Six months later...

"I like your boots. Especially when you kick me in the mouth with them," Blaine said.

"Oh, shit. Sorry. I wasn't paying attention." I moved my feet away from his face as I gazed across the snowy campus from our hammock.

The world was always much more peaceful during the winter, and with finals coming the next week, Blaine and I had some studying we needed to get done. So naturally, we laminated our notes and set up a hammock in a small snow shower.

"Then what the hell were you thinking about? It's clearly not Theory of Nursing," Blaine said.

"Nope, it was definitely my notes. I'm studying so hard right now."

"Yeah?"

I nodded. "Study is life, man."

He laughed. "I may not be a genius like you, but I'm not an idiot. Is it Viktor?"

I bit my cheek, then nodded. "Yeah, kinda. But as long as he's living his dream, I'll be fine."

"That's the way it should be. Focus on yourself, let him focus on himself, and let everything else sort itself out."

Viktor and I were just so natural, real, authentic. While I loved Blaine for sure, he just wasn't the one for me. There wasn't anything wrong with that, and we both realized it eventually.

But he was still my loyal idiot. I couldn't get rid of him if I tried, but he and I both knew I didn't want that.

Blaine smiled. "You know, I've been meaning to confess something to you for a while. It's kind of eating at my conscience."

"What's that?" I asked, pretending to read my notes again.

"Do you remember that for my seventeenth birthday, you got me that ice cream maker?" he asked.

"I do."

"I broke it."

I looked up at him. "Seriously?"

"I didn't mean to. It just fell off the top of the refrigerator."

"How the fuck did you manage to do that?"

"I mean, I put it up there to keep it safe right after you left that day, but it was a little too close to the edge, and fucking gravity kicked in, then it fell down and broke."

"It didn't even make it for a day before you broke it? Honestly, I'm a little hurt right now," I said.

"I'm sorry. I'm just accident-prone."

"Yeah, no shit."

He fell silent for a moment. "Are you actually mad at me, or..." He trailed off, waiting for my response.

"No, I'm not mad. Just disappointed," I said.

"Okay, Mom. Thanks for making me feel even more guilty."

"No problem. It's just what I do."

"I hope you don't mind if I use that story for my radio show tomorrow. It's almost finals week, and I'm kinda running out of good material. You know, it's that—"

"Oh my god, is that you, Blaine?" I heard a voice call from down below at ground level.

Arti.

"Yep," Blaine called back down.

I looked over the edge of the hammock to see her and Drew staring up at us, arms interlocked.

I wiped the water from my eyes, then cleared my throat. "And me too, bitch."

"Oh, shit. I didn't even recognize you. Your face is completely red," Arti replied with a laugh.

"Because it's fucking cold, that's why," I said.

"Then why don't you study some place warmer?" Drew asked.

"It's quiet out here. Or, at least it was until Arti started yelling at us," Blaine said.

"Can we come up there?" Arti asked.

"No. There's not enough room for four people up here, even though you're practically a human shrimp," Blaine said.

"Is there enough room for three?" Arti asked.

"Sure. Drew, you can come up here if you'd like."

"Is this your ladder?" Drew asked, pointing to the ladder parked right next to our hammock.

"No, that's just there for the ambiance," I replied.

Drew looked over at Arti, who scaled the ladder before Blaine could yell at her.

"No. You're not allowed up here. Get down, you piece of shit," Blaine said to her as she crawled onto our hammock.

Arti smiled, then pushed Blaine right off the edge. He plopped down in the heavy layer of snow beneath us, and Arti cackled.

"Bye, bitch. Okay, now you can come up, baby," Arti said, waving to let Drew know to come up.

"Fuck you," Blaine said as he brushed the snow off of his coat and pants.

Drew climbed up onto the hammock with us, and the two of them made sure to keep each other warm in the Minnesota cold.

Arti ended up getting her way. All she had to do was practice a little patience and act slightly supportive, and suddenly, Drew couldn't help but fall for her charm.

Kindness could really go a long way.

I still didn't care for that shit, though.

Blaine mumbled profanities as he climbed back up the ladder to our hammock. My phone rang, and while I checked to see who was calling, snowflakes melted on the screen.

Viktor.

I kept my squeal of delight inside my head, and I answered. "Hey adorable."

