"Guess what I bought!" Blaine said to me as soon as I answered his FaceTime call.

"Dude, I have to leave in five minutes for Viktor's game. Make it quick," I said.

"Guess."

"Is it a present for me?"

Blaine thought for a moment. "Indirectly, yes."

"Indirectly?"

"Guess."

"Okay, is it a million dollars?" I asked.

"Why would I buy a million dollars? That was a really shitty guess."

"You're a shitty person, but I still like you."

He frowned and shook his head. "Don't remind me."

I studied his face for a moment. His eyes, usually so full of life and joy, showed something else, and even though I was dumber than Arti in math class when it came to emotions, I could figure it out that he wasn't particularly happy.

I smiled anyway. "Just tell me what you bought."

His eyes brightened, then he held up a ukulele.

"Dude, what the fuck?" I said.

"It's a ukulele. Pretty slick, huh?"

"Do you even know how to play it?" I asked.

He shrugged. "It can't be hard. I already wrote a song for you, though. I kind of stole the Cho Chang slash Ginny song from A Very Potter Musical, but it's pretty fucking awesome."

I rose my eyebrows and smiled. "I'll be the judge of that."

He strummed the ukulele once and cleared his throat. "You're as cute as a panda, I don't understand ya, Amanda. I'm the dictator to your propaganda, the building to your veranda, Amanda. I wanna take you to Atlanta, where we can buy a tandem, Amanda. You're prettier than Miranda, you're from Minnesota, which is practically Canada."

"Who's Miranda?" I asked.

"Did you even listen? She's clearly some girl that's not as pretty as you."

"You have horrible rhyming skills," I said, covering my mouth as I laughed.

He smiled, pleased with himself. "It's not my fault you have a name that doesn't rhyme with a damn thing."

"It was creative though. I'm impressed. I didn't know you were so talented with words."

"It took me several hours on RhymeZone and one mental breakdown, but I finally figured out how to put my feelings into words."

"That I'm propaganda? Okay."

He laughed. "It's true." His smile decreased ever so slightly. "I just really miss you."

"Don't waste your time on that. We're not even together anymore."

"Technically speaking, sure, but I'd still miss you even if I wasn't in love with you."

"Well, I miss you too, I guess."

"You guess?" He laughed in annoyance. "You guess?"

"Fine. I know I miss you, I've been missing you way too much, and it's beginning to freak me out."

"Okay, so let me ask you something. You have any plans for spring break?"

I shook my head. "It's October. I don't have the time or mental capacity to think that far ahead right now."

"Good. Then you, me, Arti, Viktor, and even Matt if he wants are all going to a wonderful place where I may have access to a vacation house."

"Oh? What wonderful place?'

"Wisconsin, baby."

I laughed. "You do realize that the point of spring break is to take a break from the cold weather and go somewhere warm, right?"

"Not all of us are in Minnesota right now. It's still warm here in Waco." He laughed.

I shook my head. "As long as I'm with you guys, I don't care where we are. I was just teasing you a little."

"Aw, how sweet. You're making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside." He smiled, then his eyes widened. "You wanna hear a funny story?

"I don't know. Sometimes your funny stories aren't funny."

"This one is. I promise. Okay, so I was going to class one day, and this guy had his skateboard attached to a dog leash. Don't ask me why, because I have no fucking clue. But I think he was taking it for a walk or something, and he was making barking noises as he dragged it along behind him. The wheels weren't even on the ground. He was literally dragging the thing."

"Was he okay?" I asked.

"I'll be real with you, I have no idea. But I was walking past, and then he looks up at me, picks it up, and goes, 'He's one of them, Sparky. Let's get out of here.' And then he picked the skateboard up and ran away."

I laughed. "Um, okay. You're one of what?"

"I don't know. I don't know shit, Amanda. And there was this other time that this guy asked me if I believed in intelligent life somewhere else in the universe, so I said sure. Then he turned to his friend and said, 'See? He's not weird and he believes.'"

"You are weird, though."

He smiled. "But to the average person, I appear fairly normal."

"Okay, I have to go. I'll talk to you later," I said with a smile.

"Wait, I have one more thing I have to tell you."

"What?"

