Picks & Pucks (15 page)

“I may have told the teacher you would be there. Taylor is in my English class, and you’re my topic.”

“I’m a topic?”

He shrugged. “You have an interesting life, and maybe I can use you to impress Taylor.”

“Fine, but it has to be okay with Marina.”

“Deal,” he said.

T
HE
GAME
was actually fun. CJ skated by during warm-ups and raised his stick at us. Danny looked over to see who or what had grabbed his attention. When he saw me sitting in the stands, he ran into Spock and sat down on the ice. He quickly scrambled to his feet and skated to the far side of the rink, scowling at anyone who came near him.

“He’s a lovesick puppy. Too bad he doesn’t want to come out of the closet. You know, yesterday, two girls met him after class and were hanging all over him. I don’t get the guy at all. He really didn’t look happy but he allowed them to grope him. I almost gagged.”

“Hockey players aren’t supposed to be gay,” I stated.

“Who made that rule?”

“I don’t know. But in Danny’s head, he isn’t supposed to be gay.”

“So he’s going to spend his life living a lie.”

“Guess so,” I said and shrugged.

“If he was out, would you still be with him?”

“Yes,” I said it so fast it even surprised me. “But he’s not, so it doesn’t matter.”

“I feel sorry for him. I couldn’t imagine lying about everything, but in a small way, I can see why he does it. Maybe it would have been better for me to lie to some people.”

I turned in my seat to look him in the eye, but the guy sitting next to us poked me and told me the National Anthem was going to be played. We stood and faced the flag. As I contemplated Eli’s words, the anthem seemed to drag on forever.

“Who do you think you should have lied to?” I asked when the anthem ended.

“My parents,” Eli said. “They disowned me when I told them I’d been dating a guy. My dad said he’d put up with my oddities far too long and this was the final straw. Oddities? Who the hell says that to their kid? The
only
good thing that came out of this whole fucking nightmare was my brother. For the first time in my entire life, he took my side and refuses to talk to my folks until they apologize to me.”

Even in my darkest hour, my dad had not disowned me.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured. “I should have been here for you.”

“I’m not going to argue with that, but your family stepped in and helped me out. Since Connor doesn’t live here, he called Janae and told her what happened. She told your dad, and he came to the house to talk to my folks. They refused to discuss me. Told him it wasn’t any of his business. They said some really shitty things to your dad. He got pissed and ripped into both of them.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, said it was a fucking mistake to give up on a kid because of who he decides to love.”

“Are you sure it was my dad?”

“Justin, he cares about you. I know things aren’t perfect between you two, but at least he didn’t abandon you.”

I nodded, because I couldn’t argue with him.

“Your dad put me up for a few days until my brother found me a place to live. He pays for it, but I don’t really like my roommates.”

“You could move into Janae’s place.”

“I have a few months left on my lease. Janae and I have already talked about it.”

The crowd roared and we both looked up. Danny had scored and was celebrating with his teammates. He glanced up at me and gave me a tight smile.

“He’s weird,” Eli said.

“You think?”

We started laughing, leaving behind the serious conversation. Relieved at the lightened mood, even I had to admit I enjoyed watching the game. When CJ scored a goal, he skated by us and pumped his fist. It may have been meant for the crowd, but I took it as a gesture toward me.

Eli must have thought the same thing, because he stood up and cheered loudly, doing some awful dance. The older guy and his daughter sitting next to us joined in the strange dance. The camera person thought they were funny and put them all on the jumbotron. I leaned away, pretending I didn’t know them. Only my elbow was visible on the screen.

The team scored several more times and won the game easily.

“I had fun,” Eli said as we left the arena amid the throngs of fans. “Thanks for making me go.”

“No problem,” I said. Eli suddenly came to a complete stop. I banged into his shoulder and another guy ran into me. “Eli, move,” I said.

“Uh,” he grunted but stayed still. People grumbled and ran into us, so I pushed him to the side.

“Eli,” I snapped. “What is wrong with you? We’re going to get trampled.”

“Hi.” A tall guy with brown hair stood in front of Eli, grinning at him. I nudged Eli again and got another grunt out of him. The guy turned to me.

“I’m Taylor Williams. You must be Justin Corrin.”

“Yes,” I said, wondering if I was supposed to know this guy. I stomped on Eli’s foot, and he finally blinked.

