“A ton better,” he said. “I swear it was Tutu’s tea and soup that did the trick.”
“I’m sure she’ll be glad to hear that. My family’s in the kitchen if you want to go say hey.”
“Okay.”
As soon as he walked away, I ran upstairs and dug through my dresser until I found a cardigan that somewhat matched my outfit. Izzy wouldn’t approve, but what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. I threw on the cardigan, grabbed my clutch and phone, and headed downstairs.
In the kitchen, Tutu was weaving lauhala, Dad was working on his laptop, and Mom was painting her nails the same deep mauve color I’d used on my nails that morning. Jackson was leaning over Tutu, asking questions about the weaving process.
My mom looked up and gasped, mid-nail-stroke. “Malina, you look so pretty!” she said. “Jackson, you should invite her to parties more often.”
“Mom,” I protested, hoping the powdered blush Izzy had spread on my cheeks was enough to hide my actual blush.
But Jackson smiled and said, “Gladly.”
Just friends, I reminded myself as my hopes got a little too high with that comment. He means he should invite you as a friend.
“So what’s this party you’re taking my daughter to?” Dad asked.
“It’s just a thing with the team and some of our friends. Very casual.”
“Mmhmm,” Dad said, like he didn’t really believe casual parties were a thing. “Will there be drinking at this party?”
“No,” he said quickly. “I mean, I don’t know what some of the other guys will do. But I’ll make sure Malina doesn’t…that she isn’t…I won’t…”
“Come on, Dad. You know Jackson’s a good guy,” I said, saving him from having to finish the sentence he couldn’t seem to find the end of.
Dad raised his eyebrows at me. “I know he is. It’s you I’m worried about.”
At that, Jackson laughed. “She does have trouble written all over her.”
“Hey,” I protested, nudging him with my elbow, but he just smiled at me.
“Would you like something to eat before you go?” Tutu asked.
“I don’t think we have time, Tutu,” I said. “Thank you, though.”
“Next time,” Jackson said. “And I definitely need to get the recipe for that tea you made me. Thank you again.”
“A’ole pilikia,” she said. No problem.
“You two have fun,” Mom said.
“Be safe,” Dad added.
“We will,” Jackson and I said at the same time.
I grabbed my coat on the way to the car, and we headed out. It was one of the coldest nights we’d had this year, and I shivered.
“I think the pond in our yard is going to freeze to skating depths tonight,” he said.
“Feels like it.”
“Nothing better than lacing up an old pair of skates and hitting the ice with the snow falling down around you.”
“Sounds magical,” I said as we got into his car.
“You’re welcome to join me anytime.”
I laughed. As much as I wanted to spend time with him, Jackson knew my level of comfort with ice: I liked it in my drinks. “Oh, sure. Right before we spend a couple of hours in the emergency room with my broken femur.”
“Ah, right. Let’s not do that.”
He put his arm on the back of my headrest so he could look behind us as he backed out of the driveway. I tried not to pay attention to how close his hand was to my neck.
“Ready for this?”
It took a second—and him putting his hand back on the steering wheel—for me to realize what “this” he was talking about. The party. Right. “Yeah,” I said. “It’ll be fun. There are a few new players I haven’t met yet, right?”
“A few. Troy Brown is new this year. Awesome defender. Makes my job easier.” He flipped on his turn signal and turned onto the main road. “And Delecky’s new, but you met him after a game earlier this season, right?”
“Number fifty? Looks like he should be on a surfboard instead of hockey skates?”
“Yeah. That’s him. I think you know everyone else from last year. I’m sure some of the girls will be new, though.”
“Is Matthews still dating Lauren? I haven’t seen her in his Snapchats lately.”
“Nah, they broke up. She couldn’t deal with his travel schedule or something.”
Dealing with travel schedules was hard. I had to keep reminding myself of that and the fact that I got so much more work done when he was traveling. Tonight would be fun, but then it was back to reality. “Too bad. I really liked her. Is he okay?”
