Chapter Twenty-One #2
“How did you find out? Officially, I mean.”
He laughed. “My hockey idol sucked my cock in the back of his Lexus.”
Drew’s eyebrows lifted and her mouth did an impressed downward turn. “Helluva way to find out.”
“Claro.”
“Wait– Is this the guy from the bar? The second greatest of all time.”
Elliot sighed. “Yep.”
She pinched her lips together, watching him. “And where is he now?”
“No idea. At his apartment, probably.”
Taking drugs? Hopefully not. Probably not. He was too smart for that.
Drew came and sat beside him. She put her hand on his bare knee. It startled him, but he assumed she probably wasn’t trying to have sex with him at this point, so he didn’t worry about it so much. It was nice, actually.
“Thanks,” she said.
“For what?”
“Telling me that. Listening to my thing.”
He nodded. She nodded. Like a pair of bobble-head dogs on a dashboard. He wondered what Dustin was doing.
Eventually, she sighed and picked up her hand. “I should probably go.”
“You’re not really leaving though, are you?”
“I don’t know what else to do. I don’t think I have a choice.”
“Is it just money? I can lend you money.”
“No—” She shook her head. “That’s not—”
“No…” He sat up. “Why don’t I just do that? You said they’re not actually kicking you out of the program?”
“They’re rescinding my stipend because I didn’t meet performance criteria. So, no. Not actually kicking me out, but—”
“If you just need money to stay in it…
“I don’t wanna take your money, Elliot.”
“Drew, I’m a professional hockey player.
I make a million dollars a year and that’s the low end.
And I’m the best of all time.” She rolled her eyes, but he sat up and looked at her seriously.
“When my contract’s up at the end of next year, they’re gonna start paying me…
just a stupid amount of money. And what am I spending it on?
” He gestured around at the room. “A house for my mom, I think, but apart from that…?”
She was chewing her lip and watching him anxiously. “I don’t think I can feel good about that.”
“Please?”
“I don’t know if I could pay you back.”
“You’ll pay me back. When your lesbian clam show gets picked up by HBO you’re gonna be making bank.”
She laughed.
“And you could get a tutor. Right?” He searched her face. “I can pay for that. To learn the…whatever it is. Fish stuff.”
She pinched her face into her hand and sat there, rubbing it. “I don’t know.”
Elliot put his hand on her knee. It was the first time he’d ever done that to a person, and it felt weirdly powerful.
Not powerful, maybe, just…adult? “I only know one other person in the world who loves hockey as much as me,” he said.
“And I think you might love clams as much as he loves hockey. Which is a lot. So if you didn’t get to do that anymore, it would be really fucking sad. ”
Fuck. Now he was thinking about Dustin again.
Drew laughed tiredly, and laced her hand through his. She studied his face, anxiously, for a long time. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Very. I’m so tired of feeling like an asshole in this expensive hotel room.”
“Alright,” she sighed. “Alright. Fine. Give me your money.”
He smiled and squeezed her hand.
“Thank you.” She let go, and he could feel her watching his face as he stared at the floor. He was trying to stay in the room but suddenly all he could think about was Dustin. What was he doing? Was he okay?
Drew brushed the hair off his forehead. “Maybe you should call him.”
“Ay…” Elliot sighed. “Okay.”
As she got up, he watched her and said, “You know I thought you were, like, The One.” She laughed. “It’s not crazy though, right? We had a nice time.”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “I guess I’m pretty bummed about it, honestly. You’re so hot.”
“I thought we were…” Ay, embarrassing. “I thought I was in love.”
She was at the door, and tilted her head like that made her sad. “That’s sweet. I’m really sorry you weren’t.”
“So what was it?”
“I think…” She considered. “I think what happened is you made a friend, bud. And maybe it was just a different kind of friend than you’re used to.”
“So are we friends?”
“I think so. Give me some time to get over how hot you are, but…yeah. If–” She put up one finger and fixed him with a firm look.
“If you stop saying dumb shit like all women are the same and all they do is tell you you’re wrong.
Because, come on. You know that’s not okay. ” He sighed, and she added, “Right?”
“Sí. Okay. I won’t say that stuff.”
“To me or anyone,” she said. “Because if that’s the shit you’ll say in front of me, I can’t imagine what you’re saying in the fucking locker room.”
“Yeah, okay. You’re right, it’s…much worse in there.” He braced his elbows on his knees, turning over his hands in his lap. “So we can go bowling?”
She laughed again. “Yeah, let me know next time you feel like getting your ass kicked, bro.”
“Bro? I don’t know if I’m gonna be calling you that.”
“Why not? I actually always thought it might be kind of fun if someone called me bro. But no one ever does.”
Elliot almost laughed. But she hadn’t laughed at him when he’d said the hardest thing he’d ever said in his life. So he said, “Alright …bro.”
She winced. “Ugh, it’s weird.”
“It is weird.” He nodded. “But so was getting a dick in the ass the first time, and I’ll probably do that again.”
She laughed a very loud, very surprised laugh, and saluted him as she opened the door.
“Godspeed, bro,” she said. And then closed it behind her and was gone.
Elliot found his phone and texted Dustin.
Hey viejo.