Sasquatch to the Moon

36: Nico and Rocket

There's a knock on the door and when Nico pulls it open it's none other than Håkon himself.

He points behind him. "Hadley can't do anything without you, so he sent me to get you."

"Yeah, I got it," she turns and winks at me. "I'll leave you two alone."

Oh you asshole. I follow her out the door.

Håkon frowns at the two of us. "What does that mean?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing." Nico gives us a cheeky little smirk and I flip her off behind my back, making sure Håkon can't see.

He points at her walking away, confused. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing important, trust me," I nod at him. "Just Nico."

"Uh, I mean, that felt important, did, does she know?"

"What? No. No no no, I wouldn't do that to you." I pat his shoulder. "I'm going to go let Fen take slapshots at my head, enjoy defensive drills."

"Hold on." He grabs my arm. "If it wasn't about that, why the fuck did she just act so weird?"

I shrug. "No idea, girls, am I right?"

"No, Nico isn't girls. Nico is Nico."

"Okay, but Nico is biologically female, making her girls." I point out.

"Why are you acting weird. Ever since-"

"I'm not acting weird."

"Yes you are."

"I'm a goalie."

"That's a shitty excuse."

"This is a lot of worry for someone who's not my boyfriend."

"Why are you deflecting everything I'm trying to ask?"

"This is not a fantastic time for our first argument." I pull my helmet up to put it back on, but Håkon grabs my arm and puts it back at my side.

"You're deflecting. Why are you acting weird?"

"I'm not acting weird!"

"Yes you are!" He takes my arm and pulls me back into the locker room.

"God won't anyone just let me practice today? What's up with all this? First it's Nico and now you too? Next thing I know Steph's going to be in here bawling his eyes out over August for the third time this week!"

"Rocket I just want to know why you're acting weird, like you're hiding something."

"Feelings." I shrug, trying to come up with a good excuse. "You know how goddamn annoying you are all the fucking time?"

"Me? I'm annoying?" He seems a little shaken up. "You're the one in here being-"

"No, not actually annoying, I mean it's annoying to watch you skate around out here and not get to enjoy all this." I gesture at him.

"What the fuck does that mean."

"Enjoy it. You know what I mean."

"Rocket you-"

"I'm going to go back to goalie practice, Paxton and Fen probably miss my amazing company."

He's got a firm grip on the front of my jersey, so when I attempt to make my escape, I can't.

"Rocket you know you can't just say shit like that, right?"

"But I did," I shrug. "What, is it offensive?"