Chapter Fifteen

College

“Carpenter, LaCroix!” Sammy yelled their names before handing them each a room key. “Can’t believe they’re making you room with a freshie, Darce. That sucks.”

“Hey!” Natalie said, snatching the key from Sammy’s hand.

Darcy took her key with a smile. “Better than rooming with you. At least Carpenter doesn’t spend half her life in the bathroom.” She shot a glance at Natalie. “I mean, if you need to spend time in there or whatever, it’s fine.”

Natalie laughed. “I pee a normal amount, thanks for asking.” Joking helped keep her mind off rooming with Darcy. It wasn’t a big deal. They would go to the room, dump their bags on the floor, and go to sleep.

Easy.

Nothing to it.

If she could have rolled her eyes at herself without anyone noticing, she would. Crushing on the team captain had felt like such a stupid cliché. But every time they had a team meeting or practice, her eyes drifted to Darcy. She couldn’t help it. Even when she told herself to stop staring, stop being a creepy, stupid freshman, her eyes still found her, like they couldn’t bear to rest anywhere else.

And now the coaches had assigned them to share a room for their first road trip. Natalie’s heart sped up as her imagination ran wild. In the elevator, she pushed the button too hard, causing Hinch to shout at her.

“It doesn’t go faster if you beat it up, Carpenter.”

Natalie clenched her teeth together and hoped she wasn’t blushing. The team would never let her live that down. She wasn’t going to try to explain why she wanted to get to her room or why her stomach was doing somersaults the closer they got to reaching their floor. Being alone with Darcy was a dream and a nightmare rolled into one.

She was a stupid freshman with a crush on her captain. There was no way she could possibly like her back, right? Darcy was way too cool for her. But sometimes when they sat in meetings, or on the bus, or at team meals, Darcy’s eyes would find hers and she’d offer Natalie the sweetest smile. So maybe.

Oh god, that maybe was enough to send her stomach crashing for the floor.

“What would it take to make you move faster, Hinch?” Darcy asked, before smiling at Natalie.

Hinch’s response was swallowed up by the doors opening and the players spilling into the hallway to find their rooms. Natalie followed Darcy to their room.

“Do you have a bed preference?” Darcy asked while Natalie reached for the light switch.

“What?” Natalie asked, her brain glitching at Darcy asking her about beds.

Darcy gestured at the two double beds. “Do you prefer to be near the door or the window?”

“Oh,” Natalie said, dropping her bag and ducking her head to hide her cheeks, which felt like they were on fire. “I don’t care. You pick.” Natalie didn’t think it would matter which bed she was in. As long as she was in the same room with Darcy she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep much.

Darcy took the bed closest to the door and they spent a couple of quiet minutes getting ready for bed. Years later, if you’d asked her how it happened, Natalie wouldn’t have been able to say for sure. One minute they were lounging in their beds, SportsCenter on in the background, talking about everything and nothing, and the next, Darcy was sitting on the edge of her bed.

Natalie watched Darcy’s hands as she fiddled with them in her lap.

“What’s wrong, LaCroix?”

Darcy clenched her hands into fists and shook her head. “Nothing. Except... Okay, I...” She looked up, her eyes searching Natalie’s, and it was only a second, maybe two; time is weird when you feel like your entire life hangs in the balance of a single possibility.

Natalie leaned forward, taking a chance and hoping like hell she was right. It was a risk, but Natalie felt like her entire body would explode if she didn’t find out how Darcy’s lips felt against hers. For one heart-stopping second, she thought Darcy was going to push her away but when she moved her hand, it was to grip the back of Natalie’s neck.

After a minute or an hour, Darcy pulled back. The smile on her face was so fragile, Natalie thought she would die. Darcy looked so unsure of herself, so full of worry. She never wanted to see Darcy like this, ever.

“What’s wrong?”

Darcy shook her head. “Nothing. Except I really like you and I want to keep kissing you but we’re teammates and...”

Natalie smiled. “You have a policy of not dating teammates?”

Darcy sighed.

“Oh shit, I was kidding.”

Darcy grabbed her hand. “There was someone a few years ago, and we dated for a while and it was great until the rest of the team found out.”

Natalie scowled. “Were they mean? I’ll kill them.”

Darcy shook her head. “The team was fine until we weren’t. We broke up and half the team sided with me and the other half with her and everything just kind of broke. The team was never the same. I don’t want that to happen again.”

Natalie scooted back. “Okay, so you don’t want this?”

Darcy reached for her, took her hand again. “No, I really want this. But we have a team that could be great. And I don’t want to be the reason that falls apart. Not again.” She ran a hand through the hair falling into her face. “I think we can win a lot of games. I think you and I are magic together.”

“On or off the ice?” Natalie asked, only half kidding.

“Both.” Darcy blushed. “I like you a lot. But I’m the captain and I feel like it’s my responsibility not to fuck everything up again.”

Natalie leaned forward, resting her head on Darcy’s shoulder. “So don’t fuck it up. Kiss me again. No one needs to know except for the two of us.”

Darcy searched Natalie’s face. For a moment, Natalie thought she was going to say something but she leaned forward and kissed Natalie, and kissed her, and kissed her until it was way too late and the two of them finally agreed to give it a rest.

Darcy fell asleep in Natalie’s bed, one hand resting on Natalie’s stomach.

They lost so much sleep that night, and were such zombies the next day, the coaches never put them in the same room again.

But it was worth it. The lost sleep, the not getting to room together, all of it. Even when Darcy told her that they had to keep their relationship a secret from the rest of the team, Natalie didn’t care. She didn’t need Darcy to hold her hand in public or kiss her in the middle of the quad. She had shared looks, stolen moments, and the hottest girlfriend on campus.