Page 195 of So This Is War
Pacey:It’s too late for this.
Eli:Remind me to punch you in the nuts tomorrow.
Silas:You’re probably my most annoying friend.
OC:You know, just stepping in here to say, I live for the drama. Now I’m frothing, excited to find out what he has in store to tell us.
Pacey:Jesus Christ.
Eli:Shut the fuck up, OC.
Silas:I was wrong. OC is the most annoying.
Levi:And just like always . . . OC is my favorite.
Bag in hand,I stuff my phone in it along with my wallet and stand from the bench where I just finished putting my shoes on.
Another win for the men tonight, but this time, it was special because Wylie was in the stands. She sat with Blakely and Penny, helping them with some random marketing shit to appease her father. The entire game, it felt like my penis led the way, and I know that might sound weird, but I was dead set on showing her how amazing I was on the ice. And sure, I know she’s seen it before, but it was different this time. She was mine while watching me this time, and I wanted to make her proud. I wanted her to think in her head, there’s my man.
And thankfully, I had one of my best games, and I didn’t get in a fight, so all in all, a good fucking night. I have something special in my bag to clinch it.
“I’m out,” I say to the boys. “Good game.” I offer Pacey knuckles. “Amazing shutout, man.”
“Couldn’t have done it without you,” he says as he leans back on the bench, looking stiffer than normal. Not sure how many years he has left in him. I know he’s been considering retirement, and with his head injury, which I know still causes him some pain, I could see him retiring at the end of this year and starting a family with Winnie.
Makes me think what my future looks like.
To be the absolute dreamer where everything in life is perfect and not based in my current reality, it would look like this . . .
Wylie as my forever girl and Coach Wood by my side, shaking my hand for being the best son-in-law he could have asked for.
We’d joke over him blessing his underwear, and he’d poke fun at me for eating bologna, then we’d hug each other because that’s what men do when they like each other.
Then he’d sit me down, look me in the eyes, and say how proud he is to call me son. I’d grip his shoulder and say something like, he’s my second favorite father.
We would laugh.
And then of course . . . hug again.
It would be magical. He wouldn’t want to kill me, he’d accept Wylie for all the greatness that she is, and he’d apologize for being an ignorant father and not recognizing how smart and talented Wylie is. We of course would forgive him and then spend Sunday nights during the summer playing Phase 10.
Sigh . . . keep dreaming, Posey.
I head out of the locker room where I find Wylie waiting for me while she talks to Blakely, Penny, and Winnie. Look at her fitting in so well.
And that’s another thing, Coach Wood would tell me how he was such a fool for thinking she should finish school because that was his plan. He’d congratulate me on being a supportive boyfriend, then he’d one more time . . . hug me.
I’d sniff him.
He’d sniff me.
He’d say I smell amazing.
I’d joke around about buying him the same cologne for Christmas.
Our heads would fall back as he roared with laughter?—
“Posey!” Coach Wood yells.
