Chapter 15
Melly
The puck is in my hand inside my coat pocket, and I have not let it go since he gave it to me.
I have switched hands twice. Once, when my right hand went numb during the second period, and once when my left hand went numb, and now I am back on my right hand, fingers curled around the cold rubber so tight my knuckles have a small permanent ridge on them. The puck is my body temperature.
Mila has my left arm linked through hers and is pulling me through the parking lot. Gianna is on her phone six feet ahead of us, walking backward at one point so she can yell something at Lucy about an Uber. Lucy is wrapping her scarf at her own pace.
The crowd around us is filtering out quietly because the Wolves lost. There’s a small father-and-son pair to my right talking about the fight that happened. There’s a college student behind me on the phone narrating the score to whoever is on the other end. The lot smells like exhaust.
Gianna stops walking ahead of us and looks up from her phone.
“Uber in two minutes.”
“Where to?”
“Hawthorne.”
I open my mouth. “I should go home.”
“No way in hell, Melly,” Mila says.
Lucy finally catches up to us and says, “We’re just hanging out for twenty minutes and leaving right after.”
Gianna leans in and whispers, “We have a plan.”
I look at her. “What plan?”
She grins. “You’ll see, and don’t worry, we’re going to make it fast.”
Mila and I look at each other, wondering what it’s about. We get in the Uber.
Once we’re inside, the car is quiet as we pull away and wait in traffic.
Mila leans in and whispers, “Are you freaking out?”
Gianna and Lucy turn to me.
I swallow. There’s no denying that I am, so I nod.
Gianna says, “I can’t believe he gave you a puck. I mean, Benson.” She waves her hand, rolling her eyes. “But Blue?”
My eyes dart out the window.
“In front of everyone?” Gianna gasps.
Mila says, “I know.” She nods, grabbing my arm. “This clearly isn’t high school anymore.”
I pull the puck out of my pocket and say, “I can’t stop holding it.”
Mila sighs. “I don’t blame you. This is –– big.”
My mind spirals. “What if––”
“What?” Mila says. “No. Don’t start with the what ifs, Melly.”
Lucy shakes her head. “Just talk to him.”
I look out the window, watching the crowd disappear into their vehicles, and those vehicles are cutting each other off.
Once we’re on the road, Mila says, “Put it in your bag.”
“What?”
“The puck.”
I look at it, not wanting to let it go.
“Babe. Put it in your bag. You are going to walk into his kitchen holding a puck he gave you, and the entire team is going to give him shit for it.”
Gianna adds, “They probably already are.”
“And you know Blue. He’s…”
She doesn’t have to finish the sentence.
“Yeah,” I say.
I do know him.
I don’t want to put it down, but I listen to the girls and unzip my bag. I slide the puck into the pocket where I keep my lip balm and the tampon I have not used since September.
My hand stays flat against the outside of the bag.
The Uber pulls up to an empty house on Hawthorne Street.
The house is dark from the outside. The boys are not home yet.
We get out. Gianna has a spare key. She unlocks the door, pushes it open, and walks in like she lives here.
The house is warm, and it smells like the boys.
Gianna drops her keys on the entry bench and hangs her coat on the hook above it.
She walks straight to the kitchen, and Lucy follows.
I stand in the entry for a second and can’t believe I’m in this house again. I can’t believe Chase has been here, too, and the thought dawns on me that I haven’t even thought of Chase once today. He and I are completely over.
I take my coat off and hang it on the hook next to Gianna’s, but I keep my bag because the puck is in it and it’s my most prized possession. It means more than words could ever say.
Lucy calls us over, so Mila and I walk into the kitchen where she’s opening the fridge. She pulls a six-pack, pops two cans, hands one to Gianna, and one to Mila.
“Diet Coke?” she asks me.
“Yes. Please.”
She pulls a Diet Coke out of the second shelf, and she hands it to me. Then she pulls out the rest of the cans.
“What’re you doing?” Mila asks as Gianna and Lucy pile them onto the counter.
Gianna smiles. “Making art.”
Lucy starts arranging the cans into a line.
Mila watches them rearrange the cans and asks, “For?”
Gianna says, “We’re going to spell the word losers.”
Lucy snickers.
Mila slams both hands on the island. “Yes!”
Gianna throws her head back and laughs. “It was my brilliant idea.”
Lucy says, “It was actually mine, but I was planning on them to win.”
Mila says, “I love that Benson’s your brother because you can get away with trolling him.”
Gianna laughs. “All day.”
They spell out each letter, and then Gianna places the S last, and then she stands back and tilts her head. “Higher.”
Lucy looks at it and asks, “What?”
“The S needs to be higher.”
I look at the S as she puts it a little higher. “There.”
