“Like, I worry about things before I really need to?”
“Yeah.”
He wasn’t wrong about that. It had always been a problem for me. Even knowing that, I couldn’t help forecasting the obstacles that would come.
“The smartest thing we can do is set this aside,” he said. “At least for now.”
“Are you serious? But that’ll just…”
“I know how it sounds, but trust me on this. It’s not that I want to avoid things. It’s just that what you’re describing is only awhat if. And it could be a long way away. Don’t confuse what’s possible with what’s likely.”
“Now you sound like a self-help seminar.”
“I know you’re joking, but what you're describing isn’t in the immediate future. That’s only if I get drafted.
“You’ve acted like that was a given.”
“It ought to be a given, but I haven’t lost touch with reality, bro. We probably need to win a championship to guarantee getting drafted, right?”
“Okay.”
“And by the way, let’s not forget the more immediate business at hand. Winning a championship. We’re almost there, and we’ve worked too hard to risk having that chance slip between our fingers.”
He was right about that part, and I hated it. But I couldn’t deny that success was something that could tear us apart. At that moment, I wished for nothing more than to suspend time so Kayden and I could be together as Larkin Lions forever.
If only that wish could come true.
38
KAYDEN
Ineeded advice, and no way would I go to Ryan Detenbeck. He was about as clever as a sack full of doorknobs anyway. Braxton Wilson was a hockey player, obviously, but I was as sure as I could be that he had more brain cells than Ryan Detenbeck, so I caught up with him after practice. I asked him if he wanted to grab a beer at the campus pub, and he paused at first but changed his tune instantly when I said it was on me.
When we plopped down on our stools, he said, “Hey, Kayden, is this like a farewell beer or something?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean when you get drafted and you’re driving a sports car while getting a blow job from a hot model, you’re not gonna have time for bums like me.”
“Come on, Braxton, I’ve always had time for bums like you.”
He smiled widely like the joke had sailed right over his head. I might have to take back that comment about him having more brain cells than Ryan. Still, Braxton might have more insight in this case.
“But it’s gonna be huge,” he said. “It’s not often anyone gets drafted from a rinky-dink school like this.”
“I know, but this Larkin Lions team is no average squad.”
And I’m no average hockey player,I wanted to say. Even I knew how arrogant that would’ve sounded—even if it was one hundred percent true—so I didn’t say it.
“You don’t look happy about it,” he said.
“I don’t?”
“I’m not saying you’re sitting there with a perma-frown, but someone like you should be happier about the potential for getting drafted.”
“Because my time has finally come?”
“No, because you’re the cockiest hockey player I’ve ever met. You should be jumping up and down, rubbing it in everyone’s faces, but you’ve been subdued. You’ve almost been modest.”
