Page 106 of Goalie Interference

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He swallows. “It’s just been a lot and I haven’t even left my apartment yet.”

“When do you have to leave for game?” I check my watch. It’s three-thirty. Player arrivals usually begin around two hours before puck drop.

“In an hour.” He sighs.

“You are not going alone, are you?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “Gavin and Connor are taking me. They said we can take the El Camino.” That last part puts a smile on his face. A small one, but still a smile. “How are you doing?”

“Me? I am fine,” I say. Which is true. I am fine. Calm even. But clearly he’s not. His distress tugs at my heart like strings pulling too tight.

“Really?” he asks hopefully. “I was worried you were pissed.”

“No, Baby. I am not mad.”

His brow crinkles. “Did you just call me Baby?”

A laugh escapes me. “I guess I did. Looks like your brother needs new nickname.”

“He’ll be thrilled.” Ander lets out an amused breath that brings some brightness back to his blue eyes. “But seriously, how are you so calm right now?”

“I had feeling this was coming.” Which is the truth. The woman who posted the picture of us was perceptive. But also, Ander and I have been flirting with disaster this entire time. It would have been foolish of me not to be somewhat prepared. We knew the risks, and to me, Ander is worth taking all of them.

Besides, what’s the worst that can happen here? Neither of us is going to lose our careers over this. Coach Chris already assured me of that. Plus, Coach has helped me put a plan in motion. A plan I should tell Ander about but in his current state, I don’t want to add anything else on to him that might make it worse. He can find out after his game with everyone else.

“I can’t believe I was dumb enough to think it wouldn’t,” Ander says.

I hate seeing him so down on himself. Unfortunately, I’m not surprised. During this entire time of getting to know him, getting closer to him, there is a lot that I have learned about him. The number one thing I have learned is that Ander can go from one extreme to the next in a matter of minutes. He keeps me on my toes. As his boyfriend, it’s my duty to help keep him grounded. Like Gavin suggested long ago before any of us knew what was coming between Ander and I, Ander needs someone in his life to calm his chaos.

Though Ander’s chaos is one of my favorite things about him. I like how surprising he is. I enjoy how spontaneous he is. I love his unceasing sense of adventure and his eternal optimism about those adventures.

“You are not dumb,” I tell him. “Far from it.”

“Try telling that to everyone else.” He frowns and his gaze casts down away from the screen.

“Ander, look at me.”

He does. Never throughout all of this have I wished to be with him as much as I do right now. There’s been so many times over this season that he’s needed me, but this is easily the moment when he needs me the most.

“Are you happy with me?” I ask, maintaining eye contact with him. Even though it’s through a screen it’s the best that we can do right now.

“Yes,” he says, a slight smile returning to his face.

“Did this change that for you?”

“No.” He shakes his head again.

“It does not change for me either,” I tell him. “If anything, it made me realize that I do not care what anyone else has to say. So what if we play on rival teams? You and I are not rivals, and more importantly, we are professionals. Correct?”

“Of course.” He chokes out a laugh and his eyes get watery.

I smile at him and take a deep breath. Time for me to be the one who takes the first of many risks tonight. “I love you, Ander. I do not care what anyone has to say about it. That is why I am so calm. And I will tell the world exactly that the minute I am given the chance.”

Those big watery eyes of his start to leak, which wasn’t my intention, but also strengthens my feelings for him in this moment.

“Now,” I say, my voice firm. “Get up and go win your game for me.”

He quickly wipes the underside of his eyes with the back of his hand and takes a deep breath. When he’s looking back at me, the determination I’m used to seeing out of him on game day has arrived.