Mindless

Four

~Callie~

"God it's so good to have you over here instead of hundreds of miles away. I was going to go insane if I had to listen to one more girlfriend tell me I should join their book club that runs every Tuesday morning." 

"Don't you train through the week?" Lil glared at me as if that was her point. God I need to get my brain back here ASAP. "They sound like total Pippa." 

"Oh my god! That's exactly what they are!" Lil slapped my arm as she turned more in her seat to face me. "What's new with you anyway? I don't feel like we've caught up properly since you moved back here." 

"Sorry, I've been super busy with work and everything and then Liz is going mad with wedding planning." 

"Oh yeah! How's that going?" I sighed. "Not good?" 

"I fucked up." 

"How?" 

"Well-" I turned to Lilah, pulling my bottom lip in between my teeth. "You know how they all are about me dating someone Lil. Remember when I went home for Christmas in first year and fucking Cody left that huge ass mark on my neck and it went crazy because he clearly wasn't what they expected me to be dating." 

"God I forgot about Cody." Lil laughed, not flinching as 2 fully grown men slammed into the plexiglass barely a foot from our face. She looked up, made sure it wasn't Theo and returned to our conversation.  "Go on." 

"I may have told them I am in a relationship." Lil stared at me. Blinked once. Then a second time. 

"You?" 

"Mhm." 

"In a relationship?" 

"Yes." 

"And they were dumb enough to believe it?" 

"Lil." She smiled, rolling her eyes as she sat back. "It'd be fine but now they're flat out demanding I bring him to the wedding but the major thing is I may or may not have told them it was someone Theo works with." Lil snapped her head to me and I sunk in my seat. "It just slipped out! They were playing all holier than thou and 'Caroline, you need to settle down with a lawyer or a doctor or a business man who can fill you with children and have you cooking and cleaning for the next 60 years until you die'." 

"Bit dramatic." 

"You clearly haven't spent enough time with my parents." Lil looked up at the clock and nodded her head, gathering her stuff and dragging us through the crowds to the club bar at the back of the stadium. After every game the guys had a few drinks in here before going about the rest of their days doing their own thing. Something about team building. 

"So why did you tell them you were dating a hockey guy?" 

"To get them to leave me alone. My dad hates hockey. It's a dangerous, stupid game filled with men with too much testosterone and not enough respect for other people, let alone his perfect daughters." Lilah scoffed. "The only way I can ever get them to shut up is when they think I'm rebelling against them because they think trying to stop me is going to push me further into it. The first time I dyed my hair my mum's eyes almost popped out of her head but they said they loved the colour and we never spoke of it again." 

"So, let me get this straight. You told your parents you were dating one of Theo's team mates to piss them off?"

"Not piss them off, per say." 

"Right. But to shut them up?" 

"Yes." She handed me a beer, collapsing into a booth like she belonged here and letting out a long slow breath. "I don't know what to do Lil. I go home without him and they will undoubtedly set me up on multiple ambush dates and I know- I just know it'll be Sebastian which is literally the worst thing that could possible happen again. Or I bribe one of the team to come with me-"