“Hi, Taylor,” Eli said, all breathy. It suddenly dawned on me that this was
Taylor,
Eli’s massive crush. The guy with the beautiful hazel eyes who had my best friend so smitten he couldn’t even speak.

“I didn’t know you were a hockey fan,” Taylor said to Eli.

Eli grinned at Taylor like a lovesick idiot. I’d never seen Eli act like this before. It had always been the girls who went gaga over him. Since Eli couldn’t do anything but drool and click his lip ring, I took control of the situation.

“Er, we’re heading over to my house to hang out. You’re welcome to come over,” I said. Eli looked like he was going to faint.

“That would be great,” Taylor said. “We were going out tonight, but my roommate decided to get smashed here. I need to drop him off before he passes out.” He pointed to a green-looking guy draped over a garbage can.

We exchanged phone numbers, and I gave him my address, telling him to stop over any time.

“Park in the driveway. My sister won’t be home tonight,” I said.

“I’ll see you soon,” Taylor said to Eli.

“Okay,” Eli said weakly. I stifled a giggle.

We watched Taylor struggle with his roommate. They banged into a security guard, who shouted about drunk kids. Taylor’s roommate flashed his wristband in the guy’s face, yelling about being twenty-one. It took another ten minutes for Taylor to drag the guy out the door.

“Come on, lover boy, let’s get home,” I said.

Eli squealed so loud the security guard came over to check on us.

“Have you been drinking?” the guy asked.

“Nope, not old enough,” I said.

“Is your friend okay?” he asked.

“Lovesick,” I said.

The guy chuckled and shook his head. “Worse than being drunk. At least the hangover goes away.”

Eli didn’t say anything until we pulled into the driveway.

“Oh my God,” he squeaked and started breathing heavily. “What am I supposed to say to him when he gets here? Maybe he won’t show up. Holy shit. Is there some sort of way to tell if he likes me? I don’t think I can do this. What the hell were you thinking, inviting him over here?”

“Eli,” I said calmly, placing my hand over his mouth. “Let’s go inside and have a drink before he gets here.”

“Is he really coming over?”

“He said he was.”

For the next fifteen minutes, I watched Eli pace from the living room to the kitchen and back to the front door to peek out the small window. When car lights lit up the living room, Eli dropped to his knees and begged me for pointers on anything related to liking a guy.

“Can we just hang out and talk to him before you plan your wedding?”

“Will that work?” he asked, clicking his lip ring against his teeth.

The door opened and in walked CJ, followed by Taylor.

“I found this guy wandering around the front yard. Anyone know him?” CJ asked.

“He’s mine!” Eli shouted and immediately buried his face in his hands. The tips of his ears peeked out from his unruly hair, and I noticed they were bright red.

“I mean, he’s here to hang out with me, er, I mean us.” Eli’s voice trailed off, and I heard him mutter “oh my God” several times.

“I’m Taylor Williams.”

“CJ Daly.”

“You’re the hockey player,” Taylor said.

If Taylor was going to spend the evening being a fanboy, I wasn’t going to hang around.

“Yep,” CJ said and shook his hand. “But I’m also a business student and a pretty good golfer. I love cooking, traveling, I play the piano, and I read a lot.”

Taylor grinned at him. “Good to know.”

“You guys have fun,” CJ said as he started up the stairs.

“You’re welcome to join us,” I said.

“Yeah,” Eli and Taylor echoed.

“Thanks, but I….” His voice trailed off. He shook his head and disappeared. We heard his bedroom door close.

I went upstairs and knocked on his door.

“Come down and have a drink with us,” I said through the closed door. “I don’t feel like being the third wheel.”

“I’m not much for partying,” CJ said as he opened the door. I almost opened my mouth to tell him most hockey players like to party, but I bit my tongue.

“Neither am I, but I promised Eli I’d have a drink with him tonight. One beer isn’t going to kill me or you.”

Sometimes I needed to act like I was twenty years old. Sometimes I needed to
not
be responsible. The pressure of competing had a habit of weighing on my shoulders. One night of letting loose wasn’t going to destroy my chances of winning Nationals. Besides, watching Eli turn into a blithering idiot over a guy was funny, and I was still in awe over what CJ had said about his other talents. I was more than a little curious about him.

CJ bit his lip and kicked his shoes off.

