Chapter 5
PENN
Sitting in a dimly lit, downtown dive bar with my roommates, I hum along to “Cherry Pie” by Warrant.
This place is so decrepit, they’re still playing music from a jukebox…
but I like the vibes. The music is merely background noise for the bar’s trivia night that Ally dragged us to, hushed whispers from each trivia group nearly drowning out the lyrics to the classic rock song.
“Kangaroo,” Noah says in a low voice.
“Or a koala?” Ally whispers back, her long blonde hair falling over one shoulder as she looks sideways to make sure the next table can’t hear her.
Noah nods. “Oh yeah. Good guess.”
“And there are emus,” Fisher adds, his green eyes scarily thoughtful. “And those weird little duck billed things. You know, with the stingers? They live there, too. I saw them when I was in Cairns.”
“Platypus,” Noah supplies, and I suppress a smirk. He’s such a nerd.
“That’s the one.” Fisher makes a finger gun at the answer page. “Could be that, too.”
The three of them frown, deep in thought. Meanwhile, I busy myself with grabbing the pitcher of beer from the table and topping up my pint glass with the flat, slightly stale liquid. Fisher’s is also empty, so I fill it up, too.
“Thanks, Matthews,” he mutters distractedly as he taps his fingers on the sticky tabletop. “What do you think the answer is?”
“I didn’t even hear the question,” I admit, glancing down at my phone in my lap—we’re not meant to use them during the quiz—and seeing my sister texted me.
Fisher shakes his head in dismay. “The question was, what’s the national animal of Australia?”
I set my pint glass down and blink at Fisher. “How the hell would I know that?”
My roommates all burst out laughing. “Very helpful,” Fisher drawls.
“I think I’ll just put kangaroo?” Ally asks.
“That’s a safe bet.” Noah kisses her temple, and her cheeks go pink.
She looks at me for the final vote, and I shrug. “Sounds good to me.”
Ally writes kangaroo down on the white board and holds it up. My roommates all cheer when the answer is confirmed to be right.
Trivia night wouldn’t have been my first choice, but here we are.
Ally is always wrangling us guys into doing all kinds of roommate activities with her.
We have a weekly ritual where we all watch a trashy reality TV show she loves (okay, fine, we’re all hooked), she drags us guys on regular morning runs with her, and we’ve even spent a few nights helping her bake cookies.
Not exactly the rock-n-roll lifestyle I was expecting would come with being a pro athlete, but honestly, I’m not complaining. I like hanging out doing these wholesome activities with my little Loft 3B family.
Recently, Ally registered us as a team for this weekly pub quiz here at Big Ed’s. And even though I suck at trivia, it’s been fun so far. It goes all winter, tournament style, and the overall winning team gets a grand prize of free beer and nachos for a month.
“Next question,” the emcee announces, and my roommates immediately snap to attention.
Our team is called “No Pucks Given”—Fisher’s idea, of course—but that’s the biggest lie of all time. We’re athletes; competitive instincts run through our veins and we play to win, no matter what we’re doing. Which means there are actually a lot of pucks given at this table.
“In the TV show Friends, what was Chandler Bing’s middle name?”
The only thing I know about that show is that Jennifer Aniston was hot in it, so I tune out as my roommates start discussing. I pick my phone up and read Cassie’s text under the table.
Cassie
Liz called me this afternoon.
Penn
Nice, how is she?
Cassie
Good! She was checking in to see how school was going. She also told me Mike is still talking about watching you play your first NHL game in Canada a couple of months back.
Liz and Mike are a couple from Calgary, my hometown in Canada, who turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to Cassie and me.
Penn
Ha. I barely even got any ice time that night; he’s being way too generous.
I pretty much owe Mike—or Coach Smith, as he was to me back then—everything.
He coached me all the way through high school and helped me get a full scholarship to my first choice D1 hockey program for college, and then he and Liz took Cassie in and fostered her when I left because I didn’t want to leave her to fend for herself.
If it weren’t for Mike’s influence in my life and his unfailing belief in me, even when I thought I’d messed up my whole future, I’d never have believed in myself enough to make it.
Instead, I would have ended up just like my dead-beat dad. The very thought of being anything like that guy makes me shudder.
Cassie
I’m about to head to study group. Talk later!
Penn
Talk soon. Be safe.
Cassie
Yes, Penn, because study group is just riddled with potential dangers. But do try not to worry. I’ll do my best not to incur any grievous bodily harm by textbook.
I snort a laugh and put my phone down, turning my attention back to the table.