"So the other day, my mom called me, and she was all like, 'Blaine, I miss you. Just yesterday I was potty training you, telling you not to lick the carpet— '" He laughed. "You know how moms get."

I forced a smile. "Yeah."

"And so I was telling her about how I am super fucking poor and I can't sustain my eating lifestyle. So she sent me a bag of spaghetti in the mail."

"Like, cooked spaghetti?" I asked.

He nodded and laughed. "Yep. So if you ever want some, I'll get my mom to send you some."

"Thanks."

He paused for a moment, then looked at me. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Being an impulsive asshole who thought he knew what he wanted."

I frowned. "There's nothing to apolo—"

"Amanda, I'm just sorry, okay?"

"You hate this just as much as I do, don't you?" I said.

I didn't think he and I ever realized just how much we loved to be around each other. We just took it for granted, and we figured it couldn't be that difficult to be apart.

He nodded. "Even more than you do, I'm sure."

I put on a smile. "Don't think about how amazing I am then. Focus on something else, like all the terrible things Arti has done to you over the years."

"That's not gonna help. I miss her making me suffer."

"Then what the fuck do you want me to do about it? I can't fix this."

He rose his eyebrows. "Well, for starters, you could stop with the attitude."

I rolled my eyes. "I mean, I could, but why would I want to?"

"You're gonna get yourself punched in the face by someone eventually for running your mouth."

"And I'll punch them right back."

"Good strategy."

I smiled. "Okay, I seriously have to go now. Can we talk tomorrow?"

"Sure, baby. Have fun, okay?"

"Nope. I'm gonna be miserable for no fucking reason. It's gonna be great."

Blaine laughed. "God, I love you."

"Damn right, you do."

"Oh my god, that reminds me—"

"Not now. I'll call you tomorrow, alright? I seriously have to go."

He frowned. "Fuck you."

"Fuck you too."

"Can we just never hang up?"

"No. Bye."

"Amanda, I swear to God, if you hang up on me, I'll tell my mom to never make you spaghetti."

"Don't fucking threaten me." And with that, I hung up.

Not even a moment later, I got a text from Blaine. "FUCK YOU."

I smiled.

I loved this game.

***

After Viktor's game (a W, of course), I waited for him, and as soon as he saw me, he smiled.

He must have felt good about his game.

I didn't really have much to say to refute that.

"What are you so happy about?" I asked.

"Two goals and an assist. That's what I'm happy about." He wrapped his arm around my waist as we strode out the doors.

"Well, why didn't you get a hat trick, you piece of shit?"

He hesitated, trying to determine if I was serious. "I-I'm sorry. I just thought—"

I smiled. "Calm down. I really don't have many critiques for you today."

"Really? I thought for sure you'd rip me apart."

I laughed. "I'm flattered, but you're really turning into a star. It's great. You're doing the little things right, and that's giving you so many more scoring opportunities. I guess you finally figured out that pretty goals and ugly goals both count as one point."

"You think we have a shot at this?"

"At what?"

"Getting drafted?"

I paused for a moment. It was the first time he expressed any interest in it. "I know it. Just keep it up, and there's no way in hell anyone wouldn't want you on their team."

The laziness or indifference that he had shown in high school and even through the first couple games of this season had been replaced with passion seemingly out of nowhere, and I couldn't hide my enthusiasm.

"Here, let me get something for your Insta," I said, taking out my phone.

"It's dark. I don't think you can get a good picture." He laughed.

"A quote, at least?"

He thought for a moment. "Nope. I don't have anything profound to say."

"Work with me."

"Okay, let's see." He paused. "I can't just think of something deep now. I need some motivation."

"I'll hit you with your goddamn hockey stick if you don't think of something real fast."

"That's not the way I work, Candy Cane." He laughed. "Can you just make something up for me?"

"Amanda Jayne is my favorite human ever."

"I like that." He smiled. "It's not a lie, you know."

I gasped. "She's my favorite person too."

"I'm not even surprised, honestly."

I laughed. "I can't be your favorite person, though. That's Matt's job."

"I really do love Matt, but there's just something about you. You have a certain charm."

"It's the Jayne Charm. Matt has it too."

