Darkroom: A Moo U Hockey Romance

by Kate Willoughby

  “So, how’d the date go?” AJ asked me in a voice pitched so the other guys wouldn’t hear.

  “It wasn’t a date.” I started undressing.

  “Potato potahto,” AJ said. “How’d it go?”

  “Good. We didn’t finish. We still have two more questions, so I’m meeting her after practice.”

  I wasn’t about to mention the kiss because then I would get the third degree about it. Plus, you never knew who was listening in the locker room. I didn’t want it getting back to Indi that I was blabbing about the kiss not a half hour after it happened.

  “Persistence, dude. Good for you.” AJ held out his fist and I bumped it automatically. “As for me? I spent two hours with Ruby and I’m in love. I’m in love with a Hawaiian princess and I don’t care who knows it.”

  “Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Seb Hunter said.

  AJ ignored him. “She’s my Buttercup and I’m going to do everything in my power to prove I’m her Westley. I will devote myself to making her happy in all the ways that can be accomplished.” He nudged me with his elbow. “Anything you can do to help would be appreciated.”

  AJ was one of those guys who fell in love all the time. There was no easing into it with AJ. There was no “like” phase. He was all-in right from the get-go. I had to admire that. He was fearless that way. I’d asked him once why he wasn’t afraid of getting his heart broken.

  “Dude, love is the most amazing thing of all. It’s the reason we’re here. If there’s even the slightest chance of finding it, I’m going for it, pedal to the metal. You can’t win big if you don’t bet big.”

  “Remind me never to take you to Vegas,” I’d muttered.

  A little over an hour later, Coach Keller blew the whistle and motioned for us to gather around. We were hot and sweaty from the drills we’d just run. I grabbed a water bottle off the railing and took a deep drink.

  “All right, boys. Time to elect your captain,” he said, handing out pens and small pieces of blank paper. “I want you to remember, this isn’t high school. This isn’t a popularity contest. I want you to think long and hard about who can lead this team to a championship.

  “It should be someone who constantly pushes himself, because he knows if he ever slacks off, that just gives other people an excuse to do the same. It should be someone who isn’t always in his own head, thinking about himself. A captain has his finger on the pulse of every one of his teammates. He’s aware of stuff that’s going on. He’s not insulated. He’s aware.

  “He also listens. He listens to us and he listens to you. He’s a decision maker, he’s courageous, he’s fair. Coach G? Anything to add?”

  Coach Garfunkle glided forward. “Coach Keller told you what the captain should be. I’m going to tell you some things he should not be. A captain isn’t selfish. He doesn’t think he’s right all the time. He doesn’t think he knows it all.”

  “He’s willing to learn,” Coach Keller interjected.

  “Exactly. He doesn’t lie, or cheat or treat people disrespectfully.”

  “He’s basically Jesus,” AJ said under his breath and I had to press my lips together to keep from laughing.

  “So, we’ve put together a list of three candidates for you to choose from—Pete Bramley, Jonathan Kurlander and Hudson Forte. We’ve talked individually to each of these men and all of them said they’d be honored to lead the team, so write the name of your choice on the paper, fold it and give it to Coach G. After that, you can hit the shower.”

  When I got my ballot, I didn’t know who to vote for. I honestly thought I was the best man for the job. I certainly had the experience. I’d been captain of almost every hockey team I’d played for. But Bramley had been right. I could wear the C next year and give someone else a chance. When the Brewski Brothers had pulled their little stunt, Brammy had stepped up and the two of us had handled the situation. My dad told me there should always be more than one leader in the room and that leaders weren’t always designated as such. Sometimes they just worked in the background and that I shouldn’t ever shy away from being that unrecognized character guy.

  Of course, he seemed to have conveniently forgotten about this selfless philosophy lately, but sometimes he got tunnel vision.

  In the end, I scribbled Pete’s name, handed in my ballot.

  Everyone seemed subdued in the shower and later in the locker room where we waited for the announcement. AJ couldn’t keep still. I was pretty anxious too. I wanted time to go home and change clothes for my date with Indi.

