Fox’s Anthology
Two Days Later
It had only been half an hour into the car ride down to Quinnipiac and Ian was already complaining about “third wheeling” with Elijah and me.
“Ian, I let you have the front seat. You can’t complain,” Elijah commented from behind us.
“I had to take the front seat so you wouldn’t suck Fox’s dick while he’s driving and get us killed,” Ian retorted.
“I can still do that from back here,” Elijah pointed out.
“I wouldn’t oppose,” I said.
Ian groaned and covered his eyes with his hand, leaning his head against the window.
“You two must actually hate me,” he grumbled.
I briefly looked at Elijah through the rear view mirror and the two of us shared a grin.
“You love us,” Elijah said, Ian grumbling under his breath as he leaned his head against the window.
Ian was just irritable because he was nervous about moving into school, not that he would ever admit that. I just knew, being his best friend and all. I knew he would miss me, just as I would miss him, even though he was acting like he wanted to throw himself out of my moving vehicle.
We drove for another half an hour before I had to stop at the rest area. The three of us got out to use the bathroom, then Elijah went into the store to buy some snacks while Ian and I went back to the car.
“Why are you in such a bad mood?” I asked Ian when the two of us were alone.
“I’m always like this,” he replied with a blank stare. I really couldn’t argue with that.
“You seem moodier than usual.”
“You seem less moody than usual. Are you happy to be getting rid of me?”
I glared at him. “Shut up.”
Elijah got back to the car a moment later, sliding into the back seat.
“I got us pringles and cookies and waters,” he said, holding up the bag of snacks.
Then we were back on the road again.
When we finally arrived at Quinnipiac, there was barely anybody there. I dropped Ian off outside the housing office so he could get his room key and then we were off to find his room.
Ian was going to be sharing a suite with some of the other hockey players on his team, but he was the only one moving in early, so he would have the place to himself until the end of August. The suite was a decent size for a college dorm. There was a common area and a small kitchen area and two bathrooms. Around the common areas were the bedrooms.
The room was as big as to be expected for a dorm room. There was a bed on each side and I immediately chose the one on the left or Ian.
“What if I wanted the other one?” he asked me.
“Well, do you?”
“I don’t give a shit.”
We started unpacking his things which wasn’t a lot. Ian didn’t bring much with him, just his clothes, hockey things, and a few other items. It didn’t take us long to get everything unpacked. When we were done, it felt too soon and I didn’t want to leave just yet. I hated the thought of leaving Ian here all by himself. I was dreading it the moment I said I would drive him here.
“Do you want us to take you to the store to get anything else you need?” I asked him, trying to prolong us staying here without him knowing.
“I don’t need anything else,” Ian replied, not looking at me.
“You don’t need food?”
“There are stores on campus and dining is open,” he said.
“Extra sheets?”
“Fox.” He glared at me. The two of us were glaring at each other, and I hadn’t notice Elijah had made his way toward the door.
“I’m going to use the bathroom,” he said before rushing out of the room.
“Seriously, why are you being like this?” I asked him as soon as Elijah was gone.
“Me? You’re the one acting like a mother dropping her child off at school,” he snapped. “I don’t need you to fucking baby me, Fox.”
“I’m not babying you!” I exclaimed. “I’m just trying to make sure you have everything you need!”
“What you’re trying to do is delay the inevitable,” Ian replied, clearly seeing right through me. “I’m good here. You don’t have to try and stay here for hours.”
I nodded. “I’ll visit you again before I have to move in for school.”
“Okay.”
And then Elijah was back in the room. We only stayed for a little while longer before I couldn’t think of any more excuses for us to stay. Surprisingly, Ian let me hug him goodbye, and then we left.
Elijah could tell I was tense on the drive back. He reassuringly placed his hand on my thigh.
“He’s going to be okay, Foxy.”
I knew that.
***
The Party
Fall Semester, Freshman year of college
I had lost sight of Elijah a while ago, but the alcohol coursing through my system put that at the back of my mind. There were too many of us cramped into this room, bodies pushing up against me. I was playing beer pong with a few of m teammates until we started doing so badly we had to walk away. Now I was stuck between a group of people, drink in my hand and barely able to stand up right.
“Ridley!” someone shouted out. I couldn’t tell who it was at first. He pushed through the crowd and put his arm around my shoulder. “Are you up for another round of pong?”
