The Hookup Pact

17| Evelyn

I was this close to punching the next person who opened their mouth to give advice. Everyone needed to calm the fuck down and let Kris take his time.

Poor baby was struggling as it was.

Was he my baby? No. But after practicing with him for hours and trying to make him comfortable speaking in front of the camera, I very much felt like a mother. A very angry mother who was hanging by a thread and trying her best not to commit a felony.

"You're doing great, Kris. It's okay. We can do the take again," I said, offering him a gentle smile before nodding to Tyler. He nodded back and went back to looking into the camera, probably starting afresh.

Someone snorted behind me. "Like heck he is."

I snapped around so fast that I almost sprained my neck. But that didn't stop me from glowering at the freshman who was standing against the living room wall of the hockey house for absolutely no reason. All he had done for the past hour that we had been trying to record was spew unsolicited advice and crowd the space with his unrequired presence.

When he saw my eyes on him, he lowered his head and pretended to check his phone. He better keep that empty head of his down before I smash it against the wall.

It was Saturday and after a lot of delays and changes, we were finally kicking off our interviews. With the hockey season starting, both the media team and the guys had a lot on their plate. On top of that, the board had decided to give the hockey team a separate YouTube channel which meant we would be requiring a lot more content than short clips.

Apparently, the number of players on the team who had a chance of going pro was a lot higher than ever before. And the university wanted to bank on it. I'd overheard Coach's conversation the other day and got to know that coaches of big NHL teams were already showing interest in some of the guys. Now it was our job to make sure that they saw their best moments.

Kris had wanted to go first and get done with it so that he wouldn't have to simmer in anxiety until his turn came around. I had agreed by saying that it was a good plan but now I wasn't so sure. Maybe he needed more time.

Dylan had volunteered to do his interview simultaneously so Kris wouldn't feel alone. And even though Kris was taking way longer to answer a question and we had to do retakes every few minutes, he had been surprisingly patient and supportive. My thoughts about him were slowly changing to positive.

"Uh... Yeah, I have been playing since I was eight. But I had learned skating even before that. My mom was a figure skater. She used to bring us to the ice rink every now and then and that's how I developed an interest in skating and later hockey," Kris said. I noticed how a smile formed on his lips and his green eyes twinkled as he talked about his mom.

My heart warmed on seeing the happiness on his face. I could bet he had a very loving mom. At the same time, the ugly feeling of jealousy filled my chest. I never had the chance to experience anything like that. My mom never waited around to introduce me to new things.

Sometimes I wondered if I would have turned out differently if my mom had been beside me throughout the years. If my likes and dislikes would have been different had she been there for me. But sadly that was all I could do. Wonder.

"Evelyn?" Noor placed a hand on my shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I blinked at the notepad in my hand with all the questions and cleared my throat. "Sorry," I mumbled. "Same question to you, Dylan. When did you start playing hockey?"

As the camera turned to Dylan, he gave a wide grin. "I started playing around seven I think. We have a small lake in my hometown that freezes in winter. All the kids used to skate there. The older kids would play hockey after everyone went home. I guess that's how I developed an interest."