Hockey first, and all that.
I gave a tiny shrug, not because I wanted to, but because I had so few options.
“I don’t think anyone’s figured us out yet,” I said, “but they will. I’ve got my suspicions about a few things.”
“What’s got your antennae up?”
“The way the team’s been acting. They’ve been after me about focusing, figuring I dropped my compass in the woods. They’re watching me, Jakob, and I really can’t afford to drop the ball.”
That was true now more than ever. We won enough games to qualify for the post-season, but let’s face it: we weren’t in it just so we could show up. We had every intention of winning it all. Before Jakob, winning would’ve been the only thing in the world that mattered to me. Now, I thought there could be something more to life.
Maybe.
“The Lions have been acting funny, too,” he said.
“Same as usual or something different?”
“Something diff—hey, wait a second. What’s that supposed to mean?”
I flashed him a wry smile. I might’ve been head over heels with Jakob, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t jerk him around.
“Do you think we can pick up this discussion after my team wins the championship?” I asked.
He sputtered hard enough to spray spit onto me.
“Championship?” he asked. “What in the name of God would make you think there’s a prayer of that happening.”
“We’re in the playoffs. Once we’re in, we just have to?—”
“So are we.”
I froze. “Wait a second, you don’t mean…”
“Yeah, Zane, absolutely. Coach said we needed to win six of our last nine games. We’ve won eight. We’re in.”
“And now that you are, I guess you guys think you’ll be making a shit ton of noise, huh?”
I puffed my chest out without realizing I was doing it. Jakob certainly must’ve thought he could really make a splash in the playoffs, even (or especially) with me there. That meant I had to burst his balloon and bring him back down to earth.
“There would be no reason for me to be there unless we were intent on winning it all.”
“I see. I didn’t realize you guys even have a shot at the playoffs. You’ve been playing like shit.”
“Gee thanks, Zane.”
“When did you plan on telling me about all this?”
Jakob served up a shrug of his own. He didn’t actually need to answer the question. He must’ve expected me to find out on my own. You know, because he’s just so incredible at confrontation.
“I was waiting for just the right time,” he said.
“And when exactly would that have been? Quarter to never?”
He sighed like I was being impossible. I understood that us both reaching the playoffs meant we might have to face each other again, and this time it would be for all the marbles.
We’d played each other again in a much quieter game given the suspensions handed down after the previous contest. Any game we played in the post-season would mean everything, and I hoped to God Jakob understood that.
“It doesn’t have to be this big deal, you know,” I said. “You could’ve just told me.”
