What Are The Chances (Phil-U #2)

42 Don’t fish, Caufield

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Don’t fish, Caufield

WILL

RILEY: Can I ask you something?

I’d just collapsed onto the couch. Ryan and Tripp were doing the food run on their way home. I was waiting for them to get back with my order.

WILL: Always.

RILEY: Do the cameras annoy you?

WILL: The cameras?

RILEY: The social media team.

WILL: Yeah. But it’s part of it.

Levi was in the kitchen FaceTiming Hughesy. I could overhear their sickening conversation from here. As long as he stayed focused on the missing you and didn't veer into phone sex territory, we were good.

WILL: Can I ask you something now?

RILEY: Fair is fair.

WILL: Did you enjoy the game?

RILEY: I did.

Another message came through.

RILEY: A lot.

WILL: Favourite part?

I was fishing, but I couldn’t help it.

RILEY: Watching Holloway. The guy’s elite.

WILL: Dover...

RILEY: Don’t fish, Caufield. You know the answer is you.

I grinned like a teenage boy who’d just been sent a topless picture of his girlfriend. Heck, if Riley was happy to send one now, I’d be grinning all night.

WILL: What was it like shadowing Richard?

RILEY: Amazing. I’ve spent the last twenty minutes typing out as many notes as I can. He asked me to come back on Saturday.

WILL: Are you going to?

I held my breath.

RILEY: It’d be stupid not to take him up on the offer.

A follow-up message came through quickly.

RILEY: Unless that’s weird for you?

WILL: Not at all. I liked having you there.

I clutched my phone in my hand while I restlessly waited for Riley’s reply. I generally hated texting, but Riley had always found a way to make me tolerate things that usually made me grumble.

Levi sauntered into the living room, falling onto the couch beside me.

“Hey, Will,” came Grace’s voice.

Levi panned the phone to me. Grace was in bed, dressed in one of Levi’s hockey hoodies.

“Sup, Hughesy.”

“I heard you played well tonight.”

I snickered. “ Well is a bit stiff, don’t you think, Cap?”

Levi rolled his eyes. “Your head is already three sizes too big, so well is all you’re getting.”

Grace smiled coyly. “Does it have anything to do with the team’s new trainer?”

I guess she’d spoken to Riley. They were getting very chummy those two, which was dangerous for me. I didn’t know what information Riley was feeding Grace. And more importantly, I didn’t know what Grace was then filtering onto Levi.

“Don’t know what you mean,” I dismissively returned. “I just loosened the reins, like your boyfriend told me to.”

“Uh-huh.”

Grace said something else, but my phone vibrating stole my attention.

RILEY: I liked being there… and not only for the purpose of shadowing Richard.

“What are you grinning at?” Levi asked.

Locking my phone, I turned it face down. “Nothing.”

“Levi,” Grace said through a yawn. “I’m tired. I’m going to sleep. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Night, babe. I love you.”

“I love you, too. Goodnight, Will.”

“Goodnight, Hughesy.”

It was a good night. It was a really good night. The only thing that would make it better was going to sleep beside Riley, but I’d take the text messaging for the time being. Any progress was good progress. What I needed to figure out was where I wanted the progress to lead. To keep sleeping with her? For it to become something more ?

“Where are those fuckers?” Levi grumbled. “I’m starving.”

On cue the door opened and Tripp and Ryan walked inside, their arms filled with takeout containers. They spread the food out on the coffee table. We’d each over ordered so it barely fit.

An Eagles versus Bobcats game played on the TV while we dug in. I absentmindedly watched it while I tucked into my burger.

“It’s crazy to think that next year that’ll be you two on the screen,” Tripp said.

I shrugged. “That’s assuming we even get ice time next season.”

Ryan rolled his eyes at that. “You both will and you know it.”

Levi tore his focus from the TV. “I’ll admit, while I’m excited as all hell for next season, I’m not in a hurry to get there either.”

I sort of knew what he meant. My whole life I’d been in a rush to get to the professional league. Now I was close, I wanted time to slow down. Not because I was worried about next year, or even phased to be moving across country, but because I liked what I had going right now.

Post-game feeds with these guys were limited. Hell, playing with them was limited. It wasn’t like we’d have the summer together either. Levi would go to Colorado, I’d go to Texas, and Tripp and Ryan would do whatever they had planned. After that, I probably wouldn’t see them properly until the hockey season was over. I’d play Levi at some stage, but it wouldn’t be a real catch-up when we’d both be with our teams.

“It’s been a pretty fucking good four years,” Tripp said, smiling menacingly.

That was an understatement. My friends sure as hell had made it a college experience I could never forget. I couldn’t imagine ever being closer to another group of guys outside of this room. As much as I mocked Levi’s smugness, or teased Ryan for his prettiness, or rolled my eyes at Tripp’s constant comedic act, these guys were my brothers.

Ryan threw one of his fries at Tripp. “Hey, it ain’t over yet.”

True. We were only three weeks into January. There were two-and-a-half months left of hockey, assuming we made it the whole way. Then another two months of classes.

“It definitely isn’t,” Levi piped up. “We’ve got a championship to bring home yet.”

I grinned. “Yeah we fucking do.”