“Are you going to css today?”

  I didn’t expect Riley to reach out about going to yoga, but after the weekend I had, I most definitely needed the recovery day. Plus, I guess I was a little excited to fill her in on what was happening in my life: off the record of course.

  “Yep, about to head out, am I going to see you there?”

  “I’ve been literally counting down the minutes. That Canada trip just fucked with my sleep schedule.”

  Beat reporting is one of those jobs everyone thinks is so cool, until you’re filing expense reports about the shittiest motel you stayed at in Saskatoon because your paper’s travel budget is a third of what it needs to be. Riley didn’t always come on the road to report on us, but with the season drawing to the end readers were hanging on every game. Or so she says. I wouldn’t doubt her though, not with those chops.

  “You have no idea, Riles.”

  “Oooo a nickname, I didn’t realize we were that official, Marksy.”

  “Can you call me Rhea, please?”

  “…”

  Oh great, of course the first person I come out to thinks my name is so stupid. Fucking hell Rhea, what are you even thinking? Thankfully before I could begin a self destructive spiral I saw three dots pop up on my phone,.

  “1. Absolutely adorable. Suits you. Its actually perfect. 2. The three dots were because Is owe Sam 5 bucks now.”

  “What is it with that girl and making bets.”

  “So, full disclosure. She actually told me the day after you told her. But then bet me it wouldn’t take long for you to tell me yourself. I told her it would be a month.”

  “A MONTH?!” Do my friends have that little faith in me?

  “Yes, Rhea. A month. I know you. You’re locked in. I figured you’d tell me come pyoff time since you know stress would bubble up or something like that.”

  “Ye of that little faith.”

  “Get your butt down here so we can stretch.”

  I sent a saluting emoji then got into my car driving over to the studio. Css was, well it was a hot yoga css. They aren’t anything special, especially in fucking Olympic City, Oregon, but I was as stiff as a board when I woke up. It took about 10 minutes for me to loosen up, but when I did I started to feel great. Sweating off whatever happened this past weekend was necessary to. New week, no stress and two games to win. That’s all I needed to think about. Put it behind me and figure out a way forward.

  “Okay, so what happened in Canada and what’s happened since, spill it girl.”

  Of. Fucking. Course.

  Riley and I were off to grab some coffee after css, and she wanted to catch up. I used that entire 70 minute css to clear my head, and now it was time to recount my near accidental outing and the embarrassing fact that I am becoming utterly head over heels infatuated with my teammate. Who met me once as my authentic self and liked what he saw. My life is a mess. We better win this fucking championship.

  “Canada was weird.”

  “Eborate.”

  We both paused. I knew I was going to lose this. She’s a literal journalist, she could sit in silence for an hour to get someone to cave to give her the answer she needs.

  “I mean you saw the scores.”

  “I don’t give a shit about the scores. We are off the clock.”

  “Scott has family in Victoria.”

  “Okay and?”

  “We went to their restaurant. Its literally the best in Canada.”

  “Oh shit. That sounds amazing.”

  “Yeah they comped my meal because I got a shutout.”

  “Now that sounds incredible.”

  “They then comped everyones meal because Scott is family.”

  “Less incredible.”

  “There was a night club.”

  “Like you went to one after?”

  “No it was attached.”

  Oh damn this pce sounds incredible.”

  “We drank Baiju.”

  “What?”

  “Chinese liquor. It was a dim sum pce. Scott’s cousin married someone from China.”

  “You’re just full of surprises. And yet, you are giving me absolutely nothing interesting.”

  “What do you want to know.”

  “You tell me.”

  “We’re just going to dance around this aren’t we.”

  “I’m going to make you say it.”

  We walked into the coffee shop and pced our orders. I needed my iced coffee to have this conversation. My sweet sweet cold caffeine no matter the temperature.

  “So.”

  She was smirking at me. God she knew something was up.

  “Fine. I went out st weekend with Jenna and Sam all girled up.”

  “Not what I was looking for, but finally some meat on these bones.”

  “It was fun.”

  “And we dropped the prime rib on the ground.”

  “Until we ran into Brock.”

  “And now she’s cooking with gas. Go on.”

  So I recounted the entire escapade. From Jenna dolling me up, to seeing Sam and meeting her friend Lia, to going to the club and feeling freer than I have ever in my life. I described the euphoria I got from every step, just existing as the person I was meant to be in this world. I also over described my outfit, but I did not fucking care because I looked incredible.

  “So of course I don’t realize who I am talking to and she mentions she has a brother.”

