Pride and Pucks and Prejudice - 28. Chapter 28

Noah

The locker room was louder than I'd ever heard it. We'd just won Game Seven of the Conference Final.

We were going to the Cup Final.

Someone had turned the music up so high the speakers were distorting. Water bottles were being sprayed across the room. Eddie had climbed onto a bench and was attempting to lead a chant that nobody else seemed to know the words to.

Ben had somehow acquired a pair of sunglasses. It was nearly midnight. Nobody knew where they'd come from. Nobody cared. I was still trying to process the fact that we'd actually done it.

The series had lasted seven games.

Seven!

Every one of them had felt like it lasted a month. Now the final horn had sounded, and somehow we were standing in our own dressing room with the knowledge that four more wins would make us champions. The thought was almost too large to hold.

Jackson was beside me. His hair was wet from the shower. There was a towel around his neck and a grin on his face that he'd made no attempt to hide since we'd come off the ice. I caught his eye. He smiled. I smiled back. That alone felt like enough.

Then Coach Hayes walked into the middle of the room and raised one hand. It took nearly thirty seconds for anyone to notice. Eventually the noise began to die. Coach waited.

He had that particular ability to stand completely still and somehow make a room full of professional athletes feel twelve years old.

"Good work."

The room erupted again. He waited. "Very good work."

More cheering. Then he looked towards Jackson and me. I felt my stomach drop.

Oh, no.

"Noah. Jackson."

Jackson looked at me. I looked at him.

Coach nodded towards us. "Come on."

I had no idea what was happening. We walked forward together. The room gradually quietened. Ben lowered his sunglasses. Aleksander stopped halfway through drinking something. Eddie looked delighted.

That should have warned me.

Coach stepped aside. "You two wanted to say something."

I stared at him. "We did?"

Jackson glanced at me. "We did."

Right. That. I'd forgotten.

Not because it wasn't important. Because we'd spent hours arguing over whether we should actually tell the team. Eventually we'd decided we should.

We'd been together for a while. The team already knew we were close.

We'd kept the relationship private because it mattered to us, not because we were ashamed of it.

Now we were going to the Cup Final. It felt strange to keep pretending.

I cleared my throat. "Right."

Someone coughed. I could feel thirty pairs of eyes on us.

Jackson shifted beside me. "We wanted to tell you all something."

Nobody moved.

I swallowed. "Jackson and I..." I looked at him. He nodded. "We're together."

Silence. Complete. Utter. Silence.

I waited for someone to react. Nobody did.

Eddie blinked. Aleksander stared at the floor. Ben's expression had become completely unreadable.

I looked at Jackson. He looked equally confused. I'd expected laughter. Maybe cheering. Possibly some terrible joke from Eddie.

Instead we had apparently announced that we'd discovered a new species of mildly interesting insect.

I cleared my throat. "Romantically."

Still nothing. My stomach tightened.

Had we misjudged this?

Was everyone uncomfortable?

Had we made some terrible mistake by announcing it now?

Beside me, Jackson had gone very still. Ben looked at Aleksander. Aleksander looked at Ben.

Their eyebrows moved. Once. Twice. A slight lift, a narrowing, a tiny tilt of the head.

They were having an entire conversation without speaking. I watched them with growing dread.

Finally Ben turned towards us. His mouth had settled into a grim line.

I braced myself.

"So..." He looked directly at me. "Clarification."

"Okay."

"You're more than hooking up?"

I nearly choked.

Jackson's shoulders stiffened. "Yes."

"Dating?"

"Yes."

Ben nodded slowly. "Properly dating? Like exclusively?"

I stared at him. "Yes."

Aleksander leaned slightly forward. "Living together?"

"No."

"Engaged?"

Jackson's head snapped around. "What?"

Aleksander shrugged. "Just checking."

"We're not engaged."

"Yet?"

"Jesus Christ."

A few people snickered.

Ben held up a hand. "Important distinction."

I stared at him. "What distinction?"

He didn't answer. Instead he turned towards his locker. Opened it. Reached inside. Pulled out a small black notebook. I recognized it immediately. My blood ran cold.

"No."

Ben ignored me. He flipped through several pages. Aleksander leaned over his shoulder. "Page?"

"Twenty-seven."

"No."

"Actually, twenty-eight."

Ben ran a finger down the page. "Here we are."

He looked up. His expression was suddenly unbearably pleased. "Dating." A pause. "Official relationship." Another pause. "Team-only announcement before Cup Final."

He looked around the room. Then slammed the notebook shut. "We have a winner."

The locker room exploded. Cheers. Laughter.

Someone shouted, "I knew it!"

Eddie threw both arms into the air. "PAY UP!"

I stared at Ben. Then at Aleksander. Then back at Ben.

"You bet on this?"

Aleksander was already leading a chant. "WHO?"

The room picked it up. "WHO?"

"WHO?"

I looked at Ben. They sounded like a tree full of fucking owls.

He was grinning. "Coach Hayes."

The room erupted again.

Coach Hayes, who had been standing quietly against the wall throughout the entire performance, sighed. Then held out his hand. Ben immediately reached into his pocket.

"Congratulations, Coach."

Coach took the folded bills. "Thank you."

I stared at him. "You bet on us?"

Coach looked at me. "I didn't bet against you."

"That's not the point."

"It was a highly informed wager."

Jackson was laughing beside me.

I turned on him. "You knew?"

"I suspected."

"How long?"

He considered. "Long enough."

Aleksander clapped me on the shoulder.

"Congratulations."

Ben hugged Jackson. "Seriously. We're happy for you."

Then he hugged me too.

The anger I had been trying to manufacture dissolved immediately.

Everyone was congratulating us now.

Hands on shoulders.

Backslaps.

Someone yelled that we'd better win the Cup.

Eddie announced that he expected to be invited to the wedding.

"We're not getting married."

"Yet," Aleksander said.

I pointed at him. "Stop saying that."

He grinned. Jackson caught my hand briefly. Just for a second. His thumb brushed across my knuckles. A tiny gesture. Private, despite the entire room watching.

I looked at him. He smiled. And suddenly I couldn't even be annoyed.

We'd spent months worrying about what would happen when everyone found out.

Apparently we'd been worrying about the wrong thing. They hadn't needed an announcement. They'd known. Apparently before we had.

I looked towards Coach. He was putting his winnings into his jacket pocket.

"You all bet on our love life."

Ben shook his head.

"Not all of us."

I narrowed my eyes. "How many?"

Silence. I looked around the room. Nobody answered. That was answer enough.

I groaned. "This is deeply inappropriate."

Ben grinned. "You're welcome."

Jackson laughed.

I looked at him.

He was still smiling.

So was I.

Four more wins.

That was all that mattered now.

Well.

Four wins and apparently settling a rather substantial gambling pool.