Page 41 of The Attack Zone
I’ve heard him say those words before, in a very different context, and I nearly fall out of my chair when I read them.
Stacey: Nice hit by the way.
He sends back a laughing emoji before another text appears.
Mitch: Just doing my job.
Mitch: Gotta go, Coach is yelling at me. Lol.
The rest of the intermission is filled with laughing and nachos, until Cassie gets up to go to the bathroom. Once she’s out of earshot, Hazel turns to me.
“Alright, spill,” she says.
“Spill?” I ask, pretending to not have a clue what she’s talking about.
“What the hell happened with you and ‘Mitch’?” she says, putting air quotes around his name.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say. I turn back to the TV and mentally beg the game to start up again. The clock says there are still three minutes left until it will, though.
“Cut the shit,” she says. “I saw the two of you get into the elevator together at the gala. I had to lie to my kid and say you were going to the business center to print off some ‘important official documents’.”
I don’t move. I don’t say a word. I just stare at Hazel, mouth agape. I can’t believe she saw us. I can’t believe she knows. I can’t believe anyone knows.
Finally, when I’ve regained some semblance of the ability to think, I say, “You can’t tell Cassie.”
“I won’t. If you tell me what happened.” She has this mischievous look on her face and it’s terrifying.
But I cannot have more people find out about this, so I grind my teeth together and let out a sigh. “We may have hooked up,” I say. “And we might be continuing to do ... that. But it’s not, like, a thing. Not a real thing, anyway.”
What am I saying? What does that even mean?
“Ohmygodfinally,” she says all at once, as if it’s one word.
“What do you mean ‘finally’?” I ask.
“I mean ... You’ve clearly wanted to jump that man’s bones for like a year,” she says.
“I have not!” I say. It’s too loud and too defensive and even I don’t believe myself when I say it. But that would mean that I have wanted to get with Mitch for ... a while. And admitting that isn’t something I’m willing to do. Even admitting it to myself is out of the question.
“Have not what?” Cassie says from behind me.
Shit.
“Nothing,” I say.
“Oh look, it’s Caleb!” Hazel says, pointing at the TV. Cassie’s eyes fly to the screen and a goofy smile appears on her face.
I turn to Hazel and mouthThank youat her silently. She winks back at me. At least I’ve got her on my side with this whole thing. I’m not sure I could handle everyone else knowing, too.
The third period starts with the Blizzards still ahead, and that means that Buffalo is getting more and more aggressive. About ten minutes in, a Buffalo defenseman slams Thomas into the boards from behind. It’s clearly an illegal hit, but the refs don’t call anything. The camera pans over to the bench and I can see Mitch sitting there, fuming. He’d be pissed for any teammate, but Thomas is his best friend, and he could be seriously injured. He had to leave the game and go back to the dressing room to be checked out, so we don’t know yet.
After the refs argue with Lance for a few moments, the game restarts. The lines change and Mitch is out on the ice. I’m not sure if the Coach planned it this way or not, but Mitch skates down to the offensive zone and starts aggressively defending the Buffalo player who boarded Thomas. The guy gets passed the puck despite Mitch’s great coverage and starts to move towards the net, but Mitch maneuvers around him and (legally) checks him into the boards. The guy loses the puck and Lance recovers it. As Lance starts towards the blue line, the Buffalo player shoves Mitch. Mitch’s head snaps back towards him as he grabs the guy’s sweater. Then, he pauses, skates backward a bit and drops his stick and gloves to the ground. The eyes of the other player go wide, but he drops his gloves and skates forward.
“Oh shit,” I gasp. I don’t even realize I’ve said it out loud until Hazel’s hand is on my leg.
The guy takes a swing at Mitch, but Mitch is able to grabhis sweater again and pulls him in. Then he lands a punch right on the guy’s eye. He does it again. And again.
“Damn, not bad, Greggs,” Cassie, who’s a boxer in addition to being a teacher, says.