The Cocky Hockey Captain

Chapter 13 ● The Road To Hell

Somehow while I hadn't been looking my life had turned into a mess of epic proportions.

This fed great hilarity to my brother, who had been unable to stop laughing for a solid five minutes. I counted.

"Stop," I told him through gritted teeth as I combed my hair in front of the mirror. I couldn't believe I was doing this, getting ready for my first date ever. And it was with a girl. I'd never really been boy crazy or anything, and I also wasn't so romantic as to be heartbroken that this milestone, monumental to some, was going to be a complete charade for me.

That was what had my stomach in knots. The whole pretending thing.

I thought about nothing else since the weekend. The easiest way out was to be a complete dirtbag during the date, enough so that she'd be put off from me forever. But I also didn't want to do that. I was a bit fucked up, just not that much. But if I behaved like I'd like to be treated maybe she'd want to go out again. And I couldn't be honest at all.

Miguel seemed to have stopped laughing at last. At the sound of my sigh he started back up again.

And then there was Hunter. I didn't think he hated me, but he'd been surly every time he saw me. Every time I got teased for being the lucky lad to get the town belle, it seemed like he grew grumpier. Today at practice I had enough. I skated over to where he was lining up before going through one of Coach's interminable skating drills.

"Hunter," I said. He turned to me with a frown and a pout, which set his freckles in stark relief and almost made me smile. "Listen, we need to talk."

He folded his arms. "I don't wanna."

I rolled my eyes.

That was the moment I thought of a third option. If I couldn't be a turd on a stick or a charming young man during my date with Lena Lee, I could act more like a friend and at the same time pitch Hunter to her. Maybe that could work.

I grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him closer to me. "I did it all for you."

This drew his eyebrows upwards. "I fail to see how."

"Well, she was flirting with me, that's true, but I'm not interested." I shook my head at his obvious disbelief. "No, I'm serious. She's not my type. I like, er, city girls."

This excuse seemed plausible and he relaxed a little under my hold. "Then what do you mean?"

"Between us," as I said this I looked around and leaned closer to him. Everybody was either resting from the drill or in the middle of it. Coach was talking about something with his Captain Hyde and a weird looking man I'd learned was the school nurse and team assistant. Hunter leaned closer to me to share in the secret that I was going to reveal to him. "This is going to sound like I'm a piece of shit, but I just asked her out so that Dean and Pace wouldn't think I was a wuss."

His expression changed and understanding dawned on him. "I get it. They're so cool that it makes everybody else feel like a fly on the wall. Been there, done that."

I was honestly shocked at his admission. In our conversation I'd been mixing half truths with some lies, but he was honest and when I examined everybody's interactions with the pair, I found it to be true. We were all, including me, some way or another looking for their approval. This revelation made me even more uncomfortable than the conversation itself.

"So," I announced pulling back and faking a smug smile that I didn't feel anywhere past the surface. "In tonight's date I'm going to be your wingman."

His eyes widened. "You will?"

"Oh yeah, I'm going to spend all the time talking about how great you are. Lena Lee is going to become more interested in you and leave me alone."

This put me back on his good side for the rest of practice until I came back to the hotel to shower and get ready. As I got dressed I called Miguel to ask him for advice on how to use male charms to manipulate girls, and when he asked what the heck for I explained the whole story to him. Without missing a single bit. I regretted it the moment he started cackling like a hyena, but the fact of the matter was that I would never be caught alive admitting it, but he was my best friend and I was way in over my head.