He shrugged. “Seems to be. I roomed with him during our last trip, and he wasn’t crying into his pillow or anything.”
I laughed. “Well, in that case, I’m sure he’s completely fine.”
“Come on, you know we don’t talk about stuff like that like you girls do.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know.” I paused for a second and toyed with a loose thread on the sleeve of my coat. “Hey, Jackson?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for inviting me to this. I need a night off.”
In the dim light of the streetlights, I saw him smile one more time. “I know you do. You’re welcome.” Then he kept driving.
Chapter Ten
Jackson
The party was already in full swing when we arrived. It was dark inside, the only light coming from a few low lamps in corners. Music was playing loudly, but not too loud for me to miss the cheers of, “Jackson!” as I nudged the door shut behind us. I gave a few waves and fist bumps. Malina hung close by, but gave hugs to the guys she knew and was friendly while meeting the ones she didn’t.
“Want to go get a drink?” I asked, leaning close so she could hear me over the music. Damn, she smelled good. That, combined with how she looked—the outfit and makeup Izzy had put her in, no doubt—were probably going to be the death of me that night.
She nodded, and I led her toward the kitchen, stopping to toss our coats on a pile on the stairs on the way. It was quieter in the kitchen, and brighter with a light on over the table. A few of the guys were sitting around the table with a deck of cards dealt between them.
“Jackson!” Pierce called the second I walked into the room.
He was standing up against the counter, which was completely covered in beverages. He was holding hands with Lia, which I’d give him crap about if the girl didn’t make him so damn happy. Since she was a figure skater, I was used to seeing her hair in a bun at the ice arena, but she looked pretty with it loose around her shoulders. Not as pretty as Malina, though, I found myself thinking. Pierce let go of her hand long enough to give me and Malina quick hugs, and Lia did the same a second later.
“Long time no see,” Pierce said to Malina.
“Right? It’s been a while. Heard you’ve had a few good games lately.”
Pierce grinned. “Yeah. It’s been fun. Hard work has paid off.”
I nodded toward the beverages. “What are we drinking tonight?”
“Pro tip,” Lia said. “Don’t pick the red stuff. It tastes like cough syrup.”
“I’ll learn from your mistakes,” Malina said. “I’ll have pop.”
I grabbed two cups and poured one for each of us. Then I motioned Malina toward the kitchen table. “You guys remember my friend Malina?” I asked.
That was answered with rounds of greetings from the guys who already knew her. Troy Brown, one of the new additions to the team, set his cards facedown and stood to shake Malina’s hand.
“Hey, I’m Troy.”
“Malina. Nice to meet you.”
“Malina?” he asked. “That’s a beautiful name.”
Maybe it was the way he said the word “beautiful.” Maybe it was the way he clearly checked her out before returning to his seat. Maybe it was his smile, which was bigger than when we won a game in overtime at the buzzer. Whatever it was, it made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
Mali
na smiled back, apparently oblivious to my concerns. “Thank you.”
“You guys want to play?” Matthews asked, motioning to two empty folding chairs that had been pulled up to the table.
“What are you playing?” I asked.
“Fooligan,” Matthews said.
“Not sure I know how to play that one,” Malina said.
Before I could say anything, she took one of the empty seats. The one right next to Troy. Definitely not wanting to leave her alone with him, I took the seat next to her.
“Oh, it’s easy,” Troy said. He handed her a few cards from the top of the deck without counting them, and then did the same for me. “You’ll catch on. It’s Matthews’ turn.”
All eyes were on Matthews. He studied his hand for a long time, then put down two cards: a two and a seven. One red, the other black.
Troy scratched his chin.
Though I hadn’t been playing hockey with him longer than a few months, I could read him and Matthews well enough to know that this Fooligan game was complete bullshit.
“Ah ha,” Troy said before laying down a card. The ten of clubs.