  Finally, the coaching staff came in and stood at the front of the room where the white boards were still covered with notes about the plays we were working on.

  “Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to announce your captain, the man who will lead us all to the Frozen Four in April, is…Hudson Forte. At his side, as alternate captain, will be Pete Bramley.”

  AJ whooped it up like he’d just scored the game-winning goal.

  Pete had a solemn look on his face as he shook my hand. “Congratulations, Forte.”

  “Thanks, Pete. Congrats to you for getting the A.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Aw, look at Kurly,” AJ said, a little loudly. “He looks like he’s gonna cry. Gonna go cry now because you didn’t make captain? Because an entitled piece of shit junior got captain instead of you?” AJ made an exaggerated sad face and pretended to rub his eyes.

  Kurlander’s face went red. “Fuck you, Scovie!”

  He looked like he was going to launch himself at AJ, so I quickly shoved myself between them.

  “Knock it off, both of you,” I said.

  I couldn’t believe I’d been captain all of five minutes and I already had to play referee to two knuckleheads, one of them being my best friend. This sucked.

  “AJ, apologize.”

  AJ looked at me with shock. “What?”

  “You need to apologize to Kurly.”

  “The fuck I do.”

  “You don’t rub a win in someone’s face,” I said. “Especially a teammate’s. It’s not cool, bro. Now, apologize.”

  “It was a fucking joke.”

  I didn’t say anything. We both knew it hadn’t been.

  “Fine.” AJ cast me a dirty look then muttered an apology to Jonathan before stalking off in a huff.

  Kurlander was standing there, dumbfounded. The rest of the team were taken aback too. Everyone knew AJ and I were tight and no one seemed to be able to figure out what this meant.

  With a sigh, I went after AJ.

  “AJ, wait up.”

  He ignored me and shoved his way out the double doors that led outside.

  I went after him, but unfortunately, several of our teammates came too.

  “Hey, the parking lot’s the other way,” I said, jogging to catch up. AJ didn’t have a car, so I usually drove us home.

  He stopped. His posture was rigid.

  “Come on,” I said. “It’s a twenty-minute walk home and it’s cold.”

  As if on cue, a gust of wind whipped past us, making me zip up my jacket.

  He turned around and said, “Not as cold as what you just did to me back there.”

  “What I did to you? What about what you did to me?”

  “I didn’t do fuck to you!” he shouted.

  “Yes, you did. You put me right between a rock and hard place.”

  “And you stabbed me in the back! In front of the whole team. Jesus Christ. I want to throw up right now thinking about having to apologize to that pencil-dicked show-off.”

  “Hey, look at it from my point of view. I’m the captain now. I can’t play favorites and I can’t let shit like that go. It undermines the team.”

  I was vaguely aware of some of the guys standing in the periphery, listening, but this had to be done right now and it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing if they heard this too.

  “You made me feel like I was five fucking years old.”

  “I’m sorry, Scovie. I didn’t have a choice. The coaches were watc
hing. Everyone was watching. I couldn’t let my captaincy start out like that.”

  He didn’t reply, just walked off in the direction of home. This wasn’t how I’d wanted the evening to go. I’d wanted to be in a celebratory mood when I met Indi. I’d wanted to look forward to the coming season and leading my team to the championship. Now, my best friend and roommate was royally pissed with me and for good reason. Looking back, I wished I’d come up with some other way to diffuse the situation other than a forced apology.

  But in all honesty, I was a little pissed too. AJ should never have tried to pull that shit in front of everyone. He could have just said that to Kurlander in private. Then it would have been between them. But the moment he chose to slam Kurly in public, I had to get involved. If I’d let that go, I’d have been immediately tagged as a weak leader who played favorites and nothing good came of that, team-wise.

  12

  Indi

  “Oh my God,” Ruby exclaimed, “he kissed you?”

  Still wondering if it had been a dream, I nonetheless nodded.

  “With tongue?”

  “Ruby!”

  “Answer the question.”

  “Unfortunately, no.”

