Page 44 of Rookie Rules

"I walked to the bus. It is a known route."

Finn held out a packet of pretzels. "You look like the route hit back."

Luca took the packet because refusing would become an answer. "First exhibition point. I am overwhelmed by achievement."

"You had two points."

"Then twice as overwhelmed."

Finn let the lie stand. That kindness made Luca want to tell him something true, but every available truth contained Rowan. The kiss had lasted less than a minute and already required Luca to edit ordinary conversation around it.

Ahead, Nolan asked Rowan a question about the third-period penalty kill. Rowan answered without turning. His voice carried just far enough for Luca to hear the familiar precision.

Nothing in it revealed the hand that had pulled Luca closer.

The bus began moving. Arena lights passed across the windows in regular intervals. Luca opened the pretzels and forced himself to review the game as if the corridor had not happened. His first goal had come from holding width. His assist had come from trusting Finn below the line. On the final defensive shift, he had stayed above the puck instead of chasing the empty net.

Those choices remained his. Rowan could refuse the kiss without taking the hockey attached to the same night.

Luca opened the team video app and marked three shifts for review. Work did not cure humiliation. It gave the next morning a shape humiliation could not choose for him.

Finn glanced at the screen. "You studying voluntarily?"

"Do not tell Hale. He will develop hope."

Rowan's head moved slightly at the sound of his name but did not turn.

Luca put on his headphones without playing music.

Hurt spread beneath the adrenaline, clean and bright.

Rowan had rejected the future tense.

He had not rejected the kiss.

That difference should not have been enough.

Tonight it was all Luca had.

Chapter 8: Professional Distance

Rowan discovered that avoiding Luca required more attention than watching him.

At practice he knew where number 88 was before the puck moved. He knew when Luca joined Finn at the boards, when he waited at the back of a drill, when his laugh carried from the far circle. He knew Luca had switched to white tape on the knob of his stick and that he rolled his right shoulder twice before every hard acceleration.

None of that information was necessary.

Rowan responded by speaking to Finn.

"Right side holds width," he said.

Finn looked toward Luca. "Right side, Cap says you hold width."

"I heard him," Luca said.

His voice was normal.

That was worse.