“Nice play,” Delecky said. “Nice play.” Then he studied his own hand. He scratched the top of his head. After a deep breath, he laid down his entire hand, seven cards, faceup and said, “Fooligan.”
“Aw, man,” Matthews said. “Tough luck, Troy. Gotta drink.” He handed Troy a cup of what appeared to be the red stuff Lia had warned us against.
Troy took it like a champ and then turned to Malina. “Your turn.”
This was one of the things I loved about Malina. She was smart. She’d been studying the cards, trying to figure out what kind of complicated logic they were using to play this ridiculous game. But she was also smart enough to pick up on their bullshit and go with it. That was one of the things that made her so different from the girls I’d dated. She glanced over at me before clutching her cards close to her chest.
“Are you looking at my hand, Jackson?”
I smiled and held up my non-card-holding hand in a gesture of innocence. “I would never!”
She smiled back before proudly laying two cards faceup on the table: the three of diamonds and the queen of spades.
“Wow,” Matthews said.
“Beginner’s luck,” Delecky said, gathering all of the faceup cards on the table and passing them to Malina, as if she’d actually done something good.
Malina beamed at me. My stomach gave a little flip. She was so pretty when she beamed.
“You’re up, Jackson,” Matthews said.
I looked at my hand and picked a card at random: the jack of diamonds. I placed it on the table, and was immediately greeted by a chorus of booing.
“That was a terrible play,” Troy said.
“It’s like you don’t even know Fooligan,” Delecky added.
“I think he should have to drink for that nonsense,” Matthews said.
Thankfully, at that moment, Pierce walked over and clapped me hard on both shoulders. I think sometimes the guy forgot I wasn’t wearing my goalie pads.
“Hey, man. Be my partner for beer pong?” he asked.
I pulled my keys out of my pocket and waved them in the air. “Can’t. I’m driving.”
Pierce shrugged. “We don’t lose, you don’t drink. We were undefeated last time. Gotta keep up our record.”
I considered. On the one hand, I was deeply competitive, and couldn’t resist the lure of maintaining an undefeated record, especially when the alternative was the distinctly non-competitive Fooligan. But on the other hand, I really didn’t want to leave Malina. I glanced over at her, but she was laughing with Troy over something I’d missed. Whoa. Jealousy struck hard and fast, right at the center of my chest.
“I’ll take your place,” Lia said, leaning over to take the cards out of my hand before I could stop her. “And I’ll keep Malina company while you two play.”
Pierce kissed the top of Lia’s head. “See? Perfect.”
“What’s perfect?” Malina asked.
“I’m taking Jackson’s place so he can go play beer pong with Pierce,” Lia explained, nudging me out of my seat. “Apparently I’m not the partner he’s looking for.”
Pierce laughed. “Lia, I love you, but last time we played, you didn’t even hit the table, let alone one of the cups. Stick to figure skating.”
I turned to Malina. “You good here?” Please say no, please say no, please say no.
“Yes. I, unlike you, am extremely good at Fooligan. Go play. Have fun.”
I’d look like a jerk if I didn’t go after that. After one last second of hesitation, I turned and followed Pierce.
“So, how’s it going?” Pierce asked once we were out of earshot from the girls. “Everything back to status quo with you two?”
“Yeah,” I said, but didn’t meet Pierce’s eyes when I said it.
“She looks hot tonight.” Then he quickly held up his hands in innocence. “I mean that in the most ‘I already have a girlfriend’ kind of way.”
I waved off his concern. “It’s fine. She does look hot.”
“Just friends, huh?”
When I looked at him, he was studying me beneath that stupid all-knowing raised eyebrow of his.
“Just friends,” I said, even though it was a total lie.
Yep. Completely screwed.
Chapter Eleven
Malina
“So, are you a figure skater too, or is that only Lia?” Troy asked.
I laughed. “I’m definitely not a figure skater. I’m lucky if I can walk in a straight line without falling down.”
Troy grinned at me. Across the table, Matthews shuffled the cards, ready for another round of Fooligan.
