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“Don’t grow up too fast, Click. I’ve heard it’s a trap.” Damien walks through the door and closes it behind him.
I quietly whisper the words to myself that I know by heart…
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty…”
Chapter Two
Damien
Twenty Years Old
It’s just after midnight. I had a text message waiting on my phone when we hit the locker room after our game tonight. Gia needed me.
Her text said to meet her here, in her dorm room, when we finished up. No rush. She added the last two words like I didn’t realize they meant the complete opposite. Something in my gut twisted. The moment I read the text I knew something wasn’t right. Her tone was all wrong. She was too direct. There was a level of professionalism there that worried me. Her words lacked her usual joking sarcasm.
Lucky for me, and the highway patrol, we played at home tonight. I didn’t waste time in the shower, I didn’t speak to anyone at all; our win completely forgotten in my haste to get to her. I came straight here. I rushed, because I knew good and damn well that something was up.
Now I sit silently on the small twin-sized bed in Gia’s room, and I wait.
I watch her carefully as she paces back and forth in front of the sink, the door to the bathroom stands ajar between us. She and her roommate share a bathroom with an adjoining room next door. Her roommate went back home for the weekend. It’s just the two of us tonight, and I’ve never been more thankful for the privacy.
A bead of sweat rolls down my spine, but my face doesn’t show the fear that churns in my stomach.
I fucked up.
“It’s positive.” Her words are clear. There is no question, merely facts that changed our lives weeks before we knew the repercussions of our actions.
My spine snaps straight. My mind instantly begins creating solutions to problems that aren’t even problems yet. More adrenaline races through my veins than during any game of hockey I’ve ever played.
Gia snatches the test from where it sits on the edge of the porcelain sink as if it has personally offended her. She storms into the dorm room and slams the bathroom door at her back, turning the lock behind her before leaning back against it in a flourish.
“Shit.” It’s all I manage to say as I stand up from where I’ve been waiting. I stare at the woman in front of me, gauging her reaction to one of the most pivotal moments in our lives. She’s like a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at any second.
We’re not kids anymore. We haven’t been for some time. I can’t pinpoint when exactly it happened. I just know that, somewhere along the way, Gia became less of a little sister to me and more…well, not a sister.
Tyler and I made plans years ago. Plans of fame and fortune. Plans for hockey and law degrees. Plans that I was never able to fulfill like we imagined because I couldn’t afford Chambliss.
I didn’t get the hockey scholarship I applied for and couldn’t qualify for grants. We were too rich for assistance but too poor to pay the tuition. I didn’t want to be a walk-on; I couldn’t gamble my future on a maybe. I definitely couldn’t gamble my mama’s money on it. She worked too damn hard to give me every opportunity growing up. Being a single mom wasn’t easy. I watched her struggle every day, and she never complained about it.
Rafferton is a good college. It’s close to home and I was offered a full scholarship. There was no choice in my mind, I did what I had to do. Sure, Rafferton’s hockey program is still new. We’re gaining momentum, but it’s slow. We’re finally starting to get attention from league scouts. My dream isn’t over, I just took a different path to get there. Unfortunately, my decision to stay created a crack in what I always thought was an unbreakable bond of friendship.
Tyler was my best friend; he was my brother. Time and distance change things whether we want them to or not.
Some changes we can plan for, others we never see coming - like this one.
“Double shit.” She laughs, but it’s not filled with the joy that should come at a moment like this. It’s heart-wrenching and laced with fear. She’s in shock.
She tosses me the test, and I catch it without hesitation. My reflexes are fast. Not much different than the decision that’s already been made in my mind in the minutes we’ve been standing here looking at each other.
The truth? I made this decision in my heart long before those lines turned pink.
“I’m in.” I clutch the test in the palm of my hand without looking at it. I trust Gia. She’s family. Anybody else, and I’d assume this was about some puck bunny shit, but not Gia.
“What?” Her breath catches on a single word. She looks at me, her eyes brimming with questions that I’m already prepared to answer.
My dad left before I was born. I never knew him. I have vague memories of Gia and Tyler’s dad before he died tragically in a car accident, back when we still thought we were Power Rangers – we thought we were invincible. We were barely in elementary school. Gia was even younger - too young. She doesn’t remember, but I still hear his laugh sometimes. I remember playing hockey in the street with him when Tyler and I could barely grip the stick.
I’m sure he had his flaws. Hell, don’t we all? I know I probably placed that man on a pedestal all those years ago that maybe he deserved, maybe he didn’t. But, in my mind, he was a real man. A man that I’ve strived to be like for years. He gave me something to work toward when the only man I never knew left.
