42 after hours
We win.
It's not even close in the end.
The buzzer goes and the sound hits all at once-crowd, sticks on ice, guys shouting, the kind of noise that usually fills me up fast enough that I don't have space for anything else.
Tonight it doesn't. Tonight, it's there-and then it isn't. Because I'm already looking up.
I don't think about it. I don't decide to do it. My eyes just go, like they know where they're supposed to land before I do.
And there she is.
Same spot, same jersey. But she's not sitting the same way she was at the start of the game. She's leaning forward now, hands braced against the railing like she's been there the whole time, like she forgot she was supposed to be anything but-
here.
Watching.
Me.
There's this split second where everything narrows. The rink, the noise, my teammates crowding in-it all fades just enough that it feels like it's only the two of us in it.
And then it's gone.
Because someone slams into my shoulder and I get dragged into the rest of it-helmets knocked together, hands grabbing at my jersey, voices too loud and too close.
"Jackson!"
"About time you showed up!"
"Vegas loves you, man-"
I shove someone back, laughing under my breath, letting it happen because this is normal. This is what it's supposed to feel like. It just... doesn't, not entirely.
By the time we get off the ice, showered, changed, pushed through whatever quick team thing Coach insists on, the energy has shifted from game to something looser, messier.
Celebration.
The kind that spills out of the arena and into wherever we can get into fast enough.
Declan finds me first, like he always does.
He's already grinning like he knows something I don't.
"Big night," he says, bumping his shoulder into mine. "Goal, win, Vegas-"
"Don't," I cut in.
He ignores that immediately.
"-and," he continues, dragging the word out, "you're about to see your girlfriend."
I give him a look.
He doesn't care.
"Relax," he says. "I'm using the public label. It's branding."
"Shut up."
"Can't. We're in Vegas, baby."
I huff out something that might be a laugh despite myself, shaking my head as we step out into the hallway where the rest of the guys are already heading out.
The plan isn't really a plan. It never is. Just... show up somewhere loud enough that no one questions it.
By the time we get there, the place is already packed-music heavy, lights low, people pressed too close together.
And then-
them.
Jess is the first one I spot because she's impossible not to. She's already talking with her hands, half yelling over the music, completely in her element like she belongs exactly where everything is the loudest.
Declan lights up like he just won something. "Oh, this is about to be fun."
Riley's next-quieter, standing just off to the side, watching everything without needing to be in the middle of it.
And then-
Madi.
She's not doing anything dramatic. She's just standing there, but it hits anyway. Harder than it should.
My jersey again.
Except this time she's not making a joke about it. Not tugging at it like it's ironic. It just... fits. Like it belongs on her in a way that makes something in my chest pull tight without asking for permission.
We don't move right away. Not me. Not her.
It's just a look, across a crowded room. Too long, too steady, too... real.
"Go," Declan mutters under his breath, already stepping forward like he's about to insert himself into the chaos where Jess is.
"I'm not-"
"You are," he cuts in. "You just don't know it yet."
He disappears before I can answer.
Jess spots him immediately.
Of course she does.
"Declan!" she shouts, like she's been waiting for him specifically, already grabbing his arm and dragging him into whatever conversation she's mid-sentence in.
They match each other's energy instantly. It's almost impressive.
Almost terrifying.
Riley glances over, gives me a small nod that somehow says more than anything out loud would, then turns back like she's deliberately giving space.
Which leaves-
Madi.
I cross the distance before I can overthink it. She meets me halfway. We stop closer than we usually would. Or maybe it just feels that way.
"You played well," she says.
It's simple. But it's not thrown like it used to be. Not sharp or sarcastic or something meant to bounce off me.
It lands.
"Yeah?" I ask, quieter than I mean to be.
"Yeah."
Her eyes flick down for a second-my shoulder, the front of my shirt, something-and then back up again.
There's a moment where neither of us says anything.
Around us, everything is loud. Jess is laughing too hard at something Declan said. Someone shoves past us, spilling a drink that barely misses Riley. Music pulses through the floor.
But here-
it's quieter, like we're just outside of it.
"You cheered," I say before I can stop myself.
Her eyebrows lift slightly. "You noticed."
"I always notice."
The words are out before I can take them back.
Her expression shifts, just a little. Something softer. Something that lingers.
"Wasn't on purpose," she says after a second, but there's something in it that doesn't match the words.
"Sure," I say.
She rolls her eyes, but it's not sharp. It's familiar. Easy.
We drift without meaning to. Closer to the edge of the room, away from the worst of the noise. Still near everyone, but not inside it.
Jess and Declan are still going-louder, somehow, like they're competing for attention neither of them actually needs.
Riley watches them with that same calm, steady look, occasionally stepping in just enough to keep things from tipping too far.
And me and Madi-
we're not part of that, not really.
We're orbiting it, separate, pulled toward each other without trying.
"You're different tonight," I say.
It's not meant to come out like that. It just... does.
She tilts her head slightly. "How?"
"You're not..." I trail off, trying to find the right word and not liking any of them. "You're not doing it."
"Doing what?"
"The thing," I say. "Where you act like you don't care."
She looks at me for a second. Long enough that it feels like she's deciding how honest she wants to be.
"Maybe I don't feel like pretending tonight," she says finally.
Something in my chest shifts. Not sharp, not sudden, just... there.
"You don't have to," I say.
She huffs out a quiet laugh. "That's ironic."
"Not really."
Her eyes flick over my face, like she's trying to read something I haven't said yet.
"Feels like it is," she says.
"Only if you want it to be."
That lands somewhere between us.
Across the room, Jess and Declan exchange a look.
Too quick, too coordinated.
Riley sees it.
Of course she does.
She doesn't say anything, just watches. And I don't know what they're planning, but I can feel it. Something shifting just under the surface of all this noise. Something coming.
Madi leans back slightly against the wall, closer to me than she probably realizes. Or maybe she does.
Either way... she doesn't move away.
And for once-
neither do I.