Chapter 5
FIVE
Andrei
Four weeks of cameras had blurred together into a routine of practiced conversations and careful positioning.
The crew moved through our lives with creepy efficiency, capturing everything from morning workouts to late-night study sessions.
I’d given three interviews so far, each one digging deeper beneath the surface Jen Harding seemed determined to excavate.
She really wanted to see the friendship between Griffin and me.
She was planning a buddy day episode as a possibility for later in the season that would mainly feature the two of us on our “day off.” As if such a thing existed.
The questions were getting personal. Not invasive, exactly, but pointed.
She had a way of asking about my family, my motivations, my relationships that made me feel exposed under those bright interview lights.
Still, it was becoming less awkward. I could sit in that chair now without feeling my shoulders creep toward my ears.
A month into the semester, and the rhythm was settling.
Classes, practice, cameras, repeat. The production team had covered most of us evenly, though I suspected they were building toward something.
Jen kept notes during every interaction, her sharp eyes cataloguing details I wasn’t sure I wanted catalogued.
The past weeks had their moments. Toby had finally nailed the triple deke he’d been working on all summer, celebrating with a victory lap that ended with him crashing into the boards while the cameras rolled.
Mason had gotten into it with a player from State during a scrimmage, nothing serious but enough attitude to feed his rebel persona for weeks.
Phoenix had organized a team dinner at some hole-in-the-wall pizza place, insisting we needed bonding time away from the cameras, though two producers had somehow shown up anyway.
Griffin had been Griffin throughout it all.
Making jokes during interviews, charming the sound crew, turning every mundane moment into something brighter just by being present.
I’d watched him navigate the attention with the same confidence he brought to everything else, and I’d tried not to think about how much I enjoyed watching him do it.
Or how much it hurt to watch him flirt with girls who volunteered to be recorded.
Now we were heading downstairs to the common room, where the team had gathered for the premiere of Blades of Northwood.
The long chaise lounges faced each other across the coffee tables, which were loaded with chips, beer, and whatever junk food Phoenix had deemed essential for the occasion.
For an out and proud gay guy, he was shit at party planning.
The TV dominated the far wall, screen black but ready.
Everyone was here. Phoenix sat rigid in his usual spot, jaw tight with anticipation.
Toby bounced in his chair, unable to contain his excitement.
Mason sprawled across half a couch, playing up his rebellious image even for an audience of teammates.
Damon had claimed a corner spot and looked about as invested as someone waiting for a bus.
Griffin dropped onto the couch beside me, close enough that I could smell his shampoo. His leg pressed against mine, warm and solid and completely unconscious of the contact.
“You nervous?” he asked, reaching for a handful of chips.
“No.”
He grinned. “Right. You look totally relaxed.”
The opening credits rolled before I could respond. A deep, dramatic voice filled the room, the kind of narrator who made everything sound like life or death.
“In the heart of Detroit, where tradition meets ambition…”
“Aw, man, we didn’t get Sean Bean?” Toby asked.
“What would Sir David Attenborough have done with this material?” Phoenix asked.
“Yeah, spending his one hundredth year on this earth narrating a puck-loving reality show,” Mason muttered.
The screen filled with sweeping shots of campus, the rink, our team in action. It looked cinematic, more polished than real life had felt while living it.
“…a new generation of Arctic Titans fights to reclaim their legacy.”
Cut to Phoenix in full captain mode, barking orders during practice. His face was serious, determined, everything the cameras wanted from their designated leader.
The narrator continued. “A lone pioneer breaking barriers in one of sports’ most traditional environments.”
Phoenix’s jaw clenched tighter. I knew that look. He was preparing for battle. “Fucking bullshit,” he said under his breath.
The montage continued, introducing each of us with dramatic flair.
Toby racing down the ice, his freshman enthusiasm practically glowing through the screen.
Mason delivering a bone-crushing check, his rebel status reinforced with every aggressive play.
Damon was shown as a silent force, all business and barely contained violence on the ice.
