Breakaway (Penalty Kill 1)

The ice has always felt like home to me. The chill in the air, the blades of my skates slicing into the ice, the slap of the stick hitting the puck, all of it. It’s home. Today, I just want to skate. I want to race from one end to the other and then glide to a stop. I haven’t been on the ice five minutes when my phone rings. I take it from my pocket and see that it’s Sunny.

“Hey there, Sunny. How’s it going?”

“Levi, I need you,” she says softly and desperately.

“What’s going on, Sunny?” I ask, coming to a stop.

“Nothing major, but the fact that my parents decided to show up and you know how they are. I need you to go out with me to dinner with them tonight.”

“Sunny,” I begin.

“Levi Carr, after all the places I’ve gone with you so you would have someone attached to your hip, you better go get yourself ready.”

“Why do you even need me there?”

“I, um, I may have told them that we were still dating.”

“What?” I ask mixed with anger and disbelief.

“Well, ever since they showed up that one time when you stayed the night, they thought I was dating you. All you have to do is pick us up and take us to the Royal. You’re perfect in their eyes, Levi. C’mon. Please? For me?”

I groan. “This is the last time I’m spending time with your parents. You roped me into lunch with them that time and I won’t do it again after this. Understood?”

“Perfectly. Thank you, Levi.”

“You just better be glad that you’re my favorite,” I say before I hang up. Great. Could this day get any better? So much for relaxing at the rink. On my way back to the house, Sunny tells me to pick her up in half an hour. She sure is cutting i

t close. I shower in record time and even wear a button up shirt. I hate shirts like that, but based on that one time I did meet her parents, they are prim and proper. If I’m going to play Sunny’s boyfriend, I’m going to do a good job of it.

Gavin and Andrew are in the living room when I step out of my bedroom. They whistle.

“Where are you going looking like that?” Andrew asks.

“Sure are lookin’ sharp, Levi,” Gavin chuckles.

“Shut up.” I fidget with my collar. “I’m taking Sunny and her parents out to some restaurant. The Royal? Damn girl has me tied up in things I didn’t ask for.”

“Ooh,” the guys say in girly voices.

“The Royal?” Andrew asks. “I think that’s over in JWU territory.”

“Oh, yeah. It sure is. Good luck, man,” Gavin says with a shake of his head.

Great. Just great. “I’ll catch up with y’all later.” I’m dreading this the entire ride over to Sunny’s. I’ve got to be on my best behavior because that’s how I behaved last time, and I’m sure that is what her parents are expecting. I’m standing outside of her door, and I knock. Sunny opens the door and looks relieved to see me.

“Levi!” she exclaims, hooking an arm around my elbow and dragging me inside. I see her parents in the living room, standing. “Mom, Dad, you remember Levi, right?”

“Of course,” her father states, holding out a hand, which I promptly shake.

“How have you been, Levi?” her mother asks.

“Great, thank you. It’s nice to see you again. Shall we be on our way?”

“Absolutely,” Sunny smiles. She’s probably as ready to get this over with as I am. The ride to the restaurant is quiet, not out of the ordinary compared to the last time I was in a car with these people. I keep my hand on Sunny’s knee to show affection. It’s not until we sit down at the table at the upscale Royal that her parents start a conversation. It’s Sunny and me on one side and her parents on the other.

“How are your studies, Levi? A chemist, right?”

Wow, I’m surprised that her mother remembered that. “Yes, ma’am. Everything is going smoothly.”