Page 19 of Offensive Edge
“Would you ever go?” Aaron asked Rowan back.
“Nah.”
“He doesn’t have to go to college, dipshit, he’s making a bazillion dollars.”
“He might want to!”
“I don’t think I’m interested in anything enough to get a degree in it. At least academic interest. I’m sure you relate, but since I was a kid, it’s been all hockey, all the time. It’s hard to care about anything else, which I know is a problem. I don’t recommend it.”
“It’s working for you,” Aaron argued. There were few people on earth Rowan wanted to watch eat a burrito and Aaron Cameron, he was learning, was not one of them.
“I see you guys on the ice at the rink. I know you work hard and take it seriously. You’re doing great. But if I can impart to you anything, it’s having something off the ice you care about.”
“What’s your thing?” Mateo asked.
“I don’t know how much I have a thing, honestly. That’s part of the problem.”
Aaron once again opened his full mouth. “You’ve had that camera recently. What’s that about?”
Rowan shook his head. “My mom bought it for me in junior so I would send her pictures. And because I think she knew I needed a hobby. I found it in my closet when we were in Calgary.” He would spare them the details about his shrine to Theo Lane.
“That’s so cool. What are you going to do with them?”
“Nothing. I just send them to my mom still,” Rowan said. “I don’t want a thing I’m responsible for, a goal. But taking photos forces me to look around and notice things, which I haven’t always been good at. I’ve always got blinders on. I’m always thinking about the play I fucked up, or how the next game is going to go. Since I have this whole new city to get to know, I figured I might as well get out there and look at it.”
“We should get cameras,” Aaron said, turning to Mateo like the two of them had been handed a secret. It wasn’t exactly the message he was trying to impart, but hey, maybe it would help them the way it helped him.
CHAPTER13
THEO
Theo’s gameday habits weren’t as rigid as Rowan’s, but he had a few things he liked to do. Nap, lunch, then a little video of the opposing team before he hopped into Vic’s car and headed to the arena.
That day, he’d agonized over what suit to wear, while Rowan wore the same dark gray suit he’d been wearing his entire career, switching up the shirt like that made him fashionable. He wasn’t even sure if Rowan could tie his own tie now.
Theo had sent a mirror selfie to Laurel before he got in the car, and followed it up with his critique of Rowan’s suit efforts. He’d expected a laugh, or an emoji. Before they arrived at the arena, they would have a plan for later that night, a quick hook up so Theo could get home and get some sleep before they hit the road the next day.
What he got instead was a breakup text. Was it a breakup if you weren’t together?
Laurel:Babe, you’re hot and you know I like you and all, but I can’t take this anymore. We gotta stop seeing each other. I can’t listen to you obsess over someone else for the entire time we’re doing this. You can’t concentrate on anything else. It’s been good. But you need to figure out whether you need to punch that guy or fuck him, and I don’t want to be around while you figure that out.
Laurel:Good luck though
“What the fuck,” Theo sighed. He was in the back seat of the car, while Vic and Rowan talked about the charity hospital visit they always did around Christmas. That was coming up.
“What happened?” Vic asked.
“I got, like, dumped. Via text.”
“Dumped by who?” Rowan asked, voice surprised. Theo was trying really hard to not snap at Rowan lately. Some moments were more difficult than others.
“Laurel.”
“I didn’t know you had a girlfriend.” Rowan’s voice was unreadable.
“Well, I didn’t. Just this girl, I guess. My regular hookup.”
“You sad, buddy?” Vic asked, with the true apathy of the newly in love. People in Vic’s situation couldn’t fathom being unhappy in a relationship. Theo remembered what that felt like. Distantly, but he remembered.