  “I swear your life is straight out of a movie sometimes.”

  “You’re telling me. Anyway she mentions she has a brother and that hes walking over,” at that moment I notice someone walking towards our table in the coffee shop and of course my mind reacts too slowly and he steps into earshot right as I say, “..and its Brock! Hi Brock!”

  Stunned, Riley turns around right in time for Brock to wave.

  “And its Marksy and Riley! What are you two talking about?”

  Riley stares at me in a panic. What do we say here? Oh god how much did he hear? He couldn’t have heard much. He was taking an AirPod out of his ear as he approached us. I think. I totally saw that. He could not hear a thing. I got this.

  “Oh just catching up,” Riley says with sheer nervousness.

  “Yeah, I was talking about how I met your sister at brunch yesterday.”

  “Oh that was so fun. Sapphire says she really liked you.”

  “Sapphire?”

  “My sister.”

  “Right, you mentioned having a sibling in our one-on-one.”

  “Yeah she’s five years older than me. Really great woman, a huge inspiration for me. And now a huge fan of Marksy’s.”

  I started to blush uncontrolbly. We had been texting this morning after she checked in on me after our little misadventures this weekend. She seemed like a great person even if she was more determined than anyone on earth to get me to go our with her brother. I didn’t need to expin again why that would not be happening any time soon, but I don’t think she would listen and just set us up herself.

  “What brings you here, Brock? Enjoying the off day?”

  “Yeah, Marksy actually recommended this pce. Figured I’d check it out. Hey don’t want to intrude on you two’s little thing, just wanted to pop over and say hi. And Marksy, hit me up after practice tomorrow, there’s something I want to run by you.”

  Brock then got back in line and ordered what looked to be a cortado to go. How could the man get more perfect every time I see him do something new? Riley and I kind of sat in silence until he got his coffee and went out the door fully out of earshot.

  “Who did I piss off that this keeps happening to me?”

  That drew a snort out of Riley.

  “I need to stop almost outing myself to that man.”

  “Yeah that would be extremely bad.”

  “I think he’d be cool with it, just. It would be awkward. And we can’t have anything fucking up the room right now.”

  “How do you know that? This is hockey after all.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say. I didn’t want to out his sister without his permission, but I did look online and Sapphire was not hiding anything. There even was an alumni magazine article where she mentioned her little brother. If Riley really wanted to find this information out she would have. I was actually really surprised she didn’t already know.

  “Brock’s sister. Well she was a decathlete in college.”

  “What does that have to do with…wait, what college has women’s decathlon?

  “None. Which I apparently didn’t know.”

  It took Riley a second or two, but the gears quickly turned in her head.

  “Oh. Oh wow.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did she?”

  “Clock me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Immediately.”

  “Oh fuck Rhea.”

  “Its okay. I promise. She was super cool, I feel like D1 athlete who transitioned on her own terms understands the predicament that I would be in should this gets out.”

  “Right. But still. Jeez.”

  “Yeah, it was a less than ideal start to brunch let’s just put it that way.”

  “Start???”

  “Yeah it happened early on, but once we cleared it up when Brock was in the bathroom we quickly hit it off as friends. That’s why he was so excited.”

  “Already getting the family on board that’s smart.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “What does it mean Rhea? Why don’t you tell me since I’ve been waiting for you all friggin’ morning to tell me.”

  “Oh my god not you too.”

  “We’re all talking about it.”

  “We?”

  “Yes, me Jenna, Sam and Cra.”

  “Don’t tell me.”

  “That we have a Rhea group chat? Oh yeah we do. You’re quite popur these days little dy.”

  I could only bury my head in my hands. I literally had a group chat of women devoted to me.

  “You’re coming over. Now. I need you and Jenna to fucking expin yourselves.”

  “Lead the way princess.”

  “Look, we’re worried about you and we just want to help you!”

  “Are you serious Jenna? You have a group chat devoted to talking about me, without me in it mind you.”

  “So what! I’d be honored. We only compliment you anyway.”

  “That’s not the point!”

  Jenna and I were bickering on the couch after I brought Riley to my apartment to confront her about this supposed chat devoted to all things Rhea.

  “Look, I’m still looking for friends, too. It was my idea and I didn’t expect them all to say yes!”

  “And yet you did not put a stop to this.”

  “Sorry for caring about you.”

  “Sorry for feeling my privacy was utterly invaded.”

  We were staring at each other now like two women in some sort of weird stand off. I sure as hell was not going to be the first to blink. I would not give Jenna this satisfaction.

