The Friend Zone

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Truth Comes Out

"You've got a little mark there on your neck," he snickered.

"No!" I exclaimed, grabbing my phone and turning on my front camera, "Taylor fucking McCarthy!"

"I'm sorry!" he laughed.

"You don't look like it!" I laughed in return, elbowing him in the ribs.

"That hurt!" he whined.

"Yeah well you gave me a purple hickey, now we're even," I replied.

"Not the same," he laughed.

"You're right, everyone will see this thing," I said, "Nobody's going to know that I elbowed you in the ribs."

"Unless I walk around shirtless," he added.

"Please don't," I laughed, "You'll get frostbite."

"But what if I want to?" he asked.

"You're a dumbass," I grinned.

"I know," he grinned, "That's why I keep you around, you're a good influence."

"Yeah, that's why," I laughed, "I'm just kidding."

"I figured," he laughed.

"So how were the games? I couldn't get the stream to load Friday but I watched yesterday," I asked.

"Friday sucked," he replied, "We had a lead but then we choked and luckily won in overtime on a lucky shot from Campbell. Coach lit a fire under our asses though and we played better yesterday afternoon."

"You looked good yesterday," I remarked.

"I'm glad that was the one you caught," he laughed, "I looked like shit on Friday."

"Must've been because I wasn't watching," I grinned.

"Yeah, that's why," he laughed, now sitting up in bed, "Want to go get breakfast?"

"Sure," I replied, sitting up next to him.

"Then go find your pants, I'm not letting you out without pants," he laughed.

"Oh but you can go out without a shirt?" I asked with a smirk.

"Yes," he replied.

"Then why can't I go without pants?" I asked.

"Because I want to be the only one who sees your ass in those underwear," he said, trying to keep a straight face, only to end up grinning like an idiot.

"You're such an ass," I laughed, playfully shoving him, nearly knocking him off the bed.

"But you love this ass," he grinned.

"For some reason I do," I laughed as he kissed me on the lips.

###

I spent the rest of Sunday with Taylor, mostly studying for our first exam in our Monday class. I did most of the studying and he mostly just threw wads of paper at me and kissed me occasionally.

I got the exam done in ten minutes the next day, Taylor took a little longer but eventually got to practice on time by some miracle. We practiced an hour after they got off the ice, so I figured he'd stick around to watch me.

"Hey Tess," Amanda greeted as I sat down in my stall next to hers.

"Hey Amanda," I replied, "How's it going?"

"Good," she replied, "ready for this weekend, that's for sure."

"Me too," I said, "I'm really pumped. I hope we can get the sweep."

We were playing Lake Forest, the team that knocked us out of nationals last season but we hadn't played them yet this year so everyone was ready to go kick their asses.

"If we play like we did two weeks ago we should," she replied as the rest of the team trickled in along with Matt.

"Alright ladies, don't get dressed yet because we're going to have a little team meeting here first," Matt announced.

"Jeez Matt," Amanda grinned, causing Matt to shoot her a look, followed by an almost identical grin.

"As you've all more than likely noticed there's an empty stall here today," he said, looking over across the room from me where Kayla's stall was, "You guys probably are wondering why exactly Kayla is gone. Well, she was blackmailing another student with a falsely incriminating video. I know it's going to be the talk of the school, I was going to tell you guys what happened, but now I'm thinking Tess could probably tell you better."

"Well," I sighed, taking a deep breath, "You guys all know that Kayla was dating Taylor McCarthy until Thanksgiving. Taylor and I started dating a week later and she got pissed, like crazy pissed. Then over break she called him and said she had a video of him that was going to ruin him unless she took him back. He ignored her, but then when we got back she showed him this shitty video of some guy shooting up with some drug in the gym but you couldn't see his face. She told him if he didn't take her back she'd send it to Coach Lawrence and get him kicked off the team and out of school."

"Holy shit!" Lauryn exclaimed.

"Well I got ahold of the tapes from the other camera to prove it wasn't him and he basically said screw it and told her to eff off and she sent it to Coach Lawrence but then we gave him the other video so all is well now," I finished.

"Kayla was kicked off the team and the school and the local police department are charging her with blackmail," Matt added, "I won't tolerate anything like that, that bullshit doesn't need to happen. Does everyone understand?"

"Yes coach," we said in unison.

"Alright now, lines are up on the board, first and third lines wear white, second and fourth wear yellow, defense black, scratches wear whatever color," he said, "You've got half an hour."

"Hey Walters," the other Amanda remarked as we walked out of the locker room.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"I'm sorry if I was a bitch to you," she said, "I believed everything Kayla told me about you and I should've just gotten to know you and judged you off of how you treated me."

"It's okay," I replied, "really."

"Thanks," she smiled before getting onto the ice.

It's funny how things work out sometimes.

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