It was Tanner, a friend of one of my teammates who had made it obvious the moment I met him that he was interested in me. He had made sure to let me know that he was bisexual just as I had made sure to tell him that I had a boyfriend, though that didn’t seem to deter him.
“I can’t even throw the ball straight,” I slurred, leaning against him.
He chuckled. “So I guess that’s a no go then?”
I nodded.
“That’s fine. I didn’t really want to play anyway,” Tanner said, keeping his arm around my shoulder.
I didn’t even think about how this would look to others to see us like this, close and embracing. Or how it would look to Elijah if he were to see. He already wasn’t a fan of Tanner, and this would make him angry.
“Your boy isn’t here?” Tanner asked, leaning closer to me to talk into my ear.
I looked around and there was no sight of Elijah.
“I don’t know where he went,” I said. “He was here.” Was he? I didn’t even know anymore. My head was spinning, my mind in shambles.
“And he left you?” Tanner asked, raising his eyebrows. “Like this? That’s not very good of him. Let’s go sit down.”
I wanted to tell him to shut up, to not talk about Elijah like that, but then we started moving and I had to focus on trying not to throw up everywhere which wasn’t easy.
The two of us eventually ended up on a chair together, sitting too close for comfort. Tanner had gotten me a water and himself another drink. He had his arm around the back of the chair behind me as he spoke to his friends who were around us. I groaned and leaned my head back on his arm.
I wanted Elijah. I wanted him to take me back to my room and lie down in bed with me while I slept off all this alcohol. I wanted to play with his hair, lay his head on my chest. I felt miserable without him.
“Elijah,” I groaned, leaning my head on Tanner’s shoulder. Or was this Elijah’s shoulder? I didn’t know whose shoulder it was anymore. All I knew is my head hurt and I wanted to lie down.
I thought I might have fallen asleep until I heard Elijah’s voice before me. And he didn’t sound happy.
“Let’s go,” he said in a clipped tone. I opened my eyes and looked up at him, my head still on Tanner’s shoulder.
“Elijah,” I said.
“Let’s go, Fox,” he replied, glaring over at Tanner.
“Don’t worry, Elijah,” Tanner said with a grin. “I took good care of your boy for you.”
“I’m sure you did,” he said in a snide tone.
“If he doesn’t want to go, I can make sure he gets back to his dorm tonight.”
Even in my drunken state, I knew that would piss Elijah off.
“Do I look like a fucking idiot to you?” Elijah snapped. He grabbed onto my wrist and pulled me up off the couch. My stomach turned at the movement, but I luckily didn’t throw up.
“Calm down, Elijah,” Tanner defended. “I’m just trying to help.”
“I’m sure you are,” he sarcastically replied before pulling me through the crowd and out of the room.
Once we were out in the hall, Elijah let go of my wrist and walked in front of me. I could barely even walk straight, let alone keep up with him.
“Elijah,” I called out. “Elijah, wait.”
He sighed but slowed down anyway, waiting for me to catch up. He let me put my arm around him to hold myself up and we continued our way back to my dorm.
We were silent the whole walk there. When we finally arrived, he dug his hand through my pocket to find my key then unlocked the door.
Elijah didn’t speak as he went through my closet to find me a change of clothes. He still didn’t say a word as he undressed and redressed me and put me in bed on my side. I expected him to climb into bed with me like he usually did on the weekends, but he pulled out my desk chair and sat down.
“Elijah?”
“What?” he asked, glancing over at me.
“Are you going to come to bed?”
He sighed. “No, Fox, I’m not. I’m going to make sure you’re not going to drown in your own vomit and then I’m going to leave.”
“Why?”
He shook his head at me. “Maybe because you left me alone at a party at your school where the only people I know are you and your friends, got drunk out of your mind, and by the time I found you, you were cuddled up with Tanner.”
“You’re mad at me?” I asked in confusion.
“Yes, Fox, I’m mad at you,” he replied. “Now go to sleep.”
“I can’t sleep if you’re mad at me.”
“Yes, you can.”
Elijah got up from the chair and turned off the light. I had moved onto my back, so he came back to the bed and put me on my side before sitting down on the chair. And then I eventually fell asleep.
By the time I woke up, Elijah was gone. He had left me a water and pain relievers on the nightstand. I barely remembered what had happened the night before, but I did know my boyfriend was angry with me and I couldn’t have that.