  “Damn. But still, he kissed you. I told you he likes you.”

  “We’re having dinner tonight too.”

  “Indi’s got a boyfriend,” she said in a singsong voice. “Indi’s got a boyfriend.”

  “Stop it,” I said. “It’s not—”

  “—a date. You said that last time, but I think it’s common knowledge that a kiss—was it on the lips?”

  “Yes.”

  “Was it platonic? Like a kiss between friends?”

  I thought about his hand on my neck and how his voice got growly afterward when he told me he liked how I tasted.

  “No, definitely not.”

  “Then I think we can safely say tonight is a date. What are you going to wear?” Ruby asked. “Not that, I hope.”

  I looked down at my loafers, jeans and gray sweater set. “What’s wrong with this?”

  “Nothing, if you’re going for that ‘I’m here to get a degree but then I’m joining a nunnery’ look.”

  “Thanks a lot.”

  She went into my room and after pawing through my closet, she turned to me. I was sitting on my bed feeling inadequate. Fashion wasn’t my strong point.

  “I swear, Indi, judging from your wardrobe, I’d guess you were color blind.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because your closet is a sea of black and gray. Nothing but neutrals.”

  “But that way I know everything goes together and I don’t have to do what we’re doing now, which is spend a lot of time making a decision on what to wear.”

  “Okay, wait here. I’ll be right back. In the meantime, put this on.” She flipped a couple of hangers, pulled out my black turtleneck. “Do you have black skinny jeans?”

  “Yes.”

  “Put those on too.”

  A moment later, she was back with a red beret and a pair of red flats.

  “A hat?”

  “Don’t argue with me. Put it on. The shoes too. Thank God we have the same shoe size.”

  After I’d slipped the shoes on, I noticed Ruby was turning in a circle, clearly looking for something. “I can’t believe you don’t have a full-length mirror. Doesn’t matter.” She nodded matter-of-factly. “We can keep mine in the living room. Put the hat on and meet me in there.”

  I did as I was told. Ruby had propped the mirror up against the wall next to the door leading to the dorm hallway. I approached it and as my entire body came into view, I had to admit, two tiny additions really made a huge difference.

  “Now, I think heels would actually look sexier, but considering this is kind of a fishing expedition, I think low key is wiser. Red lipstick is a must. If you don’t have any, you can borrow mine.”

  After I applied the lipstick, Ruby looked me up and down. “You look good, Indi.”

  “I do, don’t I?” I turned and looked at myself over my shoulder. The hat and shoes added panache that my lived-in loafers couldn’t compete with.

  My phone signaled a text, startling me.

  Hudson: I’m out front, if you’re ready.

  My heart started pounding.

  “He’s here.”

  “Nice ride,” I said as I got into his late-model Jeep Wrangler and buckled up.

  “Thanks. It’s got some really nifty features like this big touchscreen. There are heaters for the seats and the steering wheel but the coolest part is the doors come off.”

  “You’re joking.”

  “I am not. It’s too cold right now, but you can take the doors off and enjoy more of the fresh air while you drive than you ever thought you could. I like your hat, by the way.”

  “And I like yours.”

  Along with khaki pants and a white shirt, he was sporting a leather fedora that made him look pretty damned sexy.

  “Yeah?” He ran his fingers along the brim. “This hat was my Indiana Jones costume from a couple of years ago, minus the whip. After we talked this afternoon, I decided I can damn well wear a hat every day if I want to. Apparently, you did too.”

  He grinned at me.

  “Well, if I’m honest, my roommate made me wear it. She made me change my whole outfit because apparently I looked like a nun.”

  He glanced at me. “Wait. You were going to wear a Halloween costume too?”

  I laughed. “No, never mind.”

  As he drove along University Place, I looked over at him and wondered how I’d gotten so lucky. I was going out with Mr. Hockey McHottie. Maybe it was that manifestation thing in action. I’d read an article once about how to make miracles happen in your life by thinking about what you want down to the last detail and opening yourself up to the universe giving you what you want. The trick was not to just sit back and wait. You had to be aware of opportunities and grab them. Obviously, since I’d actively fantasized about him, I had that first part down pat. As far as grabbing the opportunities? I’d asked him to be my project partner, so damn. I was turning out to be the master of my own fate.

