Page 49 of Walk the Line

I try to quickly look away and keep it that way, hoping she does the same but part of me is also wondering what good that causes. A lot of people around here who keep up with Hockey know that we’re co-captain, and the one thing we should be exhibiting is a united front.

If it looks like we’re vehemently avoiding each other, word could get back to Coach.

Practice has been a lot better lately than it was at the start. This has translated to our games as well, both home based and away. It’s easy for both of us to focus on what we need to when we’re on the ice. I feel stupid for losing sight of that at first, because it’s one thing I definitely respect about her.

It’s when we’re off the ice that things get awkward.

Well, first, they get steamy. Because ever since we got locked in that closet together at our party, we haven’t been able to stop going. It makes it even easier that we live in the same house and stay just a few rooms away from each other whenever we’re in a hotel in another city.

But after, she acts like she wants nothing to do with me and I act like I’m fine with that, when I spend most of my time wondering why the fuck she wants nothing to do with me.

I don’t like her.

But I don’t like that she doesn’t like me.

I don’t like that this seems to be affecting me more than it’s affecting her.

The only good thing is that Coach has been witnessing the…cohesion we now have. He’s happy.

He just doesn’t know why or how we got here.

“You need to stop letting me talk to myself, man,” I hear and finally get out of my thoughts.

The words come from Demetrius, and I don’t even bother pretending I heard a word he’s been saying.

“Sorry, I got distracted,” I admit.

“By that girl?”

“What?” I say in my typical nonchalant voice.

“You were looking at her.”

“I look at everyone.”

“You were looking at her for a while.”

“It might seem like that, but it’s because I was thinking about something else.”

He eyes me suspiciously, but I know my expression gives nothing away. Then he says, “Wow, she is…”

“Don’t finish that sentence.”

Yeah, that was real nonchalant of me.

Suddenly, she’s already in this direction.

“Captain,” she says, as she walks past our table. I was expecting no emotion in her voice, and she matched my expectations perfectly. I don’t even think she has to try as hard as I do.

But I still respond with, “Captain,” anyway.

Demetrius does a double take. “Oh, shit, you’re the co-captain? She’s the co-captain? Kaylah, right?”

“Don’t mind him, sorry,” I say.

He sounds too excited right now, and I hate that I know exactly why that is.

He’s here to visit me, not find the woman who haunts my every thought, beautiful.