Girl Posing As A Boy

Chapter 7: Laura/Nick

Making sure that our phones are charging on the table and the lights are off, me and Will crawl into our respective beds. Me on the bunk bed and him on the regular.

"Good night.", Will says.

"Good night, Willy boy.", I sleepily reply.

"That's really cute.", Will responds.

"Go to sleep.", I smile under my covers.

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The next day, Friday, January 9, we have midday practice -- 10 am to 1 pm. At 10 am on the dot, we're on the ice practicing basic skills which are skating, stickhandling, passing, and shooting. Coach North comes in and we stop and listen.

"Good morning, everyone.", Coach greets us.

"Good morning, Coach.", we all greet her back.

"So, yesterday, I said that we had a game coming up with DRU's junior men's hockey team.", Coach North begins. DRU stands for Diamond Ring University. "That game is still on. It'll be held on the 24th, like I said yesterday. That's in a week and a day.".

"And, we'll win!", Archie exclaims.

"Calm down, Archie.", Will says. "We won't know if we'll win or not until the game.".

"That's right.", Coach North looks so proud of Will. "We will not know if we will win until the game. And, even though some of us have played against DRU before, we also have new players... Aiden Delaney, Eli Kahler, Conner Robinson, Nick Thompson, Andy Ziegler, and our other goalie, Jake Evans. We still have to take DRU seriously and we absolutely cannot lag behind in our training.".

We continue with practice, and it goes by smoothly. Later, me and Will go back to our dorm room on our own. We have one more class, and it's at 3 pm. So, we have one and a half hours. Will collapses on his bed as soon as we get through the door.

He lets out a big sigh, "Practice is tiring!".

I go to my desk and drag my chair over to his bedside, "Practice pays off.".

"I'll agree with that.", Will's easygoing smile then disappears. "So... you... you're into men.".

My smile also disappears, "Yeah. What about it?".

"When... when did you realize it?", Will asks. He looks nervous, like he's afraid he's going to offend me. Also, why is he asking me all the hard questions?

I reply anyway, "When did I realize that I like men?".

"Yeah.", Will nods.

"Ever since I was young.", I responded.

Well, that's true, at least. I've always liked guys.

"Okay.", Will's smile is back on his face, but it doesn't match his eyes.

"What's bothering you?", I ask.

"What do you mean?", Will asks back.

"You're pretending to be okay when you're not okay.", I reply.

"No, I'm not.", he counters.

"Yes, you are.", I return.

"No, I'm not.", he narrows his eyes.

"Yes...", I begin, but stop. "I'm not playing the yes-no game with you again. There is something bugging you, but you aren't telling me what. That's okay, because we haven't known each other long. You don't need to tell me every little thing. But, I do hope that you talk to someone about it.".