The Puck Bunny

Fourteen

This was basically how the week had gone: Watch movies and fall asleep in Luke's room, eat, shower, read, skate, repeat. When Monday arrived, let me tell you I was excited.

Of course, the hockey team's schedule was about to get a bit more hectic, as was everyone's individual study lives, so I was sad that I wouldn't be spending as much time with Luke anymore. But I've been bored out of my mind the last week.

There was another party on Saturday night. This time Luke wasn't even the slightest bit embarrassed to be holding my hand in public, and I managed to have a proper conversation with Lexi, the two of us now friends. She was a freshman too, her and Tate having met in high school when she was a sophomore, and he was a senior. Now that she was eighteen, they were finally dating after having wanted to for years.. She was in a few of my classes as she was majoring in History and minoring in English, and I was taking a history paper. And on the first day of classes, we discovered our Classic Literature class was the first class either of us had, so we opted to meet in the quad between Centennial and Pioneer, as that was her building.

The party on Saturday was nothing compared to the first. Now, Luke and I were comfortable with one another, and we both drank a fair bit more than we had the Tuesday night. No one seemed to give us shit, unless it was Tyler purposefully trying to annoy Luke, which he still loved doing it. He claimed he was just 'teasing the asshole out of him' for hockey purposes, but I knew it gave him joy to watch Luke writhe in annoyance.

But now it was Monday, and I was finally starting college for real. The first book we were studying in classic lit was The Catcher in the Rye, so I had my tattered copy in my bag and had read it again over the weekend, when I wasn't severely hung over that is.

I couldn't believe how easy Lexi was to talk to either. The whole 'college-approved' story about hockey and skating came out one Friday when the two of us hung out, the boys having to go to an annual orientation Gophers dinner that didn't allow plus-ones. I didn't hate that, because I'd probably have had to wear a dress if Luke had been able to invite me. Although I said being friends with guys was much easier, it was nice having Lexi.

Her brace-faced smile greeted me as I bounced down the steps to Centennial, towards her. We'd agreed to meet early to go get a drink before class.

"Hey! You excited for your first day?" She greeted me. I chuckled nervously.

"Not really. I didn't sleep all that well last night"

"Bennett keep you up, huh?"

"Shush you. No, it was the opposite. I slept in my room last night to try get a 'good night's rest' before today and it totally backfired and next thing I knew it was 3 am" Lexi knew I didn't do well with falling asleep. And she was the first person I'd told that I was sleeping better being in Luke's bed this last week. Unlike any of the boys on the team, she didn't give me grief over it. Instead, she was glad I was actually getting sleep.

"Just teasing Carter, let's head towards the coffee shop by the arts block" And that was that.

We chattered a bit about classes on our way to the coffee shop and arrived in about seven minutes.

"What's up?" Lexi asked as we sat at a table and drank our drinks. She'd gotten a Mocha and I'd opted for an iced tea.

"Why does anything need to be up?"

"Because you seem off. Did Luke do something to you?"

"No. sorry, no. But I'm fine"

"Whatever Carter"

"I don't know, he hasn't said anything to me about what we even are. Is he just using me to fill some void?"

"God, your mind always goes to the worst situation" She laughed. I had to laugh too, it sounded crazy when I admitted it out loud. Not Georgia level crazy, but pretty nuts.