Chapter Five
Ryder
I pushed into the diner and held the door open for Lindsay. The place had a retro look, everything done in blue, white, and silver, from the big booths to the padded stools lining the bar, and even the large tiles on the floor. Newspaper articles blanketed the wall over the counter, everything Boston-themed, with several covering the Celtics, the Sox, the Pats, and of course, the Bruins.
Growing up, I’d been all about the New York Islanders—hazard of having a father who played for them until his retirement and eventual transition into high school coach so he could personally make my training a living hell. Dane and Hudson were Rangers fans, and we often argued back and forth, debating and defending our teams. But I’d never seen any fans quite as dedicated as Boston’s, regardless of the sport. I still wouldn’t mind a few Islanders articles in the mix, but when in Rome and all. What was really great about this place was the food, the fact that it was open twenty-four hours, and that the owner had a soft spot for hockey players.
Dane spent half his nights here, and no surprise, he was seated in his usual booth. What had changed over the past few months was that he rarely spent his nights here alone anymore. Megan’s strawberry blond head rested on Dane’s shoulder, and they were flicking sugar packets through the napkin holder uprights on the other side of the table.
When I glanced at Lindsay, she had that considering-bolting expression on her face again. What happened to her to make it so her first instinct is to flee?
I didn’t want her to feel like I was always pushing or pulling her, as if she didn’t have an option, but I think she sometimes needed a little push. Admittedly the excuse to touch her again also factored into my decision-making skills. I guided her toward the booths to the left.
I nodded at Kowalski when we neared his table, and he did a double take, his eyes going comically wide. Subtle.
“Bro. Hey.” Kowalski shot Lindsay a cautious smile. “Lindsay.”
The line of her jaw tightened. She sucked in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Dane Kowalski.”
She and Megan exchanged polite hellos, and I instinctively stuck with the study aspect of our outing. “I’m helping Lindsay with one of her math classes, but we’re also starving, so we figured we’d get a bite to eat while we made our way through her homework.”
“I loathe math,” Lindsay said. “But since I need this stupid class to graduate, and Ryder here is apparently a math enthusiast—or possibly a masochist—I’m at his mercy.”
Megan’s eyes lit up. “Really? I love math. If you ever n—”
Kowalski planted a kiss on her, going a little above and beyond on the PDA, but when he pulled away, Megan had clearly forgotten she was in the middle of a sentence. “You just looked so pretty I couldn’t help myself.” He added a canary-eating grin and then they went back to gazing at each other that way they always did.
I’d accused Kowalski of being a shitty wingman before, but I knew he just came through for me in a big way—my teammate undoubtedly knew as well as I did that if Lindsay could get Megan’s help instead of mine, she’d go that route. Totally selfish to keep her to myself, I knew, but the girl was finally talking to me, and I needed the excuse. If things went south, I’d give her Megan’s info, but I wasn’t about to give up now that I had my foot in the door.
“We’ll leave you to it,” I said, nudging Lindsay into a booth a couple of tables away. I scooted beside her instead of taking a seat on the other side, because how could I help her with a table between us? I liked this tutoring excuse more and more and I planned on squeezing every drop out of it.
“I’m kind of surprised that Beck’s okay with his sister dating Dane Kowalski—especially if they make out like that in front of him.” Lindsay’s posture tensed. “Not that I would really know anything about those guys. I’m just assuming. You know. Big brothers and what not. Whitney talks about the team sometimes, and I read her articles, so…” She pressed her lips together. “And I’m done rambling now.”
“Ramble away—I like it. When they first got together it was a big deal, but Davenport adjusted.” That was definitely the CliffsNotes version. The longer version had involved a lot of drama I’d done my best to stay out of. A week or so ago, I’d been worried it’d affect the team right before we all needed to be at our best for playoffs, but so far so good.
Lindsay dragged her fingertips across the edge of the table, focusing on the motion. “I’m not sure what you’ve heard about me, but—”
Larry showed up with the coffee and menus before Lindsay could finish whatever she’d been about to say. I’d heard snippets of conversations here and there, but all I really knew about her was she worked for the paper and hated hockey players.
We ordered and then I turned back to her. “You were saying?”
She stared across the table at the blue vinyl, her finger circling the ring of her mug over and over. “Never mind.”
I wanted to push, but at the same time, I worried she’d shut down, so we started her assignment instead—at least math had solid, irrefutable answers that I knew how to find. A few minutes in, our food arrived, the greasy scent making my stomach rumble.
I poured ketchup on my burger, made a big puddle for my fries, and then moved to put some on Lindsay’s plate.
