Page 127 of Lose You Twice

By Thursday, I’m considering requesting workplace hazard pay after seeing him shirtless…twice. It’s starting to feel intentional.

By Friday, Harlow takes one look at me before class and says, “You’re either ovulating or emotionally compromised.”

I choke on my coffee.

“Harlow.”

“What? I’m being supportive.”

“That’s not support. Plus, I don’t think you can ovulate while actively on your period, either.”

“It can be both. You’re right on that, so maybe your hormones are acting up.” She drops into the chair across from me and narrows her eyes. “You and my brother are acting very suspicious, and I don’t know why you’re still trying to fight it.”

“Your brother was born weird.”

“I mean, even weirder than normal.”

I pretend to scroll through my phone, even though the screen is locked. “Maybe he’s stressed.”

“Wren.”

“Maybe he’s captaining.”

“Wren.”

“Maybe Mercury is in retrograde.”

She doesn’t laugh, and that was humorous. I sigh and set my phone face down. “Nothing happened.”

Technically, that isn’t even close to true.

Her eyebrows lift.

“Recently,” I add.

“Hm.”

“As in, in the last four days. Unless you count seeing him shirtless multiple times as something.”

“So nothing happened between you two outside of anything that’s happened between you and the rest of the team?”

I glare at her, my cheeks heating slightly. “I hate you.”

“You love me.” She leans forward, softer now. “Are you okay with whatever ‘nothing’ was?”

“I don’t know,” I admit.

She nods her head, as if she can possibly understand the mess happening in my brain. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

My best friend shrugs. “Yeah. I can’t force things out of you. Take your time, and whenever you’re ready, I’m here.”

Saturday arrives with another home game, another night of PCU students packing the rink, another chance for me to prove I can work around Kai without turning into a cautionary tale about unresolved first love and poor impulse control.

I last forty-seven minutes.

That’s generous, actually. Forty-seven minutes is when he catches my wrist near the tape shelf.