4 Don’t be a drama llama
CHAPTER FOUR
Don’t be a drama llama
WILL
I spotted Levi from above as he lifted the Olympic bar over his chest.
The weights room was packed with hockey players. There was a lot more to our program than skating. As far as dryland went, this was my favourite. All weights. No cardio. I fucking hated conditioning. I did it because deep down I knew it was important for my game and blah blah blah . But I’d take a bench press over a box jump any day of the week.
“Is Hughesy coming tomorrow night?” I asked.
We had a Wednesday night home game, which wasn’t exactly prime time, but it would be busy regardless. College students didn’t operate on a Monday-through-Thursday versus weekend basis like the rest of the world. Every night was a party night. Though I’ll admit, a weekend game was always rowdier than a midweek one. Throw the words Friday or Saturday in front of it, and the crowd went wild.
“Nah. She’s got a meet out of town.”
Damn. I considered Hughesy to be Levi’s good luck charm. Not that he necessarily needed one, the guy was a gun whether Grace was there or not. But there seemed to be no distractions between him and the game when Grace was close by. It’s like between her and the ice, his entire world was concealed within the one arena.
It’d taken time getting used to my best friend, who’d been anti-girlfriends his entire life, becoming inexplicably whipped. But it was a good change .
Levi exhaled deeply as he pushed the barbell away from his chest. He was starting to slack so I helped him guide it back into place. After setting it on the racks, he blew out a heavy breath then sat up.
“Before I forget, I promised Grace I’d help her out with some student-PT-gig she agreed to.” He scooped up the towel he’d been lying on, using it to wipe his sweaty forehead. “But I’ve got to film some fucking hockey-versus-football sporting quiz with Ryker Richardson for the Phil-U socials.”
I snickered. For a while, Ryker Richardson had been Levi’s archnemesis. An immature bet they’d made had them fighting over Grace for the better part of last semester.
Once Grace fell for Levi and forgave him for the bet, Levi and Ryker had let bygones be bygones and landed on some kind of weird friendship.
Levi peered up at me. “Can you take my place?”
I dropped my towel onto the bench he’d just deserted before laying down. “Student-PT-gig?” I reluctantly questioned.
“I don’t know all the details,” Levi admitted. “But you’d be doing me a solid. Tripp’s already in. I’d ask Ryan, but he has class at the same time.”
I wrapped my hands around the barbell, getting it into position. While there was a small part of me waving a red flag, the rest was telling me I was being paranoid, which is why I found myself nodding.
“Sweet. It’s on Thursday morning. You can drive Hughesy to campus for me.”
“Jesus, man. Driving her to campus, doing her favours,” I listed. “Do you need me to sleep with your girlfriend while I’m at it?”
Not the right joke to make to Levi, especially when he was about to spot me. Even though he knew I’d never ever do that, and Grace wouldn’t either, he was a complete caveman when it came to her.
I’ll admit, I knew the feeling all too well. Caring about someone to the depths he did was a blessing and a curse.
He growled. “Spot yourself fucker.”
I chuckled. “Don’t be a drama llama.”
He heaved a heavy sigh before placing the barbell in my raised arms. I closed my fists around it.
He solidified his footing. “But on that note. Are you going through a dry spell?”
His question surprised me. Luckily I was at the beginning of my set and not the end, otherwise I might be wearing the barbell.
“Why?”
“You’ve just seemed, I don’t know, extra focussed on the ice lately.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Well, no. But you know sex and hockey can coexist, right? ”
Of course I did. I wasn’t celibate. Just because I wasn’t as outwards as Ryan and Tripp were when it came to sleeping with puck bunnies, or I didn’t pick the most popular girl on campus like Levi’s ammo used to be, it didn’t mean I didn’t have my options. It just wasn’t my priority right now. I didn’t want the effort of having to get to know someone new, and I didn’t want the strings that came with sleeping with the same person repeatedly.
The latter was something I’d only done once since freshman year. Although the girl had understood our arrangement for what it was and never asked for more, it’d felt too relationship-like, which made me squirm.
Though not for the reason my friends had assumed.
Levi shifted from foot to foot, like he was full of nervous energy. With a groan, I returned the barbell to the rack and sat up. He clearly had something else he wanted to say.
“Spit it out, Holloway.”
Not one to backdown from confrontation, Levi got right to it.
“Your passing has been stiff and your skating isn’t as smooth as normal.”
I swallowed. “Did Coach say that?”
“No. But I’m sure he’s noticed. As your captain, I wanted to reach out first.” Levi’s tone softened, so did his expression. “But as your best friend, I’m suggesting you loosen the reins a little. Have a night out. Meet a girl. Get your rocks off. Whatever you need to do. Just take a load off for a beat.”
I laid back down, snickering as I did. “You’ve had a girlfriend for all of two months and suddenly you’re the expert at dating advice?”
Levi tightened his hands on the barbell, preventing me from picking it up. “Firstly, three and a half months. And secondly, if I was struggling on the ice I’d expect you to call me out on it.”
My chest heaved up and down as I exhaled slowly. He was probably right. I’d been pretty tense about hockey this season. My entire life really.
Levi was a natural. He could slack off on the ice or miss practices entirely and still kill it in game time. And while I was good too, my success came from hard work. From staying out that bit later than every other kid. Or waking up a bit earlier. Or getting in extra ice time.
Hockey had always come first to me. I’d missed out on things because of it. I’d lost things because of it. This close to my life goal, my priorities weren’t going to change now.