What Are The Odds?: A college hockey romance. (Phil-U Book 1)

Grace

Train. Study. Levi. That had become my new normal. Though it was more like Levi. Train. Levi. Study. Levi. Honestly, not much studying was happening. But I hadn’t moved here to focus on my education. I’d come to experience the world, to see something other than my own backyard. I’d certainly done that. I had friends. A team. A boyfriend. It was more than I expected to get from this exchange. Almost too much more. It made the thought of leaving really hard.

“Next level,” coach shouted.

I bumped the treadmill up, forcing my legs to increase their pace. My entire body was coated in sweat. Not that it mattered. We had pool time once this run was done. My brothers had called yesterday, checking I had booked my flight home for Christmas. Shortly after I’d hung up, Levi had called, checking I had booked my flight for Thanksgiving. I had an interstate meet the weekend before, so I was meeting Levi and Will in Colorado. Our meet was in Chicago. Stella and Ava were staying there to spend the holiday at Stella’s brother’s house. I was tempted to stay with them. Thinking about meeting Levi’s family made me nervous. I’d never had to meet the family before. Luke and I had grown up four doors’ down from each other. I knew his parents almost as well as I knew my own.

“Next level,” coach instructed.

Beside me, Ava groaned. Sweat dripped off my body, sticking to the treadmill belt. If we kept this up much longer, I’d slip soon. Through the floor to ceiling gym windows, I focussed on the rising sun. Despite the constant state of freezing, it really was beautiful here. Though I was still eager to go home and defrost. I was going to get a shock stepping off that flight. It was hard to imagine a world where I wore bikinis, singlets and thongs.

“Final level,” coach ordered.

I could do this. One final push. Outside, the football team were running warm up laps around the oval. I’d barely spoken to Ryker since his Halloween party. We’d handed in the first part of our statistics assignment. Since then, he’d gone back to sitting with his friends. When we crossed paths, he always smiled or waved, but because I was usually with Levi, it never progressed beyond that. It was a shame. Ryker had been a good friend. As much as I still wanted to be his mate, Levi wouldn’t be fond of the idea. Not that I let Levi control what I did and didn’t do. But if there was a girl interested in him, I’d rather he didn’t hang out with her either. Speaking of. Summer Spritz strutted past me. Her booty shorts bordered more on underwear this morning. She studied me out the corner of her eye. She tended to glare whenever she saw me. I was glad the swimming team had their own changerooms, because she was as hostile as they came. The two girls Tripp and Ryan had brought back were part of her clique. I’d tried to block that morning from my mind, and I hadn’t sat on the couch since. Not because I was petty that Ryan had been naked on it, but because the thought of Levi having been in a similar position made me squirm. It was a stupid logic. Obviously he’d had girls in his bed too, and probably the shower and an array of other places. But I didn’t have the image of that. The couch I could see so clearly.

“Cool down. Get changed. Then meet at the pool.”

Coach was a man of very few words. After powering down the treadmill, I hunched over, doing my best to catch my breath. My hands slipped on my sweaty quads.

“That was fucked,” Ava murmured.

Stella was too out of breath to mumble a response. In silence we ambled to the change rooms and changed our activewear and sneakers for bathers and slides. I let my hair down and attempted to drag a brush through it. It was a fail. The dried sweat made it near impossible.

“Are we getting breakfast after this?” Ava asked.

“I have time,” I said.

Stella grunted her confirmation. I felt like I’d barely seen Stella and Ava lately. And it wasn’t just because I was spending so much time with Levi. They each had lives too, which included classes, catch-ups and nights out. The three of us hadn’t spent a night in our dorm together for weeks. When Stella and I were there, Ava wasn’t. When Ava and I were, Stella wasn’t. And often when I was there, I’d get sulky texts from Levi asking me to come over. More often than not I did. Mainly because the texts would become dirty, and he’d get me so worked up that I’d have no choice. I couldn’t exactly stick my hand beneath my blankets with Stella or Ava a bed over. Thankfully swimming meant I crossed paths with them each morning. And we’d have three nights in Chicago together before we parted ways. Diving into the pool was a relief. Some mornings it was so cold I dreaded it. That wasn’t the case today. Hockey Dad played through my waterproof headphones, giving me energy to complete my laps. I got through them as quickly as I could, eager to get to breakfast. Stella and Ava must’ve had the same idea. We reached the end one after the other. I made quick work showering and getting changed. By the time I was done, Ava had just stepped out of the shower and Stella was still putting her shoes on. The change rooms were stuffy from the showers and heat lamps. With my cheeks still red from training, it wasn’t ideal.

“I’ll meet you outside.”

When I walked out, I came face to face with Ryker. Like me, his cheeks were flushed from exercising. Though unlike me, he hadn’t showered yet.

“Hey,” I smiled.

His lips turned up. “Hey. Tough practice?”

“The worst,” I confirmed. “We ran basically the entire time.”

He grimaced. “Same.”

He dragged his hand through his hair, messing it up. Standing this close, I’d forgotten how attractive he was. His features were perfect, almost to the point of having being carved that way.

“How are things?” he asked.

Was this his subtle way of asking about Levi? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I was reading into it too much given that’s what our last proper conversation had been about. Shortly before Levi stormed into the room.

“Good,” I settled with. “And you? How’s football?”

“Everything’s going well.” He draped his sport’s towel over his shoulders. “I saw Phil-U dominated at the meet last week.”

I was surprised he’d kept up to speed. I’d only had one race, which I came second in, but the school had cleaned up.

“You’ve got another coming up. Chicago, right?”

I nodded. “When’s your next game? Maybe I can make it.”

His eyebrows pulled together. “You still want to come?”

“Of course. You can’t do an American exchange and not get to a college football game.”

Ryker’s eyes glistened as he laughed, and his famous dimple made an appearance. “Fair point. We’re playing at home this Friday night.”

“We’ll be there.”

“We?”

“Stella and Ava,” I clarified.

I hope they were free. Levi had an away game. He wouldn’t like that I had agreed to go. Especially because he couldn’t come with me. But I did really want to go to a game. I’d seen them on TV and read about them in books. College football games sounded nuts. And it’s not like I’d be there with Ryker. He’d be playing, and there’d be so many people in the stands he wouldn’t know where to find me.

Ryker beamed. “Great. I’ll sort out some tickets and get them to you.”