2 - I Love You

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Before I could talk myself out of it, I had agreed to go to Simon's hockey game. I asked Gennifer for backup, but she already had plans with her aunt to go furniture shopping. When I moved in, my dad wanted to pay for everything. Especially after he met Gennifer and I told him that had I offered her the spare room. It was like he was more excited about me having the most authentic college experience possible than I was.

But Gennifer came from a family just like mine; the fact that I was letting her live at my place practically rent free was basically a sin. She never expected me to pay for more than my share just because I had my entire college fund in the bank. Our agreement was 50/50, and that included the couch that she wanted to save up and buy for the both of us. I didn't have time to furnish the house besides the basic necessities.

Gennifer finally convinced me a few weeks ago that we needed to have a living room if we were ever going to have people over. But not having any furniture also gave me an excuse to shoot down Simon coming back to my place. I knew that being alone with him somewhere that had a bed in the next room was just asking for trouble. Things were complicated as they were; I didn't need sex making anything more confusing.

When I got back from my run, I quickly ate the breakfast that Gennifer had left me and took a shower. I told Elizabeth that I'd love to have coffee sometime this weekend. Maybe she would have some advice for me.

I had no idea why I was so nervous the entire day. I was only going to watch Simon's hockey game. I had done it a million times before. But this time, he wanted me to meet his friends. He clearly wasn't as uneasy about seeing me as I was. Which I didn't know how to interpret. Either he thought we could start moving past this awkward place we were in, or he was abandoning the thought altogether.

And I don't know which one I was hoping for.

"Paige!" someone called. I turned, seeing Annamarie trying to catch up with me. She was decked out in Boston University gear, practically skipping through the quad. She was one of the other girls that I had bonded with during the training camp. We didn't have a lot in common, but she was really sweet. We had great chemistry on the ice, which Coach Alpin pointed out after our first session together.

"What's up?" I asked. I wasn't exactly in a rush to get home after my classes. My mind was at war with itself; did I try to impress Simon, or try to send him the message that I still needed space?

"Gennifer told me you were going to your boyfriend's game tonight—"

I cut her off before I could even stop myself. "He's not my boyfriend."

She grinned at me, clearly not buying it. "Sorry, my mistake. Anyways, I was wondering if I could tag along. I've got my eye on one of the guys on the team, but I need a reason to stalk his games."

Annamarie was harmless, but she definitely knew how to wrap a guy around her finger. I knew for a fact that half of the male student body would be coming to our first game just to get the chance to take her home after. Which was actually kind of disgusting that they would want to do that; we didn't exactly look beautiful after working our asses off.

But I would feel better if I had someone there with me. So I could avoid being alone with Simon. "I'd actually love that. Do you wanna grab some food on the way?"

"Sure! I can pick you up at your place in like an hour?" she offered. I nodded and gave her my address. Annamarie was one of the only girls on the team that actually grew up in Boston, so she had a car. I never realized how crappy it was not to have a vehicle. But driving my truck here would cost me an arm and a leg.

I hurried back to the house, trying not to stress over an outfit like a girl would on a first date. But I couldn't help that fact that I wanted to impress Simon. Badly. I wanted him to come out of the dressing room and kiss me in front of all of his friends. I wanted to tell my teammates that I was going to my boyfriend's game tonight.

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