Page 25 of Rise Above

buddy.”

I laughed. “Sure. Bring some hot chocolate and

cookies.”

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The warm, delicious liquid hit my tongue as I

snuggled back into my pile of blankets. It was only September, and I couldn’t stop shivering. The first twenty-five years of my life had been in Texas where we had winter for approximately one week. Meanwhile, Chicago was already getting chilly. I had no idea how I would handle a full-blown Illinois winter. Granted, I said that every year.

Davis settled into my lounge chair, cookie dangling

from his mouth. Dark circles lined his eyes and deep lines seemed permanent on his forehead. Grad school had pushed me to my limits, but a PhD program and full-time work drained me like a marathon runner post run. I wasn’t the biggest caffeine person, but I practically lived on it now. Thankfully, we only had the one lecture this semester and then just the dissertation next.

We fell into a comfortable silence as we worked on

our papers. That was one of my favorite things about Davis—silence was never a problem. The only sounds in my small apartment were the keyboards clacking away.

“Aife?”

“Mmm…” I hummed softly at my friend. “Let’s take a break. My brain can’t fucking function

anymore. My eyes burn from staring at a screen for so long.”

I had to agree with that. A small headache was

forming behind my eyes. “What do you propose our break entails?”

He quickly grabbed my TV remote and turned on

the NHL game. “Gotta watch my brothers.”

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“I think Dre dragged Nat there tonight. She almost

pulled me in today as well.”

“Really, it’s an uncanny ability of hers. Nice!”

Davis shot out of his chair. “What a fucking save, Zeke! Let’s go!”

My eyes widened at Davis’s antics. I knew he was a

sports fan, but I only saw him as a dedicated athlete, not a spectator. He wasn’t acting like this at the game we went to together. It was seemingly one of the only times he truly was able to let go. Normally, he was soft-spoken and rarely cussed. It was nice to see him actually let loose.

“Come on, Walker! Take the damned shot! What

are you doing?”

I turned my attention to the TV to see Walker barely

miss scoring a goal. He seemed even bigger on the ice which was hard to fathom because the man was a giant. He dwarfed me more than normal-sized adults did.