His eyes sparkled, taking it. “If that were true, I’d have suggested we go see the new Katherine Heigl movie,” he said. “Instead I asked you out to dinner.”
“Right, the same place you take all your dates,” Emma said. “Very classy, Underwood.”
The waiter came by and recited a detailed list of specials. As Emma listened, she couldn’t believe the memory these waiters and waitresses were forced to possess, although she still remembered dances from when she was fifteen years old. The waiter was polite and formal, but when he spoke, even as he took Emma’s order, he kept his eyes on Kyle. And Emma didn’t think it was because the waiter recognized him as a Gulls player or that Kyle came here on a pretty consistent basis. Apparently, the waiter assumed Kyle would be paying for the meal which meant Kyle would be tipping the waiter which meant the waiter’s attention would be solely fixed on Kyle.
She frowned at this realization. It was moments like these when she wished she could climb on the table and act like a snotty, wealthy Newport Beach girl, demanding to know if the sexist waiter knew who her father was. How did he know Emma wasn’t paying for the meal? Besides society’s tradition and women’s high expectations, of course. And the fact that Emma had never paid for a date, ever, in her entire life. And she didn’t plan on paying for this one, even though it technically wasn’t a date.
“So, tell me,” Kyle said, once the waiter had left. His eyes pierced through Emma’s, almost as though he could see through to her very soul. Which, if Emma was being honest, frightened her a little bit. “I want to know about more of these interesting beliefs you have regarding the whole romance thing.”
“In this day and age, I’m sure many young women share my somewhat cynical beliefs,” Emma said. “I’m really not that special.”
“That’s not true,” Kyle said, and was it her imagination, or did his soft-spoken voice actually sound... sincere? “Remember? I noticed you in the stands before I came up to you at the beach. That’s definitely saying a lot because when you’re on the ice, you don’t notice anything except the puck, the players, and the goal.”
“I was wondering when the excessive flattery would come,” Emma said, but even so, she could feel her face being blanketed with a warm mask of redness. “You’re very good, Underwood.”
“Well, I have had a lot of practice,” he conceded. “Anyway, your views, please?”
Emma leaned back in her chair, her eyes scanning the dim room. Couples were involved in intimate conversations, groups of friends were laughing out loud, waiters and waitresses were talking about the specials. Even though there were tons of people surrounding them, it felt as though Emma and Kyle were in their own little world, submerged in darkness, with only the small, vanilla candle set in the center of their table offering subtle, flickering light.
“I don’t know,” she said after a moment, shrugging her shoulders. “We all have that first real experience of being in love. A first bite of the apple. And something happens which taints every other apple you taste after the first one. Some people go through life still hopeful, though, that they’ll find one as good, if not better, than their original. Some people assume that nothing that good will come along again, so they just give up searching in general and ridicule people who do. If I had to choose a side, so to speak, I’d have to align myself somewhere in the middle.”
“How did I know you were going to say that?” Kyle asked.
“Look, I wish I could be optimistic about love,” Emma replied. “And I believe in the concept that there is a true love out there somewhere for people. But I’m a little bit more realistic when it comes to me, and don’t assume that I’ll find something like that in my own life.”
“I think guys would love you,” Kyle observed. “Do you know how difficult it is to find a girl who doesn’t actually want to play games?”
“Don’t deny that guys don’t like the games, too. Be honest. If guys didn’t like certain things, girls wouldn’t have to play. I’ll give you an example. Most of the time, guys like the chase and if a girl really doesn’t give one, the guy doesn’t think she’s worthy enough since she was so easy to acquire. So we think of these stupid games in order to keep a guy’s interest. Not answering his call so he thinks we’re busy. Not responding to text for however long because of the same thing. Flirting with a guy she doesn’t care about to get the guy she does like jealous. It’s stupid and a waste of time.”
“You really do believe your time is valuable, huh?” Kyle teased, his eyes sparkling.
