A Hockey Tutor (7 page)

I was still brooding when Katie walked into the classroom several minutes later. She sat down next to me without a word. The class started, and I actually paid attention. I even surprised myself when I knew some of the stuff the business professor was talking about. I'd been tutored by Katie for a few days, and I actually retained some of the information.

“So, what’s with the temper tantrum?” Katie asked as we left the building.

“What are you talking about?” I stopped on the sidewalk, turning to her.

“Come on, Andrew, what gives?” she pressed.

I took a deep breath. “I don’t like Wes. That’s all it is.”

“I know. He told me.”

My jaw dropped. “He told you?”

She nodded. “He said that you were still upset with him because his team won the Juniors Championship.”

I clenched my jaw and fisted my hands. “I don’t want to talk about it.” I wanted her to know the truth about what a jerk Wes was, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her.

She gave me a sad small smile. “Okay. How about we talk about the next class?” For the rest of the day, we only talked about school, homework, and end-of-the-semester projects. I didn’t mention Wes, Juniors, or anything hockey-related.

Chapter 7 – Katie

It had been the longest week. Between tutoring with Andrew, doing my homework, and hanging out with Wes, I was exhausted. TGIF. I gave Andrew a no-study day, since the season opener was tonight, and he was doing a great job.

I got out of the shower and sat in front of my laptop. I needed to send Mr. Moore my weekly report. When I finished that, I was planning on going over to Andrew’s to make sure that he was up and ready for school. The past few days, he’d been up, and even somewhat dressed.

I heard a knock at the front door, and Lindsay answered it. It was probably Franks for her.

I kept tapping at my keyboard, finishing up the report, and then sent it. I looked at the clock. I needed to finish getting ready if I was going to make it to Andrew’s on time.

“My, my have the roles reversed.” I turned towards the sound of Andrew’s voice.

I gasped. “Really, you just waltz into my bedroom?”

“You do it to me, every morning.” Andrew came in and sat down on my bed.

“I’m paid to do that,” I reminded him. I looked down at my outfit. I had my short shorts on, and a tank top. Damn it, why didn’t I have a bra on?

He chuckled.

I watched as his eyes roamed up and down my body. I stepped over to him and slapped him on the shoulder. “Ouch,” he said, rubbing the spot where I’d hit him.

“Stop staring me like I’m a piece of meat,” I growled at him.

“Well, stop looking so fucking hot,” he said with a smirk.

Even though his words made my insides quiver, I rolled my eyes and went into the bathroom to finish getting ready. I got dressed, did my makeup and hair, and then came back out. Andrew was still in my room, but now he was looking at the picture on my desk.

“That’s you, isn’t it?” He pointed to me in the picture.

I nodded.

“So, who’s the guy?”

I felt the tears creeping up. “That’s private,” I snapped.

“Whoa,” he said, throwing his hands up in surrender. “I was just asking. I didn’t mean to hit a nerve. I’m sorry.” He retreated from the desk and the picture.

“It’s okay. You didn’t know.” I shook my head, trying to restrain my emotions, looked at the ground so he wouldn’t see the tears in my eyes.

Andrew walked over to me and took my hand. “I am sorry. I didn’t mean to pry. I swear.” His rough hands squeezed mine, and his touch seemed to calm me.

“We better get going, or we’ll be late for class.” He released my hand, and left my bedroom.

I got into Andrew’s car, and he drove us to the first class. We had three classes today, and time was going slowly. I figured since I had given Andrew the day off, I could get some picture time in at the park. That is, if these classes ever finished.

Four long hours later, I fell into Andrew’s car, exhausted. If I had had to sit through one more monotone lecture, I would have fallen asleep in class.

Andrew asked me to go to lunch with him, but I declined. I told him I would see him that night. He dropped me off, and I strolled into the apartment.

Once I was in my bedroom, I dropped everything on the floor and stared at the picture on my desk. Memories of Nick came flooding back. I felt one hot tear stream down my face. No, I can’t fall apart right now.

I collapsed onto my bed, rolling away from the picture, and the memories. I had planned to go shoot some pictures, but now I didn’t want to. My phone rang, and I recognized the ringtone. It was my parents.

