The next few days of tryouts blurred together and it was finally Friday, the day I would find out if I made the team. Tryouts went well throughout the week. I didn’t think I had done anything to hurt my chances for getting on the team, though I did have to suffer through glares from Fox the entire week.
Trevor was standing at my locker by the time I had showed up. He leaned his right shoulder against it, looking down at his phone in his hand.
“What’s up?” I asked as I approached him. Trevor instantly looked up from his phone when he heard me.
“Hey, Elijah,” he greeted me kindly. “I was just wondering if you needed a ride to my house tonight.”
I shrugged, opening my locker. “I can probably get my dad or Josh to drive me.”
I saw Trevor nod out of the corner of my eye. “Okay, just let me know if you need me to pick you up. See you at lunch!”
With that, Trevor walked away, greeting people he passed in the hall. Trevor seemed to know everybody at this school, and everyone seemed to like him. He was just one of those people that was impossible to hate.
Soon after, the warning bell rang and I scurried down the hall to my English class. I kept my head down as I found my seat beside Nadia, who was texting on her phone and completely ignoring her pouting girlfriend beside her.
“What are you two fighting about now?” I dared to ask. I wasn’t usually interested in their drama at all, but for some reason, I was intrigued.
“Nothing,” Nadia replied, not bothering to look up from her phone. “Lex is just being a bitch.”
I turned to Lexa to see her roll her eyes, the pout momentarily leaving her face. I raised my eyebrows at her, waiting to hear her side of the story.
“She’s mad at me because she asked for my opinion on a dress she wanted to buy, and I told her it made her look frumpy,” Lexa explained, her eyes traveling to her girlfriend as she spoke.
“Frumpy?” I asked confusedly. What the hell was frumpy?
“It was too baggy! It didn’t show off her body! I was being honest,” Lexa defended herself, placing a hand on her chest. Nadia just ignored her, continuing to stare down at her phone.
Instead of worsening the situation, I decided to pull out my notebook and pencil for English and leave the two girls alone to deal with their problem. Nadia would be over it by lunch time. The two of them fought about unimportant things so often, I grew accustomed to how their fights tended to pan out.
With about twenty minutes left in class, our teacher had us start doing our homework and even allowing us to work in groups. However, I wasn’t excited to be working in a group with Nadia and Lexa while they weren’t getting along. I hoped I would be able to just work by myself.
“Hey, Ellis!” a voice from behind me called out. I turned to look and see that the voice was Ryan, who was sitting with some other guys from the hockey team, including Fox Ridley.
Fox’s glare was set on Ryan as he waved me over to their group. I looked over at Nadia and Lexa and the three of us shared confused expressions.
“I won’t get mad at you for leaving us if you send me a picture of the homework later,” Nadia told me and that was enough for me to get up and head to the back of the classroom where I was being summoned. Anything was better than dealing with the feuding girlfriends, even being glared at by Fox.
Ryan stood up and pulled a chair for me and placed it beside him. I thanked him and sat down, feeling the stares of the rest of the group.
“I figured since we’re teammates now, we should get to know each other,” Ryan said, though he seemed to be addressing the whole group.
“I don’t even know if I’m on the team yet,” I replied, looking across the desk at Fox who was leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed on his chest, looking at me through hooded eyes.
Even though he was looking at me like he wanted me to evaporate into thin air, I couldn’t take my eyes off of him for a moment. Fox was insanely handsome, and he knew it. That was why I hooked up with him over the summer. His brown hair was tastefully messy on top of his head, complemented by his tan skin. He wore a charcoal grey champion crew neck with the sleeves rolled up his forearms. Fox’s face was void of any noticeable blemishes and his eyelashes were long enough for any girl to be jealous of them.
That man was all sorts of good looking, and I hated him for it.
“Coach put the final roster on his door this morning. You didn’t see it?” Ryan said, tearing me from my thoughts and causing my gaze to travel to him.
“Oh, no I didn’t,” I answered in a surprised voice. I tried my best to hide my excitement, but I couldn’t tell how well it worked. It felt good to not have to worry about making the team anymore. I guess Fox didn’t hate me enough to keep me off the team.
Ryan introduced me to the other guys in the group, Ian and Jude, who were also on the hockey team. Ian barely spared me a glance, but Jude was about as friendly as Ryan. I found out that Ian was another defenseman on the team.
Great, I thought. The guy seemed to hate me as much as Fox did and there was a possibility he would be my defensive partner on the ice.
“You got plans tonight, Elijah?” Jude asked me, nudging my arm with his elbow.
