Game Plan

by Camellia Tate

  A Murder Mystery was very different from what most of Connor’s previous girlfriends had apparently wanted. Their versions of ‘enough fuss’ tended to involve exclusive restaurants and nice presents. “Haven’t you ever been with someone who said they didn’t want you to bother, then got annoyed when you just did something low-key?” Connor asked. He felt sure it wasn’t an experience only he had ever had.

  “No, not really,” Ashley shrugged in response. “Maybe it’s more of a thing if you date girls? I haven’t ever dated girls.” She didn’t seem very bothered by not having had the experience of either dating girls or dating someone who was confused about what they wanted.

  Setting her glass down again, Ashley gave Connor a look that almost seemed like she was planning to read how truthful his answer to her next question was, “What about you, then? Do you like to be fussed over?”

  “Of course,” Connor answered. “It’s not that I don’t understand why people want a fuss. It just makes my head ache that they won’t say so.” Maybe it was a girl thing, though Maisy would definitely punch Connor if she ever heard him suggest that. Luckily, she didn’t punch very hard. “I like breakfast in bed if I don’t have training, and I’ll usually book a VIP section in a club for me and the team.”

  He paused, taking a sip of his drink and enjoying the level of spice as it burned along his nerve-endings. “You should probably know that the team are my friends, pretty much. We spend so much time together, it’s hard for them not to be. Even most of the friends I had in high school played hockey, so they’ve moved to where ever they got job offers.” Not all of Connor’s friends had been good enough to play pro - but the ones that hadn’t were the ones Connor didn’t see much these days. “Some people find it weird, but it’s just the way hockey is .”

  If Ashley did find it weird, she didn’t say as much or look like she did. Instead, she just shrugged and reached for her drink. “So how are you going to explain to them that you’ve dated someone for three months and haven’t told them?” She asked.

  It was a good question, and Connor found it quite sweet how Ashley seemed to be concerned about his relationship with the team. It was also an easy question to answer. “I’ll just tell them that you could be my soulmate, and I wanted to see how it went before I shared it with the world.” Connor had never dated an Ashley, and he’d certainly never looked for one. If, by chance, he met one that he liked, he did think the added pressure would make him more hesitant than he might be with just any other girl.

  Thinking about it, Connor wondered what he was going to tell his team when he and Ashley ‘broke up’. That was not today’s problem. “Are you still friends with your exes?” Connor asked since that was another question on his list. “I’m not, but I won’t be weird about it if you are.”

  Connor’s promise made Ashley laugh and she shook her head. “I’m friendly with some of them, I’ve never had an awful break-up,” Ashley explained. That seemed like a pretty good thing so Connor nodded.

  “Alright, so should we discuss just how we’re doing this?” Ashley asked. They’d gone over the lists (because she’d made one, too) and were now caught up on stuff like how long they had dated (three months), where they met (the diner) and whether they wanted a fuss on their birthdays (yes). “It would be good for me to come to your next game, I’ve given a quick read to the Wiki page on ice hockey. You might still want to run over the rules with me and maybe show me a YouTube video or something.”

  Ashley’s organization and planning were really quite impressive. “Oh, and do you have a jersey with your name I can have? What good girlfriend wouldn’t wear one of those, right?”

  “Right,” Connor agreed and had to take a sip of his drink to distract himself from the sudden mental image of Ashley in his Howlers’ jersey and nothing else . It didn’t really work, probably because alcohol only made him feel more relaxed about such thoughts. With an effort, Connor managed to focus on the conversation at hand.

  Showing Ashley some ice hockey highlights was definitely something Connor felt equipped to do, and he nodded. “You can come back to mine after this?” he suggested. “It’s going to look a bit weird if I drop you back off at your place. I assume after three months, you’d be spending some nights.”

  Ashley raised her eyebrow at Connor at the suggestion that she come back to his. Something about his explanation must’ve sounded reasonable enough, though, because she didn’t challenge it. She just took another sip of her drink, her nose scrunching up just as Connor had come to expect it to. It was a weird, yet oddly endearing, reaction to spice.

