Darkroom: A Moo U Hockey Romance Kate Willoughby (read full novel .TXT) 📖

Like Indi and me, he would have gotten together with her every night if she’d let him, but more and more she gave him excuses. They were plausible excuses, but people make time for what’s important to them and AJ didn’t seem to be high on Ruby’s priority list.

“What happened?”

He went to the fridge for a beer and held up two bottles. “You want one?”

The reason I was tidying up was that Indi and I were going to study together. Even though it didn’t seem right to be drinking a beer before she got here, when a friend got dumped, the Bro Code demanded you have a drink with him in sympathy.

“Sure.”

He popped the tops and we sat on the couch.

“You know what she said to me? She said I had no sex appeal.”

“That’s pretty fucking rude.”

“To be fair, she didn’t use those exact words. She said she didn’t feel any spark, and that’s pretty much the same thing. When I kissed her, she didn’t feel diddly squat.” He took a swig from his beer. “Maybe I should join a monastery.”

I held back a laugh. “Dude. That’s the way it goes sometimes. It’s got to be mutual. You don’t want to be with someone who’s not into you, right?”

He heaved a sigh and took another pull on his beer. “She was my beautiful Hawaiian Buttercup. I would have loved her forever. I will love her forever.”

I doubted that. I’d seen AJ fall in love three times since I’d known him. Had he truly been in love with those girls? Maybe. He certainly believed it. But I knew he’d probably be over this in a week.

“And now I have to see her in photography class for the rest of the semester,” he moaned. “I don’t know if I can stand it.”

“I’m sorry,” I said again. “That really sucks.”

“How are things with you and Indi? There are sparks for you two, right?”

“Yeah, lots of sparks.”

There was a fucking conflagration whenever we made out. My cock got so hot, my pants should have ignited.

AJ clinked his bottle against mine. “I’m happy for you, bro. I truly am.”

There was a knock at the door. “Speak of the devil,” I said.

AJ just sighed and drank more beer.

I opened the door to see Indi standing there bundled up in a sweater, scarf, coat and jeans, a backpack hung on her shoulder. She had a knit cap on her head that for some reason made me want to kiss her. Not that I needed any excuses to kiss her.

“It’s so cold outside!” she exclaimed, stomping her feet. A bright pink blush stained her cheeks.

“I’ll warm you up,” I said, bending my head and pressing my mouth to hers. Her lips were pretty chilled.

She put a hand on the back of my head to extend the kiss a moment longer and when we broke apart, she whispered something I couldn’t quite make out.

When I gave her a confused look, she pulled me out into the hallway. “I said, Ruby broke up with AJ.”

“Yeah,” I replied in a low voice, “he just told me. I was commiserating with him over a beer.”

“I know you’re talking about me,” AJ called from inside.

Indi gave me a sad smile as she came through the door.

“Hey, AJ,” she said. “I’m really sorry you and Ruby aren’t together anymore.”

“The woman broke my heart,” he said bluntly. “I may never recover. But just because I’m single now doesn’t mean I want to stand in the way of you guys’ love, so I’ll be in my room. Do me a favor, will you, Indi?”

“Sure. What?” She unwound the scarf from her neck and put her backpack on the kitchen table.

“Don’t tell me if Ruby gets together with some other dude.”

“Of course I won’t, AJ.”

He nodded. “Thanks.” He got to his bedroom door before turning and saying, “And tell her…tell her I hope she has a life filled with happiness and success and everything she deserves.”

“I will.”

When the door shut behind him, Indi said, “He’s taking it harder than I would have expected. I mean, they only went out twice.”

I went to AJ’s door and put my ear close to it. I could hear his TV.

“Yeah, I know. AJ has a tender heart, but he’ll be okay. You want a beer?”

“Sure. Thanks.” She opened her backpack and pulled out a thick textbook and three highlighters. “So guess what I did yesterday.”

“What?”

“I made authentic Chinese dumplings.”

“Get out. You, the most stubborn non-Chinese person I know?”

“Shut up,” she said, giving me a mock punch on the arm. “Ruby and I ran into one of her old professors and she invited us to make dumplings at her house. I wasn’t going to go at first, because I…I’ve always made it a point to distance myself from China, and until yesterday, I never really understood why. But now I know.”

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense,” I said, handing her the beer.

“I’ve been rejecting China because, basically it—meaning my birth parents—rejected me first.”

I rolled that around in my brain. “That makes a hell of a lot of sense, actually.”

“I know, right? It was like boom.” She flicked the fingers of both her hands to mimic an explosion.

“Good for you, Indi. That’s really great.”

“From now on I’m going to be trying to combat my instant dislike of anything Chinese. If you play your cards right, I might even make authentic dumplings for you.”

“I would love that,” I said.

After taking a sip of the beer she said, “Hey, this is that same beer you gave me when we went to Tito’s.”

“I bought it on a lark once because it’s made by three guys who used to play for the San Diego Barracudas. They retired from hockey and started a craft brewery there. Now I buy it because it’s good.”

“You know, this is a really interesting coincidence. I wanted to float something by you—a theory I came up with.”

“This sounds interesting.” I sat and leaned my forearms on the table.

“Promise me you won’t get offended.