follow through

chapter 23

james

"you asked her to move in with you?" derek gasps clearly appalled

we're in the locker room getting suited up for practice.

"no no of course not!" i reason

"dude that's way too soon. she's gonna run." he responds

"i didn't ask her to move in with me! i just told her i had an extra room if she ever needed it. she lives with her friends that are dating." i explain

"i guess that makes more sense. still crazy though." he tells me

yes i realized what i said was crazy and probably too soon but it just happened. no going back now i guess.

imagining living with betty is a dream. getting to see her all the time.

she probably won't even bring it up again.

or worse. she doesn't speak to me again cause i scared her off.

"get on the ice boys!" our couch yells into the locker room.

we all grumble but get up immediately and walk out.

we have a game coming up this weekend so coach is going pretty hard on us.

~•~•~•~

we've been going through drills for the past hour and a half and all of us are clearly over it.

ready to actually practice what we need to win this game.

we're going against the san jose sharks and i think we'll do okay.

"okay get in formations we're gonna practice for real now!" coach yells at us.

finally. took us long enough.

practice is supposed to be over in an hour but knowing coach it'll run longer than that.

we all skate to our spots and coach walks out and drops the puck.

here we go.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~

2 gruesome hours later i'm hobbling out to my car.

coach kept us an extra hour. which is nothing compared to other times.

i plan to drive home and get into a salt bath to relieve all the pain.

~•~•~•~•~•~

i get out of the bath, dry off and get dressed.

i grab my phone and see a notification.

i see it's a message from betty and immediately smile.

i open the message and read it.

betty ❤️
hey! you free tonight for some dinner?

do not ask me how excited i am when i read this. because it is way too exciting to me.

i send a text back.

james
absolutely. when and where?

not even 2 minutes later i get a response.

betty ❤️
i was thinking the burger shop...in 20 minutes?

i immediately respond.

james
i'll pick you up ;)

she hearts the message and i jump up.

what can i do to kill time? 20 minutes seems like forever away.

~•~•~•~•~•~

what felt like an eternity later i am pulling up outside betty's apartment.