Sasquatch to the Moon

36: Nico and Rocket

ROCKET

Nico grabs me by the back of my jersey about halfway through practice. I'm supposed to be practicing with Paxton on some easy stuff. Fen has us back there and he's doing upper corner stuff with us.

"Nico I have-"

"Fen will get it."

"But Nico I have to be back there, this isn't helping me practice."

"You don't even know what this is yet."

"Okay but it's not what I'm supposed to be doing."

"And that's fine, just suck it up. It'll only take like two minutes."

"What in god's name do you need me for." She yanks me into an empty locker room and shuts the door. "This isn't like, late-phase hazing is it? You going to do something to me in here? I've got a big stick."

"No, no I'm not hazing you, jeez, chill."

"Then what in god-fuck do you need me for?"

She peeks back out the door and checks rink four, defence drills. "It's Yeti isn't it."

"What?"

"That's the guy. That's the almost-boyfriend. It's Rex."

"How the fuck did you figure that out?"

"Either he's got friendship butterflies for you or he's adjusting his pants every time he sees you for a different unrelated reason."

"Ah-"

"I work with nothing but boys and I'm only friends with guys. Y'all aren't slick when you're flustered." She tosses her hands up. "Plus he made a bottom joke with you on the plane and you're close with him for no fucking reason, also he's totally never had a girlfriend and I've never seen him even try to get one. It makes fucking sense."

"It could've been someone from not the program!"

"But you never talked about a friend from outside the program before all this. You'd've mentioned someone."

"Okay, fine, yes, it's Håkon."

"Hell fucking yeah. My hunch was right," she laughs. "Okay, so when the hell did that happen?"

"Christmas time? Dunno. I told him and then one day he kinda spat it out and we dated for like 24 hours, but then he had like a meltdown thing and I told him it wasn't a good idea to date him when he's not ready."

"Has he ever dated before?"

"Not dated. He's had odds and ends hookups, but that's understandable."

"What about you?"

"No, but he doesn't need to know that." I rub the side of my face. "It's, yeah, we need to have a long chat."

"Do that fast, he looks like he's dying every time he looks at you."

"He does?"

"Are you kidding?" She throws her arms up. "I want to slam my hand in the door around you two. It's fucking painful. He's all stoic for some stupid reason and it's clear you can't keep your eyes off him. Not to mention that he does the same pants move that Fen does when I'm around him. It's stupid how readable boys are."

"Girls aren't?"

"No! There's a hundred billion things that a girl would rather do than be understandable."

I frown. "Suddenly I'm happy I'm into guys."

"It's not that bad, most of the time if your boyfriend knows you well enough they can pinpoint the issue within moments. That's when things get better. First two months dating Fen was a little weird, then he caught up, now it's annoying because he knows exactly what the hell is going on at every single moment."