  “Alright, but to learn about hockey, not anything else,” she specified.

  It made Connor raise an eyebrow back at her before he laughed. “Of course,” he assured. “I promise, this is not an exceptionally weird and long-winded way to get you into bed.” How would that even work? Connor had heard of guys going to exceptional lengths, but anything that relied on finding someone with a specific soulmark just seemed unrealistically complicated.

  “You don’t have to stay the whole night,” he added because he had actually thought about this. “If you come in, stay for a while to watch some videos, then you can get an Uber home.” Reporters were not going to camp outside Connor’s apartment to make sure his girlfriend wasn’t secretly leaving in the middle of the night. He wasn’t that famous. Besides, why would anybody think she would be?

  Thinking of hockey, Connor was reminded that Ashley had been in Madison for nearly three years, and had somehow never seen a hockey game. “Have you been deliberately avoiding hockey?” he asked.

  “No, of course not,” Ashley said shaking her head. “I just...” The sentence sort of trailed off and Ashley shrugged. “I didn’t grow up with hockey. I used to play soccer in school. My dad always liked football, hockey just wasn’t something I was raised with so I haven’t had any real interest in watching it.” It all sounded very reasonable, even if Connor felt that never having seen a hockey game was a sad state of affairs.

  Hockey had very much been something that Connor was raised with, to the extent that it was genuinely difficult for him to imagine the world any other way. “It’s quite aggressive,” he warned, though Wikipedia would likely have already given Ashley an idea of that. “So I guess you probably need to know how you’d feel about watching a boyfriend get slammed into the side of the rink.”

  From what he knew of her, Connor didn’t think Ashley was going to be one of those girls who found it all very upsetting, which was good. There was just no way Connor could’ve worked out with someone who spent every match worrying he was going to get hurt.

  “Well, it doesn’t sound ideal but it’s your job,” Ashley commented. “Besides, it’s sports , I might not know hockey but I get that sports can be pretty brutal.” She really didn’t seem that bothered and it was kind of nice that despite not knowing hockey, Ashley was still willing to learn. Obviously, Connor would want to have a girlfriend who was interested in learning the rules of hockey for him. Having a fake girlfriend who did seemed... somehow even more special, in a strange sort of way.

  “When is your next game?” Ashley asked. “It can be our first outing. Or whatever. Do I just watch the game and go home? I assume you go out after the game to celebrate or something?” The implication that the Howlers would win was also one that Connor appreciated.

  Despite having had girlfriends who lived in the city, it had been a while since anyone had come to see Connor play. He didn’t attempt to hide his enjoyment of the thought. “It’s next week,” he answered, eagerly. “Will it be weird if I share my calendar with you? It seems… easier.” It also seemed kind of intimate, in a way Connor was usually hesitant to be with girlfriends.

  “You can come along to the celebrations,” he offered. “It will be rowdy, but you don’t seem like a delicate flower who can’t handle it.” There were definitely girls who were. Connor was always slightly surprised that his teammates wanted to date them, but of course, it was none of h
is business.

  Ashley gave a startled laugh at that and whilst Connor didn’t know why it was funny, he grinned back anyway. “Sure, share your calendar with me and I’ll come to your after game party or whatever.” The easiness with which Ashley just agreed was really nice and her smile was definitely infectious, making Connor grin back.

  “Alright. One more Bloody Mary each and then you can take me home and show me some hockey highlights,” Ashley announced, smacking her now-empty glass down on the table with gusto.

  After the press release, things hadn’t died down quite as much as Connor had expected. There’d been fewer DMs with photos of people’s soulmarks, but so many people congratulating him on finally meeting the one , and still more who sent him lists of why they would be the better Ashley. Scott had seemed as surprised as Connor, but Ashley had just shrugged and said they needed to go somewhere public on a date.

