HENRY
WHEN THE FIRST THING I saw this morning was Lola in my kitchen wearing a hockey jersey inside out, I thought it was a bad omen.
I’ve never understood athletes and sports fans with their superstitions. Maybe it’s because I was raised by people who don’t believe in them. I’ve always raised an eyebrow at the team’s various habits: speci1c underwear, only certain playlists, the need to drive a precise way to the rink, to name a few.
But when Lola stood in front of me pouring coIee into two mugs, not even aware I was at the bottom of the stairs, I thought, Oh fuck. We’re going to lose today.
The thought made me want to be sick, and I realized quite how nervous I’d been pretending I wasn’t for our 1rst game of the season. Hearing the words “Captain Debut” had quickly become my biggest pet peeve in the run-up to this game, but it was the moment I thought we were going to lose that I realized how responsible I feel for the success of this team.
That feeling doesn’t go away for one second of the day. I’m so hyperaware it makes me nauseous. We smash it, but the need to throw up only very slightly subsides. I expect a switch to Rick on, to feel like I can do this, to become diIerent somehow as I step oI the ice with my teammates to celebrate in our locker room together, but I don’t.
I think about tomorrow, and next week, and the week after. I think about the shots we missed and… I think about everything far too much and it’s like I’m sinking beneath my own worries.
Nobody else is aIected.
Nobody else is sinking.
Nobody else will understand because we still won, and for now, that’s all that matters.
I match their energy to their faces and smile, mirroring back exactly what they give me. I tell them we can do this again, and again, and again. I don’t want to become one of those superstitious people, but the last thing I’m going to do before I go to sleep is tell Lola to pour her morning coIee with her jersey inside out.
WHY IS IT ALWAYS WHEN I need some privacy that nobody wants to leave me alone?
Faulkner is nowhere to be found when I approach his o ce, so I let myself in and close the door behind me, pulling up Nate’s name on my phone.
“Hey, bud. Congrats on another win!” he says as soon as he answers. “I’m driving. Can you hear me properly?”
“Have you always said bud or has it only been since you moved to Vancouver?
I can hear you.”
He’s quiet for a few seconds. “I honestly don’t know. I can’t remember… anyway. What’s up?”
“How did you do it?” “Do what, Hen?”
I don’t know what I’m trying to say. I just know that despite the fact we won yesterday and today, I still feel like there’s so much more I should have done or need to do. Did I support the team enough? Did I answer questions well enough? How did I perform in comparison to last year? And how the hell am I going to keep it all together to do this repeatedly. How do I not fail my friends?
Before I can 1nd a way to articulate that to Nate the o ce door opens and Faulkner walks in eating a mu n, looking somewhere between surprised and disgusted to 1nd me in his o ce. “Doesn’t matter, got to go,” I say quickly, ending the call.
“Two wins does not give you the right to use my o ce, Turner,” he says. “What’re you doing in here?”
“Sorry, Coach. I was trying to 1nd somewhere quiet to make a phone call.
Bye.”
I speed past him before he has a chance to probe further. The locker room has emptied out, and once I’ve grabbed my bag, I head out, too. The adrenaline hasn’t quite worn oI yet, and I feel oversensitive to every sound and light. I’m relieved when I see Russ in the hallway waiting with only Aurora, but I haven’t even reached him when our phones simultaneous ding.
PRETTY BEST FRIENDS
MATTIE
Honeypot for a belated birthday celebration?
KRIS
Yessssss. I feel like spending my monthly food allowance on two drinks.
LOLA
Go off, Budget King!!
LOLA
Count me out, shit to do
Bobby
It’s your boyfriend’s birthday how can we count you out?
ROBBIE
Yeah count me out, too. I have work to do
ANASTASIA
Not for me. I have an early start tomorrow and I want to video call Nate tonight. But congrats on the wins, guys!
MATTIE
I can’t believe my eyes right now.
“What’s happening?” Aurora asks, watching us read the messages as they roll in. “You guys go to The Honeypot after your wins? Campus bar too good for the hockey team?”
