CHAPTER EIGHT #2
“Which seems to make a lot of difference.”
“How does it make a difference?”
“How does it not, man? Can you make sense?”
“You make sense, bro. It’s literally called co—“ If I have to hear that word one more time.
I’m a fucking sigh machine at this point. “There’s no way you two are arguing about this right now,” I say.
Nathan laughs, and I’m trying to locate the joke. “We don’t make any sense you know.”
“Oh, you don’t need to tell me,” I say.
“Congrats for real, though,” Daniel says.
“Thanks.”
He continues with, “It’ll be interesting to see what it’s like to have a mixed team now. Have you seen our game?” All our games are recorded, but I haven’t even had time to think about that today.
“Not yet.”
“I can get it up here.”
Nathan brings out his phone and I’m trying to see what the game looked like too to be honest, from this side looking in.
Despite some people thinking I have no self awareness, I’m always ready to work on my performance if I feel like it needs it, and watching past plays of me is a good way to do that.
Right before he clicks on the video, a noise from the door grabs my attention.
Her eyes are always the first thing that hook me.
They dig into me like I’m the only one in the room.
“Oh,” Kaylah says, a look of alarm on her face. “I thought there was no one in here.”
We’re not each other’s favourite people, but I can feel through her tone just how much she wanted there to be no one in here, and I almost laugh at just how similar we are in that regard.
“You tricked yourself, sorry,” Nathan says. “But why don’t you come join us, Captain?”
“Yeah, I don’t think I’m gonna do that,” she says straight away.
Daniel laughs.
“Did I tell a joke?” she asks. Now I’m really forcing myself to stop laughing.
“Yeah, you two are both grumpy as fuck.”
“Bro, why would you even say that?” Nathan says, giving him a look of disapproval.
Where did they find these people?
“You gonna tell me they’re not grumpy as fuck?” Daniel asks with a raised brow.
“Yeah, not gonna lie you guys kind of are.”
I’ll take it.
“It makes me really happy you said that, actually.” I turn at the unusual sweetness in Kaylah’s voice.
A curious look grows on Nathan’s face. “Really?”
“Yeah. I like it when people understand that I’m grumpy because it makes them stop talking to me.”
That will do it.
I don’t even try to stop the laughter that comes out of my mouth. It’s a quick one, but long enough for Kaylah to narrow her eyes at me, as if she’s sussing me out.
I don’t know what she could possibly be thinking.
Nathan looks between the both of us, before saying, “Oh, shit, I can’t even tell if you’re joking or not.”
“I don’t think she’s joking, bro,” Daniel says.
“How can you tell?”
She turns around and heads for the door but I’m surprised she stops when Daniel says, “Hurry up and play the video, man. I want to see how I was doing today even though I already know I was good.”
“There’s a video of today’s game?” Kaylah asks. Her voice betrays the lack of interest her face displays.
“Yeah, it’s up on the university website.”
“Thanks.”
Nathan looks like he’s having the time of his life when he says, “You talk even less than Julius does.”
“I was just about to say that, you know,” Daniel adds.
She opens her mouth to say something, but then quickly shakes her head and continues heading for the door. I watch as she shakes her head again and turns to us. “Are you guys like twins or something?”
“Nah, why?” Daniel says.
“You’re just so…happy. The same level of happy. Both of you. All the time.”
“We just both recognise that you’ve really gotta keep the energy going in life, you know?”
This is starting to sound like the kind of Ted Talk my parents would try to give me.
“Okay,” is all Kaylah says before she’s out the door for real this time, my eyes catching on her tight shorts hugging against her skin that always look so smooth and radiant. I need to stop thinking, clearly.
“Oh, shit, let me play this video,” Nathan says.
Daniel huff. “Like I’ve been telling you to do.”
“Shut up.”
I should just follow Kaylah’s lead and go watch the video in my room like I’m sure she’s about to do.
For all the problems we seem to have with each other, I’m sure it’s mostly down to the fact that we’re too similar so I’m not even surprised we’re clashing.
She’s definitely on to something with the decision she just made but with the way Coach is already on my neck to be more of a…
social butterfly…whatever the fuck that is, I might as well start with these guys.
The video starts and it’s not hard to see myself on the screen, with my moves instantly impressing me even though I knew they were coming. It’s a good game and I see Coach studying us one by one, my mind thinking back to how he came down to the final decision on who would make the team.
I can’t deny that whenever I’m rewatching one of my games back, the only person I’m really focusing on is me.
I even shock myself sometimes with how swift I am on the ice, but at the same time, I’m not too cocky to identify an area I need to improve on, though that’s not a frequent conclusion for me.
While I’m trying to keep my eyes on me, I’m finding that they’re naturally darting to someone else.
Playing on opposite teams gave me quick insight into what Kaylah’s like on the ice, but being able to see it after the fact…
fuck, she’s not playing fair. Her feet glide against the ice like they were made for it as she intercepts each pass with finesse, especially the passes that weren’t even intended for her because for some reason, her teammates thought it made sense to take more risks with it.
Three goals. That’s how much we both scored by the end of it, with a couple members of our teams getting some in there as well. I’ve never really found that worthy opponent of mine, who could actually be a threat to me during the game. It’s always just been me knowing I’m taking it each time.
Until now.
The way she owned the stick, the puck, the ice, fuck maybe even the game…who is this woman? I need to know more, I need to know everything.
I can’t even move as soon as I would like to once the video ends, because I’m in a daze wondering how fucked I would be if Kaylah really was on an opposing team.
But us being on the same team is…interesting.
My phone screen lights up as what looks like a message comes through but I’m not even paying too much attention to it. I’m not paying attention to anything until I hear the Double Act about to start arguing again and then I’m descending to my room without a word to them.
That was sociable enough for me.
I sit on my bed and don’t even try to stop myself from deciding to watch that game again.
But when I finally get a good look at the message on the screen, it stops me in my tracks.
You really gonna allow yourself to be co-captain with someone like that?
It’s one bullshit after another in this life, I guess.