  Connor could hardly object to that, especially not when Ashley suggested an amusement park. Connor loved roller coasters, but he didn’t often get to go, and driving Ashley out on sunny Saturday had been exciting, and companionable. Once they’d arrived, she’d taken Connor’s hand, leaning in so he could snap a selfie of them both for his Instagram. If anything, Ashley looked even more beautiful than she had on their first date. Connor couldn’t help noticing the warmth of her hand in his, and how good her hair smelled.

  As they walked towards the first of the rides, Ashley didn’t let go, so Connor gave her hand a squeeze. “Is this good material for your thesis?” he asked. Having never been to college, Connor honestly didn’t know much about it

  “It kind of is, yes,” Ashley nodded, her tone somewhat amused. “This should be a good place for us. There’s plenty of exposure, everyone’s taking pictures but also somewhere to escape if we need to.” At that Ashley nodded her head toward the rides and Connor had to admit, it certainly seemed well thought out.

  “It’s interesting. I do know it’s less so for you, but I’ve never dated someone famous, it’s... different.” As if on cue someone stepped in their way then to ask Connor for an autograph and a selfie.

  Connor smiled, posing for the picture and obligingly scrawling his signature across the front of a notebook. Like always, he wished he knew what to say , but at least little kids didn’t seem to mind if he was quiet.

  “I’ve never dated someone famous, either,” Connor quipped, returning to their conversation once they resumed their walk. “I don’t know how I’d feel if it was you getting stopped all the time, rather than me.” Maybe that would be easier. “What do you find interesting about it?”

  “It’s just different, isn’t it?” Ashley commented. “The whole soulmate thing is hard for a lot of people anyway, all the pressure to meet ‘the One’.” She supplied the air quotes with her free hand, waving it in the air. “But being in the public eye? It’s that much more difficult. Like with you and everyone knowing your soulmate’s name and claiming - or offering - to be it.”

  The mention of it made Connor glance down to their linked hands. Ashley had worn a dress that had a sleeve finishing just short of her elbow, exposing the name against her arm for everyone to see. It was rare to see someone so openly showing it off, even if they did think they’d met their true soulmate.

  “People also look up to you, expect your love story to somehow be... more, I guess?” She continued, not noticing Connor’s gaze. “All of that’s just very interesting. From a sociological point of view.”

  Connor had never really thought about it that way, but what Ashley said made sense. He was used to being asked questions about how he trained, or how he’d gotten signed to the Howlers. It made sense to him that people who wanted to play pro hockey would ask for those tips, even though he didn’t have much useful advice. That someone might look up to how he dated was definitely a new perspective.

  “You make it sound interesting,” Connor said, with a smile down at Ashley. “It’s never occurred to me to wonder why people always want to know what celebrities are up to, but when you explain it, it makes sense.” Connor couldn’t help respecting Ashley for that. It wasn’t everyone who could explain something so well in so few words.

  “Is that how you decided to study PR, then?” he asked. “You wanted to do something related to sociology? I kind of assumed most PR assistants just wanted to hang out with famous people. Maybe that wasn’t very fair.” Ashley was definitely making Connor reconsider.

  Ashley laughed, giving his hand a small tug. “Well, I’m obviously only here for your celebrity,” she teased, though it was odd to think that she wasn’t . Or to consider how different this would’ve been if Connor had asked one of his fans to do this for him. Almost as if sensing that perhaps her joke hadn’t gone down that well, Ashley tugged on Connor’s hand lightly.

  “I like PR because it lets me learn how people think. How to present a thing to make it seem a specific way,” she explained. “So yeah, I guess it’s fair to say that sort of is why I picked it as a subject. If it makes you feel better, I can say I just want to make famous people’s lives better?” Ashley offered with a grin.

  Appreciating the attempt, Connor smiled back. “You’re definitely making my life better,” he agreed, genuinely grateful. Not only had the press release reduced the number of fans desperate to be Connor’s one true love, but spending time with Ashley was actually enjoyable . Connor hadn’t quite expected that when he’d asked her if she’d be his fake girlfriend. “I mean, you brought me to an amusement park,” he teased. “Who doesn’t love that?”