“Shit, fuck,” I groaned as I sat up. My head felt like I had been slamming it into a wall and my stomach still didn’t feel like I would be able to hold anything down.
Despite the pain I was in, I got out of bed and got ready for the day. I was an asshole who needed to go profusely apologize to my boyfriend, hangover be damned.
I stopped by the breakfast spot we frequented and got Elijah his favorite breakfast sandwich and coffee before making my way toward his dorm which was only about a ten minute walk from mine. I got into the building as someone else was leaving and made my way up to his room, silently hoping his roommate wouldn’t be there to witness me grovel.
Elijah opened the door after I knocked on it. He looked at me like he was fully expecting it to be me on the other side of the door, like he knew this was what he would be faced with in the morning.
“Hi,” I said sheepishly. “Brought you breakfast. Is Freddie in?” I asked, referencing his roommate.
“No, he didn’t come back last night,” Elijah answered, moving to the side so I could walk in the room. He took the coffee and sandwich from my hand and sat down at his desk to eat it.
“Look,” I started after standing in silence for a few moments. “I know I was a complete dick last night.”
“Yeah, you were,” he agreed, sipping on his coffee.
“I don’t remember everything, but I’m sorry,” I continued. “I get it if you’re still mad and you want me to go, but I wanted to come apologize.”
“You left me alone to go play beer pong, got trashed, and then cuddled up with Tanner on a chair that was not big enough for the both of you,” Elijah replied, raising his eyebrows.
“That fucker took advantage of me,” I hissed.
Elijah’s eyes widened with concern and the sandwich he was holding fell from his hands.
“What?”
“Not like that,” I rushed out, realizing what he had thought my words meant. “I just meant that he took advantage of the situation. I was drunk, barely knowing where I was, and he swooped in to make me rely on him. I wasn’t- I barely even knew it was him when I was lying on him. I wasn’t trying to cuddle up with him.”
Elijah sighed. “Yeah, I know. I was pissed about you leaving me and then I was even more pissed when I saw you with him. I just hate him. And I hated seeing you with him.”
I smiled down at him. “Were you jealous, Elijah?”
He glared at me. “Shut the fuck up. I haven’t even accepted your apology and you’re saying dumb shit like that.”
I laughed, knowing just by looking at him that he wasn’t mad anymore.
“It’s okay if you were jealous,” I said. “You know I’m the jealous type.”
“Enough,” he said.
“Just admit it,” I teased.
“I was not jealous.”
“You were.”
“Get out.”
I laughed again and sat down on his lap, the chair creaking under our weight.
“I really don’t think this can hold both of us,” Elijah said with a grin.
I placed my mouth on his, smiling against his lips. I pulled back slightly, our lips still almost touching.
“I still love you even though you were jealous. You should know I’d never go for Tanner.”
He shoved my face away from his. “Shut up!”
At that point my hangover was forgotten about, and I stayed with Elijah all day.
***
Sick Day
January, Freshman year of college
I was miserable. My throat was sore, I was congested, I kept coughing, and I had a headache just as bad as a hangover. And worse than all that, I had seen the team doctor and now I wasn’t allowed at hockey practice until I was better. My own roommate was staying with another one of our teammates because he didn’t want to catch whatever I had.
I hated being sick. I hated missing hockey. And I really hated being confined to this room.
There was a knock on the door and as soon as I opened it, Elijah was on the other side, holding the back of his hand up to my forehead.
“Foxy, you’re burning up,” he said with a look of concern. “Come on. Back to bed.”
He came into the room and shut the door behind him, ushering me toward the bed. It wasn’t until I was back in bed that I noticed he had a bag with him. He started emptying its contents onto my desk.
“I’m fine,” I told him and he shot me a look of disbelief.
“You literally sound like shit,” he said, staring at me. “But it’s fine. I’m here to take care of you.”
“I’m not that sick. It’s just a little cold.”
“Stop being so stubborn,” he retorted. “Don’t you want me to dote on you?”
As a matter of fact that did sound nice. But Elijah was right. I was stubborn.
“I don’t need you to though,” I told him. “You don’t need to waste your time and I don’t want to get you sick.”
“This is not a waste of my time,” he said.
I suddenly got into a coughing fit and Elijah looked at me with sympathy. Once I had stopped, he gave me a water bottle and a handful of cough drops.