We stand back and admire their work. The cans are spelled. The work is done. We wait.
Two guys walk into the house first. I don’t think I’ve met them before.
Gianna greets them, “Oh, hey, Drew.”
The taller one looks up and waves. So, that’s who Mara’s sleeping with, or was.
“Hi, Walker.”
The other guy waves.
They walk in together in matching team sweatpants and Wolves hoodies, hair a little wet under their hats. They round the corner into the kitchen and stop.
Walker sees the cans and says, “What––”
Drew tilts his head and finishes the sentence on his own, “–– is happening?”
Gianna smiles. “We did good. It’s sick, isn’t it?”
Drew looks at it. “Uh — yes.”
Walker nods. “Inspirational.”
He nods at me on his way past.
Rowan walks in next. His hair is wet too. He has his flask in his hands and a bag on his shoulder. He sees the cans on the counter and hesitates.
He lifts an eyebrow at Gianna. “Really?”
“Really.”
He looks at Lucy. “He is going to lose his mind.”
He walks past the island and stops just past it. He glances at me. “Hi, Melly.”
“Hi, Rowan.”
He nods. He keeps walking.
Percy is right behind him. He’s in a long-sleeve thermal and joggers, and his hair is wet at the back of his neck. He stops at the island and stares at the cans. He doesn’t move.
Gianna leans over. “Where’s Benson and Blue?”
I shudder when she says his name.
Percy finally looks up and says, “The kerning is good.”
Lucy snickers.
Gianna says, “Percy, I love you.”
Percy nods once and then walks over to Rowan and says something I can’t hear.
Two minutes later, the front door clicks open.
I feel a zip of electricity roll through my bones, putting me on high alert.
Walker starts talking about FIFA, Drew’s yelling back, and I have no idea what they’re talking about.
I hear Benson’s deep voice through the house, and I’m holding my breath because I know that Benson is Blue’s best friend in this house.
I feel the quick draft through the house, then the door closes. Stanley’s voice comes next.
Benson is the first one through. I know it’s Benson because he’s laughing at something Stanley is currently saying. He walks into the kitchen, and his eyes go to Lucy and then fall on the island. He sees the cans and tilts his head.
A single sharp scoff comes out of him. “Lucy, baby.”
Lucy is on the counter and covering her laugh.
“You helped with this?” he asks, looking right at her. He must know this was his sister’s doing. His tongue swipes out of his mouth, licking his bottom lip like he’s deciding. He looks down at it and says, “Baby, you’re in big trouble.”
She jumps off the counter on the opposite side of him.
Benson is crossing the kitchen in two large steps.
He has dropped his bag in the hallway. This man is massive.
He gets to Lucy and grabs her around the waist. She squeals, reaching out for Gianna, who’s watching the two of them.
Her legs kick out as she shrieks with laughter, and the whole kitchen reacts.
Stanley is saying, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Get a room. Watch her legs.”
Mila is snickering next to me.
Benson doesn’t hear him. He’s yelling, “Traitor!” He runs out of the kitchen with her. “My own girlfriend calling me a loser!”
“It was G,” Lucy squeals. “I swear!”
I’m laughing with Mila as we watch Lucy’s hair swing side to side, and Benson is carrying her like she weighs nothing.
My Diet Coke spills to one side, drenching my hand, so I start sucking it in.
Now I know why Lucy agreed to Gianna’s prank.
It’s paying off for her. Benson is still holding her over his shoulder as he walks up the stairs.
As I watch them, I think to myself that this is a good time.
Me and Mila are shoulder to shoulder, and she’s enjoying this as much as I am.
The guys are all loud now, talking over each other and hollering.
The room is in pieces.
And in the middle of the chaos —
I look up.
Blue is standing in the doorway.
His eyes are on the cans for a moment, and I notice the bruise on the underside of his jaw. There’s a square of medical tape over the split on his chin. His hair is wet under his backward hat. He’s in jeans and his hoodie. I swear it’s the only hoodie he owns. I’m willing to bet on it.
His eyes find mine, and the kitchen continues.
Benson runs back down the stairs and is still messing with Lucy.
Lucy is shrieking. Stanley is still yelling at him, and Gianna is telling him not to play on the stairs before somebody gets hurt.
Percy and Rowan go to the living room because Walker is calling them over.
Mila has gone silent. She’s watching us.
Blue doesn’t pay attention to any of it. He’s looking at me.
I hear Gianna say, “Mila!”
Mila bolts to leave the room, leaving me and Blue in the kitchen alone.
He takes two steps towards me and looks at the cans.
“What’s this?” he asks.
I look down at it. “Art.”
“Yours?”
I shake my head, feeling my hands start to shake. “G’s.”
With one hand, he pushes the cans to the middle of the counter. “That’s better.”