“Listen, everyone’s time is valuable,” Emma said. “But I have better things to do than to sit around talking about myself, listening to someone talk about themselves and eating some food. I have food at home, and quite frankly, I really don’t care about getting to know other people.”
“Wow.” Kyle actually looked surprised. “That was harsh.”
“I know,” Emma said. “I know. I sound horrible, but it’s hard for me to trust people. I have two best friends and my father and that’s it. Those are the only people I depend upon if I can’t do something myself. And I’d rather just be upfront with someone than lead them on.”
“So you’re totally okay with being alone for the rest of your life,” Kyle stated. Emma gave him a confused look and he explained. “You have to take a chance on someone once in your life, Emma. You can’t always assume that it’s going to be a waste of your time. Sometimes, you don’t actually have to go anywhere when it comes to a progressing relationship. Sometimes, you can spend time with someone simply because you enjoy a person’s company.”
“That sounds like a nice way of saying you don’t want to commit,” Emma pointed out.
Before Kyle could comment, the waiter presented the two with their respective food, and wished them a bon appetite. Although, technically speaking, he wished Kyle a bon appetite. Emma grabbed her intricately decorated chopsticks and immediately grabbed a crunchy roll.
“It is,” Kyle agreed. “I’m twenty-five years old, doing something I love. I’m not looking to settle down any time soon.”
“And do you actually let your dates know that on the first date?” Emma asked, once she swallowed the food. She grabbed another piece of sushi and plopped it in her mouth. Despite the rude wait staff, the sushi really was the best she had ever tasted.
Kyle lifted a shoulder. “More or less,” he said, taking a bite of his own food. “I tell them I’m not looking for anything serious, but girls always think that they’re that game changer.”
“Game changer?” Emma hadn’t meant to speak with her mouth full of food, but the term threw her off that she couldn’t stop herself.
“Yeah,” Kyle said. “You know, a girl who completely changes a guy’s perspective on life, makes him want to commit to her, settle down, refuse to sleep with anyone else. She comes when he least expects it, changing his life by being herself. She doesn’t realize the effect she has on him. A game changer. And I believe the elusive game changer will come for me sooner or later and then I’ll want to forego sleeping with whoever I want, seeing whoever I want. But I have yet to actually meet her and I’m not waiting around for her.”
“When guys meet this so-called game changer, do they actually commit to her, settle down?” Emma asked. She’d never heard this before, never heard of a game changer.
“Some do, some don’t,” Kyle said. “For those who do, though, it’s a big deal. Usually, a guy’s been hurt by his – what’d you call it? – first apple and as a result, disconnects from his emotion and subconsciously becoming afraid to commit because they’re afraid they’ll be hurt again. It takes time, but in the end, the guy’s completely happy and doesn’t regret it. But for those who don’t, everything will remind him of the game changer he let go. He’ll move on with his life and maybe he’ll settle down later on with someone else, but it’ll never be her. And he’ll never be complete or as happy as he could have been.”
“Wow.” She pushed her brow up, looking at the off-white tablecloth. �
�Pretty heavy.”
“Yeah. But I have yet to deal with it so I don’t really care.” He straightened. “Can I just be honest with you? I’m so glad I could talk to a woman about this stuff. I’m glad I can be up front with you. Most just have these unreal expectations and it puts a lot of pressure on guys. And I really don’t like breaking hearts.” Emma shot him a look, but his face actually seemed sincere. “I just want to have right now, and I want to meet girls who want the same thing, instead of wanting some long-term, serious relationship.”
Emma smiled. “Surprisingly enough, I’m glad I can talk about this stuff too,” she said. “Whenever I talk to guys about this stuff, they seem put off, intimidated.” She stuck her hand out across the table. “Friends?”
Kyle grinned, shaking her offered hand. “Friends,” he agreed. They both went back to their food for a few moments before Kyle, his mouth filled with rice, said, “So you’ll be at the game tomorrow?”
Emma nodded. “It’s it’s at Sea Side, I’ll be there,” she promised.
