Chapter 11 Luka
Chapter eleven
Luka
I can’t believe we lost again to Boston.
If we had just pulled off that trick play, Cosmo wouldn’t have gotten that other goal, then maybe we could have beaten them.
Or Boston could still have found a way to win.
That’s just how it goes sometimes, I guess.
I promised Cosmo we’d catch up for drinks, and while I considered bailing on him and just going home, I didn’t.
“Sorry, brother,” he says, wrapping me in a quick hug. He’s gotten broader, or maybe his chest is just all puffed up after the win.
“We’ll get you next time,” I reply, slapping his back playfully before we sit at one of the small round tables.
The sports bar he wanted to meet at is only about five minutes from my parents’ place.
It’s old, but in a charming way, with dark wood tables and a bar top surrounded by deep brown leather seating and brass overhead lights.
“I ordered you a beer,” he says, sliding a glass over as he takes a sip from a half-finished one.
“Thanks. So, how’s Eli?” I ask, my eyes automatically glancing at the small silver woven ring on his finger. He’d proposed to Eli with a similar one in rose gold a few months back, and a week later he posted again that his fiancé had surprised him with an engagement ring too.
“He’s great. You know, doing his thing at the sports center, working on his tech, developing new stuff between college classes, and coming to games. He says hi, by the way. Made me promise to get you to agree to come for dinner next time you’re in town.”
I nod then sip my beer, hoping the mix of the bitter tang, bubbles, and alcohol will make this all feel less weird. Cosmo and I used to be the best of friends. We spent all our college years rooming together, so why is it so hard to just talk now?
A waitress walks by, and I flag her attention and ask for another round. Cosmo eyes my still very full glass and shakes his head.
“Tough day?”
I tilt my head and frown.
“You know exactly how shit my day was.”
“We’ve lost games before, and it hasn’t gotten you down like this. Come on, we’ve hardly talked in months, and I know it’s my fault.”
“How do you figure?”
“I should have called and told you I was going to propose to Eli, or at least after he said yes.”
“You can get engaged without my approval.”
“Yeah, but you shouldn’t have found out about it by scrolling online.
I saw your comment on our post, and fuck, my stomach dropped.
I messed up. But nothing has to change. You’re still my best friend.
And that’s why I’ve been trying to get you to agree to meet up with me so badly, I wanted to do this part at least in person. ”
“What?” I ask as he leans down and lifts a box from under the table. It’s about the size of a shoe box, matte black, and with a silver bow tied perfectly on top.
“What’s this?”
“Just open it,” he replies, sliding it over. I down a few gulps of beer and then pull the ribbon.
I can already feel a few people’s eyes on me, and someone at the bar is holding up their camera, so whatever this is, it’s about to be all over social media.
I slowly lift the lid, not sure what could jump out at me.
Cosmo was always full of surprises in college.
He once hid a heap of paper butterflies in the frat president’s lacrosse stick so that when he picked it up they’d all fall out.
It was pretty funny, actually. The plastic spiders under my blankets, not so much.
The second he knew how much I hate those fuckers, he made it his mission to freak me out at least once a semester.
Thankfully, he never used real ones, but I’d still be just as fucking scared whenever I’d find them.
“Nothing’s going to jump out, right?” I ask as I begin to lower the lip of the lid again.
“Dude, this isn’t one of those times. Trust me, just open it.”
I sigh. “Okay, but if there is like a bunch of spiders in here, I’m going to flip them right over onto you.”
He laughs, and it’s like the weirdness between us eases a little.
It’s almost like old times. I’ve been so worried about meeting up with him, terrified that the feelings I had through college would make it too hard to even look at him, but it’s .
. . different. Like, I know I still love him, but that nervous swirl in my gut that used to come when he laughed isn’t there anymore.
He smiles at me, and I don’t go all tingly or imagine reaching out and kissing him.
I can still remember the way it felt to want him, but I just . . . don’t anymore. Was I worrying about nothing? Fuck, I went all through training camp and these past months avoiding him because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to hide how I feel, and I don’t even feel it anymore.
“I’ve missed you,” I say, and his smile widens.
“And why wouldn’t you? I’m awesome. Now hurry up and open your gift already.”
“Okay, here goes.”
I fling the lid open, but before I can get a good look at what’s inside, black and silver confetti circles explode up from the box a good two feet in the air, drawing everyone’s attention.
“What the hell?” I ask, but then my eyes settle on the card stuck to the inside flap of the box that reads, “Will you be my best man?”
“Are you kidding?” I ask.
“Fuck no. I can’t get married without you right there beside me.”
“But you have brothers, what about Brent?”
“They’ll be groomsmen. And you’re my brother too.”
I haven’t been a great brother the last few months. Do I deserve to even be his best man when I’m the real reason we haven’t really talked? He thinks this is all his fault, when it’s completely mine.
“It wasn’t you,” I say, and a confused look crosses his face, so I clarify. “I’m the one who kept bailing on you.”
“Yeah, but I should have told you—“
“No. It was me.”
“Well, how about it was both of us. Now, are you going to say yes or do I need to go and find another Luka Hart to befriend?”
“You know there’s only one of me, right?”
He pulls up his phone and taps, then turns it to face me.
