Obsession

Secret: Chapter 8

Hockey was something he played not only as a passion or sport. It was how he channelled his thoughts and Julian had learned quite early in his childhood that playing hockey was like second nature. It helped him focus. He knew the game, and he could think of plays quickly in his mind to get the next goal.

At that moment, at 1:58 PM on a Tuesday afternoon, while he killed time on campus shooting a few pucks and practicing his aim, only one person was on his mind. His little sister's best friend. Julian would not deny that something had definitely changed between them. Despite Gabriel's tendency to become awkward every so often, he could not deny that Gabriel – after so long – had finally become a lot more relaxed around him.

That was all Julian wanted. With Gabriel less tensed around him, it would make his end goal that much easier. Even if he had to wait another five years until Gabriel was finally out of Shaw.

Out on the ice, it was him, his best friend, Duncan, and three other members of the college's hockey team who were killing time until their next lecture. Four were on the ice, keeping the puck in play, and one stood as the goalie. Duncan swung the puck in Julian's direction, and he caught it, bringing the puck down on the ice and sweeping it through the legs of the opposing teammate. The puck in play, Julian shot it into the net, a good few inches away from the goalie's head.

"Nice one," Duncan congratulated, skating the short distance over to his friend. They high fived, and Julian caught the time on the clock that read 2:00 PM. "Up for another game?" Duncan asked.

Julian shook his head and said, "No. My next class starts in an hour, and I still haven't had lunch."

"Ooh, lunch sounds good," Duncan said, grinning widely as he started thinking about possible lunch options. "Where to? The nearest Subway?"

Julian raised an eyebrow. "What is it with you and sandwiches?"

Duncan scoffed, tipping his nose up in the air. "Shut up. I like bread, so sue me."

They left the ice heading back to the locker rooms to change into their casual clothing. As they were leaving the rink and discussing what they should get for lunch, their path was intercepted by a familiar auburn-haired girl, that girl being Heather Munroe.

Heather greeted Duncan out of respect for his presence, but her attention was solely focused on Julian. Even as she had greeted the former, her eyes never strayed from the latter, and she gave him a pearly white smile, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Heather tucked her thumbs into the back pockets of her jeans, protruding her chest ever so slightly – the action of seduction subtle to go unnoticed – but it was plainly obvious to both Julian and Duncan what she was doing.

Duncan raised an eyebrow and started inching away, deciding to leave them alone but catching the subtle glare his friend caught him, Duncan picked up rather quickly that Julian did not want to be left alone with the girl. Ever since their freshman year of college, Heather had been running after Julian, but it appeared, she hadn't yet received the message.

Despite all her flirtations and subtle advances and attempts at seduction, Julian had never reciprocated. And he wasn't about to start now since things were possibly looking up between him and a certain other someone.

"Did you guys just come from practice?" Heather asked, making idle chit-chat. However, Julian was not having it, and he was not particularly in the mood for small talk when he had an hour to get food and make it to his next class which was almost halfway across campus.

"We are," Duncan replied when he noticed that his friend was not going to answer her innocent question.

Heather hummed, none too satisfied that the guy of her desire seemed to be ignoring her. She looked Julian square on and gave him a flirtatious smile. She had figured that complimenting his physique might do something but then she thought better of it.