“I promise we’re not that bad to hang out with. I don’t know Taylor, but Eli’s entertaining. You can always ditch us if it gets boring. Besides, with you and Taylor around, maybe I won’t have to divulge any of my deep dark secrets to Eli.” I blinked a few times, hoping I looked like a sad puppy dog. “Please?” I quickly added.

“Okay,” he mumbled.

We made camp in the living room after I got everyone to promise not to spill on Janae’s floor or we’d be on our hands and knees cleaning each individual fiber of the carpet.

I had fun. We got the talk about playing hockey and skating over with before we finished the first drink. I didn’t want to discuss skating, and CJ didn’t seem to want to talk about hockey.

“It’s paying for my school,” he said, and we moved on to asking Taylor a few personal questions. Eli hovered in the background, staring at Taylor. He was so obviously drooling over the guy it was comical.

Several drinks later, Eli finally relaxed and joined in the conversation. When Taylor excused himself to use the bathroom and CJ went to get us more snacks, Eli poked me.

“What do you think? I can’t tell if he’s interested or not?”

“I don’t know, but with you making goofy eyes at him all night, if he can’t figure out you have a thing for him, the guy isn’t very bright.”

“Am I that obvious?”

“Yes.”

Eli blushed and took another drink.

“He seems like a nice guy,” I said.

“Obviously. Why would I like someone who was a dickhead?” Eli snorted. “I’m not you.”

“Thanks for that,” I said.

“Yeah, well, you know what I mean. Danny didn’t exactly treat you well.”

“Okay,” I said, holding my hands up. “You win. I have dated a few dickheads.”

As the evening progressed and the alcohol flowed freely, I started to feel like a magnet was drawing me to CJ. Either his knee touched mine or our shoulders bumped. It made me warm, and the demons floated around the living room ceiling making rude gestures. I blocked them out.

“How come you’re not out with the boys tonight?” I asked. Usually after a win, the guys did something as a team.

He shrugged. “I told you, I’m not really into partying. I’m here to play hockey and get my degree. Besides, it’s a preseason game and most of the guys had family in town, so they’re with them.”

His face darkened and he frowned.

“Guess I’m your substitute family for the evening, then,” I said. The demons gasped and whispered frantic words I didn’t understand. I couldn’t tell if they thought I was completely nuts or were blown away by my kind words.

“You can use the tickets anytime you want. No one else will ever be using them.” He took a big swig of beer, finishing the bottle. “Do you need another?”

“What do you mean, no one else will use them?”

He looked at me, and for a split second, I thought he was going to open up, but his face closed off and he shook his head. “I don’t want to get into that right now.”

“Okay,” I said.

“I’m going to get another drink.” He sighed and his shoulders sagged. It looked like he was supporting the weight of the world on his back. Several demons trailed after him. Whatever secrets he carried seemed to be as terrible as mine.

When CJ came back to the living room, he had two bottles of beer and three bottles of wine.

“This is the last of the beer,” he announced.

“Wine makes me stupid,” Taylor said and grabbed a beer.

“You could never be stupid,” Eli said. He sounded like a lovesick teenager, but Taylor didn’t seem to mind. He flashed him a swoon-worthy smile, and Eli dribbled wine down his chin. Taylor reached out and wiped the drip with his thumb. I thought for sure Eli was going to lick Taylor.

“I’m going upstairs,” CJ whispered.

“Why?”

“I just….” He shook his head, and I waited for him to say something creepy about my lovesick best friend. Instead he grabbed the wine bottle and took a healthy swig. Demons came out of the woodwork, and I didn’t know if they belonged to him or to me.

He sat back down, and we exchanged drinks as we watched Eli and Taylor participate in a strange mating ritual. I was trying to be happy for Eli, when my knee brushed against CJ’s thigh. I quickly took another drink and handed the bottle back to CJ. Our hands collided. He snatched it and took another drink. It went on and on until suddenly the bottle was empty and my brain was floating in alcohol.

Getting drunk around CJ was probably not the smartest thing for me to do. The evidence was overwhelming when I met CJ coming out of the bathroom. For some reason, the hallway had narrowed and was so tight I was positive we couldn’t both fit in the space. So it wasn’t my fault when I found myself pressed against him. It would have been so simple to sink into the warmth of his body, but I was still alert enough to know better.