“Nope, at least another twenty by the looks of it. Ohh, look at this guy. He has this whole silver fox thing going for him.” He clicks a photo of a model wearing dark jeans and nothing else, and his gray hair actually looks really good.
“I’d do him,” I joke, and Cosmo lowers the phone slowly, his gaze checking to see if I’m being serious. “What?” I ask.
“You’d do him?”
“Yeah, well, I think I like older guys. Haven’t dated any yet, but—“
“Wait, wait, wait,” Cosmo says, placing his hands flat on the table as if to brace himself. “You’d date a guy?”
“Cos, you know I’m bi, right?”
He points to his face, mouth open, eyebrows raised high.
“Yeah, because this is the face of someone in the know.”
I look at him deadpan.
“You’re going to misquote Friends to me now?”
“I’m one person; the line doesn’t work unless I change it. How did I miss this?”
I shrug. “You were kind of self-obsessed in college,” I laugh, knowing full well I never actually straight out told him.
And the few guys I did hook up with during that time were usually after Cosmo had gone back to our room with someone else, so I’d go back to their place.
I never actually wanted to date any of them. I did date a few girls, though.
“You never said, I’m sure you never told me, and I don’t . . . Did you date guys in college?”
“Not exactly.”
“So I’m not crazy, this is new news for me at least?”
The waitress delivers our next round and gives us both a disapproving look.
“You’ll be cleaning that up before you leave, I hope,” she says.
“No problem, I’ll take care of it,” Cosmo says, and she nods and leaves.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” he asks.
“Okay, so you’re right.”
He leans back in his chair, all proud of himself, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Wow, this whole time you’ve been into guys, and I didn’t know.”
I shrug and take a closer look inside the box.
Under even more confetti, I find a pair of black Ray-Bans, my name etched on the arm in silver, a watch with a silver face and a black leather band, a pair of silver cufflinks with my initials on them, and a silver flask with a leather band, my name embossed on the edge of the leather in silver again.
“No way you did all this,” I say, picking up the glasses and trying them on.
“I could have.”
I lower the glasses and peer at him over the top.
“But did you?”
“Okay, no. My mom and sister did it. They made similar boxes for the groomsmen and groomsmaids.”
“Is that a thing?”
“Groomsmaids?”
“Yeah.”
He shrugs. “Eli says it is. It made my sister happy to be included, except she was helping to make the boxes, so it wasn’t really a surprise for her.”
“This is really cool.”
“So, will you be my best man?”
“Of course I will. Do I get to wear all of this at the wedding?”
“You’d better. So try not to break or lose anything between now and then.”
“No promises,” I laugh, placing the glasses back and closing the lid.
“Okay, so tell me, how is Philly really?”
“It’s great. I mean, it’s hard, way harder than what it was like in college, but I can’t complain when this is exactly the life I wanted to be living—well, what both of us wanted to be living. Can you believe we’re actually doing it?”
He shakes his head.
“I pinch myself every day. It would have been cool to be on the same team, but the guys on your team seem pretty cool. Except Raines, he’s a bit of a tool. What was with him at the game? Like you can’t talk to the other team now?”
“He’s rough, but he’s okay. He helped me a lot at camp, and we’ve been sort of doing some extra sessions together and—“
“Oh my god, you totally have a thing for your captain,” Cosmo blurts.
“I do not,” I reply, my face already growing warmer.
“You do. You should see your face right now, it’s totally giving you away.”
Fuck.
“He’s nice, I guess. I mean, if he even talks to me again after that play.”
“That was a play when he messed up his turn?”
“Yeah, I convinced him to do it after we’d practiced a few times this week. He said no, but I pushed him to, and then you got the puck and scored, so . . .”
“So, what? We all mess up plays sometimes. I’m sure he’s over it already.”
“I doubt it. He’s old school. He doesn’t like it when I try to do something . . . tricky.”
“Did he not watch any of our games before you joined? We were constantly trying shit out. Got us to the finals too, more than once.”
“I guess I’ll find out on Monday. No way am I going to go to his birthday party and risk starting shit there.”
“He invited you?”
“No, his brothers asked the whole team. It’s a surprise thing at King’s Pizza Bar tomorrow night.”
“You have to go.”
“Why?”
“Because if he is pissed, it’ll show him you give a shit. Come on, it’s the man’s birthday. How old is he now, forty?”
“Fuck off, he’s not that old yet.”
“Gotta be close,” Cosmo says, picking up his phone and tapping and scrolling until he finds what he’s looking for. “I was close.”
“How close?”
“Thirty.”
“That’s about as close as you guys winning the cup this year.”
“Hey, we’re in with just as good a chance as you.”
I scrunch up my nose.
“Are you, though?”
“We’ve beaten you twice so far.”
“We’re just lulling you into a false sense of security.”
“Sure, brother.”
We laugh and drink, and the rest of the conversation flows easily.
It’s just like old times, except this is better, because I’m not quietly pining for him.
This is totally better. Except I think he’s right about me being into Reid, and that thought scares the fuck out of me, because now I’m wondering what he’d taste like and how his scruff would feel against my skin.
Fuck, I think my plan to Luka love-bomb the captain has backfired on me.