“I still don’t see why we’re going out for dinner. We never go out before a game,” I grumble, trailing behind Morgan and up the cobblestone leading to Lucy’s Diner.
After seeing my parents yesterday, it pushed me to concentrate more on school. I was finally catching up on my piles of homework this afternoon when Morgan decided to storm into my bedroom and launch the entirety of my closet at me.
After a torturous hour of hair pulling and being poked in the eye with my mascara wand, she had me looking good enough to be seen by the public.
She grabs my hand and quickens her pace. “Because the guys wanted to. And I’m dragging you along because I don’t want to be the only girl there.”
Rolling my eyes, I open the door for us and follow her in. “Like you’ve had a problem with that before.”
We turn the corner and I halt in my steps. I make eye contact with the one person I was scared shitless to see tonight. I don’t manage to push the butterflies down fast enough. The corners of his mouth twitch.
He smiles and I can’t help but return it. I whip my head to look at Morgan and see that she’s standing next to me with her arms crossed, smiling innocently. She ignores the daggers I’m shooting at her and drags me to the table.
“Hey, guys! Sorry, we’re late. I had my hands full getting this one
ready.”
She crawls into the booth beside Matt. The only seat left is next to
Oakley. Of course. Oakley coughs awkwardly, signalling for me to sit down. He moves over, leaving me more than enough space. I smile gratefully at him and sit down.
Our arms brush when I settle beside him and I curse myself when the undeniable shiver runs through my body. Morgan snickers before I raise my foot and kick her under the table.
“You look good.” Oakley’s raspy voice snaps me out of my reverie as I find myself getting lost in how close we are.
It’s tough to keep my hands folded on my lap when I notice his lack of facial hair. I want to reach out and run my fingers along the smooth skin, but I don’t try.
“You shaved,” I choke out. That’s not a good sign. He only kept his beard for me.
“Figured it was time for a change.” His words slice through me, and I have to tear my eyes away from him before I break down in front of everyone.
I manage to avoid conversation with Oakley for the remainder of the dinner and by the time we’re all done, I can’t help but feel like I’ve really lost him.
 |
I’ve had the inkling that Morgan has been up to something all night. The dinner I could have blown off, but this? No. Now I’m sure she’s up to something. If she weren’t, she wouldn’t be standing in the arena parking lot holding Oakley’s hockey jersey out in front of her, demanding I put it on before we go inside.
“He doesn’t want me wearing that. Trust me.” I try to get her to put it away, only for her to shut me down. Is she deliberately trying to hurt me?
“Put it on. Please? For me?” she pleads, even going as far as to pout.
I shake my head at her childish behaviour but reach out and take the silky material anyway. I’m hit with a wave of nostalgia and have to quickly blink the tears away before they ruin the makeup Morgan spent way too much time doing.
In a swift movement, I have the jersey over my head and hanging loosely off my body. “There? Can we go inside now? Please?”
She nods her head excitedly and hooks her arm in mine, leading us into the building.
“Why aren’t we sitting in our usual seats?” I ask as soon as we get down to our ice level seats. We’ve been sitting in the same seats for the past two years, so I can’t help but be a little confused at our sudden switch up.
“These are the only ones Matt could get tonight.” She waves me off and says hello to the teenage girls beside us. I suspiciously sit down beside her just as the team heads onto the ice for their warm-ups.
I watch in disbelief as Oakley skates over to Adam, grabs him by the shoulder and fist-bumps him. Since when is that a thing?
“I was shocked too. They’ve been boxing every day together,” Morgan puts in, clearly sensing my curiosity.
The song blaring from the speaker’s changes and my favourite song starts playing throughout the arena instead. My eyebrows shoot up and I look over at Morgan to see the giant grin she’s wearing as she points out to the ice. I follow her gaze and gasp—my jaw drops.
The team has spread out in a straight line in front of us, with several players holding a paper sign in front of them.
The words ‘Ava please forgive Jeff!’ are spelled out along the line, with Oakley holding the exclamation point in his hands. I feel like I could pass out at any given moment with how fast my heart is pounding. I flush as the team points and jeers at me.
I faintly hear Morgan’s giggling from beside me, but I tune her out when Oakley skates towards the glass. My body moves on its own, getting up from the seat and stepping forward until only the glass separates us.
Our eyes lock through his clear visor. His hand touches the glass, and I giggle before raising mine and resting it over his.
“Please stay until the end of the game. I have a lot to say to you,” he declares, grinning with hope swimming proudly in his eyes.
I nod instantly. “I love you,” I state confidently, relieved, ecstatic and shocked all at the same time.
“And I love you. I have to go get ready to win for you. Meet me outside the locker room after the game,” he tells me with a beyond dramatic wink.
“I’ll be there. Good luck.”
He starts skating backward and blows me a kiss.
 |
“So, like, your boyfriend is adorable. I’m so jealous of you!” One of the teenage girls squeals from beside us as Morgan and I make our way out of our seats.
I smile to myself. “He is pretty adorable, isn’t he?”