  Though he hadn’t been to college, Connor knew people who had, and people who’d dropped out. Ashley obviously wasn’t one of those. “Is it everything you expected it to be?” he asked. And then, to clarify, added, “The studying, I mean. Did you do a lot of research so you knew what you were getting into?” Connor was starting to understand that Ashley was not a person who did things spontaneously. That kind of made him want to surprise her with something, just to see what she was like without a plan.

  “I did do a lot of research, yes. I like... planning,” there was hesitance in her description and Connor didn’t really know why . Ashley brushed past it quickly enough. “I’ve even got a job lined up,” she said, making Connor give her a curious look before she continued.

  “It’s in Dallas, working for a big brand, starting once I graduate in a few months’ time.” Ashley sounded excited, if perhaps a little cautious. Connor was quickly learning that she was just someone who approached things carefully.

  Though he smiled, Connor felt a little sad to think Ashley wouldn’t be around in Madison for much longer. Of course, he didn’t want to carry on a fake relationship for longer than he had to. Maybe Connor should’ve felt relieved there was a hard out. It would save a lot of questions about their ‘break-up’.

  “That’s pretty far away,” he observed. “Are you looking forward to it? Whole new place, and all that?” Some people did like moving. For Connor, it had always been more of a necessary evil. Getting picked to play for his home team growing up had been an impossible dream. Connor had lived in Madison long enough now to consider it almost-home.

  “I am excited,” Ashley smiled. “It’s... different, challenging. But mostly, I’m excited not to work in a diner anymore.” Her tone was definitely joking, but Connor could also see how that was probably true . If she wanted to work in PR, her job in a diner wasn’t going to get there.

  Another person stopped them to ask Connor for an autograph and Ashley smiled. “Go ahead,” she encouraged taking her hand back and Connor felt almost a sudden loss. It made it even harder than usual to concentrate on engaging with the fan.

  A picture and an autograph later, Connor turned back to Ashley. “You should win me a bear,” she informed him, waving her hand towards one of the amusement park games.

  It surprised a laugh out of Connor because it seemed such a high-school-boyfriend thing to do. “I would be delighted,” he told Ashley, genuinely meaning it. He liked the i
dea of photographs being taken of Ashley holding an oversized bear that he’d won her. “But don’t you know these games are rigged?” he teased, sure that Ashley knew that even better than he did.

  Connor wasn’t going to let that stop him. Ashley wanted a bear, and he would get her one. He paid for five balls. The object of the game was to knock over all the plastic bottles to win the big prize. “Do you keep sentimental things like this?” he asked, waving a hand at the displayed soft toys, and realizing it was something that he ought to know about his ‘girlfriend’. “Or is the poor bear going to end up in a thrift store by this time next week?”

  “Not by the end of the week ,” Ashley shook her head. “Maybe end of the month,” she added teasingly. The way she teased was nice. Connor was used to hockey chirps, this felt quite different. Yet also a little similar in how it was friendly . “I’d keep it if it’s small, I’m not keeping one of the huge ones. So, I guess, don’t win big?”

  Connor rolled his eyes. “You have clearly never dated an athlete,” he teased back. “What’s the point of competing if you’re not trying to win as big as possible? Even if we only need to win by one goal to qualify, we always play to win until the very end. At least, on the Howlers.” Some teams played more defensively, but Connor loved being on the attack.

  He focused his considerable attention on the pyramid of bottles, hurling the ball straight for the middle. With a crash, the top levels toppled over, but the bottom row barely moved. With his second ball, Connor took out the left-hand side, from bottom to top, but it still wasn’t enough to win big.

  Finally, narrowing his eyes and adjusting his aim, Connor knocked down the entire pyramid, his eyes lighting up as the stall-worker’s voice rose above the crowd. “And we have a winner! Congratulations, sir, and here’s your prize for the lovely lady.”