Page 39 of Don't Look Down

“Bitch, I’m fucking breathing, but his fucking name is on my shirt! I stood up and flashed his name at him like a fucking fanboy, and he fuckingwinkedat me! What is even happening right now?”

She covers her mouth to hide her hysterical laughter from me, but I see it anyway. Dammit. No.

Covering my face with my hands, I yell at her, “Oh my god! It’s not funny!”

“No, babe, it’s hilarious. You totally jumped up and preened for him to show him you were wearing his jersey. Meanwhile, he’s Landon. And he knows it’s you sincehegot us these seats and you sent him our selfie. I die. This is the best moment of my life. We will relive this moment for perpetuity.”

Shit.

It is pretty funny now that I think about it. I try to contain my own humor, but it’s a little hard right now. Fuck. It is funny, even though there’s a tiny part of me deep down inside somewhere that is dying of embarrassment. I’ll never admit it, though. So please keep that between us, thanks. “Holy shit. I can’t believe this. I’m so glad you came. Otherwise, I would’ve been sitting here all alone and you’d never believe me when I told you the story.”

“Well, you do love to exaggerate. Who knows what nonsense you would’ve added. I wouldn’t know what to believe.”

“Stop it. It’s not an exaggeration. It’s adding somesazonto enhance the story. It addssabor.”

“Sure.Flavor.That’s what we’re calling bullshit, now, huh?”

14

Landon

It will surprise nobody to learn that every moment thereafter passed me by in a fog. I know I played well. There’s no other option.

Hockey is inside me. I can play in my sleep, if need be. No arrogance, just fact. Training and muscle memory for the win.

Literally.

Because we did win.

But don’t ask me how.

I actually have no idea. Tonight, for the first time in my life, I couldn’t wait for the game to be over. And I functioned on autopilot.

Usually, I can’t get enough. I’d live on the ice.

But tonight is different.

Sky and I will be meeting soon. Face to face.

Seeing him earlier doesn’t really count.

In the locker room, we’re removing our gear to shower and head out. Me? I grab my phone to see if Sky messaged. My heartraces in my chest, ready to break out and flop around like a fish out of water.

There’re quite a bit of notifications on my phone right now. Fifteen, to be exact.

Mom messaged me, and Pops, too, but the rest of those messages are from Sky. I love my family to pieces, but their messages can wait. Seeing what Sky texted is more pressing.

Sky’s the Limit: Are you sure everything is ok?

Sky’s the Limit: We can reschedule if you need to. No pressure. It’s not like watching this game will be a hardship.

Sky’s the Limit: You stopped responding… Are you sure you didn’t ditch me?

Sky’s the Limit: *us

The timestamp shows he’d sent his next batch of messages about twenty minutes later.

Sky’s the Limit: OMG, omg, omg! What is happening right now?