Kiss and Cry

“Why not?” I was indignant for Henry.

“Because you’re you. You’re fun. Everyone loves you. There’s a reason you’re in the Olympic Coke ad. Henry’s an amazing skater, but he’s…intense.”

“You don’t know him like I do. He’s sweet and generous and he’s actually really funny sometimes.”

Anton held up his hands. “I’m not trying to bag on him. Look, I was seventeen and a moron, and I thought the hockey players were the coolest.”

“Because you’re so wise now?”

“Compared to then? Yeah. I wasn’t taking training as seriously as I should have. I was hanging with these older guys and drinking way too much on weekends. My parents were pissed at me all the time and my dad threatened to stop coaching us. Hannah kept saying she’d find a new partner. She wouldn’t have even considered dating me then. This one time—”

“I don’t give a shit about you. Tell me about Henry.”

He made an ugh sound as he exhaled. “So, Henry clearly had a crush on Mike, one of the hockey players. He’d sneak looks at his ass when he had the chance. Mike was gay and always going on about how he could score with any dude. Even though Henry was clearly hot for him, I figured there was no way he’d actually hook up with Mike. Mike was so loud and obnoxious. A nice ass can only go so far, you know?”

“Okay.” I frowned, trying to guess where this was going.

Anton rubbed the back of his neck, looking anywhere but at me. “I bet Mike a case of beer he couldn’t get Henry to sleep with him.”

Rage flashed so molten I thought my head might actually pop off. “What the fuck?”

“I know. I know.” He still wouldn’t look at me. “I was an asshole. But I never thought it would happen! I figured Henry would blow him off in a heartbeat. He didn’t party with anyone let alone hockey douches like Mike. It was supposed to be a joke. I forgot all about it until—” He broke off, swallowing hard.

Ice filled my veins, horrible, sick dread in my stomach. “Until what?” I should stop. Go talk to Henry. But I had to know. Possibilities tumbled through my mind, getting worse and worse.

“Mike texted me a picture.” Anton was barely whispering now, glancing around again. “It was Henry. In bed. Like, naked.”

“What the fuck?” My throat was raw.

“I guess Mike took it right after. You know. After they… The shocked look on Henry’s face was just…” He shook his head. “He looked like he was going to cry. And the text from Mike just said ‘Case of Bud’ with a bunch of eggplants and laughing emojis.”

I felt like I did when I’d missed the back flip and had the wind knocked out of me. My spinning brain remembered Henry kneeling by me in the empty rink on Christmas Day, caressing my head instead of laughing his ass off the way most people would.

Anton’s messy words fell all over each other. “I swear, I didn’t think he’d actually go, like, seduce him or whatever! It was a joke! It wasn’t supposed to be for real.” He deflated. “I felt like shit. I still do.”

“Good! You prick!” My fists were clenched, and I wanted to punch Anton before hunting down this Mike motherfucker.

“I know,” Anton agreed miserably. “I hated myself. I didn’t know what to do. That picture was like having this little bomb on my phone.”

“What did you do with it?” Jesus, the thought of that picture of Henry at his most vulnerable being passed around—being laughed at—was un-fucking-bearable.

“I told Hannah. She always knows what to do about…everything. We waited until Mike was practicing and cut open the padlock on his locker. Her cousin who can hack anything was waiting and got the phone open. Deleted the picture from everywhere and made sure he didn’t send it to anyone else. Obviously I deleted it out of my cloud and everything too. Then Hannah threatened to report Mike to UBC and the arena and the hockey league. Henry was twenty, so he wasn’t a minor, but those places all have a code of conduct.”

I’d never liked Hannah Kwan more. “Did it work?”

“Hell yeah. Hannah’s terrifying when she wants to be. She dumped me right after and looked for a new partner.”

I vaguely recalled something about them breaking up and then getting back together. “She should have kept looking.” Though Anton was probably too good a pairs partner, and they’d skated together since they were pretty young. Those years of gelling on the ice were hard to give up.

“Believe me, it took an epic amount of groveling to get her back. And two years before she’d even think about letting me kiss her. I was a stupid kid. I’ve worked really hard to get my shit together. To get to the Olympics. We’re the second-best team in Canada now, and with retirements, we’ll be fighting for number one next year. I’m not the dickhead I was back then.”