“It’s Nate and Robbie’s favorite place to drink,” Russ explains. “Nate was friends with a girl who worked there and would get tables and stuI for really cheap. I don’t think I’ve ever been.”
The honest answer is I don’t really like The Honeypot. I don’t really like nightclubs, but Nate went through so much eIort to make sure I could go with them last year even though I’m underage that I didn’t know how to say I was 1ne hanging out at home alone. I’ve been there so many times that now I don’t know how to tell the people who love it that I don’t have a great time.
“It’s 1ne I guess,” I say. I knew either way people would want to party tonight, and I’d need to be there, but I was secretly hoping that maybe this weekend would be the one where everyone collectively decided to go home. I don’t often give in to pressure, but I feel like I need to be there to celebrate with the team. “I was going to see if Halle wanted to hang out.”
“You could probably catch her,” Aurora says, nodding to the exit. “She was shu ing toward the parking lot in the crowd when I came in here. She was with Cami Walker and Ava Jones. I’d suspect they’re still outside somewhere.”
“Wait, she’s here?”
Aurora nods slowly. “Yeah. Did she not mention it?” “No.”
“Did you ask?” she says, looking at me knowingly.
I was going to ask her yesterday if she would be coming, but she said she might be helping out at Enchanted while the owners were at an event, so I didn’t. I intended to text her back and ask if she could come today, but I was so stressed by the Lola/jersey situation that I got distracted by Russ putting on a brand-new pair of socks and forgot.
“Text her,” Russ says. “Maybe don’t tell her you forgot about her.”
HALLE
 |
Hey!! I’m on my way home You were great!!
Where are you?
Are you drunk?
She doesn’t send me an answer, just a picture of Joy. Which, as far as I’m aware, means yes.
HALLE
|
What are you doing tonight?
Going to that new bar next to Enchanted that just opened I’m not 21 yet but Ava says it’ll be fine
“Halle’s going to the new bar that has replaced the place Russ worked at. She said she isn’t twenty-one yet.” I’ve gone from not wanting to be anywhere near a busy, crowded place to wanting to check out the new bar.
“Tell her she can use Emilia’s fake ID,” Aurora says. “They look similar enough. No one will care if Halle’s boobs are on show.”
I bring up the chat with my friends and see the conversation has continued in the form of a debate about what to do tonight.
PRETTY BEST FRIENDS
HENRY
What about the replacement sketchy bar?
HENRY
Halle is going with her friends and is going to use
Emilia’s ID
LOLA
Uh how?
RUSS
Aurora said they look similar enough and “no one will care if Halle’s boobs are on show”
BOBBY
No one say anything. Muffin is setting up a trap
MATTIE
I didn’t even know she had any, Hen. Promise
ANASTASIA
WHY are you guys like this?
LOLA
Let’s hope they don’t pay too much attention to height lol
KRIS
It’ll be fine. What’s 7 inches between friends
JAIDEN
That’s what Henry said to her last night
JAIDEN
Boom
JAIDEN
Good evening
JAIDEN
Who’s Halle?
LOLA
Jumpscare. Yuck
JAIDEN
Now that isn’t very nice is it
BOBBY
Halle is Henry’s new “friend” who he wants to spend all his time with but “definitely isn’t hooking up with”
MATTIE
I’m down to give sketchy bar 2.0 a chance.
KRIS
Same
ANASTASIA
It gorgeous there isn’t anything sketchy about it now
Russ is trying to hide his laugh at the same time as hiding his phone from Aurora. I switch back to Halle.
HALLE
|
We’re going, too. Aurora is bringing you a fake ID. Thank you!! See you later
I—incredibly reluctantly—switch back to my friends.
PRETTY BEST FRIENDS
ANASTASIA
Of course they can be friends and not hook up JJ
KRIS
Are you really the person to champion that as a possibility?
LOLA
She’s so gorgeous I sort of want to bow at her feet
ROBBIE
I’d like to see how she’d react if you did that
MATTIE
No I get what you mean in a very platonic and not at all triggering to Henry way
RUSS
I think she’s a nice person
BOBBY
That’s the spirit, muffin
HENRY
Please don’t be weird to her. She’s my friend.
