Chapter 9 Skylar #2
Jackson had scored that night, and Ryan lifted him up and spun him around, kissing him like he got a playoff game winner and not an uneventful early-season goal.
Riker excused himself to bed, and Skylar followed suit, leaving the lovebirds in the living room.
He changed into pajamas and flicked the TV on, finding NHL Network to have on in the background.
He quickly returned the congrats texts in the family group chat, complete with a video his parents made cheering for him, which was unbearably wholesome, then opened Instagram, expecting nothing.
What he got instead was a string of messages from Adam.
Or, it felt like a lot considering it was Adam.
He sent a selfie of him and Grace at the hockey game, the bare pregame ice behind them.
He was in a Stars t-shirt that he must have bought at the arena.
Grace had a jersey on and a beer in her hand.
Adam
Thanks for the tickets. Bummed we aren’t watching you, but I’m glad you got called up.
Never mind. Grace pulled the Northern Lights game up on her phone, so we’re watching two hockey games. Two more than I’m used to.
Congrats on the win. You did great.
Skylar read and re-read the messages. He wanted to send something flirty and cool back. Maybe a little snarky.
Skylar
You look really hot in that shirt.
Fuck. Okay, not super smooth. He could save it with a follow-up message though. Probably.
Instead his phone rang. An unknown caller. Nowadays, he had to pick up for any unknown number. He never knew when he’d receive a life-altering phone call. But it didn’t stop him from hoping for a specific caller.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Sky,” Adam said, his low, even voice familiar and comforting. He didn’t know when he imprinted on an Iowan bartender, but fuck, he had.
“Hi. Do I finally have your number?”
“You do. Use it wisely.”
“You know I absolutely won’t be doing that.” Skylar laughed, sinking down into his plush pillows. This place was better than a fancy hotel. Above him, the ceiling fan spun. He reached for the remote to mute the TV.
“Grace wanted to make sure you know how appreciative she is of the hockey tickets.”
“I can get her tickets anytime. Well, as long as I’m part of the roster, I can get two. But if I stay up for a while, I’ll buy her as many tickets as she wants.”
“Don’t spoil her. She already felt extremely cool explaining to the people sitting around us we were watching the Northern Lights game on her phone because our friend Skylar Coburn got called up.”
“You can never take that back, now that you’ve called us friends.”
“I guess I can’t.”
Skylar wanted to kiss him so badly. Why couldn’t Adam live here?
Adam wasn’t a huge talker, but he listened as Skylar told him everything about his day, down to the warm-up shorts he got that were super comfortable.
After Adam had yawned three times, Skylar let him go. Adam wished him sweet dreams, and Skylar immediately plugged his contact info into his phone with a heart emoji next to his name.
Sometimes he felt like a fucking teenage girl.
And then he realized he didn’t know when he’d see Adam next, and something inside of him crumpled.
He tried sleeping, but he was amped up from the game and distressed, what with being in a new place and having no one to bother. Usually on roadies, he had Beck to talk to, but he couldn’t go bother Riker or Ryan and Jackson.
He was hungry though. He was always hungry, but maybe a snack would help him fall asleep, so he headed downstairs to the kitchen. The first floor was dark, but the lights above the kitchen island were on and he saw Ryan sitting at the island with a book in his hand.
“Hey, couldn’t sleep?” Ryan asked. “Anything you need missing from your room? We have an extra fan I could grab from the basement.”
“No, your hospitality has been more than generous.”
“We’re well-versed in being the call-up hotel. Jackson hates when there are so many call-ups that they don’t all fit here, but he’s become a hotel hater in his old age.” Ryan’s smile was easy and friendly.
“I think I need a snack.”
“I can make you something,” Ryan said. He was so fucking helpful.
“I think I’ll just eat an apple, if that’s cool.” There was a pile of fruit in a basket on the corner of the counter.
Ryan got up anyway and washed one, chopped it up, and pulled a jar of peanut butter out of the cupboard.
“Yes, fine, I’ll have some peanut butter too,” Skylar said, realizing that Ryan wasn’t going to allow him to help himself.
Ryan handed him a plate with his snack on it as well as a bottle of Gatorade, and sat down next to Skylar at the counter.
“Why are you up so late?” Skylar asked before crunching into a peanut buttery apple slice.
“I’ve always been a night owl. Now that I’m retired, I can be on my own schedule. As long as I cuddle Jackson as he’s falling asleep, that is. Then I get up and read or watch TV. Play video games in the basement.”
“How’s retirement?”
“Honestly…it’s pretty good. I miss traveling with the team, and it’s hard to be apart from Jack. But I get to stay home with Lola, and even if I don’t get to travel with Jack anymore, at least we aren’t on different teams.”
“Is that why you retired?” There were rumors, but they were never confirmed, as far as Skylar knew.
“Yeah. I knew I’d be traded someday. Jack and I talked about it pretty much right when we got together. I’m not a good person to get love advice from because I know it’s a little extreme, but I’d give up everything for Jack.”
“I wish shit felt that clear for me.”
“You need love advice?”
“I don’t know if it’s love advice. I have…boy problems. I don’t know.”
“Is it a teammate? Because despite making that choice myself, and having it turn out awesome, I don’t recommend it.”
“No, not a teammate. I live down the street from a dive bar, and the guy who runs it is… I really like him.”
“What makes him special?”
“First, he’s fucking hot. But he also isn’t impressed with me.” Skylar laughed. “You probably understand this, but even on an AHL team, it’s pretty easy to pull. But I still haven’t gotten him to kiss me yet. I literally got his phone number an hour ago. He’s making me work for it.”
Ryan laughed, stealing an apple slice from his plate. Snack tax.
“He’s a nice, normal guy. Takes care of his niece. Gives back to his community. The bar he runs used to be his brother’s before he passed away, and he still sponsors a youth hockey team even though he doesn’t care about sports because it was important to his brother.”
“He owns a business down there. Has family.”
“He’s rooted, yeah,” Skylar lamented. “Steady. And the thing that makes me so hot for him means we don’t have a future if I stay up.”
“Well, we just went over how I’d give up everything for Jack, so take this with a grain of salt I guess, but I think you should give it a chance. A long-distance relationship isn’t the end of the world.”
“It sounds like it,” Skylar grumbled.
“Yeah, it does.” Ryan patted him on the back. “But the regret of not trying would be worse.”
“I hope I have what you and Jackson have someday.”
“You will. I’m going to go climb back in bed with my man and my dog. You get a good night’s sleep. You gotta impress your bartender.”