The Friend Zone

Chapter Twenty-Six: Realization

 That Friday was the first of the two biggest games of the regular season against Lake Forest. I went crazy with my gameday prep that weekend, starting it all on Thursday morning with a light workout at 7AM. I ate like I ate on gameday then went to bed at nine that night.

Taylor's team also had games this weekend, their first game was Saturday night, then another on Sunday afternoon. Our games were Friday night  and then Saturday afternoon.

"You ready for gameday?" Taylor asked as we ate breakfast together on Friday at nine.

"I've been ready since Monday," I laughed.

"You guys will be first if you get at least three points, won't you?" he asked.

"If we sweep, win and tie, or win and lose in OT, we'll pull ahead," I replied.

"Nice," he replied, "You think you guys can win?"

"If we play how we did two weeks ago we'll kick ass," I replied, "Especially now with Kayla gone and no more drama."

"Yeah I bet that helps," he replied.

"Are you going to go after her for blackmail?" I asked.

"I talked to one of the local cops and he said it'd be a long process that'd cost a shitload of money," he replied, "I don't know, I don't want it to last that long. I want it to just go away. Besides, I don't really have any money anyway."

"I understand," I said, "It probably isn't worth it."

"She's going to be asked not to come back after this semester," he said, "So I guess that's good."

"She'll be out of our hair, which is going to be fantastic," I remarked.

"Yep," he replied, snagging a piece of sausage from my plate.

"What's up?" I asked, "Seriously, you've been weird all morning."

"My dad called me last night," he replied, "Said he's coming to the games this weekend."

"Ouch," I remarked.

"I didn't answer, he left a voicemail, which was barely intelligible," he added, "It was one in the morning, I'm sure he was drunk."

"I'm sorry Tay," I sighed.

"There's a reason I didn't go back for Christmas," he said, "And a reason I stayed with you guys the last two summers I don't want them in my life, it just stresses me out."

"I totally understand," I said, "Honestly."

"I know, you've gone through the same shit," he said, "I just don't have the heart to cut them off."

"You don't have to," I replied, "Just keep your distance, that's all."

"But he's going to want to go to dinner with me after and I don't want to spend any time with him," he replied, "Seriously."

"Tell him you're going to dinner with me then," I replied, "That you don't have time."

"That's what I was planning on doing, gosh I'm such a bad person," he said with a halfhearted chuckle.

"No you're not," I said, "Because we probably would've gone out either way, right?"

"Right," he replied.

"Don't sweat it," I smiled, kissing him on the cheek, "It'll all be okay."

###

We won our game that night by a score of 4-2, the last goal being an empty net goal after they pulled their goalie with a minute left. The Amanda's both had a goal, Kelsey grabbed a goal, and I scored the empty net goal.