High School Hockey Boys

05

3 weeks later

"Finley you look fine! Let's go or we'll be late." Delaney pushed.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." I followed Delaney down the stairs, out the door and into Graham's waiting car. Riley was having a party since his parents are out of town for the week.

"And Del, isn't being late kind of essential for being fashionably late?" She slapped my arm and scowled playfully at my sass. Graham shook his head at the two of us and pulled out of the driveway. We turned the radio to full volume as we drove to pick Jacob up. He and Delaney have been spending a lot of time together lately. As we pulled away from the house, Jacob joined in on our pre party party, singing terribly at the top of his lungs with the rest of us. Once we got closer to Riley's house though, the volume of our music seemed like nothing compared to his. Graham turned off the radio and shook his head.

"If he isn't careful someone's going to call the cops." He said. We were just turning onto Riley's street and we could already hear the music clear as day. Graham parked a little ways down the street and we all got out.

"Ready to have some fun girls?" Jacob asked, throwing his arm around Delany and I's shoulders. We walked up to the house and were greeted by a few of the other guys on the team. Graham grabbed me from Jacob and we walked in ahead of them.

"Does Riley even know all these people?" I yelled over the music as we pushed our way to the kitchen. Graham didn't answer, so I was going to take that as a no. Kennedy and Sophia were in the kitchen already so I went over to talk with them as Graham found his other friends to hang out with.  The three of us stayed in the kitchen mainly, until Kennedy decided to go dance. I walked around, hoping to see Graham's bright hair somewhere but had no such luck. It was kind of a dick move to bring someone, your girlfriend no less, to a party and then ditch them. After about an hour of searching and asking around, I found out Graham was nowhere to be found.

That is, until I walked by the stairs and saw him talking to a girl I couldn't see very well. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and say she was only a friend. But then he kissed her and smiled and took her by the hand. I could tell they weren't drunk, because as he dragged her upstairs they weaved through people with perfect balance, like it was second nature. A few tears dropped onto my cheeks and I ran out the back door. How could he do that? I ran to the very back of the yard and noticed an empty hammock. Deciding this was a good place to cry, I kicked my shoes off and got into it. I laid there for a good fifteen minutes, and by then I'd stopped crying. The hammock swayed and dipped, indicating someone else had joined me. I was rolled over and saw Eli there, trying to get me to face him.

"Eli please just-"

"Let me do this Finley. Please." I sighed and gave up, collapsing into him. I laid my head on his chest and he wrapped his left arm around me while his right hand came up to hold my own. We laid in silence for a while, and the steady beat of Eli's heart lulled me into a state of somewhat calm.

"I'm sorry Eli." I muttered. He moved his head to look at me, his brow furrowed.

"Why?"

"I should've listened to you. When you warned me about Graham." I thought I'd run out of tears earlier, but I was wrong as they started up again. I felt Eli grow tense and he gripped my hand a little tighter.

"What did he do." His question was said like a statement, and the chill in his voice scared me. He sat up, forcing me to sit up too and grabbed my face. "Finley, tell me. What. Did. He. Do." I bit my lip and looked down, a few more tears escaping my eyes. Eli swiped his thumb across my cheeks to get rid of the tears and slowly moved my face to look at him. I saw a lot of different emotions in his eyes, the most prominent being worry and regret.