“What’s that?”
“When are we going to tell everyone?”
I turned to him, pretending to not know what he was talking about. Don’t act like you wouldn’t do the same if backed into a corner.
“Come on,” he said, as if trying to coax an answer out of me. “I know that look.”
“What look is that?”
“The one that would do anything to weasel out of even having this conversation.”
“I’m not weaseling out of anything.”
“Yes, you are. I’m not stupid. We’ve been through this before.”
I increased my treadmill setting and started a light job. Erik matched me, as if not to be outdone.
How Erik of him.
“I don’t know why we’ve got to do that,” I said. “I don’t think anyone’s noticed.”
“Whether they’ve noticed isn’t the point. The point is that they should know about us sooner or later.”
I probably would’ve run in the other direction if I could. I’d been with Erik long enough to know I could never wiggle outof these conversations by saying nothing. He was persistent and would keep bringing this up until I caved in and addressed the topic.
“I really don’t think that’s such a great idea,” I said.
“Why not? And don’t tell me that it’s because we’re hockey players or that everyone would freak out. The national sports media is watching us all the time now. Don’t you know how cool it would be for them to know? Think of how it would look. Boyfriends on the same championship team!”
A knot formed in the pit of my stomach. That had only dawned on me now, but I couldn’t hesitate to answer. Erik would pounce on that.
“That’s part of the reason, babe—er, I mean, Erik.”
He smiled widely, like the name was infectious.
“You know how much of a distraction that would be to the team, don’t you?” I asked.
“I knew it.”
“Knew what?”
“I knew you were going to call it a distraction to the team.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Yes, I did. I could’ve finished your sentence for you.”
I had to admit that he was probably right. Like, I knew Erik far better than at the beginning of the season. Constant sex with the same guy does that to a person. It also meant that I would go along with things I normally wouldn’t. But no way could I ever admit that he was right. I would let myself down.
“It’s the truth, though, isn’t it?” I asked.
“I’d love to hear about how it’s going to dash our opportunity at being champions now.”
“I never said it would dash our chances at a championship. I said it would be a distraction. There’s a difference. And itisa distraction that could lead to us losing our chance at being champions. You’ve only got one shot at this.”
“But think about the press we’ll get!”
“I knew you were going to say that.”