Chapter 6
“I still can’t believe it,” Emma said, taking her usual seat next to her father.
“Believe what?” Jeremy asked. “That Brandon Thorpe was officially brought down to the police station to be questioned or the reaction people have because of it?”
As with the last game, this preseason game was filled. There was probably only a quarter of the stands remaining empty, but with the long line outside the ticket window at Sea Side, it was likely that they would fill up even more.
It still amazed Emma that people could react so strangely to a person being suspected of murder. Supposed fans were now boycotting any and everything that related to the Seagulls, despite the fact that only one member of the team was suspected of the kill, and even then, there was no evidence that warranted the suspicion in the first place. Other people who hadn’t even cared about hockey, let alone the Seagulls, were suddenly eager to buy preseason game tickets or buy merchandise in order to say that they were there while Brandon Thorpe was suspected, they were there during the inevitable trial, and they were there when he was found guilty. No doubt they would try to get the net minder to sign a hat or something on his walk from the courthouse to the awaiting car that would then take him to prison.
There was the media itself, who seemed to occupy its own sort of terrain. Besides the local paper, the media didn’t really get into hockey even during the actual season, save for excerpts every now and then being written in the sports section of The Orange County Register. Hockey’s popularity in Southern California never really took form probably because the sunny weather and lack of exposure. Jeremy would always complain about this to Emma because there was, in his mind and apparently every fan on the west coast, a heavy biased against the west when it came to hockey. As such, teams stationed in the west weren’t as likely to get press as teams from the east, which hurt west coast teams financially and even emotionally. Less coverage meant less fans which meant less support for the team. Unless, of course, the people who claimed to be diehard fans encouraged their own friends, family, spouses, children, parents, siblings and anybody else to get into the game. As such, thorough coverage was difficult to find unless a person went to the Seagulls official website. The only time the press was really interested in the Gulls – possibly garnering a front page story rather than a short paragraph in the sports section – was when the Gulls looked as though they might make playoffs. But since they never did, interest died down and stayed down until the next season.
Now, every form of media was represented tonight. Or, at least, Emma thought they were, considering the swarm of them that had just been forced out of the building. She recognized a sports caster for a local news channel along with two national sports casters and their cameramen. Not only did the local Newport Beach paper have a representative, but so did The Orange County Register, The Los Angeles Times, and even some east coast papers, where hockey was more popular.
Even east coasters couldn’t ignore the Brandon Thorpe murder scandal.
“Not only that,” Jeremy had pointed out as the father and daughter made their way to their seats, “but Ken was a prominent figure in the hockey world. True, the Gulls have yet to make playoffs, but it really says something to have started and managed his own team for this period of time. His death would have been international hockey news, with or without Brandon Thorpe’s supposed involvement.”
Because of his supposed involvement, there was more demand for information about it. In fact, Emma thought she had seen a couple of journalists from Canada. Which would make sense, especially since Thorpe himself was Canadian.
Even mainstream, non-athletic media wanted as much information as possible. Brandon Thorpe wasn’t dating a Kardashian, but he was still a prominent athletic figure and relatively good looking, key factors that made a good news story.
“But he hasn’t even been arrested,” Emma said, leaning back in her chair. Traffic was bad coming in, and with all these people, they had a few minutes before the lights dimmed and the teams were called out for the national anthem to sit down and catch up. “What’s the big deal?”
“Brandon Thorpe is a big deal,” Jeremy said. “And that Ken Brown was the victim in this helped, too. He was an important figure not only in hockey but as a Newport Beach resident. A lot of locals are demanding the case be solved just like a lot of hockey fans are, too.”
Jeremy had to shout over the noise that came from their surroundings. Emma couldn’t help but look around; she had never seen it this crowded before, even during the season. It was an observation that was starting to get repetitive. Normally, she would have welcomed more people in the stands. More people just added to the intensity of the game. She knew that a lot of these people were here for the wrong reasons. And as she gazed at them, she noticed that things were more violent among fans, even for hockey. People were pushing each other, yelling at each other. She even saw one guy slap another guy’s food down so it landed on the concrete floor. With all this tension, she wouldn’t have been surprised to see a fight break out.
