Chapter Two September #3
Hockey with Brady was fun, but he needed to put some distance between them and make sure it stayed as “hockey with his friend Brady” and not “hopelessly crushing after the straight guy on his team who had never shown any interest in anything not explicitly hockey related.”
So far, that wasn’t going so well.
But hey, there was always tomorrow.
*
Nick jerked his hand and tried to twist so he could work his thumb over Terry’s.
Terry swung both their arms up, nearly knocked over a movie display, but avoided Nick’s attempt to pin him.
Nick’s free hand itched to reach over and grab Terry’s wrist to hold the bastard in place.
He had never lost a thumb war to Terry, not since they were old enough to understand how to play, and like hell he’d break his streak now.
Of course, he had never won one, either. They usually ended up tripping each other or wrestling rather than concede defeat.
Yes, they were idiots and too old to be acting like this, but Nick couldn’t help himself.
That was half the fun of hanging out with his cousins: they reminded him he didn’t have to perform the role of “adult who has his shit together” all the time.
He could fake his way through work and bills and small talk with his neighbors; and with them he could unwind and goof off.
“Hey, twerps!”
Both froze, bodies contorted in their latest effort to gain the upper hand (thumb?). Nick knew that tone of voice, and it vividly brought him back to his childhood.
Max and Jenna walked over through the crowd of people buying tickets and pretending not to watch Nick and Terry make fools of themselves.
“He started it,” they said in unison and jumped apart.
“What are you doing in town?” Nick said and went in to hug Max. It was hard to get over that his cousin Max, ten years older than him, formerly constantly stuck with babysitting his younger cousins, was now several inches shorter than him.
Younger cousins and cousin’s cousins, he amended as he watched Terry hug Max next.
That was part of why it had taken Nick so long to realize how the different branches of his family were connected: the farm where he’d grown up had brought together everyone from everywhere, regardless of blood, and made people like Terry and Max end up close even though their only connection was through Nick.
“Drove up to get some of my old baby stuff from my mom,” Max said once the hugs were done.
“She’s got some infant outfits and toys and maybe a highchair hiding somewhere in the basement.
I’m too cheap to refuse free stuff and too afraid of my mom to ignore her when she begs me to dress her future grandbaby in my old onesies and take a million pictures. ”
“It’s a girl,” Jenna said with confidence. “I’m gonna have a niece.”
“Or a boy,” Terry said. “Could be a nephew.”
They glared at each other.
“It’s certainly a human,” Nick said, earning him a glare as his joke fell flat. He rolled his eyes at them and turned back to Max. “Jenna tricked you into movie night?”
“Something like that. She said ‘movie’ and ‘they serve beer at the theater’ and then conveniently waited until we were in the car to mention it was a foreign movie with subtitles.”
“It’s going to be spectacular, you uncultured swine,” Jenna said. “C’mon, we gotta load up on snacks before previews.”
The movie was in fact spectacular, mostly for how bizarre and ridiculous it was.
French cinema always threw curveballs, and the horror aspect added cheesy effects with funny-sounding French phrases that had the four of them doubled over laughing by the end.
Not exactly what the filmmakers were going for, if the disapproving looks they got on the way out were anything to go by.
It made Nick fiercely miss his childhood when Max and Jenna lived literally next door.
Even his cousins from his dad’s side were common fixtures on the farm because their parents needed a place to put them during the summer while they worked.
Having ten to twenty kids together on a farm seemed more manageable than finding babysitters, nannies, or daycares.
“I drive out on Monday morning, so we’re getting drinks, and you two are filling me in on everything going on in your lives,” Max declared.
“Why does Jenna get off the hook?” Terry whined.
“Because she’s my sister and a menace. She calls me once a week and talks my ear off for an hour straight. If I could find the mute button on her, I’d use it.”
“Awww,” Jenna said as she swooped in to wrap him in a hug. They were almost the exact same size, making it easy for her to crowd into his space and mess up his hair. “Love you too, bro.”
Max affectionately pushed her away. “You see what I gotta put up with?”
Terry’s life was the same mess it had always been.
He’d gone from art school to business school and now was working in physical therapy.
Max nodded along, sneaking confused looks to Jenna and Nick whenever he could, but he did a good job playing the role of supportive cousin.