“You should come hang out with us tonight,” Ryan added to which Fox sent him daggers. Fox hadn’t said a word since I sat down.
“I have plans,” I said, looking straight at Fox. His eyes immediately softened when he heard me and he turned his gaze to me.
“You’re already so popular,” Jude joked with a laugh. “What’re you doin’?”
At first I didn’t know if I should tell him the truth. My sexuality was obviously more accepted here than it was at Holy Trinity, but these were jocks. Jocks always had something to say about gay people. They definitely knew I was gay, but I didn’t know if it was such a good idea to bring attention to it, especially around Fox. When I looked to Fox to see his glare transfixed on me, I decided I didn’t care. I was done hiding who I was.
“I’m hangin’ with some of the GSA kids at Trevor’s,” I answered, turning to face Jude.
“Nice,” Jude replied. “Trevor’s a cool guy.” It didn’t surprise me that he had something nice to say about Trevor. I was sure everyone did.
“He saved my ass in chemistry last year,” Ryan said with a laugh. “I was failing and he offered to tutor me. I passed with a B.”
“You’ll have to hang with us some other time then,” Jude said to me.
I nodded in agreement. “Sure.”
Soon after, the bell signaling the end of class sounded. The five of us immediately packed up our things and headed toward the classroom door.
“See you at practice, Ellis,” Ryan said with a wave, walking off with Fox.
By the time lunch rolled around, Nadia and Lexa were obviously done with their fight considering the two of them were making out at the table. I wanted to look away from them, but for some reason my eyes stayed glued to the girls, watching them with a look of disgust and hoping for the rest of the group to get to the table so I wouldn’t be left alone with them.
“They done fighting?” Trevor asked as he made his way to the table and sat down across from me, his friend, Johnny, sitting beside him.
“Guess so,” I mumbled, looking away from the girls to face Trevor.
Ryan, Jude, and few other guys from the hockey team walked by our table as I turned to look at Trevor. Ryan and Jude greeted me with a wave to which I returned before they made their way to their table where Fox and Josh were already sitting with a few girls.
“The hockey team treating you well?” Trevor asked, taking his sandwich out of his lunchbox. Trevor always brought his lunch with him, arguing that school lunch was disgusting.
I nodded. “They didn’t really pay much attention to me until I was officially on the roster.”
“You made the team?” Trevor asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Yeah, I just found out in first period,” I explained.
“Congratulations!” Trevor exclaimed, causing Nadia and Lexa to break apart. The girls glared at Trevor, though he paid them no mind, before returning to their previous activity.
“Thanks,” I said, shaking my head at the girls.
I couldn’t help but let my eyes wander over to the table where the hockey players sat. They seemed like a group of tight-knit friends that had been playing together for years, just like I had been with my old team. I didn’t know if I would ever be able to fit in with them.
As I stared, Fox turned away from the girl beside him and looked up, meeting my eyes. We stared at each other for a few moments as if challenging the other to look away. Fox seemed to have mastered the art of staring because he won the battle. I looked down at the table and then back up at him in time to see a slight smirk on his face before he turned away, back to the girl he was talking to before.
***
After a tiring first official hockey practice, I went home with Josh and hopped in the shower. When I was done washing off, I dried and got dressed, looking at the clock to realize it was just about seven.
I bounded down the steps and met my dad in the living room where he was watching the news by himself.
“Dad, can you give me a ride?” I asked, walking from the steps to stand beside the couch.
Dad looked up at me from where he sat, remote in hand. “Where are you going?”
“Trevor’s,” I answered just as Josh made his way down the stairs.
“Trevor?” Dad asked. “Are you uh… are you with this boy?”
My eyes widened at the words that came out of his mouth and I even heard Josh chuckle slightly as he walked behind me toward the door.
“Dad!” I yelled. “Oh my God… No!”
“It’s okay if you are!” Dad said quickly. “I just want you to be safe.”
“Oh my God,” I muttered, rubbing my hand down my face.
Josh laughed again from the doorway. “I can give you a ride.”
I immediately looked to Josh, sending him a look of thanks, before turning back to my dad.
“I promise you I am not with anyone,” I told him seriously. “I’m going to go now and forget this ever happened.”
“I’m just looking out for you, Elijah!” Dad yelled after me as Josh and I left through the front door.
I shook my head and let out a heavy sigh as I walked behind Josh to his car. The two of us were silent for a few minutes before Josh decided to speak up.
“So…” he started. “You and Trevor?”
I groaned loudly, throwing my head back while Josh let out a loud laugh.
“I think he likes you,” Josh told me with a smirk on his face. “I’ve seen the looks he gives you.”
