Page 304 of Faking the Goal

Conrad chuckles.

"If you need me, yell."

"You sure?" I ask.

He nods toward the room beside us.

"I'll hear you. The walls aren't exactly Fort Knox."

He starts toward the doorway before pausing.

"Oh, and one more thing."

The three of us look up.

"If one of your boyfriends scores tonight, I don't need to hear any screaming."

Caroline blinks innocently.

"We would never."

Conrad gives her exactly three seconds before shaking his head.

"I don't believe you for a second."

The room erupts into laughter as he disappears into the guest room, quietly closing the door behind him.

By the time the game ends with another Warriors win, the beach house has grown quiet. Sam never made it past the first few minutes of the opening period. At some point, while Elijah was still taking his first shift, her eyelids had begun drooping until she finally surrendered to sleep, curling onto her side beneath the blankets with one arm tucked beneath the pillow Caroline had insisted on fluffing for the hundredth time. She hasn't stirred since.

My heart aches every time I glance over at her.

She gets tired so easily now.

Earlier tonight, while we were getting everything ready before puck drop, we'd talked about the latest round of tests she had after her second cycle of chemotherapy. Now all we could do was wait for the results and hope—desperately hope—that this time we'd finally hear something good. Caroline had spent most of the conversation encouraging her, reminding her that these things took time and that the treatment needed a chance to work. Sam had smiled and nodded along, even managed to crack a joke or two, but there had been something in her eyes that stayed with me. A quiet resignation. Almost as though she wasn't expecting the phone call to bring the news we were all praying for. Maybe she knew her own body better than any of us wanted to admit.

I hope she's wrong.

God... I hope she's wrong.

The television has long since switched to the postgame show, the volume turned down low enough that it's little more than background noise. Caroline and I stay where we are on the mattresses, speaking in hushed voices so we don't wake Sam, while I absently reach into the popcorn bowl balanced between us.

"So..." I say around another handful of popcorn.

Caroline immediately turns toward me, one eyebrow lifting with unmistakable curiosity.

"So...?"

"Ken-chan..."

A knowing grin slowly spreads across her face.

"What about him?"

I try to keep the smile off my face.

I really do.

It lasts all of two seconds before it escapes anyway.