Alex: Practice just let out. See you soon.
Mabel: No need, I'm already here.

I peek at the missed text from Mabel while I tighten the towel around my waist with one hand. She's here? At the arena?

The locker room door whooshes open, and Mabel steps inside.

"I got the—" she pauses in the doorway, wide eyed. "Oops."

Yup. She just waltzed right in to a locker room full of sweaty dicks.

"Jesus Christ," I mutter under my breath. I shoot my teammates dirty looks as I cross the room to her, and thankfully most of them have the decency to cover their junk.

Luke cackles from his cubby, bending over in a fit of laughter. "Oh my God..."

"Zip it," I growl over my shoulder at him.

Mabel covers her face in her hands, her cheeks flushed a deep pink. "There's so many of them... I'm such an idiot."

I have to bite back a laugh. Sure, Mabel's intelligent, but what did she really think would happen?

"What are you doing here?" I ask lightly.

"I got the job," she mumbles into her palms. "I was excited so I walked over here, but...I've never seen so many penises in my life, Alex. I'm so humiliated."

Despite our surroundings, I can't help but pull her into a hug. "You got the job? That's so great, babe."

Mabel returns the hug halfheartedly and then shuffled backwards, one hand still cupped over her eyes while the other searches blindly for the door handle. "I'll, um...meet you outside. Okay?"

She doesn't wait for my response, and as soon as her fingers latch onto the door knob, she rushes back out into the hall.

"...at least she's hot," someone says from across the room. "She can look at my cock all day long as long as she promises to stick that pretty little mouth of hers on it."

"Shh, shut up man, he'll hear you," another voice responds frantically.

I spin on my heel, my spine straightening defensively. "I dunno who just ogled my fucking girlfriend, but keep your eyes and hands to yourself, douchebags."

"Or what?" My gaze lands on a freshman towards the back of the room. He's a D-man and is wearing a cocky grin as he crosses his arms over his chest defiantly. "She's fair game if she walks into a goddamn locker room, Woods."

"Garrett..." Davey, the prick who danced with Mabel over a month ago, clamps a hand on the guy's shoulder in warning.

My jaw tightens, my teeth clenching together painfully, and I stalk across the room to them. "Wanna say that again, asshole?"

Garrett's smile wavers the tiniest bit, and his Adam's apple visibly bobs up and down as he swallows harshly. "Yeah. She's—"

I don't give him the chance to finish. With one hand keeping my towel secure, I raise the other one, my fist colliding with the edge of his jaw. Garrett stumbles back, his fingers catching on the metal frame of a locker just in time to keep him from landing on his ass.

"Woodsie," Luke calls out, hurrying to my side. "Dude, dontcha think..."

"How about we save this aggression for the game this weekend," Davey pipes in, earning himself a glare from me. Fucking peace keeper. "We're a team, guys."

Garrett pushes himself upright again, spitting blood onto the floor at my feet. "What the fuck, Woods?"

"Keep my girl's name outta your goddamn mouth, prick," I seethe.

I know that I need to calm down; to step back, and take a breather before the situation escalates any further, but this Garrett kid looks like a grimy son of a bitch. I don't even want the thought of Mabel to cross his mind, nor her name to leave his dirty mouth.

"Alex..." Luke tries again, going so far as to place a hand on my shoulder.

I try to shrug it off, but his grip tightens, his short fingernails curving under the bone and digging in.

How the hell did this happen? I've never hit my own teammate before, and definitely not over a girl.
I shake my head to clear my thoughts, and shoot Garrett one last glare before heading back to my locker to get dressed.

Mabel stands against the cement wall, her nose in her phone and her cheeks still tinged pink from the earlier embarrassment. She looks up when I leave the locker room, smiling shyly, and the tension finally eases from my muscles.

"How was practice?" She asks, taking the hand I extend for her.

I brush my lips over her knuckles lightly, closing my eyes at the contact. "As good as it could've been. Coach is a little pissed because he thinks some of the guys gained some holiday weight instead of keeping up with the work out regimen, but he always finds something to be crabby about." I open my eyes again to look at her and find Mabel watching me with an odd expression. There's a sense of longing in those green eyes of hers, but I can't understand why. After all, I'm right here with her.

"What happened to your hand?" She flips our clasped hands over and nods at my reddened knuckles, arching  an eyebrow.

"Punched one of my teammates...?" My words trail off into a question, and I duck my head to hide my face as I begin leading her towards the main entrances..

"You what?" Her shoes squeak against the floor as she struggles to keep up with my long strides. "What the heck, Alex? Why would you do that?"

"Because he's a punk with a big mouth," I answer with a shrug.

