Page 111 of Against The Boards

He sighed. “I don’t like being alone.”

“Duh! I know that.”

He glared at me but changed the subject. “So, you and dad talked, right?”

I nodded. “He wants to make amends…” I trailed off when something dawned on me. “Tristan, are you the reason Dad came around?”

He picked at the label on his beer. “I hope so. I tried to talk some sense into both of them. They’re from a different generation, Roxie. I know it doesn’t excuse how they reacted, but I tried to help them get that it doesn’t matter who you date, you’re still you.”

I felt my eyes getting misty, but this time it was happy tears. “Oh, dude,” I whispered.

My brother sighed. “Oh, come on, Roxie, don’t do that.”

I wiped my eyes. “I can’t help it.” I looked at my phone, where the voicemail from my mom blinked back at me. I still hadn’t listened to it, half afraid of what it would say. “She left me a message.”

“Who?”

“Mom.”

“Yeah? What’d it say?”

I shrugged. “I haven’t listened to it yet. I usually just delete anything from her.”

“Maybe you should listen to this one? Maybe Mom changed?”

“I’m afraid she’ll think me being with Benny means I’m straight.”

Tristan cleared his throat. “Then explain it to her. Speaking of which, this thing with Benny...it’s serious, right? I know the big doof loves you, but...”

“Yeah, it is. He would have left when I told him to this morning if it wasn’t.”

“I want you to be happy. I wish you didn’t do it with one of my teammates, but he’s a good guy. Don’t break his heart.”

“Shouldn’t you be saying, ‘if he hurts you, I’ll kill him’?” I asked with a laugh.

Tristan gave me an exasperated look. “Please, if he hurt you, you’d kill him. Why do you need me to say shit like that?”

“He bought me new skates…” I trailed off.

Tristan cringed. “Yeah, that sucks that you gotta break them in.”

“I know! But he did it because I was complaining about how shitty my boots were getting, and I was putting it off.”

“He did it because he thinks you can play in the PHF.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to play professionally; I just want to do it for funzies. I really miss it.”

“You should play pro, dude!”

I wrinkled my nose. “They don’t make any money.”

“Okay, true, but you should be out there with the other players of your caliber.”

“Have you been talking to Benny about this?” I asked and glared at him. My dad had mentioned something to me, too. I swear all three of them were ganging up on me about it.

Tristan smirked. “Maybe. I can’t believe he got you back on the ice. Fuck, Rox, you might marry that man.”

I scrunched up my face. “No, we aren’t the marriage type.”