Ally’s sipping on her soda and snuggling into Noah’s chest, and he’s looking down at her with love hearts flashing in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Fisher is making very different eyes at a cute girl sitting at the bar, who’s swaying from side to side on her barstool and giggling as she whispers something into her friend’s ear.
“Is it over already?” I ask. My question answers itself when I look around to see staff collecting answer boards.
“Nice of you to rejoin us.” Noah smirks. “Who were you texting? Got a hot date later?”
I shake my head. “Nah, it was just my sister.”
“Okay, good.” Fisher’s eyes leave the hottie on the barstool for a split second to glance towards me. “Because those two girls over there look like they’d like some company right about now.”
“What girls?” Noah asks blankly, and I can’t help but laugh.
From any other dude, I wouldn’t buy that shit, but Noah is legit so hopelessly in love with Ally, you could put him in a room with a hundred bikini-clad Victoria’s Secret models and he wouldn't even notice. They’re sweet together, like toothache-level sweet.
It makes me feel a little strange sometimes.
Not in a bad way—they’re both awesome, and I couldn’t be happier for them.
It’s more like seeing what they have together emphasizes what I lack in my life.
They have something special, something more.
The kind of love I’ll probably never find, or even dare try to.
“Over there, dumbass.” Fisher nods towards the bar.
Noah doesn’t even bother to look in their direction, but Ally does. She smiles. “Oh, I love the brunette girl’s dress. If you go over there, can you ask her where she got it?”
“No,” I tell her at the same time that Fisher says, “Sure.”
He gives me the side eye. “No to going over there, or no to asking her where she got her dress?”
I pour myself another beer. “Both.”
“Why the hell not?” Fisher looks at me like I suddenly sprouted an extra head.
“I’m not in the mood,” I say with a shrug. “My ribs still hurt from our last game, and I kinda just wanna go home and sit in the hot tub after this.”
It’s not a lie—my whole side is still bruised black and blue from that nasty hit I took from that douchecanoe Chad-dick Weatherby the other night. I’ve had to take ibuprofen and ice the swelling multiple times.
“You’re no fun,” Fisher complains.
“You’re lucky you didn’t fracture something,” Noah says with a scowl. “That was one of the dirtiest hits I’ve ever seen.”
“Nothing new from that jerk.” I wave my hand dismissively. “And if the crutches he was hobbling around on after the game are anything to go by, karma bit him in the ass for it already.”
The memory of Chadwick wobbling on crutches makes me smile…although that smile quickly fades when I remember why I saw him using them.
Poor Hazel.
I’d never seen her look vulnerable before. I’m used to pissy, prissy Hazel. Hazel who bangs on my door or stops me in the hallway to tell me she’s bothered and she thinks I’m a jerk. Totally unafraid to speak her mind.
The version of Hazel on the street that night was new to me, and I didn’t like it.
Although, the memory of her wearing pouffy granny nightwear has my lips twitching.
The nightgown should have been hilarious, but nothing about her defeated expression and pale face was funny.
Instead, her red-rimmed green eyes tugged at something inside my chest.
And when I overheard what Chadwick was saying to her, rage coursed through my veins.
Because it sounded like they were serious, and she even loved him, but ended the relationship because she’d found out he cheated.
And Chadwick had the audacity to tell her it only happened once and wasn’t a big deal, but he bragged to me during the game that he had a whole roster of women on the go. Ugh.
I still can’t believe that his serious girlfriend was Hazel.
And even though she’s been a pain in my ass, my first thought was Oh hell, no.
Not on my watch. I couldn’t stand there and let him gaslight her like that.
I know how it feels to be cheated on, and as mad as she seemed with me afterward for interfering, I’d do it again.
My only regret is not hitting Chadwick harder during the game. Because how dare that asshole talk to her—or any woman—like that.
“I wonder if Chad-dick will be out for the Fire Cats’ next game,” Fisher muses.
“For whoever they’re playing’s sake, I sure hope so,” I say darkly. “Guy’s a walking liability.”
The guys start talking about our next game, but my mind is still firmly on Hazel.
I haven’t seen her since that night, and I hope she’s realized she’s better off without him.
I would go knock on her door to check she’s okay, but I’m sure she’d just slam it in my face.
I wonder if she wears granny nightgowns every night…
would she answer her door with another frilly floor-length number and rollers in her hair?
The thought puts my smile right back on my face, and I can’t help but hope I’ll have another encounter with my downstairs neighbor again soon.