"You can't just go around hitting people," she grumbles, and I don't have to turn around to know that she's wearing a disapproving look. "He's your teammate, there shouldn't be bad blood between you guys. What if it comes out on the ice?"

I laugh haughtily. "Yeah right. He's a freshman, he still has to prove himself. That fucker would be lucky to be on the ice any time outside of practice."

"Alex," Mabel whines, tugging on my sleeve with her fingers.

With a sigh, I stop walking and turn to face her. As expected, disapproval shines clear in her expression by the way her lips are set in a hard line, and her green eyes are narrowed.

"I thought my aggression turned you on," I remind her lowly, my voice dropping an octave. "Are you just mad that you weren't there to watch?"

Her lips part and her eyes cloud over. "N-no. No, that's not what I meant."

I give her my best smile. "You sure about that, babe? I can haul his ass back out here and hit him again if you want."

"No, that's not what I want," she says with a huff.

I shrug indifferently, and bend to give her a swift peck on the cheek. "Suit yourself."

We continue on our way outside to my truck, and I only let go of her hand to let her climb into the passenger side.

"So when's your first day of work?" I ask as I start the engine.

"This Friday they're having me come in for a training shift," she murmurs, peeling up instantly, and her excitement is contagious. I can tell that she's proud of herself, and for a good reason. I know that she struggles a lot with her anxiety, especially since hearing that her father is looking for her, so it's kind of a big step for her to actually want to be around strangers in public. It fills me with a sense of pride to see her overcoming her fears.

"Do you want to go out after to celebrate? Nothing says 'congrats on your new job' more than free drinks."

Mabel stays quiet for a moment, pondering over the invitation. "That sounds like it could be fun."

"You still have your fake ID?"

"You want to go to a bar?" She raises both eyebrows at me.

"Why not? We seem to have a good track record with them," I reply with a wink.

Her cheeks brighten, and I know she's thinking of the night she came forward about having feelings for me.

"Okay," she agrees in a small voice. "Friday it is then."

✖️✖️✖️

The rest of my first week of classes flies by. The first week has always been my favorite because it's more laid back, even while taking higher level courses. Professors generally spend their time going over what's expected, outlining future projects and what will be taught over the semester, and it's a bit of a relief. Coach rams us hard during practices, more demanding than ever, as we near the middle of the season. I'm pretty convinced that well at least make it to play-offs, as most of the team is, but Coach is convinced that we're coming up on a time that could make or break our record. Needless to say, by Friday I'm definitely ready for a drink.

Tyler, Luke, and I head to the bar first, picking one that generally gets a lot of traffic so that the girls will be able to get inside without much difficulty.

"You guys suck, I hope you know that," Luke grunts, slamming three beers down on the table.

I shoot Tyler a questioning look, but when he shrugs I turn back to Luke and arch an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?" I ask, pressing the bottle to my lips to take a drink.

He slides in next to Tyler with a childish huff. "You two both landed girls—hot ones might I add—at like the same fucking time."

Tyler grins and reaches out to pinch Luke's cheek. "Aww, are you jealous?"

"No, you fuck-tard." Lucas bats Tyler's hand away and takes a deep pull from his beer. "I lost my wingmen. We used to be the ultimate trio, and now I'm left having to go out with the underclassmen on the team."

I kick him playfully under the table and lean back, stretching out an arm over the top of our booth. "Can't land chicks by yourself?"

"I can too," he grumbles back, earning a laugh from both Tyler and I. "I just miss it is all. We used to have fun together, ya know?"

"We can still have fun, Luke," I tell him reassuringly. "We've still got another hour before Mabes and Hazel get here. Why don't Tyler and I help you land a girl for the night."

"Woodsie..." Tyler says lowly, shooting me a wary sidelong glance. "Not so sure that's a good idea."

"Sure it is," Luke pipes in, grinning from ear to ear. "It'll be just like the old days."

"See?" I nod in Luke's direction. "It's not like we'll be looking for girls, but our buddy is in need of some assistance with his game."

"Alright, if you say so," Tyler agrees with a soft sigh.

I roll my eyes at him, not understanding what the big deal is. I have no interest in taking anyone other than Mabel home tonight, so I don't see the harm in helping a friend find someone for the night.

____________________

Noooo Alex, what are you doing?!

I didn't add a little banner this chapter...not gonna lie, it's probably cause I'm feeling lazy.

Also it gets hard sometimes to pick out a quote from the chapter you wrote yourself.
And weird. Sometimes it's weird...

Anywho, thanks SO much for the 4.2k+ reads! Means the world to me 😭😘