Noah laughs and clambers out of the pool, bathing suit hanging low. Blake doesn’t look. Except that he does, but only for a second. He hasn’t allowed himself to find anyone attractive in a while. Too big of a risk to hook up with random guys, too big of a risk for anyone to know when they don’t have as much to lose as he does.
So usually he doesn’t look, considers nothing, and walks away when he starts thinking about doing something stupid.
Not that he’s thinking about anything of the sort right now.
It’s just… Noah Andersson is hot and maybe Blake is allowed to notice that.
#
“Summer went by fast, didn’t it?” Noah says as he plops down on a chair, dripping all over the place.
Blake hums in agreement. His summer was shorter than he was used to from his first two seasons, but he’s excited to get back to playing, too.
“I mean, I would have obviously preferred it even shorter, but…” Noah shrugs. “There’s always next season.”
Blake nods. “You guys have been good.”
“High praise from the Calder Cup champion.”
“You make it sound like I’m the only one.”
“Aren’t you?” Noah asks and Blake gives him a shove. “No, but seriously, they wouldn’t have made it without you. You were a beast. I hope they don’t put you in goal against us next season, I’m already quaking in my boots.”
Blake huffs at him, although he is cautiously excited for next season. He re-signed with the Knights, got a pretty good pay raise out of it, and was told that he’d have a chance of backing up Mattie in Newark next season if he performed well during training camp. He’s ready for it, confident that he can compete on the level they need him on.
Mattie is expecting him at his house tomorrow. Blake called him to ask if he was coming to Brammer’s party and Mattie laughed at him for a full minute before he went dead-silent and eventually said, “No.” When he looks around, Blake does realize that most of the guys at the party have played less than ten seasons, don’t have kids at home, and can easily spend an entire day at a pool party because they don’t have any other obligations.
Noah gets them another round of drinks. They’re sweet and you can barely taste the alcohol in them, but Blake starts to feel them eventually, his cheeks turning hot despite their spot in the shade. Two girls, friends of Brammer’s girlfriend, join them when Brammer shows up with enough pizza to feed three entire hockey teams, and start asking them about their teams. Noah does most of the talking, which Blake is grateful for, and listens to him as he tells a story about when they filled their goalie’s trunk up with pucks last season.
Blake lets out a pained groan at the thought and Noah laughs and claps him on the back, his hand lingering for a moment, fingers warm against his skin. He still feels it after Noah has pulled his hand away.
Blake shakes it off by taking another sip of his drink, which doesn’t help at all, only makes his face even hotter. He must look like a tomato sitting here and probably has a bit of a sunburn on his face and shoulders as well.
One of the girls keeps shooting him looks even as Noah talks and Blake has had to deal with this long enough to know that there’s some interest there. He doesn’t want to be rude, but also keeps himself from smiling back at her, because he doesn’t want to give her the wrong idea. He keeps his eyes on his drink, and on Noah as he talks, and eventually excuses himself to find the bathroom.
When he returns, it’s just Noah, handing him another drink as he sits down.
“Weren’t feeling it, huh?” Noah asks.
“I… what?”
“Aw, come on, don’t tell me you didn’t notice. She was basically undressing you with her eyes. Not that there’s a lot left to undress, but you know what I mean.”
Again, Blake’s face goes red and he wishes he could stop it somehow. It’s more about Noah’s eyes on him, slowly traveling down his naked torso and less about the girl who couldn’t take her eyes off him. And of course Noah doesn’t know it, but Blake does and it’s mortifying.
He wants someone’s hands on him so badly.
He takes another sip and resigns himself to getting stupidly drunk, because he doesn’t usually drink much during the season and he deserves one last party and, maybe just this once, he can allow himself to cope with being in the closet the unhealthy way.
“You seeing anyone?” Noah asks.
“No, it’s not that…” Blake shrugs, at a loss. “I’m not really in a good place to be in a relationship right now.”
Noah laughs. “Pretty sure that she would have gone for something less permanent, too.”
Blake shrugs again. Takes another sip of his drink. And then nearly drops it when he sees a familiar face on the other side of the pool.
#
Elliot wasn’t going to let Adam drag him to a party out on Long Island a few days before the start of training camp, but Adam’s girlfriend is out of town – he took her to the airport this afternoon – and he didn’t want to go alone, so he was nagging at Elliot until he caved. “You don’t have to drink,” Adam said as they left their apartment. “You can just eat the food and have a good time and hop in the pool and… I don’t know.”
It wasn’t until they were almost there that Adam mentioned that they were on their way to Johnny Brammer’s house.
“Johnny Brammer who plays for the Knights? That Johnny Brammer?”
“I’ve known him for
