The Friend Zone

Chapter Thirty-Seven: What am I Going to do With You

 The wrongful death suit that the jackass filed was thrown out, especially after the police gave their testimonies and they showed the crime scene evidence. I was finally rid of my mother and everything she had done to me. I knew that I'd still remember every word she said to me and the bruises she gave me, but I never had to worry about it again.

I spent the next few weeks trying to play catch-up with both hockey and school. School was actually easier to catch up on, my professors gave me lecture notes from the days I missed making it easier to do the work. The on-ice stuff was the hard part after not skating for three weeks and the occasional recurring pain in my leg. My team had won the league while I was sidelined and this weekend we were playing in the national quarterfinals. The next weekend, Taylor and his team would be playing in the national quarterfinals also.

"You ready for tonight?" Taylor asked as I stopped at his table in the lobby while warming up.

"More than ready," I grinned.

"I thought so," he smiled, "Good luck," he said, standing up and kissing me on the forehead.

"Thanks," I smiled, kissing him on the lips before walking away.

"Go kick some ass," he smirked, reaching out and smacking me right square in the butt as I walked away.

"You're lucky you're cute," I glared, whipping my head around and winking before running back to the locker room.

###

We lost that night 3-1, with the last goal being an empty net. To say it was heartbreaking would've been an understatement. I was pissy and quite frankly the entire team was pissy.

I took about an hour in the locker room, I didn't want to run into the other team walking out with giant grins plastered on their faces.

"Hey babe-" Taylor began to say as I met him in the empty lobby.

"Don't say it," I interrupted, "I just want to go."

"Understandable," he replied, taking my hand in his as we walked out of the rink.

We didn't even go out to Applebee's that night for half off appetizers like we did every Saturday night because I was so pissy and ornery and just wanted to forget about the game that evening. Taylor was silent as he drove back to his place, we had this mutual understanding of when the other had a tough loss to give them space for a little while and then eventually the other would give in and start talking again.

"I'll be back, probably before you're out of the shower but I'm running to the student center," he said.

"Okay," I replied, grabbing my change of clothes and shower stuff and walking to the bathroom.

I spent about twenty-five minutes in the shower, letting the hot water turn to cold as it hit my back and ran down my body. I dried off afterward and slipped into my shorts and Taylor's old t-shirt before going back to his room.

He wasn't back yet so I grabbed a blanket and curled up on the futon couch and turned on his computer and found one of our favorite movies on Netflix so I turned it on and set it on the footrest thing and wrapped the blanket around me tighter.

"I see you're already settled in," Taylor said as he came back in with two grocery bags.

"Yeah," I sighed.

"Good thing the convenience store has vanilla bean ice cream and root beer," he said, "And some Solo cups, straws, and plastic spoons."

"Root beer floats?" I asked, a smile creeping onto my face.