 101 of Hockey Player Seeking Fan

“They won. They won,” she says. “All thanks to your man.”

And I missed it.

“Fuck. I missed it.”

“It’s okay,” she says. “I took a video for you.”

“You what?”

“I know you, Erica. And I know that when your nerves get the better of you, you just go and listen to music. So I took a video just in case they won so you could say you saw it.”

“But I didn’t see it.”

“I mean… you’ll see it on the video.” She holds her phone up and shows me. “Just explain to him what happened. He’ll understand. He’s not a jackass. His life is in hockey. You know that.”

“I know, but this was a really important game. This was game seven. And?—”

“Hey,” she looks at me. “Just tell him.”

My phone starts beeping then, and I pull it out of my handbag.

It’s Tyler. He probably wants to celebrate with his girl.

What am I going to say?

“Tell him the truth. He’ll understand.”

I nod slowly and answer it.

“Hi. Congratulations.”

“Hey. You still here?”

“Yeah. Of course. Where else would I be?”

“You want to meet me in the locker room?”

“What? Now?”

“Yeah.”

“Doesn’t your coach want to talk to you?”

“We just won the championship game. I think I’m okay to do whatever I want right now.”

“And what is it you want to do?”

“You’ll see. Come to the locker room. I’m just going to shower, and we’ll head out.”

“But don’t you want to be with your teammates?”

“I just want to be with you.”

“I have something to admit to you. I feel really bad, but… I didn’t actually see most of the game.”

He starts laughing. “Wait, what are you talking about?”

“I felt really bad because Miles told me that if you lost, you might move to Minnesota. And I just didn't know what that meant for our relationship. And so I got really nervous that you would move, and I just couldn't see what was going to happen. And then I went into the bathroom and tried to distract myself, and I guess I distracted myself way too well because I stayed in there for a really long time, and when I came out, it was already over. And I feel like a horrible, horrible girlfriend. And if you want to dump me because you don't think I'm supportive, then?—”