Fake Skating(91)

No, no, no, no, no.

I glanced in the direction of where the hockey parents were sitting, and I could see my mom next to John, Sarah, and the twins, right in the middle of their row.

I jumped when my phone buzzed, and my heart was beating in my ears when I read: Since it’s been nearly impossible to reach you, I decided to fly in so we can talk. I thought I could surprise you!

Nonononononoonoooooooooo!

I texted: I’m going to be busy during the game with manager stuff and it’s pretty packed tonight, so maybe we should just meet up afterward. What hotel are you staying at?

Please, please leave.

Dad: I’ve already bought a ticket, Daniella. I’ll watch the game and we can connect afterward.

God, I couldn’t believe he was actually here.

I texted: Sounds good.

My hands were shaking and my stomach churned because I was actually going to have to deal with this. There was no more avoiding it, I was going to have to tell my dad the truth.

I want to live here with Mom, but I also want you to move back so we can see each other.

I didn’t want to say those words, not to the colonel, but he was my dad. Even though it wasn’t his idea of perfect, he’d want to make the sacrifice to spend time with me, right?

I turned back to the camera and hit record just before they started announcing players, deciding any negative thoughts were going to have to wait until after the game.

I needed to focus.

I watched Alec skate toward the bench, his face so serious that it was hard to believe it belonged to him.

He looked mean.

His dark eyes were focused, his mouth a hard line, and I felt queasy for him, knowing how badly he wanted this.

How badly they all wanted it.

Hell, all you had to do was look around the Doug and you could feel the electricity from how badly everyone in the town wanted it.

“I’m so nervous!”

I looked away from Alec as Cassie ran up beside me. “Yeah, same.”

“Do you realize that if we win, we’ll be staying at a downtown hotel in less than a week, missing school to watch hockey boys all day?”

“You can’t say if we win,” I said. “You have to say when. Say it again the right way.”

“Someone’s getting superstitious,” she teased with a smile.

We didn’t talk as they announced Edina’s team (though the student section had a lot to say about them), and when the announcer shouted, “Your Southview Packers” and the crowd went wild, Cassie and I were screaming right along with them like insane fangirls.

And we got worse.

We yelled when they announced Richie, we hollered when they announced Vinny, and Cassie whistled with her fingers when they announced Kyle.

But my heart was in my throat when they announced Alec.

The rink was deafening with shouts of “Zeus,” and I felt like I was going to have a heart attack as he skated onto the ice. I’d seen multiple reporters around the arena, and according to him, there were probably NHL and college scouts there as well. Part of me was too nervous to be excited—I kind of wanted to throw up—and part of me couldn’t look away from him.

And it was a silly thing to be thinking at that pivotal moment, but he looked ridiculously attractive in his game uniform. It was hard to enjoy his… eye candiness, though, when I knew how stressed he had to be at that moment.

Please win, please win, please, God, let them win.

It felt like I stopped breathing the second the puck dropped.

Edina was freaking good, so good that it was giving me heart palpitations. They were pushing us around, playing very physical hockey in their stupid green jerseys, but Alec was always in it, slamming people into the boards as he went after the puck.

I was probably biased, but I swear to God we were in it because of him. He seemed to always be there to stop them from scoring, and he seemed to always send the puck exactly where it needed to go, where we came this close to scoring.

Unfortunately, they had a guy just like Alec.

When I paused filming at the first break, it felt like my blood pressure was at an unhealthy level. We hadn’t scored yet, and neither had Edina.

“This is insane,” Cassie said. “We have gotto get control of this game.”

I glanced in the direction of the hockey parents and my blood pressure spiked a little higher as I wondered where the colonel was sitting. “Hey, do you care if I go say hi to my dad really quick? He just got to town.”

“Of course,” she said. “Go. You need to tell him.”

I’d told her about the situation with my dad at Bryce’s party, when she found me almost in tears after talking to him, but I’d been nervous ever since that she was going to tell someone.

Alec, specifically, and he didn’t need the distraction.

“I know, I know,” I said, being vague like it wasn’t a big deal.

I started walking up the steps, but stopped when I saw him.

My dad was sitting in the very last row, up by the mural, and he was glaring.

At my mom.

He was craning his neck, staring down at where she sat in the very center of the Packer parent section. She looked happy and like she was where she belonged, and he looked utterly disgusted.

It was sad and made my stomach hurt.

I had no idea what to do with myself at that moment, so I did the only thing I could.