As I walked into the locker room, it was dead silent. You could have heard a pin drop. All of the guys were standing there in full padding and skates, ready to go, all facing me as I entered.

"Care to share your latest development with the team?" Coach asked. "They don't seem to believe me."

I scoffed quietly. "Not that it's any of your business," I said loudly to the team. "But I've finally finished watching The Office."

A glove was thrown at my head. A grumble rolled through the crowd. "Not that smartass," Coach said in his most coach-like voice. "The girl from the parking lot."

"Oh yeah," I said as if I had forgotten. I couldn't forget her, I could still taste her on my lips and feel her fit body beneath my fingertips. "I got a girlfriend."

If I thought that the silence in the locker room was stifling before, it was nothing compared to this. Not so much as a blink came from any member of the team. The agonizing wait for a reaction was starting to make my skin itch.

"He's simping!" I heard somebody call from the back. The locker room exploded with cheers and whistles. It was almost like I had just won the Stanley Cup. I suppose it wasn't every day that your team captain got a girlfriend. I found myself being jostled around, patted on the back and jumped on as I tried to make my way over to Danny and Cooper who were both waiting next to my locker with cocky-ass smiles on their faces.

The locker room quieted down and Coach was able to yell above the ruckus once again. "Everyone! Out on the ice! Miller, Johnson, Fisher!"

"Yes coach!" we replied in unison. "I expect you on the ice at ten."

I had no idea why coach was being so lenient with us, but as I looked more closely at my friends, Danny had pink markers all across his left cheek and Cooper looked like he had just been to hell and back and was on the downfall of a terrible hangover. I was probably grinning like an idiot, what a group, the three of us.

The lowerclassmen left the locker room, leaving me and the guys alone. "So you finally manned up," was what Danny chose to say to break the silence.

"Shut up man," I said teasingly.

"It was a long time coming," Danny added to his own thoughts.

"We are talking about Lili, right?" Cooper asked.

"Yeah dumbass," I said. "Who else?"

"Just making sure," Cooper said defensively. "You know that you look like an idiot, smiling like that," Cooper informed me as I started to get into the gear that he had so graciously brought for me.

"You know you look like the walking dead, with that hangover?" I asked him back rhetorically.

"Okay guys no need to argue," Danny said, ever the mediator.

"You know that you look like an idiot too right?" Cooper asked.

"Yep," I agreed. "The pink marker below the cheek really brings out your eyes."

"What?" Danny asked as he rushed to the nearest bathroom mirror and attempted to scrub the pink off of his face. "You let me walk around like this!" he shouted at Cooper.

"I'm clearly not in the right state of mind," Cooper informed him.

***

Practice was brutal. Well I didn't think it was that bad, but it was clear who the guys that partied the hardest were. Cooper was yacking barely ten minutes in. For every time that someone got sick, it was another suiicide run for the rest of us. By the end we were all tired and panting.

"Hey Danny, could you give me a ride to Lili's place?" I asked as we exited the building.

"Miss your girlfriend already?" Cooper sang teasingly.

Yes.

"I gave her my car to get home, I'm going to need it back," I informed him.

"No problem man," Danny told me. We made our way over to his kid mobile. A suburban dad car with a baby seat placed securely in the back, taking up half of the room. We drove for a few minutes and we ended at Lili's apartment.

"I'll just run in and grab my keys," I told the guys. "I'll meet you guys back at home."

"Okay," Cooper said with a wink.

I hit him in the back of the head as I left the car.

I walked up to Lili's door with my bag slung over one shoulder. I pressed the buzzer. There was the sound of someone answering.

"Who is it?" Lili asked.

"It's me," I answered. Then I realized that she might not know who I am, but it was too late to clarify. Should I have clarified?

"Come on up, Josh," she said. The door unlocked and a wave of relief washed over me.

I walked up the four flights of stairs to her apartment and knocked on the door. She opened it almost immediately. "Hey Blondie," I said when she smiled at me.

"Don't call me that," we said in unison. I smiled. I loved that I knew what she was going to say before she said it.

"Come in," she said as she walked away from the door leaving it open for me. I followed her into the apartment, closing the door behind me.

"Hey Cami," I said as I passed Cami who was sitting on their couch. She glanced over at me and she was the mirror image of Cooper. Bags under her eyes, very pale, and looking tired as hell. "You look like shit," I observed.

"Wow," Cami said sarcastically. "I had no idea. Thanks for telling me."

"You're welcome," I told her. I steered myself into the kitchen before she could get another word in.

"Here are your keys," Lili said as she held my keys out to me.

"Thank you," I said with a smile. Instead of taking the keys from her, I pulled her into me by the belt loops in her jeans. She moved closer to me with a smile on her face and a soft giggle. I pluck the keys from her with my left and I place them on her counter, while keeping my other hand firmly on her waist.

"I want to take you on a proper date," I told her.

Her face was overcome with a smile. "You do?"

"Absolutely," I confirmed. It was all I had been thinking about since I had left her earlier. "How about Friday?" I asked.

"I- um," she stuttered.

"Her birthday is on Friday dipshit!" Cami yelled from the other room.

"Your birthday is on Friday?" I asked her.

"Yeah," she admitted.

"You should have told me," I said.

"It never really came up," she shrugged. "I don't really celebrate my birthday anyways."

"Why not?" I asked.

"You know that I don't really like the party scene," she joked. "Cammi and I usually watch Sixteen Candles and binge eat an entire sheet cake."

"As fun as that sounds," I said. "I want to do something for you on your birthday."

"Don't go out of your way," she started to say.

"Nonsense," I interrupted. "You're my girlfriend and I want to do something special for you."

"Say it again," she said. Her dazzling violet eyes looked up at me.

"Nonsense," I said.

"Not that," she said with a scrunched nose.

"I want to do something special for you?" I asked. I knew it wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"Josh," she laughed.

"You're my girlfriend," I relented.

"I like that," she told me.

"I like that too," I said. I gently tipped her chin upwards so that I would have better access to her lips. I leaned in and gently placed my lips on hers. Her vanilla chapstick made her lips taste sweet. Her mouth molded to mine perfectly. I bent down and lifted her up. She immediately wrapped her legs around my waist and I smiled beneath her lips.

"Ah-hem!" Cami coughed loudly. We broke apart our kiss and I looked at Cami. I felt Lili bury her head in my neck to hide her laughter.

"Can we help you with something, Camille?" I asked her.

"I just came in here to get a glass of water, and I would really appreciate it if you didn't have sex on our island," she said.

"I would never," Lili said at the same time that I said, "no promises."

I let Lili go and she dropped onto the floor. "I should go," I told her. "I offered to ba-help," I metally cursed myself for almost slipping, but Cami didn't seem to notice, "Danny in ten minutes."

"Okay," Lili said a little bit reluctantly.

I felt the same way, but I had told Danny that I'd watch Mila a week ago. "I'll call you later," I promised her.

"Okay," she agreed. She reached up and our lips met softly. "Have fun," she said as our kiss ended.

"I will," I told her. But not as much as if I had stayed with you," I thought.