“Nice. So you’re not a figure skater. What are you into?”
“Not a lot,” I said.
“Don’t let her fool you. She’s a genius,” Lia said as she picked up the cards that were dealt to her. “She’s a science and technology wizard.”
“Really?” Troy asked. “STEM stuff? Did you go to regionals last year?”
“I went to watch, but I didn’t compete. My project wasn’t ready. Why, did you?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to take them back. Of course a hockey player talented enough to be on NTDP wouldn’t be into STEM. Hockey players thought that kind of stuff was nerdy. Well, not Jackson, but only because I’d brainwashed him before hockey completely took over his life. But then Troy surprised me.
“Yeah. Did you see the power-assisted dog wheelchair?”
Of course I’d seen it. I was pretty sure everyone there had seen it, in addition to the world’s most adorable three-legged dog, who used it to get around without a problem. Was I really talking to the inventor? “No way. That was you?”
Troy grinned. “Lucy is the greatest dog ever, despite only having 75 percent of her limbs.”
“She’s adorable,” I said. “And that wheelchair was amazing. How did you come up with that?”
He shrugged and toyed with the card in his hand. Across the table, someone either made a really good or a really terrible Fooligan move, so he looked up at them for a second before turning back to me. “A lot of prototypes. The very first one wasn’t electronic at all, and was mostly made out of old rollerblade parts. It was okay, but she still struggled to get around sometimes. I knew I could make it better, so I did.”
My heart warmed. That was what I loved about STEM. Improving someone else’s life, even a dog’s life. Seeing the opportunity to make something, and then making it. Going from idea to actuality. Meeting someone else who understood that was the best.
Troy, Lia, and I all took our Fooligan turns, Troy suffering through a swig of the terrible red stuff that made him shiver this time.
“Are you submitting anything for competition this year?” I asked.
He shrugged one shoulder. “Probably not. I tinkered with a few things, but with hockey being so busy…”
I nodded. I couldn’t imagin
e Jackson ever having the time to do a STEM project, and knew Troy had to be in the same position.
“What about you?” Lia asked. “Did you finish your project? Are you submitting it?”
Guilt washed over me as I thought about my project. “It’s not finished yet. I’m not sure I’ll be able to get it to work. If I do, I’ll definitely compete, though. There’s so much scholarship money on the line this year. Even more than last year.”
Troy waved this comment off. “There’s so much pressure for the scholarship money. Too much. Enter because you want to enter. Because you’re proud of what you’ve done. What are you working on?”
My cheeks flushed, and I hoped the lights in there were dim enough to hide it. “It’s this model of the solar system.”
“Malina’s going to be an astrophysicist,” Lia said.
Clearly the girl had been brainwashed by Pierce, who had been brainwashed by Jackson.
“That’s awesome. Tell me more about this model solar system,” Troy said.
“Well, it’s completely to scale,” I said, and immediately wanted to suck the words right back where they came from. Of course a model in a STEM competition would be to scale. I couldn’t believe I was saying that to the guy who’d won one of the categories last year. “And each of the planets has a bulb to show the amount of light it reflects from the sun. And then I made an app where you can rotate it to show different times throughout the year.”
“Troy, your turn,” Matthews said, tossing a few cards in his direction.
Troy waved him off and kept his attention on me. “Wow. That’s really cool.”
He sounded genuinely impressed, but I was not that impressive. “Maybe, but it doesn’t work right. I can’t get the rotation and the lighting to work at the same time.”
“Isn’t that the fun of it?” he asked. “The challenge?”
The spark in his eye when he said the words reminded me that it was a challenge. He was right. I worried so much about scholarships and getting into college that I forgot the project was a challenge itself. Making it happen was supposed to be fun.
Before I could say anything in response, Matthews tossed another card and hit Troy right in the forehead. “Dude. It’s your turn. You’re holding up Fooligan. As punishment, I think you have to refill all of our drinks,” Matthews said, holding up his own empty red cup.
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