If I could, I’d do it all over again, and this time, I would have been honest.
Not a fucking coward like she said.
When he taps the ground with his stick, I look up, seeing that Jude is by the goal. I send the puck hard to him and he redirects it into the goal with ease. We’ve been doing this since we were kids; I’d be completely surprised if he had missed. When his arms go up, I shake my head. He’s such a showboat.
“And the crowd goes wild!” he says in an announcer’s voice. “Those Sinclair brothers are lethal!”
We were, before he moved, but I won’t tell him that, he’s trying to cheer me up. So with a forced grin, I move a puck back and forth then take a shot, this time missing the pipe altogether, the puck slamming into the house. Making sure it didn’t damage anything—thank God it didn’t—I reach for another puck.
“Working on your wrist shot, I see?”
I nod, throwing another puck to the goal, hitting the crossbar this time. “Yup. Was told it sucks.”
He nods. “It does, but you can lay a dude out and slap shot like a dream, so I’m sure no one really pays attention.”
My mouth pulls up at the side as I shoot again. Baylor noticed. Feeling like a dog that’s been kicked a few times, I shoot over and over again, taking turns with Jude. He doesn’t say much, especially when I keep looking down the driveway, hoping to see Baylor walking up.
“How ya holding up?” he finally asks and I shrug.
“Ah, I’ll be okay.”
“You look sick.”
I smile. “I’m hungover. Too much Jack.”
“Yeah,” he agrees. “You got yourself a nice little bruise there too.”
Reaching up, I rub the tender spot on my jaw and I want to laugh. We both have matching bruises. I gave her hers and she gave me mine. Kind of masochistic in a way, I guess.
“Yeah.”
He looks over at me, but I ignore his knowing look as I shoot again. “Hey Jay, so surely I’m wrong, but you aren’t waiting for her, are you?”
I shrug, looking over at him. “Why would you ask that?”
“Well, I heard the date being made during the showdown of beer pong, and you’ve been out here since ten this morning. Your shoulders are burnt, and you look like a kid waiting for the ice cream truck.”
He’s right, but I don’t care. “I don’t know.”
“You know she isn’t coming, right?”
“You don’t know that,” I say, reaching for another puck and shooting. When the door opens again, we both look up to see Jace and Delanie coming down the stairs. It’s the first we’ve seen of them, and I’ve been waiting. But when she looks at me, I know the answer to my next question.
“Hey, have you talked to you Baylor?”
“Yeah,” she says with a nod, glaring at me and sending me to the fiery depths of hell with her eyes. “And just in case you are confused on how to fuck off, it’s quite easy. Go throw yourself off a bridge or something.”
Well, then.
Glancing over at Jude, I say, “I guess you’re right, she isn’t going to come play.”
“She’ll never want to speak to you again,” Delanie says, and I nod. “She’ll kill you if she ever sees you again!”
“Yeah, I got that,” I say, letting out a breath. I don’t miss the tap against my shin though from Jude.
“You’re a dick,” is her decision and I shrug.
“That’s the rumor on the street,” I say, exhaling a breath as Jace steals back her attention.