Then Griffin appeared, flashing that devastating smile at some girl in the campus coffee shop. The editing made it look effortless, natural, like charm was something he exuded without trying. And he did. Damn him, but he did.
“Griffin Shaw,” the narrator purred. “The golden boy whose confidence masks a competitive fire.”
I watched Griffin watch himself, saw the slight furrow between his eyebrows as he processed his own image. He looked good on camera. Better than good. He looked like someone audiences would fall in love with.
“And Andrei Sokolov.” The narrator’s voice dropped lower, more mysterious.
Being a third-generation immigrant, I was as Russian as any of them, but the framing was so on the nose that it only lacked the Russian National Anthem.
They might as well have asked me to play myself with a Russian accent.
“The enigmatic force whose Russian heritage and brooding intensity make him hockey’s most compelling mystery. ”
“I’m not even Russian,” I muttered.
Griffin snorted. “Your grandparents were.”
“Both my parents were born in Chicago.”
“Russian bad boy sells better than suburban Chicago bad boy,” Mason called from across the room.
The show continued, weaving our individual stories into a semi-cohesive narrative that felt both familiar and foreign. They’d captured real moments, like Mason’s trash talk during practice, the team’s nervous energy before our season opener, casual conversations that had felt natural in the moment.
But the editing changed everything. Mason looked genuinely rebellious instead of just competitive. The anxiety about our first game felt manufactured, even though we’d already played and won that opener weeks ago. Every interaction was heightened, dramatized, turned into television.
Then came a segment featuring Griffin and me during one of our joint interviews.
I watched myself on-screen and felt heat creep up my neck.
The way I looked at Griffin was unmistakable.
My eyes tracked his every movement, hung on his words, responded to his humor with an intensity that made my stomach drop.
I licked my goddamn lips when he smiled.
Or they cut that together for some reason. I couldn’t remember if I’d done it.
There was a moment where Griffin was explaining some play from practice, animated and engaged, his hands moving as he talked. The camera caught me watching him with complete focus, a half smile playing at my lips like I was seeing something the rest of the world was missing.
Which, apparently, I was.
Several teammates wolf whistled when the segment continued, showing more interactions between Griffin and me.
The editing was deliberate. In every other scene, I looked exactly like what they’d cast me as: cold, controlled, mysteriously dangerous.
But put me in the same frame as Griffin, and something shifted.
I smiled more. I responded more. I became someone warmer, more human.
The worst part was trying to remember if this was accurate. Had I really been that obvious? Had I spent every shared interview staring at Griffin with barely concealed affection?
My heart hammered against my ribs. I sank lower in my seat and pulled out my phone, needing a distraction from my own face on the television.
The notifications hit me like an avalanche. Instagram and TikTok, dozens of alerts flooding my screen. My follower count had jumped from a few hundred to several thousand in the space of an hour.
I scrolled through the mentions, my panic rising with each post. There were edits set to popular songs, clips of Griffin and me compiled into mini movies that made our friendship look cinematic.
The hashtag #Griffdrei was everywhere, trending across multiple platforms. The episode had been on streaming since midnight, and people had already cut it apart and scavenged it for the hottest bits.
“Are you seeing this?” I asked Griffin, my voice tight with worry.
He leaned over to look at my screen. “Holy crap.”
The official Blades of Northwood account was reposting fan-made content. Professional social media managers were amplifying videos of us laughing together, playing hockey, existing in the same space with what viewers apparently saw as electric chemistry.
I clicked on one TikTok. “Bromance goals,” the caption read over a montage of Griffin and me from the episode. “If it ain’t like this, I don’t want it.” The comments were full of melting emojis.
Another video had edited our interactions to a love song by Tom Odell, but the comments were all about friendship. “This is what real bros look like.” “I wish I had a friend who looked at me like this.” “Male friendship is beautiful when it’s not toxic.”
The relief was immediate. They saw friendship. Intense, maybe, but friendship. The editing might have made me look obviously smitten, but audiences were interpreting it as bromance, not romance.