The Puck Bunny

Eight

I wasn't left with a lot of time to analyse whatever just happened between the two of us because soon the elevator doors opened, and we saw Tyler, Scott, Tate and Ripley all standing together. There was also a girl holding Tate's hand, who'd I'd never met before.

"There you guys are" Scott greeted with a smile. Both Luke and I seemed unfazed, returning with grins of our own.

"Sorry, I was about to knock on Pruitt's door, but I had to piss"

I rolled my eyes and began to walk towards the guys – and girl.

"This is Lexi, my girlfriend. Lex, this is Carter Pruitt" Tate said, acknowledging the blonde girl next to him. We smiled at each other as we subconsciously sized one another up. She had long, straight hair and wore a simple baby blue sundress. She was absolutely stunning.

"Nice to meet you Carter."

"Likewise"

"Alright, we're all here. Let's make a move" Tyler said, and we all obliged, following him out of Centennial.

The walk was short, and the evening was warm. Not unbearably warm, but a comfortable temperature. I was glad for it.

Lexi seemed nice enough, but my love for hockey and personality meant I fit in with the boys more so than I did with the girls. And college seemed to be continuing that truth, as she was left out of our very in-depth analysis of the entire NHL.

"So, you're a hockey nut too?" Lexi asked me as the conversation ceased. We were nearing a house with loud music playing and there were many other people walking towards it, as well as out group.

I nodded, biting my lip slightly. I was about to speak, but Luke interrupted.

"Ugh, my phone's dead and I need to text my mom. Pruitt, can I borrow yours quickly?"

I fished it out of my pocket and handed it to him unlocked, without a question, before turning back to Lexi

"Yeah, my dad got me into it from a young age. I can't play for shit though, so I stick to being a fan"

I could see she wanted to sigh. I could almost read her mind 'oh great, another one'.

Luke handed my phone back to me and a short while later it buzzed with a new message. I raised an eyebrow and checked it.

*If you don't want me to fuck you right this second then you've gotta stop biting your god damn lip like that*

It took everything in me not to burst out laughing. His phone obviously wasn't dead, he just wanted to put his number in and steal mine.

*You could have just asked me for my number, Luke*

I smiled as I hit send, waiting for his reply. He didn't pull his phone out straight away, no doubt afraid someone would pull him up for his blatant lie of his phone being dead. Which worked better for me, because now I had proof I wasn't the only one feeling something, and he'd be able to sit there and stew over what my text could possibly say.

The boys seemed to naturally dissipate once inside. I don't know why that surprised me, but it did. Of course they all had different friends. They had all been at college for one, two or even three years at this point. I couldn't expect them all to be just friends with one another. They had different classes and come from different cities. So when the group split as soon as we walked in, it was unexpected but not a total shock.

Luke took my hand and lead me towards the kitchen, not meeting my eyes.

"Uh, want a drink?"

Luke Bennett, nervous?