  “This whole thing you two have going on is adorable by the way.”

  “Not the point!” We screamed in unison. The sheer absurdity of that lead to all three of us to break down in hysterical ughter. God dammit Riley how are you this good at blowing up this tension?

  Sighing, I resigned myself to the fate of having a chat dedicated to my transition. I guess I could live with having a support system, I just wished they would have told me about this.

  “Alright, well I’m going to have a post yoga nap. Riley, feel free to stay and talk with Jenna about me or something or whatever you want to do.”

  “Aww this was just getting fun!”

  I got up and hugged her before walking into my room to take full advantage of my day off. I could hear the two talking right as I closed my door. Who knew what they were scheming. Knowing Jenna they were designing my wedding invitations for the ceremony with Brock.

  The rest of the day passed zily and thankfully was actually restful. I did not expect Riley to still be there two hours ter after my nap, but she looked like she was having a good time. Shortly after I woke up she excused herself to go home and “do some actual work” before having to cover practice tomorrow.

  Jenna and I made a quick dinner and just turned on some mindless show on some streaming service and zoned out for the night. It had been a minute since we were able to do something like this, like we did back in college. God, it was so weird that this time st year I was prepping for NCAAs and we were both juniors in college. Now, I was a god damn professional athlete and she was having an early quarter life crisis while we both hide probably the biggest secret of my career from my teammates. And we were on the literal other side of the country. Its funny how life works sometimes.

  The next day I got up early to prep for practice, and left some extra for Jenna. She had a shift that night and would be up te, so I let her sleep in. It was nice to keep my mind off hockey for the morning, because the second I got into the car I realized what Brock had said st night. What did he want me to “hit him up” about? Did he know my secret?

  Without someone else to calm me down I was in my thoughts all morning. Practice helped shake them out, but as usual I was first off the ice meaning I would be starting our next game. We had two this week on Thursday and Saturday. Tomorrow would be an optional skate, which I would not be attending because I did not want to get hurt, and then its back to the grind. A light week all things considered.

  Changing in the locker room for once, I waited for Brock to be finished. That meant a quick shower, and just checking my gear for Thursday, meticulously.

  “Hey Marksy!”

  And there he was. Glistening after a nice practice. He must have sought me out before showering because he was still in workout gear. Not that it mattered. No matter what he was wearing, or not wearing, he was perfect. I had it bad for this man. There’s no fighting it, even his sister knew.

  “What’s up Brock, you said you wanted to talk to me yesterday?”

  “Yeah! I was looking for ya.”

  “Everything okay?”

  “Of course! So, since I’m still like the new guy and we’re about to hit the final two weeks of the season I wanted to have some guys from the team over or a little dinner type party just to mingle and let loose. I know those things aren’t you’re scene, but”

  “Oh that sounds awesome. I’m in. Let me know how I can help?”

  How I can help? Rhea are you fucking insane? Since when did you want to go to a dinner party and when were you ever thinking about pnning one? The man formerly known as Jamie Marks would never do that, but was Rhea a socializer? That had to be it. Clearly the extroverts in my life have infected my brain and socially transitioning was going to make me just like them. An evil plot by big hang out to get me out and about.

  “All good! I’ve done this before, so I know what to do. I had one early in the season in Boise and it was a big thing for team camaraderie.”

  “Absolutely. Plus, anything ahead of the pyoffs, should we make it, has to help right?”

  “See, you get it! Some of the guys were confused. Anyway, I’ll have some drinks and some appetizers, feel free to bring some friends? Not too many so it doesn’t spill out of control, but tell Jenna she can come!”

  “I’ll…I’ll see.”

  “What trouble in paradise?”

  “Oh god no. I just have to keep an eye on that girl.”

  “Feel, that. Sapphire was on her best behavior at brunch, but she can get out of control. She was trying so hard on Saturday to set me up with someone.”

  “Yeah I remember she mentioned that.”

  “She’s nuts. But I love her. So gd you got to meet her.”

  “Me too,” I said smiling. I really was. I wanted to know all about this man and his world. Perhaps a dinner party would be a good chance to get me alone with him and just talk. That’s all I wanted. To talk.

  “So when were you thinking?”

  “Oh yeah. Duh. Friday night! I know we have a game Saturday but its a 7:30 start and I doubt anyone would go crazy. Plus we gotta eat every day, right?”

  “That sounds like a bst. I think Jenna is working, but who knows.”

  “Awesome. So I can count you in?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  SydneyAurora