Sleet Banshee by S.J. Tilly

CHAPTER TEN

MEGHAN

Last night I was able to keep my mind busy with the retirement party for Mr. Johnson. (Thankfully no one died of a heart attack or self-inflicted eyeball wounds.) But today’s a different story.

Last week I landed my biggest job ever: The International Calligraphers Convention. I’m not sure why, but they changed cities at the last minute, and they’ll be here in just three months… which means I have a ton of work to do. But I’ve organized my tasks from now until the night of the event, and somehow I’m already caught up.

Being on schedule is usually good, but I need to keep my mind off of Fucking Sebastian. He was a dick to me at the bowling alley, then he sends some stupid goodnight text, then he doesn’t reply to my response. For two days! Who does that?

Guys always complain about girls giving mixed messages, but Sebastian takes the damn cake. I mean, yes, I was technically out with another guy when he saw me. But he could’ve tried to charm me. Show me what I was missing. Instead he acted like my date was a personal attack against him. I didn’t even think he’d be there!

Hold up…

I didn’t think Sebastian would be there, but he had to have known I’d be there. There’s no way that Zach didn’t lay out the plan for him. No freaking way. Sebastian doesn’t strike me as the type to go bowling for the hell of it. But… does that mean he came out just to see me?

Ugh, wow, way to be egotistical Meghan. He was probably just being a good friend to Zach. Probably. Maybe? Hmmm…

Well now I don’t know what to think. If he was coming because of me, then yeah, I can maybe get why he’d be mad I had a date. But I told Zach that we were going on a double date.

“Uuuggghh!” I groan and tug on my hair.

Why is this so complicated? I’m tempted to ask Zach if Sebastian’s said anything about me, but that sounds so middle school.

My ringtone chimes and I scoop up my phone, glad for the distraction.

“Hey, Izzy.”

“Hey! How’s it going?”

I sigh. “Oh, fine. Just pretending to do work. You?”

“All good here. Just wanted to let you know that I have the tickets for tonight. Katelyn and Steph are coming too.” I can hear the smile in Izzy’s voice. “I’ll text you your ticket in just a moment.”

“Awesome, thanks!”

“Oh for sure! I think everyone’s just planning to meet there. I have a meeting at the end of the day, so I’ll stay downtown.”

“Works for me. I just want to get there early enough to grab one of those giant pretzels before the game starts.”

“Mmmm, yes. Great plan,” Izzy agrees. “Okay, I’ll see you tonight!”

“See you.”

True to her word, Izzy sends my ticket a moment later. This isn’t my first time attending a Sleet game, but for some reason I feel nervous. Stupid Sebastian, I know it’s his fault. And it’s not like this is even the first time I’ve seen him play. This might be their first game this year, but I’m pretty sure he was in goal for every Sleet game I went to last year.

Being from a true Minnesotan family, I grew up surrounded by hockey. All three of my brothers played through high school. They were alright. And since our parents were big on family bonding, I got dragged around to all their games. I even played one year myself. I was in sixth grade, and I hated it. None of my friends were on the team, and when I found out that the girls would never be allowed to check I wanted to quit right then and there. My parents made me play out the season, but that was the last time they forced me into organized sports.

Glancing at the clock, I see it’s already mid afternoon. Fuck it, I’m not going to get any more work done today. I’ll go take a long shower, shave every inch of my body, and tame my hair into nice smooth curls. I don’t actually think I’ll be getting any action tonight, but feeling sexy will help put me in a better mood.