What Are The Chances (Phil-U #2)

2 We’re going camping

CHAPTER TWO

We’re going camping

WILL

“Do you think Coach is a silver fox?” Tripp asked, his head cocked as he stared at Coach Hall.

I’d never given it any thought. I mean, why the hell would I? He was my coach. I generally didn’t check out my coaches.

“I saw him with his girlfriend at our last game. She’s smoking and she must be at least half his age.”

Having been friends with Tripp since freshman year, I knew when to entertain his ideas and when to ignore them entirely. This seemed like a perfect scenario for the latter.

With a dismissive shake of my head I jumped the boards and began warming up. It was our first official training back since Christmas. I’d practiced at home over the break on the frozen lake between mine and Levi’s houses, then again New Year’s Day in this very rink. While my friends had nursed hangovers, or in Levi’s case spent the day in bed with his girlfriend, I’d practiced my slapshot until my wrists ached.

I’d hit the cross bar twice in our final game of the year. To avoid the yips, I’d made sure I could master the shot with my eyes closed.

Levi lazily skated in circles, gearing up for practice. He was in a much better mood than he had been last time we were on this ice together.

Just before Christmas break, his girlfriend had broken up with him then skipped the country. Literally. Now she was back and committed to staying after graduation. Levi hadn’t stopped smiling since, even on the early as hell drive to the barn this morning .

Ryan skated towards us, his helmet tucked beneath his arm. “I’ve decided how I want to celebrate my birthday.”

“Let me guess,” I drawled. “Lastlings?”

“Nope.”

“A party at ours,” Levi tried.

“Wrong again. We’re going camping.”

Tripp skated past a group of juniors and stopped beside me, purposely spraying me with ice. Dick.

“The fuck? Camping? Did I hear that correctly?”

Ryan nodded. “There’s a campground twenty minutes out of Allentown.”

That name caused many scornful looks to shoot our way. Allentown was the closest college to Phil-U, and our biggest rivals. We played them more than any other team in the league. Each game was a blood bath. Fast paced. Rough. Generally a fight to the end. More often than not they ended up going to overtime.

I fucking hated Allentown, and every single player on their team.

“Camping?” Levi sceptically questioned.

Ryan wasn’t glamourous as such, but out of all my friends, he was the last I’d expect to opt for a night in the woods. I mean, the guy panicked whenever his sneakers got dirty, and we’d gotten into more arguments than I could count about the state of our shared bathroom. He acted like a wet towel on the ground was the equivalent of murdering a puppy.

“This new girl I’m talking to is outdoorsy. You know, goes hiking and shit. I reckon she’d drop her panties if I invited her to go camping.”

And there it was. The penny dropped. Dirty sneakers were worth a hook up in Ryan’s mind.

“We’ll get a campfire going. Have a shit load of pizzas delivered. It’ll be sweet.”

I arched an eyebrow. “They deliver pizzas to camp sites?”

“This one isn’t far from the city. It’s nice. It’s got toilets and power, the works.”

Levi snickered. “Not sure that constitutes as camping then.”

Ryan combed his overgrown hair back then secured his helmet in place. “We can’t go too off grid otherwise no girls would come.”

That perked Levi up. “So I can bring Hughesy?”

Ryan playfully rolled his eyes. “Yes, Cap. You can bring your girlfriend you literally can’t go one night without.”

Despite the sarcasm, I knew Ryan didn’t mind Grace coming. Hughesy was as good as it got when it came to your buddy’s girlfriend. Down to earth. Easy to talk to .

I’d been the one on Levi’s back, making sure he didn’t mess things up with her. From the get-go it was obvious to me that my best friend was crushing on the girl. As someone who knew firsthand what it was like to fuck up the real thing, I’d been adamant he didn’t make the same mistake as me.

When Coach walked into the arena, all conversations died off immediately. While most of the guys liked to party and mess around off the ice, when they were here they were focussed. You didn’t apply or get recruited to Phil-U’s hockey program unless you took the game seriously.

There were plenty of guys that hockey was merely a hobby to on the team, but knowing this was likely the highest level they’d ever get to play, they didn’t dick around. We were all laser focussed on winning the national championship again this year. Nothing was going to get in the way of that.

Coach blew his whistle. “Captain.”

Levi stood to attention like Coach was a drill sergeant. He may as well be.

“Take the team through a warmup, then we’ll get started on conditioning. It’s time to see how many of you overindulged on Christmas turkey.”