13. Xander
When we walk into the dive bar, I take in Sophie’s wide-eyed stare as she glances around the place.
I chuckle. “You’re impressed, aren’t you?”
“I guess I just figured you guys would hang out someplace nicer.”
This half-full dimly lit bar hasn’t changed one bit since we started hanging out here years ago. It still has the same flimsy fake wood paneling on the walls and sticky black-brown carpet that it did the first time we walked in here. It hasn’t been updated in decades.
I glance over to the bar in the middle of the place and see that two out of the three massive flat-screen TVs are actually working.
I point at the flatscreens. “Oh hey, they fixed one of the TVs. Cool.”
Sophie chuckles. “What’s the name of this place anyway? I didn’t even see a sign out front.”
“That thing fell down years ago. The owner hasn’t bothered to replace it. It’s called Spanky’s”
Sophie’s head falls back as she laughs. “Spanky’s? Really?”
I nod, loving how happy she sounds when she laughs this hard. “Yeah. Horrible, right?”
“Now I understand why they never replaced the sign.”
I take her by the hand and lead her to our usual rickety table near the back wall. Dylan, Isaac, Theo, and Theo’s wife Maya are already there. So is Blomdahl. Cool that that he came out tonight. He used to never want to hang out after a game.
They all greet Sophie. Maya stands up and hugs her.
I hold out a chair for Sophie and sit next to her.
“I invited my friend Dakota to come by,” she says. “Hope that’s okay.”
“Yeah, of course,” I tell her. “Some other guys from the team will be here too later.”
The guys already ordered a couple of pitchers of beer. Two empty beer glasses sit on the table. I slide a water glass to Sophie before pouring myself a beer.
“Not a fan of the hard stuff, doc?” Dylan asks.
Sophie shakes her head. “I never got into beer. Never really liked the taste.”
“Good for you. Beer is gross,” Blomdahl says as he sips a glass of amber liquid.
“Scotch?” I ask. He nods.
I make a face. “That’s disgusting, man.”
He laughs before downing the rest of his drink.
“I don’t know how you drink Scotch. It tastes like nail polish remover,” Maya says.
Blomdahl just laughs and flags down the server to order another.
“You sure that’s such a good idea? Another Scotch after a head injury? Especially when the team doctor is here?” I joke.
Blomdahl tugs a hand through his blond hair. “Yup. This noggin’s all good. No worries, doc.”
Sophie chuckles. I rest my arm along the back of her chair, scooting closer to her. She turns to look at me, a surprised but amused look on her face.
I lean my mouth to her ear. “Just trying to be a convincing boyfriend.”
A faint blush paints her cheeks as she smiles at me.
It’s true. But I also like being close to her.
For a few minutes, Sophie and Maya chat, and I get pulled into a conversation with the guys.
“Wait, you two dated?” I hear Sophie say in a surprised voice as she looks between Maya and me.
“We went on one date,” I say, looking at Maya. She’s chuckling.
“And that was it,” Maya says as she twists to look at Theo, who’s smiling like he’s amused.
I think back to the first time I met Maya. She was running a kids’ hockey camp with Theo during his suspension from the team a year ago. I thought she was hot so I asked her out, not realizing that she and Theo liked each other but weren’t officially together yet. We had a fun date, but she wasn’t into me.
“It wasn’t a love connection,” I joke. “She was pretty into Theo.”
He grins as he wraps his arm around his wife. “It all worked out in the end.”
Maya plants a kiss on Theo’s cheek. Sophie smiles at them, clearly charmed by their love story.
She turns to me and lightly bumps the top of my hand with her fist. “Nicely done scoring a date with Maya. She’s gorgeous.”
I chuckle and take another sip of my beer, surprised at how cool Sophie is being after finding out about me and Maya. Some people would be jealous or upset to know that their significant other dated the wife of their teammate and still hangs out with them.
But then I remind myself that Sophie and I aren’t actually together, so she has no reason to feel worked up about who I’ve dated.
Still though. It’s pretty cool how unbothered she is.
Not even a half-hour later, we’ve drained both pitchers.
“What do you like to drink, Sophie? We’ll order something else for you,” Dylan says.