  Now all I had to do was manifest him all the way into my bed. Because I was pretty sure sex with him wouldn’t suck, even if it was my first time.

  We exited the campus and headed toward Burlington. He had a five o’clock shadow that was super sexy. I’d always been a sucker for a five o'clock shadow.

  “So who’s the new team captain?” I asked.

  “Well…I am.”

  “You don’t look very happy about it.”

  He frowned. “Is it that obvious? I’m sorry. It’s just…something happened right after the election. I was put into a lose-lose situation and now AJ hates me.”

  “I’m sure he doesn’t hate you. What happened?”

  He told me how AJ had teased someone who was also up for captain and how he’d stepped in and made AJ apologize.

  “Yikes. If it means anything, I think you did the right thing.”

  “Really? Because I’ve been second-guessing myself ever since. I could have taken AJ and Jonathan aside and resolved it privately. I could have just made a brief statement and not gone down the ‘apologize now’ route…”

  “Hindsight is 20/20. What’s done is done. Hopefully AJ will come around. It sucks when your roommate is pissed at you.”

  When he parked in front of Tito’s Wood Fired Pizza, I gave him a look.

  “What?” he asked. “You don’t like pizza?”

  “No, I love pizza. It’s just…my parents own a pizzeria in Brattleboro. It’s called Slice of Heaven.”

  “Oh shit. I had no idea. We can go somewhere else, if you want.”

  “No, it’s totally okay. We can eat here,” I said. “I could really go for a deep-dish pie anyway. We don’t serve deep-dish at Slice. Do they have deep-dish here?”

  “I’ve never ordered it, but I know they do.”

  The restaurant’s interior
was warm and toasty and I immediately took my jacket off. They had wooden tables with iron accents and multicolored chairs that looked institutional yet cool at the same time.

  I inhaled the familiar but tantalizing aromas of tomato sauce, basil and oregano, garlic, sizzling cheese and beer. We got a table right away. I sat with my back to the wall and Hudson faced me. The walls were large brown tiles and two huge chalkboards on opposite walls displayed the menu.

  “Pick out whatever you want. I’m easy,” he said. “Are you twenty-one?”

  When I nodded, he pulled two beers out of his coat pockets.

  “Hudson, ah, what are you doing?” I glanced around to see if any of the wait staff was watching him produce beverages from his clothing.

  He grinned, a lock of his blond hair dipping down over his forehead. “Don’t worry. This place is BYOB, one of the main reasons I like coming here. But their pizza is good too.”

  He popped the tops and handed me one. It said Saucer Pass IPA on it. The label reminded me of an old-time sci-fi movie poster in that there was a UFO in the night sky, but on closer inspection, I saw it was a hockey puck.

  He took a pull from his beer and I couldn’t help but watch his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed. Call me crazy, but the sight was so sexy, I had to cross my legs.

  We went with the Detroit Triple Threat—bacon, sausage, pepperoni—and were told that because it was a deep-dish, it would take a little longer. Someone brought us a small bucket of ice to chill the two more IPAs Hudson had brought.

  “If the pizza has a thick, fluffy crust and a lot of cheese bark, it’ll be worth the wait,” I said.

  “Cheese bark?” Hudson asked.

  “Yeah, it’s that cheese that adheres to the side of the pan and gets all crispy in the oven. It’s the best part of deep-dish.” I patted his hand. “Stick with me, kid, and you’ll know all the pizza lingo in no time.”

  “So, why do your parents not serve deep-dish? Are they anti-cheese bark?”

  “Kind of. My dad is, anyway. He just loves the traditional Neapolitan crust. He claims it’s easier to tell the difference between a superior pizza and a substandard one when it has a traditional hand-tossed crust. I do have to agree with him, but man, once in a while I just crave that crunchy, cheesy edge.”