“Hello,” I answered, trying my best to sound chipper.

“Sweet girl, how are you?” my mother’s bubbly voice came through the phone line.

“I’m great, Mom. How is the family? How’s Malden?”

My mother rambled on about the ins and outs of my hometown. I only half listened to her as she talked, because I really didn’t care. I left Malden for a reason; I didn’t want to be part of that small town gossip mill. When Mom was finished, she asked me questions about school and work. “How’s your job at the diner going?”

“Oh, I got a new job. I’m not at the diner anymore.”.

“Really? What are you doing?” Mom asked.

“It’s a tutoring job, and it pays really well.”

“Well, that is great. Your father will be so proud to hear that you’re not at that diner anymore.”

Honestly, I don’t think my dad cared one bit about where I worked, as long as I didn't ask him for money. Mom asked if I was coming home anytime soon. , With all that I had been juggling, I hadn’t even thought about it.

“I guess not until Thanksgiving.”

“Oh, that’s perfect. I love you and I’ll talk to you soon.” I could hear the glee in her voice.

“Love you, too,” I said, and I hung up the phone.

**

“Katie?” Lindsay's soft voice woke me from my slumber.

“Yes,” I said hoarsely. My mouth was dry, and my lips felt like sandpaper.

“Are you going to the game? If you are, you need to get ready.”

“Okay.” I cleared my throat and stretched my limbs. I grabbed my phone and saw that Wes had sent me several texts. I didn’t want to send him anything now; I knew that he would be getting ready for the game. Plus, I would see him later. I got up and started getting ready for the night ahead of me.

**

It was the third period with a minute left. North Maple Bears were up by two. Andrew hadn’t let one puck into the goal. My throat was sore from yelling and cheering, and I was so nervous, I had twirled my necklace so much that I thought I would have broken the chain.

Thirty seconds left, and the other team stole the puck and sprinted towards Andrew. I held my breath. Andrew squatted down into position as the opponent shuffled the puck from side to side. He took the shot, and Andrew easily caught it in his glove. We all went crazy.

The teams’ forwards lined up for another face-off, and I silently prayed that Andrew could hold them off for another twenty seconds. The puck dropped again, and everyone was scrambling to get it. The last few seconds felt like a lifetime, but he held them off. The crowd erupted as the final buzzer went off. We had won!

I watched as the Bears congratulated Andrew. All of them but Wes, who remained by the bench. I couldn’t figure out what it was between them. They absolutely did not like each other. I followed Franks and Lindsay out of the rink and out to our cars.

“You’re coming to the party tonight, right?” Lindsay asked.

“I’m going to hang with Wes for a little bit, and then we’ll come over,” I explained.

“Okay, see ya later.” She gave me a quick hug and walked away with Franks.

Wes told me he would meet me at ten. It was only nine thirty, so I stopped and grabbed a quick snack. I couldn’t eat when I was at the game, because my nerves were on edge.

I parked outside of Wes’ building and sat there. It was October and the air was getting much colder. I sat in my car, listening to the radio, thinking about my crazy life now. I was dating a great guy , I had an amazing best friend, and I had a job that paid me killer money and gave me a BMW to use. I had it all.

I wished Nick were here to see all that I'd accomplished. I would give it all up just to hear his voice again, teasing me, or calling me names. I looked down at my necklace. The silver ‘N’ was shiny from the streetlight.

I saw Wes’ truck pull up beside me. His poor mother must work so hard to make sure he had all these nice things. I felt bad he didn't know who is father was. Even though my dad and I didn't always get along, I was glad to have him in my life. Wes smiled at me as I got out of the car.

“Great game,” I said as I hugged him.

He nodded. I followed him up the stairs to his place. He unlocked the door and turned on the lights.

“I’ll be right back,” he told me, heading towards his bedroom. I sat down on the couch and checked my phone. There was a text from Andrew:

I need to celebrate with friends. Where are you?

I couldn’t help the glee I felt from the text. Andrew thought I was his friend. That was sweet. This past week we had spent a lot of time together, and it was going to be the same when he returned from his games Sunday night. I texted back:

I’m with Wes, be over later. Don’t forget you have to be up early.

He texted back right away:

Yes, MOM.