“Um, nothing. I never really got into drinking alcohol,” she says. I notice her fiddling with the sleeves of her sweater as she talks, like she’s nervous.
Maya smiles at her and pats her arm. “That’s cool. Alcohol is terrible for you anyway.”
“The only terrible thing about alcohol is the hangovers,” Blomdahl says. “Wine hangovers, especially.”
“I’ve never had a wine hangover,” Isaac says.
Blomdahl frowns at him. “Seriously?”
“Why are you looking at me like that? Of course I’ve never had a wine hangover. Wine tastes like shit.”
“Worst hangovers ever,” Maya says.
“Worse than beer?” Theo asks. “Because those suck too.”
Dylan hops up from the table and heads to the bar. He’s back a minute later with a bottle of tequila.
“Let’s turn this into a drinking game,” he says.
Isaac elbows him. “Drinking game? What are you, in a frat?”
“Nope. I’m a dad who’s got a free night because my wife is away on a girls’ trip and our kids are with my in-laws so I’m making the most of this.”
We all laugh as Dylan pours tequila into all the shot glasses and slides them to us.
“A few rounds of Never Have I Ever sound good?” he asks. We all say sure.
I notice Sophie tugging on the sleeves of her sweater again as she eyes her shot glass.
Dylan quickly explains the rules. “We’ll all take turns saying something we’ve never done. If you’ve done that thing, you gotta take a shot.”
He claps his hands. “Never have I ever had a wine hangover.”
Everyone but Isaac takes a shot. Dylan refills our glasses.
“Never have I ever done a body shot,” Blomdahl says.
All the guys drink. Maya laughs. Theo flashes a surprised look at her.
“You’ve never done a body shot?” he asks her.
She quirks her eyebrow. “I’ve had body shots done off of me, but no, I’ve never done one.”
Theo’s grins. “We should probably do something about that,” he says in a low voice.
“This game’s gonna turn dirty, I can feel it,” Dylan says as he refills the empty shot glasses.
“Never have I ever had a drunken makeout,” Blomdahl says.
Everyone takes a shot except Blomdahl and Sophie, whose cheeks are bright red.
“You okay?” I lean over and ask in a low voice so no one hears.
She shakes her head and flashes a tight smile. “Yeah, I’m good.”
I can tell she’s not, but I don’t want to push her if she doesn’t want to talk.
“Wait, you’ve never had a drunken makeout?” Dylan asks Blomdahl.
“Nope.” He sips more Scotch, then takes a long pull of water, then another sip of Scotch.
Dylan raises his beer glass to him. “You’re the first hockey player I’ve ever met who’s never gotten drunk and made out with someone, man.”
Blomdahl shrugs and offers a lazy smile. “I guess I’m special like that.”
Theo’s turn. “Never have I ever had whiskey dick.”
Maya bursts out laughing when none of us drink.
“Seriously? None of you?” she asks. We all shake our heads.
She laughs even harder. “You guys are such liars.”
“Never have I ever faked an orgasm,” she says.
Blomdahl downs a shot. We all stare at him. He shrugs, offering no explanation.
“Never have I ever had sex on shrooms,” Isaac says.
Blomdahl takes a shot. We all look at him.
“It’s fucking awesome. You all should try it sometime.”
Isaac goes. “Never have I ever had sex in public.”
Everyone but Sophie drinks.
“Damn, doc. You haven’t taken a shot yet,” Dylan says, chuckling.
Sophie flashes that same tight smile from earlier and shrugs. “Guess I’m pretty boring compared to you guys.” She forces a laugh and clears her throat. “Where are the restrooms?”
Maya points it out. I watch Sophie scurry away. I stand up and say that I need to piss too.
When I make it to the hallway by the restrooms, Sophie’s standing there, arms crossed, staring at the floor, brow furrowed. She’s upset.
“Hey,” I say softly as I walk up to her.
She looks up at me, her crystal blue eyes wide with surprise.
“Are you okay?”
The way she nods, it looks almost automatic, like a reflex. Like she isn’t really okay, but saying she is out of habit.
I step closer and touch her arm. “Sophie. What’s going on? You can tell me.”