“No,” I said in an annoyed tone.
Josh scoffed. “What do you mean ‘no’?”
“He doesn’t like me like that,” I said, shooting Josh a glare.
“How do you know?” he asked.
“Because he only talks to me because I’m new and gay,” I told him as if stating the obvious.
Josh smiled, shaking his head playfully. “Whatever. Don’t make plans for tomorrow. We’re going out with some of the guys from the team.”
“We are?” I asked, raising an eyebrow in question.
Josh nodded. “Ryan’s idea. I’ve learned to stop questioning him and just go with what he says.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
Josh shrugged. “Probably going to get food and then hang out at Ryan’s. Dude’s got a killer finished basement.”
Part of me wanted to bail on Josh and the team, knowing I would feel out of place there. However, I knew I would only continue to feel out of place on the team if I didn’t at least try to befriend them. Ryan and Jude were nice, but if I never accepted their invitations, they would probably stop talking to me.
Soon after, Josh pulled up to the curb in front of Trevor’s house.
“Let me know if you need a ride home,” Josh said as I opened the door to leave. “Unless you’re staying the night…”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not, I’ll call you.”
I slowly made my way up to the house before reaching the front door. Before I could even knock, the door swung open, revealing an annoyed looking Nadia.
“Thank God you’re here,” Nadia said, pulling me by my arm into the house.
I could only imagine what had Nadia upset this time.
“Why?” I asked slowly, hoping the reason wouldn’t be that her and Lexa were fighting again. I didn’t feel like dealing with that tonight.
“Johnny is getting on my last nerve,” she answered through gritted teeth.
I knew that Johnny and Nadia didn’t really get along. I had found that out pretty early on. It seemed as though everything Johnny did annoyed her.
“What’d he do?” I mumbled as Nadia dragged me through the house, into the den.
“Just being his know-it-all self, like always,” she said in a low tone.
When the two of us entered the den, I saw Trevor, Johnny, Lexa, and a few other kids from GSA lounging around and talking animatedly with each other.
“Elijah’s here,” Nadia announced, causing everyone to turn toward us.
“I thought you were getting us drinks?” Lexa asked her.
“I was, but Elijah was at the door,” she answered, going to sit by her girlfriend.
“Elijah,” Trevor greeted with a smile, waving me over. “Come sit.”
I obliged, walking over to sit beside him and Johnny, along with another GSA kid named Austin.
“What’s up?” Austin asked kindly, taking a sip of his water.
“Elijah made the hockey team,” Trevor answered for me with a wide smile.
Austin gave me an impressed look. “Wow, congrats man.”
“Thanks,” I replied with a small, awkward smile.
“Lucky you getting to see the hockey boys all hot and sweaty,” Austin teased, a devilish smirk on his face.
My face flushed, looking toward Trevor to see that he was shooting Austin a scowl and shaking his head.
“I guess,” I said awkwardly.
“Come on,” Austin continued. “You can’t tell me you don’t find any of them attractive. Not even Fox?”
I scoffed. “I’m not blind.”
Austin let out a loud laugh at my words, slapping me on the shoulder and giving me a look of approval.
“I’m more into your brother, myself,” Austin admitted jokingly.
I gave him a strange look. “Josh isn’t my actual brother.”
Austin shrugged. “He’s hot.”
I decided not to comment on that. Josh had been my step-brother for so long, I could never look at him in that way.
“Anyway,” Trevor cut in, causing Austin and I to look at him. “We were just about to put in a movie. Do you have any requests, Elijah?”
I shrugged, shaking my head. “I’m good with whatever.”
“We want a lesbian movie!” I heard Lexa exclaim from the other side of the room. The girl beside her, Holly, nodded in agreement.
“I agree with Lex,” Nadia said, sitting down on her girlfriend’s lap.
Trevor tossed them the remote. “Then you pick it.”
Nadia caught the remote with ease, giving Trevor an arrogant expression, before using the remote to navigate Netflix on his TV.
The night hadn’t been as awkward as I anticipated. We watched a movie that Nadia had picked out on Netflix and made joking commentary throughout it. Overall, it was a good night, though I still didn’t know if I could ever see myself fully fitting in with this crowd.
**
Okay, welcome to On Thin Ice! Thank you for reading.
Please let me know what you think about the characters so far! Who do you think you’ll end up liking? End up hating?
So, I’ve decided that with my new school schedule, it will be best for me to update on Fridays. Sometimes this won’t be possible. I have a lot more work this semester than I anticipated, so I’m just hoping as the semester progresses I will get into a routine and get all of my school work done by Thursday so I can update here on Friday. So please bear with me.
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