“Hey, Collin, Coach wants you in his office.”
The color drains from his face. “What did we do?”
I shake my head and go to my own locker, grabbing my things and leaving the locker room without a word to anyone. I’d wait on Collin in my old Jeep Grand Cherokee. Mom and I picked it out my senior year in high school. She matched what I saved and while it’s not as new as some of the cars even the kids in high school drove, it’s mine. I send Collin a text to let him know I’m waiting on him in the parking lot. We’d ridden to practice together and I’m not about to abandon him here without a ride.
How the fuck did I fall behind in speed? I thought I was skating just fine. It makes no sense to me.
It takes twenty minutes for Collin to come find me, looking as dazed as I feel.
“What the fuck man?” he whispers when he gets in and shuts the door. “The fucking Raptors...”
“Coach said I’m behind by four seconds in speed on the second line and two on the third. I don’t know how.”
“He said I keep letting the wingers on the opposing side sweep past my right. I don’t catch it. He’s told me this before, but if I want the Raptors to pick me up, I need to fix it.”
“I have to get faster and you need to open your eyes. We’ll do extra practices. For the next month, we live on the ice.”
Collin nods. “We can stay close to Mama Kathleen if they pick us up and I might be able to bring my parents back legally.”
Mama Kathleen is what he calls my mother. She smiles every time she hears it. She loves the bloke as much as she does me.
“We gotta fix this.”
Collin agrees. “We will.”
“You hungry?”
“I can eat.”
When can’t he eat?
I start the Jeep and drive into town, careful to keep my eyes on the road even though I’m distracted. It only takes me a few minutes to find our favorite burger place.
“Dude, you’re slacking on speed. Eating burgers and fries is not the best idea.”
Fuck, he’s right.
“We’ll call this our last meal.”
He arches a brow.
“Look, I need my comfort food right now. Don’t give me looks either. We went and had ice cream last week because you needed your comfort food.”
“Fine, we’ll get burgers and fries and milkshakes today and then start the strict protein, low carb bullshit they want us to eat every season.”
I park the truck and jump out, waving to some guys on the football team that are in the parking lot. They’re good bros even though they like to insist football is the only sport worth playing.Until they get slammed up against the boards at high speeds, I call bullshit on that.
“Hey Hutch.” Molly, our favorite server smiles as we come in. She’s older, maybe in her thirties, but she’s as nice as can be. “Tim put a special grilled chicken on the menu for the athletes.”
“Good to know, Molly, but we need burgers and fries. Lots and lots of fries.”
“And milkshakes,” Collin pipes in.
“Are we eating our feelings today?”
We both nod and slide into a booth.
“You want just the milkshakes or sodas too?”
