Page 66 of Eight Weeks
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Aaron
“have I known you twenty seconds or twenty years?”—Lover (Remix) [feat. Shawn Mendes] by Taylor Swift, Shawn Mendes
“You’re staring at her again,”Jane says with a chuckle. She leans against the railing of the ice rink, like I am previously doing to, apparently, stare at my girlfriend. “It’s adorable.”
“No guyeverwants to be called ‘adorable.’”
She shrugs, I think. I’m not really looking at her, but from the movements I could see beside me, I’d say she did shrug. “I suppose not. But itisadorable. I haven’t seen Sofia smile as much as she does recently, and I’m just happy to see her blossoming again, you know? She’s been holding back on her happiness for a while now.”
“Really?” I pull my eyes away from Sofia, averting them to Jane.
“Yes. And besides, I’m glad to know there are guys out there that are decent. Leon never looked at Sofia the way you do. He always gave me this strange vibe, and I told her, but Sofia wouldn’t listen. Well, I guess you know how the story with him turned out. I’m not sure why, but you don’t seem to be the guy to cheat.”
Cheat? Hell nah. “I don’t see the point in it,” I admit. “Why stay in a relationship if you’re lusting for someone else? Just end it and you’re free to do whomever you want,withoutany stress, unnecessary tears, and a cheater-title.”
The second these words leave my mouth, someone skates into me from behind, arms come up around my torso. If I didn’t know there’s only one person that’d wear wisteria-colored gloves with a hint of glitter, I’d have been out of this hug way before it even happened.
Sofia comes up beside me. I lay one arm around her, pulling her close to me to keep her in my space. She looks up at me, smiling. “There are some guys over there, currently trying to remember your name, Sir Superstar.”
My eyebrows dip. “Remember my name?”
“Yes. I’m assuming they’ve been keeping up with the U.S. college hockey. Probably livestreamed the games or watched them online somewhere. But they mentioned Colin’s name, thought that’d be you. One of the guys said Colin’s brunette, so this can’t be you and now they’re trying to figure out what your name is.”
Now, I knew our games are televised, but I didn’t think people outside of the U.S. really care about NCAA hockey.
“You probably shouldn’t have worn this.” Sofia reaches a hand up to the logo on my jacket. It’s the St. Trewery hockey team logo, even bigger at the back of my jacket.
“Probably not.” My hand slides down to her hip, tugging her just thattinybit closer to me. “I didn’t think people here watched our games.”
Sofia grins, scrunching up her nose just a little. “Too bad they don’t rent out pucks and sticks. You could have challenged them to a shootout. Being their age, you know they would have jumped at the opportunity.”
“Wouldn’t have been fair,” I say.
“You know it’s not a 4 vs. 1, right? It would have been fair.”
I cock my head to the side, lifting my eyebrows. “Love, it wouldn’t have been fair because I’m far better than all of them combined.”
“Did you ever think about donating some of your cockiness? You have too much of it whereas others have none.”
“What did you say about my cock? I know I’ve a great one, but why should I give some of it to others?”
She sighs, dropping her head against my body. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re impossible?”
I think for a second, looking up into the dark sky as I do. “You just did. But that’s alright, I’ll fuck the attitude right out of you sometime soon.”
Her head snaps up, eyes wide and filled with a mixture of shock and confusion as they meet mine. God, she’s so fucking adorable, it’s giving me the cute-aggressions.
Jane is laughing, but stops when I give her a questioning, yet stern look. As quick as she started to laugh, she’s skating away to find her other friends.
“Come on.” Sofia skates right out of my arms, interlocking our fingers to make me follow her.I’d follow her anywhere.
“Where are we going?”
Her sweet giggles sound through my body like it’s fuel for me. Everything she does or says seems like a double shot of expresso with a little too much caffeine, giving me more energy than needed. “I bet I can skate faster than you.”
She can’t.