She shakes her head almost immediately. “I’m fine, Xander. Really. Just a little tired.”
I want to tell her that she doesn’t have to hide whatever it is she’s feeling. But she clearly doesn’t want to talk about it.
So instead of pushing her even more, I nod.
“Okay. We can head out then.”
She shakes her head quickly. “No. I’m fine. Really.” She offers that tight smile. “I’ll just be a second.”
She heads into the women’s restroom. I stand there and let out a sigh. I wish she’d tell me what’s wrong. And I wish I knew the right thing to say to make her feel better.
I head to the men’s room, piss, wash up, and walk back out to the table. Sophie’s there chatting with her friend Dakota.
Sophie officially introduces us. “Xander, you remember Dakota, right?”
I say of course. Dakota smiles at me and says hi.
Dakota doesn’t mention the other night when I walked up to Sophie and Dakota told me off, and I’m relieved. I’m good with forgetting it and starting fresh if she is.
Sitting next to Dakota is Sam McKesson, a defender for the Seattle Sea Monsters. I say hi to him.
“What are you doing in Denver?” Theo asks.
“Visiting my sister. She lives here with her family.”
I grab an empty glass and pour him a beer. He tells me thanks and takes a sip.
We’ve all played Sam loads of times. I remember that he’s good friends with Del Richards, which I always thought was weird because Del is a total prick and Sam is one of the nicest dudes in the league. He doesn’t curse at the refs or linesmen, no matter how frustrating or unfair the calls are. And he hardly ever fights. Pretty unheard of for a top defender like him.
He and Blomdahl are talking. I guess they used to play together on the same team a few years ago.
“Del Richards is your older brother?” I hear Maya ask Dakota.
Dakota nods. I notice the smile on her face has turned shy as she looks over at us. “I know he’s probably gotten into it with some of you.”
I shrug and smile like it’s no big deal. “That’s hockey.”
She looks relieved when I say that. I can’t fucking stand her brother, but it’s not Dakota’s fault he’s a dick. I don’t want to make it a big deal and make her feel uncomfortable.
I glance over at Sophie, who looks happier now that her best friend is here.
I think about how uncomfortable she was earlier when we were playing that drinking game, how she wouldn’t tell me what was wrong, how she pretended she was okay.
How I hated seeing her like that.
How I wish she felt comfortable enough to talk to me.
But then I catch myself. We’re faking this. I’m not her real boyfriend, and maybe that’s why she doesn’t feel comfortable telling me how she feels.
A weird gnawing feeling hits me. I shove it aside and look at the empty shot glass in front of me. I grab the pitcher of water that the server dropped off earlier, pour myself a shot of water, and drink it. I refill and drink another.
Sophie looks at me, clearly confused.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“Water shots. Want one?”
She chuckles and nods. I pour her one too. She laughs before she takes a drink, that beautiful smile lingering on her lips as she looks at me.
Right then and there I decide that I want to be the guy that makes her smile, no matter what.
Everyone finishes their drinks and gets up to leave. We all leave the bar and say goodbye as we walk to our cars.
As I walk Sophie to her car, I grab her hand in mine. She smiles up at me.
“Just in case anyone sees us.” I wink at her.
We get to her car and she digs her keys out of her purse.
“We should go out on a date tomorrow night. To fulfill our one public date a week rule,” I say. “Plus, it’s Valentine’s Day. We should do something to celebrate.”
“I thought tonight counted as our public date.”
I tilt my head at her. “You think I’d count drinks with my teammates as a date?”
A shy smile tugs at her lips. She shrugs. “I guess? I don’t have very much dating experience, so I wouldn’t know.”
A spark of anger ignites inside of me. Did that Ethan prick never take her out on an actual date?
I don’t let myself think about that for too long. I’ll get too pissed off, and all I want right now is to focus on making Sophie feel special.
The wind picks up and a thick chunk of her strawberry-blonde hair falls over her face. I slowly swipe it away, my gaze locking with hers.
“I’m taking you out on a proper date tomorrow night.”
When she beams, my heart slingshots around my chest.
“Okay. Can’t wait.”