Reflex

[b]Carey’s Point of View[/b]

I crouched in front of the goal, following the action on the other side of the rink. In front of me, PK skated back and forth, watching as well.

Amazingly, Sarah’s hangover cure worked. When she was pouring the Bailey’s into the coffee, I got a little nervous, but it seemed to work well enough. The PK who was puking this morning was now alert and ready to save a goal for Debby, if for nothing else just to prove a point.

The puck started coming down the ice towards me, and I tensed up, ready to move. PK intercepted, pushing the Ranger out of the way and passing the puck off to Tom Pyatt. PK noticed a camera following him, and he blew a kiss. I snorted and rolled my eyes.

The game stopped for the TV networks to go into commercials, and I flipped my mask up to drink some water. Leaning on the goal, I saw that Sarah was sitting next to Coach Martin in the box. She caught my eye and winked at me.

“Stop staring at the team’s little sister, Price!” Pyatt shouted as he skated behind me, laughing and trying to keep his muscles going.

“Fuck off, Pyatt.” I shouted back.

It was true that within a week all the guys loved Sarah like a little sister. I don’t think there was anyone (myself excluded) who hadn’t been in her office yet to talk about their girlfriend. It was almost ridiculous. And after everyone heard about the hangover cure this morning, she’d probably be stuck to these guys until the day she died.

The ref signaled for the game to start again, and I flipped my mask down and got ready for play to resume.

There was something about Sarah that kept me from thinking of her as just another girl. She was too pretty, too interesting.

~*~

The locker room was rowdy after the game – we had won. Everyone laughed cheerfully teased others. Coach Martin came in.

“Good job, boys.” He said. “Sarah is proud of all of you as well.”

“Where is she?” Andrei asked.

“She’s waiting outside for you all to get dressed, but you all look decent. I’ll get her.”

I looked around. Most of my teammates only had pants on.

Sarah walked in, her heals clicking as she smiled at everyone. “Good game, everyone.”

Andrei swept her up in a hug and spun her around. She laughed and shrieked.

“Dinner?” he asked her when he put her down.

“Sure.”

“Dress nice. You’ll meet my girlfriend Anoushka tonight. You in, Price?”

I nodded and pulled a shirt over my head. I smirked when I noticed Sarah staring at me.

“PK, you coming? Or do you have a phone date with Debby?”

The room burst into laughter as PK threw his towel at Andrei. “Fuck off Markov.”

Andrei shrugged. “Just the four of us then. Good, it’ll be a double date.”

“I’m going to go get ready then. What time are we going?”

“An hour.”

“Cool.”

She left and Andrei punched me in the shoulder as he passed. “You’re picking her up.”