KRIS
We’re just playing, Cap. She’s great and we’ll stop
BOBBY
Message received mon capitaine
ROBBIE
Fuck it maybe one drink
MATTIE
Normality at last
I THINK EVERY SINGLE PERSON in LA decided to try to come to this bar tonight and I haven’t even seen Halle yet.
Four people have hit on me according to the guys, who take great enjoyment in keeping count, but I hadn’t noticed. I don’t know how many times I’ve checked my cell phone, but I now receive punches to the arm every time I tap my screen. I keep looking at the time, but I can’t actually remember what time it is.
It’s too hot. It’s too busy. It’s too loud. My clothes feel too tight and scratchy and it’s like I can feel my hair too much, but I need to be here for the team. And I do really want to see Halle. We were lucky to grab a few tables next to the wall when another big group left as we arrived, but even with more privacy than standing at the bar, it still feels too busy.
I didn’t notice Aurora was gone until she reappears, tailed by Halle and her friends. Halle immediately makes a beeline for me, grinning broadly. As she gets
closer to where I’m sitting, her smile dulls and eyebrows pucker. “What’s wrong?”
How do you tell another person that you can feel parts of your body too much? And if whoever is in control of music puts on one more squeaky, repetitive, poorly remixed track that you might scream. “Not a fan of the noise.”
She nods and puts her purse down on the table beside my phone. “Can I touch your head? Just your ears and temples.”
Anyone else I’d have immediately said no, but I nod. She steps closer, positioning herself between my legs. The bar stool I’m sitting on puts us face to face and she really is even more beautiful up close.
Halle’s palms Ratten over my ears, and she applies pressure gently. Her thumbs 1nd my temples, and to anyone else she probably looks like she’s about to kiss me, but she’s mu ing the noise. Leaning in toward my left ear, she lifts the pressure of her hand slightly. “Should we leave? You’ve had a big weekend. Nobody would blame you if you needed to rest.”
Her hair tickles against my cheek. I tuck it behind her ear, placing my mouth next to her ear so she can hear me. “You only just got here. Your friends…”
“We’ve been together for hours and they won’t mind. Let’s go!”
Before I can object she’s picking up her bag and walking toward Cami and Ava. She leans in and they both nod and smile, seemingly unbothered that I’m stealing her away. The guys all give me a look as I let them know I’m leaving, and I don’t have it in me to argue that we’re not leaving together in the way they think. Halle slides her hand into mine as we navigate out of the bar, and as soon as the fresh air hits me the tightness in my chest slowly begins to ease a little. “Sorry for ruining your night,” I say as I summon a car on my phone.
“Has anyone ever told you you apologize a lot?”
“Never.” I slide oI my jacket and place it over her shoulders. “Here, you’re not wearing a lot and you might get cold.”
“Thank you. I’ve sobered up a lot after the game and I’m not as protected from my own, well, Ava’s, out1t choices.” She pulls it tighter. “You haven’t ruined my night, by the way. You could never.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t invite you to the game. I meant to, I just got in my head about something else. I’m happy you were there.”
“I did feel a little weird going at 1rst. But Cami convinced me it wasn’t a big deal because it’s a sports game. I guess it’s just I would only go to Will’s games because I was invited, so I didn’t want you to think I was… I don’t even know. But you don’t need to be sorry.”
“We talk about Will far more than I’d like.”
She bursts out laughing, and the soft sound only helps to soothe me. “He responded to my story earlier. I posted a picture in a Maple Hills jersey and he said ‘jersey chaser lol.’ I think I stared at my phone for like forty-1ve seconds and then I got the giggles and couldn’t stop.”
I know Will texted her before our date, so it doesn’t surprise me. “Important question. Whose name was on your jersey?”
“It doesn’t have a name. It wasn’t actually mine, I borrowed it from Ava.” The car pulls up to the curb and I hold the door open for her to climb in.
“Yeah, we’re 1xing that on Monday.”