“Let me take care of you,” Elijah demanded. He knew I would give in, that I couldn’t say no to him despite the fact that I was stubborn and didn’t want him seeing me like this.
Elijah came over to the bed and tucked the blanket around me, propping me up against my pillows before shoving a thermometer in my mouth. He waited a few moments before checking my temperature.
“You still have a fever,” he said. “But it has gone down from what you told me before.”
He turned back to my desk where he had laid everything out that he brought over. He took a container of soup and put it in my microwave and then heated up water in my electric kettle.
“I brought you some soup and tea,” he told me.
When the soup was done heating, he brought it over to the bed, but instead of handing it to me, he took a spoonful and blew on it before holding it out for me.
“Elijah,” I complained. “I can feed myself.”
“I told you to stop being stubborn.”
I narrowed my eyes but took the spoonful of soup he was feeding me anyway. I was miserable and irritable. I should have been glad Elijah was here to dote on me, but it did nothing to brighten my mood.
Elijah continued to feed me the soup, ignoring my grumbling. When I was done he poured me the tea, allowing me to drink it on my own. I had eventually fallen asleep, though I didn’t know when. Elijah was working on some homework at my desk when I woke up. He must have heard me because he looked back at me the moment I moved.
“How long did I sleep?” I asked, my voice groggy.
“Only about an hour,” he said, closing his laptop. “Do you want more soup?”
I shook my head before he stood up from my desk and came over to the bed, checking my temperature with the back of his hand on my forehead.
“Come get in the shower,” he said. “You’re all sweaty.”
I groaned, throwing my arm over my eyes. “Elijah.”
“I’ll get in with you.”
I removed my arm from my face and looked over at him, making sure he wasn’t bullshitting me. He looked serious, and suddenly I wanted to take a shower. Elijah helped me out of the bed and brought me to the bathroom. He helped me undress, and even though I could do it myself, I just let him do it for me.
Once we were both undressed, he started the shower and we got in when the water warmed up. The steam from the water was already helping clear my sinuses.
Elijah ran his hands through my hair, getting it wet before putting shampoo in it. He looked so concentrated that I couldn’t stop him even though part of me hated being taken care of like this. But it was Elijah, so that made it okay.
After shampooing and conditioning my hair, he rinsed it out and started with the soap. Elijah lathered soap all over my body. He rubbed it into my chest, then bent down and got my legs.
“Are you going to let me soap you up?” I asked, looking down at him.
Elijah looked up and grinned. “If you want.”
He stood up and I gave him the same treatment he gave me, and when we were done, Elijah turned the water off and pulled a towel around my body then his. The two of us rushed back into my room where we continued to dry off and get dressed.
“Back in bed,” Elijah demanded, but this time he climbed in after me. He brought his arm around me and rested my head on his chest, putting his head on top of mine.
“You know, you’re probably going to get sick from me.”
“That’s fine. Then you can take care of me.”
***
The Hockey Game
Hockey season, Freshman year of college, Boston University vs. Northeastern
I knew there would come a time that I had to play against Elijah again, but this was the first time I was playing against him as my boyfriend and my teammates wouldn’t let me forget about it. They brought it up every chance they could, reminding me that I couldn’t go easy on him, that I couldn’t throw the game, that I couldn’t sit out. It was annoying and made me more irritable than usual.
“Are you ready for this, Ridley?” asked one of my teammates, Johnson, throwing his arm around my shoulder.”You know, none of us are going to go easy on your boy.”
I glared at him and shoved him away from me.
“I know. It’s almost like you’ve all been saying that for a week straight.”
Johnson shrugged, laughing at me. “Just have to make sure you know. We have to pull out a win. They’ve been unstoppable this season.”
That was another thing that was getting my team riled up about playing Elijah’s; they were one of the best teams in the division this season. That instantly put a target on their back and made everyone want to play their hardest against them, no distractions and no going easy. And no matter how many times I told my teammates that playing against Elijah wasn’t going to change the way I played at all, they didn’t believe me. I didn’t even know if I believed myself.
I told myself that I could separate my relationship from this game, but I wasn’t too sure I could. I was pretty sure my coach’s plan was just to keep me off the ice when Elijah was on the ice, and that was alright with me.
By the time the game rolled around, nobody was talking about Elijah, which I was grateful for.