He asked polite questions, gave gentle words of advice, and wasn’t judgmental, which would have only caused Terry to shut down.
“And you?” Max asked and tapped Nick’s foot under the table with his own. “Jenna tells me you’re doing hockey?”
“Yeah,” he beamed. His family was well aware he’d loved the sport since he was little, but none of them were skaters and their family hadn’t had the time or money to invest in hobbies for the kids.
They all worked on the farm up until their grandparents sold it, and by then Nick was in high school and it had felt like it was too late to start.
Thank God for beer-league hockey and the relatively large number of novice players around Baltimore. If he lived in a bigger hockey area like Michigan, he’d never have been able to break into the sport.
“We play in the bottom division in our league, so I’m actually not the worst person on the ice on any given night.”
“Tied for worst?” Max teased.
Nick laughed. “Sometimes. I’ve been doing clinics and stuff to try and get better. I’m not looking to get into the top division, but one higher would be awesome.”
“Nice. If you’ve got any videos of you playing or anything, send ’em my way.”
“I don’t really, and I won’t until Jenna or Terry come to a game—”
“They play at midnight sometimes,” Jenna stage-whispered. “Fuck that.”
“Rinks are cold,” Terry added sagely, like he was letting Max in on some well-kept secret.
Nick rolled his eyes. “We’re also technically on a break between seasons right now, so it’s not happening any time soon. Everything I’ve got is blurry webcam feeds from Live Barn. You wouldn’t even be able to tell it’s me.”
“Oh well,” Max said. “Work good?”
He shrugged. “I still like the things I used to like, and I still can’t stand the things I didn’t.”
“But there’s a decent balance?”
“Can’t complain.”
“Oh, he complains,” Jenna said.
“Everyone complains about work,” Nick shot back. “You ranted for like twenty minutes about your boss last week.”
She held up her hands in surrender.
“Dating anyone?” Max asked. It was casual, the obvious next step in his line of questioning, but Nick could sense Jenna’s meddling at work.
“No,” he said with a note of finality that he knew none of them would heed.
“There’s a hot guy on his team he wants to bone,” Terry said.
“They text each other all the time.” Jenna’s grin was downright evil. “Meet up a couple times a week to play hockey.”
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Max asked.
Nick wanted to melt into his seat and die. “It’s not like that. I mean, yes, he is hot and yes, we play hockey and yes, I would not turn down any boning, but it’s not at all flirty or anything like that.”
Max licked his lips. He had his “dad face” on, the one he used when he was about to be the responsible, grown-up one and say something they didn’t want to hear. “You sure he’s not interested? Because if he were—”
“He’s not, I swear to God.”
“But if he were—” Max pressed.
“Oh my God.” Nick dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone, unlocking it and opening his messages. “Look!” He held up his phone. It was still open to his current conversation with Brady, and he pointed to it emphatically.
“ ‘See you Wednesday night,’ ” Jenna squinted and read. “Yeah, totally not interested. He’s just made plans to see you—”
“We have a game!” He was shouting like a madman. He saw the looks his cousins were giving him, so he took a deep breath and tried again. “The name! Read the name!”
“ ‘Jensie from Hockey,’ ” they read in unison.
A pause.
“I don’t get it,” Terry said. “Is that… that’s bad? Why is that bad?”
“He put his name in my phone! He put in his nickname from hockey instead of his real name, and he added ‘from Hockey’ because that’s the theme around which all our interactions are based!”
“Yeah, okay,” Max said with a hesitant nod. “I can maybe see that.”
“Have you even tried flirting?” Jenna asked with obvious disappointment.
Nick floundered for an answer. “Not really?” She opened her mouth, and he cut her off.
“Regardless, I don’t even know if it’d be a good idea to make a move.
We play on the same team. He’s the guy I practice hockey with.
I flirt and make him uncomfortable, or worse, we date and it goes badly, then things are just awkward.
I gotta find a new team, and I gotta find a whole new practice routine to avoid him…
I like things too much as-is to ruin them because I’ve got a schoolboy crush. ”
His cousins were mercifully silent. While deep down he might have held out hope they’d have some miraculous answer where he could have his cake and eat it too, he knew the score.
He’d been the gay guy with a crush on a straight friend before, and he knew he was right about this, so he was thankful they weren’t challenging him on it.