I giggled. I knew that I had been acting like a mom to him, but that was my job. I heard Wes come out from the bedroom, and I noticed he had changed his clothes.

“Are we ready to go to the party?” I asked.

“I’m not going.” Wes said firmly.

“Oh. Don’t you want to celebrate with your friends?”

“I want to spend my evening with you, having sex all night, until I leave for my road games.” He jerked on my arm to bring me closer to him.

“Um . . .” I looked into his eyes, confused. He looked mad, and my heart started racing. She wracked her mind for something to say that wouldn’t upset him. “Wes, you seem tired. How about I just go, and I'll see you when you come back from the road games?” I pulled my arm from his grasp. My instincts were usually right, and right now my instincts were telling me to leave.

“Katie,” he said, standing up and staring me down like I was his prey, “I’m in love with you.”

“What?” I yelped. “You’re
in
love with me?”

“Yes,” he said boldly. “I want to show you how much, by having you in my bed all night long.” He stepped closer.

“Are you nuts?” The words left my mouth before I could stop them. “I mean,” I shook my head to compose my thoughts, “I like you, but I don’t
love
you.”

“Look,” he said, exhaling deeply, and raking his hands through his hair, “I told you how I feel, so let’s just go and have sex, okay?”

My blood began to boil. Who did he think he was? “Wes, let me explain something about me: I don’t just fall into some guy's bed because he used the ‘L’ word. Now, I like you, and I think we have a great time together, but I’m not going to fuck you because you said you love me. Sorry.” I grabbed my purse and quickly left before he could say anything else.

Where the hell did that come from? As I drove to Andrew’s house, I thought about the past week that we had spent together. We had made out a lot, but I had always stopped it before it went too far. I wasn’t ready to sleep with him, and I certainly wasn’t going to sleep with him because he said he loved me. That line never worked on me. And that’s what it felt like—a line.

I needed Lindsay and a lot of alcohol. I had to park down the street because everyone was parked all around Andrew’s place. The bass of the music began to beat in my chest as soon as I got out of the car. I walked up to the house and pushed through the crowd, trying to find Lindsay.

I finally found her, with Franks, who was laughing with Andrew. I had never noticed how Andrew’s face lit up when he laughed. That was probably because when he was around me, I was making him work harder than his hockey coach, and there wasn't much time to joke around.

“Katie!” Lindsay yelled and waved at me. Andrew turned and looked at me, his smile still on his face. When I looked into his eyes, I almost forgot the reason I was.

“Hey.” I hugged Lindsay when I reached her.

“Where is Wes?” she asked, looking behind me.

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t ask, let’s just drink.”

“Oh no. Tell me later?”

“Yep.”

“Here,” Andrew said, handing me a cup. I looked at it questioningly, not sure if I should take it. “I promise, I just made it, and there is nothing in it but a lot of alcohol.”

“Perfect.” I took it from him and chugged it. He wasn't kidding about the alcohol. It burned my throat, and down my chest, but I didn’t care.

“Katie, are you okay?” Andrew asked, his voice full of concern.

I nodded, and went to the bar to make another drink. Wes’ “I love you” kept replaying my head, and I didn’t want it to. I saw a bottle of unopened tequila. I silently said thank you to the God of Alcohol for having that waiting for me, and popped the seal. I filled my glass with a double shot and chugged it.

Andrew came up behind me, and whispered in my ear. “Katie, come with me.” I held onto the bottle tightly and followed him up the stairs.

He always kept his bedroom door locked during parties, because he didn’t want anyone up there. He unlocked it and we walked in.

“Okay, tell me, what is going on? Did Wes hurt you?” He crossed his arms. I noticed that his biceps were tight, and about to rip through the shirt he was wearing.

“I’m sure you don’t want to hear this, and besides,” I took another drink, “Wes is your teammate. I don’t think he would appreciate me talking to you about this.”

“Wes
is
my teammate —I can’t change that—but you are my friend, and if he hurt you, I will kill him.”

“Why is that?” I inquired. “I mean, every time I mention his name, everyone gets this horrid look on their faces.”

Andrew stared at me. For a moment, I thought that he was going to tell me, but instead he shook his head. “I just don’t like him.”