Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
When we take the ice, I automatically look for Ginny in her usual seat. She’s not there and the knife in my gut twists.
Vermont is tough. They’ve got a freshman, Lex Vonne, who’s almost as fast as I am, and their defense is big and mean.
“I played against Vonne in high school,” Adam says. “He was just a skinny kid who could barely stay upright back then.”
We watched tape last weekend on Vermont and Jordan and Adam filled us in as best they could.
All three of them are from Arizona, and Jordan went to high school with Vonne, playing together all four years.
No one can believe the progress he’s made.
It seems the New England air agrees with him because every game he just gets better.
“Yeah, well, looks like he’s improved. A lot.”
“No shit.” Adam laughs as we watch him warm up, looking steady and sharp.
The game matches our pace, a brutal intensity that’s exactly what I need tonight. Neither team scores in the first period. I’ve skated nearly half of those twenty minutes and I’m sucking air, but the burn of my lungs is nothing compared to the feeling I get when I glance at Ginny’s empty seat.
Coach gives us his usual quick and straightforward pep talk between periods. He’s not big on grand speeches, but his words are always effective.
Vermont’s goalie is one of the best in the country, not that we’re making it hard on him. We’re losing the puck before we can even do anything with it. I get a pass from Maverick and use some of my aggression on a mean slapshot. It’s wide and I swear I feel him grin underneath that fucking mask.
The second line comes in and I get a breather and a moment to collect myself.
“You good?” Mav asks.
“Good enough to finish this,” I grunt out. And then go find Ginny.
“Let’s go then.”
When we jump the boards it’s another minute of skating my ass off before Vermont scores and the Valley crowd groans their disapproval.
We go into the third period down by one. Like some sort of masochist, I continue to glance to the spot Ginny’s occupied at every home game. Every time I look is like another punch to the gut, but I can’t stop myself.
“Payne!” Coach calls from the bench. “Are you standing still out there?”
I skate like the pain doesn’t matter. I deke out a defenseman, pass to Jordan on the left side, and fly by two more players, just as he sends it back.
I get a decent look at the net that’s denied.
At least this one requires the goalie to use a little of that all-star athleticism, but the end result is the same—with Valley losing. A shutout in front of our home crowd.
After our loss, no one feels like going out and the guys and I head back to the apartment.
I take a seat on the couch with my phone in hand. I haven’t heard from Ginny and I don’t think it’s because her roommate didn’t give her the message. I tap out a bunch of texts but don’t send any of them.
Rauthruss is playing video games. “Wanna play?”
“Yeah.” I lift my hand and he tosses me a controller.
We play in silence for a few minutes.
“Can, uh, I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” he says, not looking away from the screen.
“You and Carrie. How’d that come about?”
“We went to high school together.”
“Right, but I mean, how did you make it official?”
“She told me we were no longer seeing other people.”
“And that was it?”
He pauses the game and looks to me. “I probably said something real eloquent like ‘uhh okay.’ She was popular and I wasn’t. I’d have done anything she asked.”
Adam’s bedroom door opens, and he walks out and drops into the armchair and blows out a long, exaggerated breath.
Rauthruss looks to him. “Not going to Taryn’s?”
Adam waves a hand. “Nah, that’s over.”
“Another one bites the dust?” Rauthruss jokes then looks to me. “You want advice on getting a girlfriend.” He nods his head to Adam. “Scott’s the one to ask.”
“You want to ask Ginny to be your girlfriend?” Adam asks.
Yeah, this would be a lot less awkward if I weren’t having this conversation with her brother. He hated the idea before I made her cry, so I doubt he’s pumped now.
I tread carefully. “To be honest, I thought she already was, but I guess that’s a thing people talk about first?”
Adam’s face slowly transforms from a stony wall of indifference to amusement and he laughs. “Have you ever had a girlfriend, Payne?”
I clear my throat and wipe a hand over my brow. Jesus, it’s hot in here. “Clearly not.”
He studies me and lets out another one of his new broody sighs. “Ginny doesn’t need a big gesture, just tell her how you feel. Well, no, actually first, you need to convince her to speak to you again.”
“Yeah, thanks a lot. Good talk.”
Mav walks through the door. “Honey, I’m home.” He plops down and reads the room. “What’s going on?”
“Heath is gonna ask Ginny to go steady.” Rauthruss smirks.
“Fuck off,” I tell him but smile. Dammit, I should have known better than to ask him. Nothing is ever taken seriously around here.
“I take it talking didn’t go over so well?” Mav asks with a knowing smirk.
I flip him off. “Are you guys going to help me or what?”
Maverick claps his hands together. “Let’s brainstorm on the whiteboard.”
“We don’t have a whiteboard,” Adam points out.
Maverick shakes his head, smiling. “Real oversight, minion. Task one, find something to write down ideas.”
Surprisingly, Adam does get up and appears to search for something to write on. Maverick goes to the fridge and grabs four beers and then hands them out.
Adam comes back with a scrap of paper and a pen. “All right, ideas to ask a girl out. I feel like I’m back in middle school.”
“I would have guessed you started more pre-K age,” Rauthruss says and twists the cap on his beer.
Adam flips him off and then looks to me, poised to write down our ideas.
“You’re on board with this?” I ask him.
He shrugs. “If it’s what she wants. Besides, it’s going to be fun as hell to watch you try to pull this off.”
Maverick takes the lead and I let him. For as much shit as he talks about his dad, I can see the family resemblance. When he sets his mind to it, he’s a good leader.
An hour later, we’ve got a handful of ideas and they’re all pretty awful.
Rauthruss is the straightforward one—take her to dinner, buy her roses.
Maverick is elaborate and has so many suggestions only about half are being written down.
They range from renting out a movie theater to hiring a Mariachi band and everything else you can imagine in between.
Adam has some good insight since he knows Ginny the best, but none of his suggestions feel right either.
I’m probably overthinking it. I don’t know anything about love or being a good boyfriend, but I know Ginny and I know that I’m better when I’m with her.
“Well?” Rauthruss asks once we’re out of new suggestions and beer.
“Maybe dinner?” It isn’t the most creative, but a lot easier than renting out a movie theater. I have no idea how to pull off the latter and I feel like that kind of thing might take days or weeks, and I don’t want to wait that long.
“Dinner?” Maverick’s face twists up in clear disappointment. “Dinner is so… dinner. Unless…” He sits forward, elbows on knees. “You buy out the restaurant so it’s just the two of you and then—”
I cut him off. “Let me stop you right there, buddy. `Preciate your dedication, but I don’t want it to feel like I’m being someone else for the night.”
Some of my favorite memories with Ginny over the past semester have been hanging out with our friends or chilling just the two of us. None of that was elaborate or over the top, but maybe this is different? Maybe big and bold is what I need.
I scrub a hand down my face and then look to Adam. “Does anyone know her favorite song?”
“You’re going with that one?” Rauthruss’s eyebrows shoot up. “This I gotta see.”
Maverick fist pumps. “Yeah, I love that one.”
“Of course, you do. It was your idea.”