“Hey, how did he know to play that song? You wouldn’t have had anything to do with that, would you?” I ask Morgan as we head towards the locker room.
“You have never been one to hide your love for the Jo Bros,” she says with a laugh.
“I guess I should say thank you, then.” I give her a slight shove and laugh with her.
“I’m just happy I don’t have to deal with mopey ass Ava anymore. You were driving me insane.” I throw my hand to my chest in mock offence and stare at her open-mouthed.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself there. There’s still a lot we need to talk about,” I say, reminding Morgan and myself. She rolls her eyes and waves me off in response.
The locker room doors swing open and our boys stalk out. Morgan rushes over to Matt, and I see Adam standing off to the side.
I can’t help but beam at him. “Adam!”
He smiles and rushes over to me. “Hey, stranger.”
I throw a punch at his arm and gasp—half in surprise, half in pain. His arms are like tree trunks all of a sudden. Rubbing my knuckles, I throw my arms around his neck.
“I missed you, A.”
His arms snake around my waist. I smile against his chest as I feel the overwhelming happiness wash over me. I have my best friend back.
“I missed you too, O,” he whispers against my forehead and pulls out of the hug. “I think you have someone waiting for you. I’ll see you later, I promise.” He gives me a final smile before walking away from me and towards his friends.
When hands grab onto my waist, I spin my body around. Oakley’s freshly showered face greets me and I launch myself at him. He grabs under my thighs, and l jump up, wrapping them around his waist. I thread my fingers into the damp hair and sigh happily.
“Fuck, I missed you,” he mumbles seconds before his lips crash against mine. My eyes slide shut and I pull him as close to me as humanly possible.
Suddenly, the crowd is gone, and it’s just the two of us. It’s how it should be. How I always want it to be. Screw the conversation we need to have. Right now, the only thing that matters is that I’m the one he’s kissing right now. Not anyone else.
“I missed you, too,” I breathe out as soon as our lips disconnect. The team appears behind us. They catcall and clap obnoxiously, and I bury my head in Oakley’s shoulder to hide my flushed cheeks.
“About time! Get this mopey loser out of here!” Braden shouts from the door, and laughter echoes throughout the hallway.
“Let’s go home,” Oakley whispers in my ear, and I nod enthusiastically.
 |
I roam around Oakley’s apartment, spotting the collection of empty liquor bottles on the kitchen counter.
“Not going to lie, I was expecting to see a way bigger mess.”
“I’m not a total slob, babe,” he teases and hangs my coat up on the coat rack beside his.
“Mhm. Sure.”
“Okay, maybe I cleaned a little before tonight. What can I say? I had high hopes.” He rubs the back of his neck, flushed. I chuckle and sit down on his couch. I fold my hands in my lap and can’t seem to keep my eyes off of him as he walks around the living room.
Locks of hair hang in his face and I watch in awe as he looks through a laundry basket in search of something. His biceps flex when he lifts the pile of clothes, and I can almost feel the drool collecting on the side of my mouth.
“Are you done staring?” he grins, coming over to me with a fuzzy blanket in his hands.
“Not my fault you’re so hot,” I mutter under my breath.
grin.
“What was that? I didn’t quite hear you,” he says with a lopsided
He joins me on the couch and drapes the blanket across our legs. I
curl into his side and lay my head on his shoulder, the smell of his body wash enveloping me. The flirty banter dissolves, and my stomach ties up in a giant knot as I prepare myself to talk about what happened between us. Luckily, he’s the first to bring it up.
“You broke my heart, baby,” he says gently while running his fingers up and down my arm.
“I broke mine too,” I murmur and kiss his neck. “I’m so sorry. I was scared and I pushed you away instead of talking to you about how I was feeling.”
“I’m sorry about what happened at that party. I shouldn’t have disappeared like that, and I shouldn’t have gone to that party. I know I’m sorry doesn’t cut it, but I’ll do whatever it takes to make it up to you.” I can hear the regret in every single world he speaks and I snuggle into him even further.
The truth is, I’ve already forgiven him. He may have disappeared and ran off to deal with his problems, but I ran away too. Only I did more damage than he did. It isn’t fair to put all of the blame on him when we both made mistakes.
I was an idiot for assuming the worst of him and he was an idiot for keeping his worries from me. But if I’ve learned anything from this week, it’s that I can’t live without him. So, I’ll just have to put my faith in him and our future. That’s all I can do because I can’t lose him again. I won’t.
“I think we were both complete idiots,” I chuckle and smile to myself when he pulls me closer to him.
“Is it weird I’m kind of thankful for what happened?”
Is it? I don’t think so. It did help us realize how strong our love is, and I can’t help but feel happy about that.
“No, I am too.”
“I never want to spend another day without you, Ava,” he says, his words dripping in confidence and unspoken promises. My heart swells in my chest, “We’ll get through this. I swear to you. We will beat this distance.”
I find myself nodding my head, and for the first time, I believe him. “Damn right we will.”
