Daydream (Maple Hills, #3)(37)
“Hey, bud. Congrats on another win!” he says as soon as he answers. “I’m driving. Can you hear me properly?”
“Have you always said bud or has it only been since you moved to Vancouver? I can hear you.”
He’s quiet for a few seconds. “I honestly don’t know. I can’t remember… anyway. What’s up?”
“How did you do it?”
“Do what, Hen?”
I don’t know what I’m trying to say. I just know that despite the fact we won yesterday and today, I still feel like there’s so much more I should have done or need to do. Did I support the team enough? Did I answer questions well enough? How did I perform in comparison to last year? And how the hell am I going to keep it all together to do this repeatedly. How do I not fail my friends?
Before I can find a way to articulate that to Nate the office door opens and Faulkner walks in eating a muffin, looking somewhere between surprised and disgusted to find me in his office. “Doesn’t matter, got to go,” I say quickly, ending the call.
“Two wins does not give you the right to use my office, Turner,” he says. “What’re you doing in here?”
“Sorry, Coach. I was trying to find somewhere quiet to make a phone call. Bye.”
I speed past him before he has a chance to probe further. The locker room has emptied out, and once I’ve grabbed my bag, I head out, too. The adrenaline hasn’t quite worn off yet, and I feel oversensitive to every sound and light. I’m relieved when I see Russ in the hallway waiting with only Aurora, but I haven’t even reached him when our phones simultaneous ding.
PRETTY BEST FRIENDS
MATTIE
Honeypot for a belated birthday celebration?
KRIS
Yessssss. I feel like spending my monthly food allowance on two drinks.
LOLA
Go off, Budget King!!
LOLA
Count me out, shit to do
Bobby
It’s your boyfriend’s birthday how can we count you out?
ROBBIE
Yeah count me out, too. I have work to do
ANASTASIA Not for me. I have an early start tomorrow and I want to video call Nate tonight. But congrats on the wins, guys!
MATTIE
I can’t believe my eyes right now.
“What’s happening?” Aurora asks, watching us read the messages as they roll in. “You guys go to The Honeypot after your wins? Campus bar too good for the hockey team?”
“It’s Nate and Robbie’s favorite place to drink,” Russ explains. “Nate was friends with a girl who worked there and would get tables and stuff for really cheap. I don’t think I’ve ever been.”
The honest answer is I don’t really like The Honeypot. I don’t really like nightclubs, but Nate went through so much effort to make sure I could go with them last year even though I’m underage that I didn’t know how to say I was fine hanging out at home alone. I’ve been there so many times that now I don’t know how to tell the people who love it that I don’t have a great time.
“It’s fine I guess,” I say. I knew either way people would want to party tonight, and I’d need to be there, but I was secretly hoping that maybe this weekend would be the one where everyone collectively decided to go home. I don’t often give in to pressure, but I feel like I need to be there to celebrate with the team. “I was going to see if Halle wanted to hang out.”
“You could probably catch her,” Aurora says, nodding to the exit. “She was shuffling toward the parking lot in the crowd when I came in here. She was with Cami Walker and Ava Jones. I’d suspect they’re still outside somewhere.”
“Wait, she’s here?”
Aurora nods slowly. “Yeah. Did she not mention it?”
“No.”
“Did you ask?” she says, looking at me knowingly.
I was going to ask her yesterday if she would be coming, but she said she might be helping out at Enchanted while the owners were at an event, so I didn’t. I intended to text her back and ask if she could come today, but I was so stressed by the Lola/jersey situation that I got distracted by Russ putting on a brand-new pair of socks and forgot.
“Text her,” Russ says. “Maybe don’t tell her you forgot about her.”
HALLE
Where are you?
Hey!! I’m on my way home
You were great!!
Are you drunk?
She doesn’t send me an answer, just a picture of Joy. Which, as far as I’m aware, means yes.
HALLE
What are you doing tonight?
Going to that new bar next to Enchanted that just opened I’m not 21 yet but Ava says it’ll be fine
“Halle’s going to the new bar that has replaced the place Russ worked at. She said she isn’t twenty-one yet.” I’ve gone from not wanting to be anywhere near a busy, crowded place to wanting to check out the new bar.
“Tell her she can use Emilia’s fake ID,” Aurora says. “They look similar enough. No one will care if Halle’s boobs are on show.”
I bring up the chat with my friends and see the conversation has continued in the form of a debate about what to do tonight.
PRETTY BEST FRIENDS
HENRY