5 Will fucking Caufield
CHAPTER FIVE
Will fucking Caufield
RILEY
I had my back to the door when I heard it open. Voices floated into the room. I could make out Grace’s accent straight away.
“Hello?” she called out.
“Just a second.”
I powered down my laptop then stepped around the partition that gave the therapy bed privacy.
“Hey,” I greeted. “Right on time. I was just–”
My words lodged in my throat. Not because of Grace, or her beautiful friend with auburn hair, or even Tripp O’Connor – but because of Will fucking Caulfield.
He stopped in his tracks at the same moment I choked on my words. It’d been almost three years since I’d seen Will Caufield, at least in person. I couldn’t avoid the pictures of him plastered around campus, or the videos of him and his teammates on the Phil-U socials, but I generally did my best to dodge social scenes that related to the hockey team. Particularly this player.
I hid my shaky hands on my hips, attempting to steady them.
He couldn’t be Grace’s boyfriend, could he? I mean, of course he could. She was beautiful and nice, the type of girl a guy like him ended up with. But man, the universe had to be irrevocably messing with me.
Tripp snickered. “Oh shit.”
Will not so subtly shoved Tripp’s shoulder.
Grace picked up on the tension. “Is something wrong? ”
Tripp danced his hand between Will and me. “Yeah. These two used to fuck.”
At least time hadn’t changed him. Tripp O’Connor seemed exactly how I remembered. Tall, fair-haired. A comedian still apparently.
I finally found my voice. “Date is probably a better word,” I supplied.
I gained the courage to look at Will. It was an effort. His dark blonde hair was grown longer than he used to wear it, his sharp jaw was covered in more than a day’s old stubble, and even beneath his thick puffer coat, I could see the extra muscle he’d gained. He was no longer the freshman I’d dated. He was a senior and on the cusp of joining the professional league.
I wondered how I looked to him. The same? Grown up? Who knew. And who cared. We were in each other’s past. It didn’t matter how he saw me or what he thought of me. That didn’t mean I wasn’t thankful that I’d taken the extra time this morning to add concealer to the bags beneath my eyes though.
Grace grimaced. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” She ruefully glanced at Will. “You never mentioned an ex-girlfriend.”
I tried deciphering her tone. With her accent it was difficult telling whether she sounded bothered or not.
Was it strange Will hadn’t mentioned me to her? Maybe. Maybe not. I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know the ins and outs of their relationship. Like how long they had been together, or how serious it was, or whether she was the jealous type.
If I’d dated someone since Will, would I feel the need to tell them about him? Or would I leave it in the past, not wanting to taint the present? Probably the latter.
Now I thought about it, I realised even Parker didn’t know about my history with the alternate hockey captain. She’d transferred to Phil-U at the beginning of sophomore year. By then, my relationship with Will had been haphazardly wrapped up.
Grace’s eyes roamed between Will and me. “I can ask someone else if–”
“It’s fine,” I interjected, putting as much energy into playing it as cool as I could muster. It was a struggle. This cucumber wasn’t cool. It had been left out of the fridge all weekend and was well past room temperature. Maybe even a little mouldy. “It doesn’t bother me.” Lie. “Unless it’s an issue for Caufield?”
Caufield was how he was known on campus. Only his friends and teammates called him Will. I was going to remain in safe territory.
Will finally looked at me, causing my heart to slam in my chest .
As his grey eyes studied mine, I pasted a polite smile on my face, hoping it portrayed that I was totally fine in his presence and not recalling a time when being in the same room with him wasn’t weird as fuck .
A few years ago, he would’ve easily been able to call me out on my bullshit, but he didn’t know me well enough anymore.
Will grunted some type of response, which sounded like an affirmation. I guess we were going ahead with this.
I clapped my hands together. “Who’s up first?”
My enthusiasm was fake to my own ears, but nobody called me out on it.
The girl with auburn hair threw up her arm. “I’ll go.”
I’d never been more thankful for the distraction.
The girl followed me to the other side of the partition. I went through the checklist with her, filling out her basic information and then specifically focussing on her sport and any injuries. She was a swimmer, like Grace. Neck and shoulders were the two places swimmers were most commonly injured. I worked through basic exercises, testing her strength and flexibility. The girl, Stella, passed with flying colours. Though there were extra exercises she could incorporate into her routine to ensure things remained that way.
Tripp came around next, his face fixated with a smug smile.
“Riley.”
“Tripp.”
He effortlessly hopped onto the therapy table. I’d forgotten how the hockey boys moved with a casual confidence.
“Need me to remove my shirt?” he asked.
“Are there any upper body injuries you need me to know about?”
“Nope.”
“Then the shirt can stay on.”
He snickered. “Your loss.”
On the other side of the partition, I could faintly make out Grace and Will talking in hushed whispers. Part of me was straining to hear, but a bigger part didn’t want to know.