No, thank you.
“I think we’ve got this settled,” I said. “I’ll expect you to have your lock off and your shit out my locker no later than an hour after practice. While you’re at it, you can have my skates sharpened too.”
I skated off, leaving him no opening for some stupid quip. Besides, he’d gotten the last word in the locker room, and no way would I let that happen twice.
After practice, I took a shower and got dressed, taking my time and soaking up my personal victory over Erik. I even thought about how this story would sound in my autobiography one day. Look, I’m a reasonable guy, I wouldn’t push that dickwad any harder about this locker thing than I had to. I even waited two hours after the end of practice for good measure.
When I returned to the captain’s locker, I found Erik’s lock still attached, like he hadn’t even touched it. If you thought I’d gotten really heated before, then look out.
This meant war.
3
ERIK
“You haven’t taken your lock off.” Kayden’s voice sliced through me the next day on the ice.
He didn’t look at me when he said it, just kept shooting pucks at an empty net from the blue line. After yesterday, it seemed obvious that Kayden and I had gotten off on the wrong foot. I didn’t fault myself for that and never would. And I won’t blame myself for sticking to my guns either. No way am I going to change how I do business because some troglodyte who I’ve never met doesn’t like it. On the other hand, we would be teammates, even if he came across as a total dickhead. I might not like him, but we needed to get along. I’d pushed the idea of being the rational one, so I would try to clear the air.
“Why would I remove the lock?” I did my best to play dumb.
“Because you’re not the team captain. I am. We’ve already been through this. After yesterday, I think I showed you why.”
Let me tell you a secret: I had fun goading him yesterday, especially when I started reciting the Miranda rights. Oh sure, you could call it button-pushing, and I could’ve said nothing but wouldn’t after the shit he’d pulled. He was spraying ice shavingsall over me, and I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of reacting. Instead, I fought back with words and put him in his place.
The problem was Kayden wouldn’tstayin his place.
No sweat. Again, I knew which buttons to push.
“You’re right,” I said.
“See? I told you.”
“No, no, it’s not what you think. I was going to say the team decides who’s captain.”
“Then why did you keep your lock on my locker?”
“No sense in moving it. I figured I might as well keep it on there until the team makes the obvious choice.”
He sputtered, laughing a little. What a dork.
“Wait, you really think you’re the obvious choice?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
I stopped myself after that. If I kept going, we would continue to argue in circles and never solve anything. I would never waste energy, breath, or brain cells on the likes of Kayden Preston. As it was, I’d only wanted to clear up a mistake and hadn’t gotten very far. Sure, I could’ve skated away from him, pretending he didn’t exist, but I didn’t operate that way. He didn’t scare me, so I would address him head-on. I’d told Kayden yesterday that I’m a communicator, so he should’ve taken notes.
“I think we’ve just had a misunderstanding, that’s all,” I said. “No biggie.”
“A misunderstanding? Is that what you just called it?”
“Yeah.”
“Look, pal, if there had been a misunderstanding, you would’ve done the smart thing and said, ‘Yes, sir, Mister Preston. I’m sorry, I didn’t know this was your locker. I’ll take it off right away and it’ll never happen again.’”
He spoke in his softest, most pathetic voice, holding his clasped hands to his face, taunting me. In addition to being a dickhead, Kayden Preston was also delusional.
“Maybe if you’d asked nicely.” I instantly wished I hadn’t said that. It was my first real misstep in my arguments with him, but that might’ve given him the opening he needed.