She covered her food with a dramatic “No!”
“Sorry.” I righted the bottle and held it out to her. “Do you have a thing about pouring your own ketchup?”
“I have a thing about not putting disgusting ketchup on my food so I can actually eat it.”
“You don’t like ketchup?” I knew she’d just said as much, but in my family, we put ketchup on our ketchup. My roommates turned up their noses when I put it on my eggs, and I could sort of understand that, but burgers and fries? How did you eat those without ketchup?
She wrinkled her cute little nose and used her pointer finger to push the bottle back toward me. “It’s gross.”
“First math, then ketchup. I’m not sure how I feel about this.” I studied her and gave a dramatic sigh. “You’re not who I thought you were.”
She rolled her eyes, but a smile tugged at her lips. “Yeah, well, I’m having my doubts about you, too.”
“Maybe if you started eating ketchup, you’d find that math suddenly made perfect sense.”
“Pass.”
I swiped a handful of fries through my ketchup and then made a big show of how much I enjoyed it. Lindsay scooted her plate farther from mine and I laughed.
After eating the bulk of our food, we hit the books again.
As she worked out a problem, I put my arm on the back of the booth and got lost in the way she wrinkled her eyebrows and bit her lip. Man, she was sexy. I was good at math and all, but if our situations were reversed and she were trying to teach me…pretty much any subject, I’d never be able to focus on anything but those lips.
Over the past few months I’d felt this void in my life. I couldn’t exactly explain it. I had my position on the hockey team, my classes were going well, and I liked my roommates even though they were occasionally idiots—especially when it came to girls—but there was just something missing. Maybe that was why I’d set my sights on Lindsay so hard after one night where, honestly, all she’d done was glare at us and threaten to call the cops.
Right when I’d decided it was time to give up on anything ever happening between us, we’d spent that hour together the other night. Even the whispering of the connection made me want more. I wasn’t much of a talker, but I wanted to talk to her, even though it intimidated the hell out of me. Half of what I’d achieved was because I didn’t let a little thing like common sense get in my way, and I wasn’t about to start now.
“Ox.” She snapped her fingers in my face, literally snapping me out of it. “You’re kind of staring.”
“I’d say admiring, but…”
Pink crept across her cheeks. So her fight-or-flight response wouldn’t kick in, I leaned over and studied the problem she’d completed.
She pointed the tip of her pencil at the solution she’d scribbled down. “Is it right?”
I nodded and she grinned, and that triumphant smile hit me right in the gut.
Movement caught my attention and Kowalski and Megan slowly approached. “Hey, I don’t know if you guys are into Shakespeare,” Megan said, “but Dane and I were about to head over to Babson. The same troupe who does Shakespeare in the Commons is doing a few showings there right now to prepare for summer.”
Lindsay’s automatic refusal was written across her features, and while I was far from into Shakespeare, disappointment rose up.
But then Megan added, “They’re doing Twelfth Night.”
A light hit Lindsay’s eye—longing if I had to guess. Time to slam my way through that tiny opening.
“Yeah, that sounds like fun.” I covered Lindsay’s hand with mine. “Watch me impress you with my psychic skills…” I pressed my fingertips to my temples. “I sense that you like that play. And that while you’re thinking of how much stuff you need to get done, going might prove to me that you don’t actually have a grudge against fun.”
Lindsay tilted her head and gave me a saucy look that only made my heart beat harder. “I think you’re overestimating how much I care about proving stuff to you.”
“It’s also free,” Megan added. “And I could use another girl along. Dane’s willing to try these Boston outings with me, but sometimes he doesn’t fully appreciate really good music or things like Shakespeare.”
“Oh, we’re taking my car, and I’m playing my music,” Dane said. “That’s part of the deal.”
While they started arguing about the merits of One Direction, and Megan said something about how he’d made a promise he couldn’t simply go back on because he didn’t realize she’d take him up on it, I turned to Lindsay.
“I’m down for trying something new. And I think they might kick you out of the English program if you refuse to attend a Shakespeare play. Is that a risk you really want to take?”
Lindsay ran a hand through her hair and then toyed with the ends. “I do have a thing for the Bard. Especially Twelfth Night. It’s my favorite play of his, and I heard that company is amazing. It’s actually been on my bucket list of things to do here, but the shows always happen when I’m back home for the summer.”
“That settles it. We did the math, and now it’s time for a fun outing, as per our arrangement.” I closed her textbook then scooped it and her notebook up. I stood and extended my hand. For a moment I thought she’d leave me hanging, but then she slapped her palm in mine.
I tugged her to me and shot her a big grin. “Shakespeare here we come.”