“He just took me by surprise, that’s all.”
Graham stretched as best he could in the passenger seat. “Jesus. What a rough couple of days.”
“I could use one or two with no drama.”
“You know what I want? Forty-eight hours in bed. You. Me. Maybe a couple of movies. Sleeping. Sex. Food, because eventually we’d get hungry. But no interruptions.”
“Sounds great. But instead, you’re going to get midterms. And spring training.”
He sighed. “I know. But eventually we’ll be off this treadmill, right? You promised me a camping trip in Vermont. I want to pick apples and have sex in a tent.”
At that, I cracked up. “You
heard
that?”
“Of course I did.” Graham tried to give me money for lunch, but I waved him off. The lady from the next window handed down our bag, and I moved the car to face a grassy slope at the back of the restaurant.
Graham passed me my sandwich, but he said something that made me forget to eat it. “Hey, Rik? I’ve decided not to play hockey next year.”
“What?”
Calmly, he stirred his salad together while he talked. “There are a whole lot of reasons. And some of them you’re not going to like. But just listen, okay?”
“Okay.” Although I doubted that I could ever agree with this.
“For one, I don’t want to risk another concussion. Supposedly, if I got another one, it would take twice as long to heal.”
Oh. “Ouch.”
“No kidding. But also — I need to make some changes. I want to stop hiding. But I have to do it on my own time. And I don’t want us to be the gay couple on the team. I don’t want to be in the news. So I’m not going to play.”
“
Jesus
, Graham! You…”
He held up a hand. “You’re still listening right now, please. Originally, I played hockey because of you. It was your pick.”
“…But you’re
good
at it.”
Graham shrugged. “Not as good as you. But that’s not the point. Just shut it for a minute, okay? There are other things I want to do instead. Do you know Dan Armitage?”
I shook my head.
“He’s going to edit the
Daily News
next year.” That was our college paper. “He needs a sports editor, and I’ve always kind of wanted that job.”
“Really?”
“Really. I want to write about lacrosse and football. A couple of guys have gotten jobs at ESPN from working that beat.”
Huh. “That’s cool. Except you never mentioned that before.”
He put down his fork. “I
know
that. My whole life, I never got in the habit of saying what I wanted. I’ve got one year of college left. And I want to spend it on the things I choose.” He reached across the gearbox and put a hand on my chest. “
All
the things I choose. And mostly, I choose you.”
“Well, shit…” That made me swallow hard. “It was your team first, though.”
“Whatever. I’m just glad you showed up to be on it.”
Holy hell
! It had finally happened.
Carefully, so as not to disturb the various food items on our laps, I pulled him by the back of the neck just far enough over to kiss me. “You’re it,” I whispered. “A perfect ten on the Rikker scale.”
“The what?”
But I couldn’t even explain without my voice breaking. So I sat back in my seat and just studied him. He was wearing Ross’s crimson ‘Bama t-shirt, and watching me with those cool blue eyes.
“Love you so much, G,” I choked out.
He stole one of my French fries. “Love you, too, Rik. Now eat your lunch so that we can go home.”
THE END
THANK YOU!
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The Understatement of the Year (The Ivy Years #3.)
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Also in The Ivy Years Series:
The Year We Fell Down (Ivy Years #1)
The Year We Hid Away (Ivy Years #2)
Blonde Date (An Ivy Years Novella)
Ivy Years #1:
The Year We Fell Down
The sport she loves is out of reach. The boy she loves has someone else. What now?
She expected to start Harkness College as a varsity ice hockey player. But a serious accident means that Corey Callahan will start school in a wheelchair instead.
Across the hall, in the other handicapped-accessible dorm room, lives the too-delicious-to-be real Adam Hartley, another would-be hockey star with his leg broken in two places. He’s way out of Corey’s league.
Also, he’s taken.
Nevertheless, an unlikely alliance blooms between Corey and Hartley in the “gimp ghetto” of McHerrin Hall. Over tequila, perilously balanced dining hall trays, and video games, the two cope with disappointments that nobody else understands.
They’re just friends, of course, until one night when things fall apart. Or fall together. All Corey knows is that she’s falling. Hard.
But will Hartley set aside his trophy girl to love someone as broken as Corey? If he won’t, she will need to find the courage to make a life for herself at Harkness — one which does not revolve around the sport she can no longer play, or the brown-eyed boy who’s afraid to love her back.
Find this title and more on Sarina Bowen’s Website
COPYRIGHT Sarina Bowen 2014. No portion of
The Understatement of the Year
may be used, reprinted, sold or shared without the author’s express permission.
THIS IS THE FINAL KINDLE EDITION, COMPILED AUGUST 27th, 2014.