Elijah was out on the ice for puck drop while I was on the bench. I tried not to focus on him too much, and I was doing a good job of it until he sent me a text right before the game.
From: Elijah
Good luck<3 love you
I hadn’t even gotten the chance to respond like I wanted to because then I was being pulled by one of my teammates to go down the tunnel and onto the bench.
Boston University, Elijah’s team, won the opening face off. The first line center of his team had one of the best face off percentages in the division, so it didn’t come as much of a surprise that he won it. Early on in the game, my team, Northeastern, got called for a tripping penalty.
Elijah was on the first power play unit and I was sent out for the penalty kill after he had gotten off the ice. Luckily, we were able to kill the penalty and get back to five on five. We ended the period with a 0-0 score and went back into the locker room for the intermission.
Coach talked to us about doing better in the face off circle, which was really fucking difficult when you were facing off against one of the best in the league. We had spent so much time on face offs in practice just to prepare for this and it felt like it didn’t help at all. We were still losing almost all of them.
It wasn’t until the second period that I ended up on the ice at the same time as Elijah. He had skillfully blocked my shot on goal which resulted in BU getting the puck. It was always hard for me to score when Elijah was playing defense against me. When we did scrimmages and drills in high school, he barely let anything get by him. He was just really good, and even though he blocked my shot, my heart swelled with pride.
Johnson clapped me on the shoulder when I got back to the bench.
“You had a wide open net!” he exclaimed.
I took a drink of water, keeping my eyes focused on the game.
“He blocked it.”
“How convenient that your boyfriend blocked your shot,” he replied with a scoff.
“Shut the fuck up,” I said. “How about you go out there and score?”
And then he did just that. Johnson was out on the ice and Elijah had just stolen the puck from one of our guys. Johnson went right for it. He checked Elijah into the boards, pinning him there for a moment as they fought for the puck. He eventually got it, turned around and headed toward the net. It was a stupid goal. It just trickled in, the goalie unable to hold onto it.
I didn’t say anything to Johnson when he got back to the bench. He just wanted to get a reaction out of me, and if I showed him a reaction, he would just go after Elijah more to get another one.
At the end of the second period, the score was 1-1. It wasn’t until close to the end of the third period that I was on the ice with Elijah again. At this point the game had gotten more aggressive, both teams wanting to be the next one to score and win.
I battled with Elijah for the puck, which he eventually won. I could hear my teammates yelling at me from the bench, which only pissed me off. I followed Elijah, determined to get the puck back, and slammed into him once I caught up. He was always slower than me on the ice. But I didn’t realize how fast I was going, so when I collided with him, I knocked him down and into the boards. And then got called for a penalty for it.
“Shit,” I cursed. His teammates came over and started shoving me, but I just pushed them away and went back to Elijah.
“What the fuck, Fox?” he asked, looking back at me.
I reached down and pulled him up off the ice.
“Are you okay?” I asked. “I’m sorry.”
I didn’t get to hear his response before the ref pulled me away and directed me toward the penalty box.
There was not much worse than getting a penalty late in the third period. It put your team at a disadvantage with not much time to make up for it if things went wrong, which of course they did. One of Elijah’s teammates scored with thirty seconds left on the penalty. I exited the box and got glares from my teammates as I reached the bench.
“How are you going to get a penalty on your own boyfriend?” one of them, Anderson, asked.
“They probably planned it out like that,” Johnson added.
“Shut up,” Anderson snapped. “No they didn’t.”
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to score in the last few minutes of the period, and Boston University won the game. I tried to care more about that fact that we lost, but I couldn’t.
I went to find Elijah once we were dismissed from the locker room. He was already waiting for me outside, arms crossed over his chest and eyebrows raised. His hair was still damp from his shower and his cheeks were flushed from the cold.
“I’m sorry,” I said instantly, holding my arms out for him.
Elijah stepped into my arms, hitting me in the stomach before leaning into me and wrapping his arms around my waist.
“You hit me so hard,” he said, amusement in his voice.
“I really didn’t mean to.”
“Did you really have to tackle me?”
“Again, I didn’t mean to.”
Elijah laughed and the two of us made our way back to his dorm room, arms still wrapped around each other.
**
It’s been a while but FINALLY, here’s another bonus chapter.
Let me know your thoughts 🙂
Comment