"I guess that's true. I can't imagine how different my life would be if you two weren't in it. Matt was the only one who seemed genuinely interested in me when I first came to the US, and you were the only one who didn't have a fake interest in me my second time here."

"How old were you the first time here? Eight?"

He nodded. "Yep. I came here for a hockey camp, but my English wasn't too great. I could understand what people were saying, but sometimes talking was more difficult than it should have been. I didn't really say much throughout the first day, but Matt kind of figured out that I was having a hard time and always sat with me, listening to whatever sentences I managed to put together."

"He was always the darling out of the two of us," I said with a laugh. "Sounds exactly like him."

"He was amazing. A lot of the kids wanted to be friends for a week, but he let me figure out what I wanted to say, helped me when I needed it."

I smiled. "That's so cute. I love the way you two talk about each other. It's the sweetest thing."

"And for you, I kind of walked into the US the second time, expecting it to be like the first. People want me to know them, but not to know me. But you just didn't want anything to do with me." He laughed.

"That's what I always told myself, at least. Just, 'as long as he stays out of my way, I'll stay out of his.' You can't really stay out of each other's way when you live together, though. I think you always interested me, especially after the luggage fiasco, and I guess I always wanted something to do with you, but I didn't want to ruin anything else. You seemed to have no problem ruining stuff, though, and that's what I hated."

"Ruin?"

"Yep. I had my friends, and you were supposed to have yours. You and Arti just had to switch lanes, though."

"If I would have known that it would be such an issue, I wouldn't have even looked at her."

But if that would have happened, Blaine and I wouldn't have been forced together. Arti would still be a lie, in her mind. And there would have been no exchange or hockey for Viktor. Everything would have been different.

I smiled. "I wouldn't change anything about it, though."

"Really?"

I nodded. "Not a damn thing."

"I would. I wouldn't have left my luggage by itself, and I wouldn't have put up such a fight against you, and I wouldn't have left you alone with Lukas."

I looked up at him. "It doesn't matter now. None of that matters."

That was a lie. It all mattered.

But even so, I still wouldn't have changed anything.

As we walked by the Sig Kap house, where I had just been with Caroline earlier that morning, it occurred to me that I had never mentioned any of my latest Dr. Mann struggles to Viktor.

But he had enough on his mind. If he worried about me, it'd affect his game, as I already knew from past experience. The Draft was supposed to be his priority.

"Looks like they've got a party going on in there," Viktor said.

"Yep. I kind of got invited."

"What? Then why aren't you there right now? They have the best parties on campus."

"Because I have no interest in parties. I have other priorities."

"Don't ever let me keep you from doing your own thing. Let's go now." He grabbed my hand.

"I really don't want to, Vik. Caroline just invited me out of obligation. I just formally met her this morning."

"It'll be fun. You deserve it."

I sighed. "No drinking. You're in the middle of hockey season, and your body is a temple."

It was my biggest rule for him. I didn't care what he did during the offseason, but the season was for hockey, and I wouldn't let him do anything to potentially put himself at risk.

"I won't, I promise," he said.

"And no leaving me. I don't know or care about any of those people."

"I won't."

"Okay. Then we can go."

We walked up to the door, and when he opened it for the two of us, we were hit with a wave of loud music.

"Fuck no. I'm leaving. There are way too many people in there," I said.

"No. It'll be fun." He grabbed my hand and took me inside.

I decided against putting up a fight. He seemed excited, and I wasn't going to be the one to ruin it again for him.

"'It'll be fun,' said the extrovert who actually likes people. 'You deserve a break,'" I muttered, but I couldn't even hear the sound of my own voice.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for reading! What's gotten into Viktor? Who would have thought he could be so pushy?

Well, it isn't the first time.

This was a pretty long chapter, so I decided to split it into two parts. The second part is actually one of my favorites, and I'm excited to share it with y'all!

And one more thing ("Oh my god, Kennedy. Just shut up!" –You, probably). So this semester is significantly more work and much more difficult than last semester. I have two lab reports due every week, and basically, I'm going to just die until May. But that's not an excuse, but rather an explanation if I don't update on time. Thank you and have a wonderful day/night!!