Darkroom: A Moo U Hockey Romance

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 watching. 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