“So Thorpe’s not playing tonight, then?” Emma asked, turning back to look at her father.
“I highly doubt it,” he said. “If the police took him in for questioning this morning, he’s probably still there. You’ve seen Law and Order and how the cops try to waste time with their suspect during the questioning while the rest try and find enough evidence for an arrest.”
“But he’ll be released, right? I mean, since they haven’t actually arrested him, he can technically leave whenever he wants.”
Jeremy nodded. “But I think it’s a good thing he’s not here playing tonight,” he said. “The crowd is already rowdy and the puck hasn’t dropped. It’s preseason. And it’s the Gulls. I swear, people need any excuse to start a fight, and Thorpe’s presence might have been that spark. Then again, people might also be disappointed that he’s not here, and start a fight because of that.”
“We’re going to be okay though, right? People aren’t going to riot or anything crazy like that.” She looked around again, wishing the game would just start so people could be temporarily distracted from their anger.
“I’m sure we’ll be fine.” He pointed back towards the entrance of their section. “Seraphina Hanson added more security in order to protect people and break up any fights before they start. See?”
Emma felt herself calm down when she noticed that every usher in every section had a person from security standing next to them with a no-nonsense look on their face. The lights dimmed, and an announcement was made, reminding people not to throw anything on the ice unless they wanted to be arrested. The teams were called out, cheering erupted, and the national was sung.
When Emma and her father took their seats, Jeremy pointed. “Poor girl,” he murmured.
“What do you mean?” Emma asked, looking to where he pointed. She recognized Katella Hanson sitting in her usual place, but her younger sister was nowhere to be found.
“I’m sure the press has been hounding the two sisters, Seraphina especially. It doesn’t surprise me to see that she’s not here.”
“I still don’t understand what they expect from her,” Emma said, her eyes focused on the game before her. “Her grandfather just died, both her uncle and her goalie are suspects. I think she’s handling herself well, especially for someone who’s only twenty-three.” She frowned, tilting her head to the side in order to look at her father. “What more could possibly be said about her anyway?”
“You’d be surprised,” her father said flatly. “An anonymous source – I’m beginning to think it’s the same one who just keeps selling the same story to different papers – just continues to rip into her. It’s the usual stuff that’s been said these past few weeks, but it just intensified after she made that public stance in support of Brandon Thorpe. They don’t take her seriously, they think that the only reason she kept him on is because she thinks he’s cute or is sleeping with him. Trust me, there are some pretty funny theories, that she’s carrying his secret love child.”
Emma couldn’t help but chuckle at the last one.
“He’s, like, okay,” Emma said, waving her hand palm down back and forth as though to say half-half. “But even if he was super-hot, she doesn’t seem like the type to sleep with her player.”
“Exactly,” Jeremy said. “The press is just brutal. This source, whoever they are, actually said that Seraphina should have sold the team, and her accepting it just proved her ignorance.”
“Or her loyalty to her family,” Emma muttered. “Everyone needs to just leave her alone. She’s doing better than everyone expected, I think.”
“I agree, but there are still some things she needs to learn.” Jeremy pointed out Katella, an enigmatic look on her face. “For one, Seraphina needs to grow some thick skin. I know I’ve already said that but I think it’s worth mentioning. Take Katella; it’s obvious she’s the strong one. Look at her. She’s sitting right there despite everything that’s happening to her family. It’s easy to use Seraphina as sort of the poster girl for this tragedy because she’s the public figure, she’s the owner, but people need to realize that nearly everything that’s happening to her is happening to Katella. The only difference is that Katella’s here right now. She’s always here. No matter what. And I think that shows a lot of class.”
Grace on the Rocks: A Slapshot Prequel (Slapshot Prequel Trilogy Book 2) Page 6