"Guess what?" His voice sounded cheerful as ever.

"You got a season-ending injury and now you get to come home, and we get to sleep together again?" I said.

"No. Not even close."

"You bought some stupid expensive car?"

"Also no. I'll just tell you. Patrice Bergeron is out for four to six weeks."

"I wish I could give a shit, but I don't. Why do you sound so—oh shit. Do you—"

"They're gonna let me be the fourth line center for a little while. I'm gonna be in my first NHL game," Viktor said.

"Shut the fuck up. Shut el fucko up." I laughed covered my mouth with my hand.

"What's going on?" Arti asked.

I pressed my finger to my lips to shush her.

"I know. I don't believe it either. But don't worry, I'll get you and Matt some tickets and all that stuff, so you can be here for it. That's the only way it'll even matter to me," Viktor said.

"You want me there?" I asked.

"I need you there. And you'll finally get to meet my mom, dad, and my little sister. Just so you know, she speaks even better English than I do."

"But it's almost finals week. That's kind of important to me."

"Oh. I don't—I don't want to hurt your grades or anything. That's more important than a hockey game." All the enthusiasm and glee dropped from his tone, and my heart dropped into my stomach.

"It'll be okay. As long as your first game isn't next Monday morning, Wednesday afternoon, or all day Thursday, I can be there," I said.

"What if it's tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? How the fuck do you think I'm gonna get to Boston by tomorrow?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it. I'll get you the plane ticket and everything. I'll do that right now. Just focus on school. I love you."

And before I could even say it back, he hung up.

"What's going on?" Arti asked again.

I thought for a moment. "I have no fucking idea."

***

"It's been a hot second since we've gone to a hockey game together," I said to Matt as we took our seats in TD Garden. We always liked to be early, since there was nothing more enchanting than an NHL arena.

"I know." Matt's eyes gazed around, almost like it was a small piece of home for him.

He had spent over a decade playing hockey, so any arena had that effect on him. And even though he learned to live without the game, there was a part of him that would always be a hockey player.

"You nervous about meeting his parents?" Matt asked me, finally getting used to the magic of it all.

"A little. I want them to like me, but what's not to like? I'm pretty fucking cool," I said.

"Well, there's your ego, your bitchiness, your constant complaining, and that's not even mentioning your annoying voice."

I glared at him. "You're the most supportive brother I could ever ask for. Thank you."

He smiled. "It's my job."

Even though we had just sat down, I already felt a little snacky, and I needed to rectify that situation before I got comfortable. I flipped through the pages of the program before I got up, and on the cover was a picture of Tuukka Rask, the goalie for the Bruins. I liked him, since he was just as crazy as me and had a way cooler name, but in small lettering, just beneath the "December 7: Chicago Blackhawks at Boston Bruins" headline, was "Sundqvist To Make NHL Debut."

Hell yeah, he was, and I liked to think that I played just a small part in that, but of course, my ego liked to remind me that I was half the reason he was finally about to play in an NHL game.

I went to go get my popcorn, and when I came back, a few more seats were taken, specifically the ones that were meant for Viktor's family.

I took in a breath, but I didn't even have time to work myself into a panic before a teenage girl with long, blonde hair swept back into an off-center ponytail squealed and grabbed me in a hug.

"You're Amanda, aren't you? Oh, Viktor can't stop talking about you. I feel like I've known you for years now." She let go of me and studied my face. "I'm Annika."

I smiled. "Nice to finally meet you. You're just about as friendly as Viktor."

"It runs in the family." She smiled, then took a deep breath. "I'm just happy that he found someone decent. There was this one girl back in Sweden that he just adored, but she was awf—"

"Annika," Viktor's mom said, then continued her thought in what I assumed to be Swedish.

Although if they were all language geniuses, she very well may have been speaking fucking Mandarin or Arabic for all I knew.

"Oh, right. I hope I didn't upset you with that," Annika said to me.

"It's fine. I don't really have anything to worry about with him," I said.

Matt and Mr. Sundqvist were talking, presumably about Viktor, hockey, old times, or a combination of the three.

"You're the girl who helped Viktor. Thank you," Mrs. Sundqvist said, drawing my attention. Her accent was different than Viktor's, and much different than Annika's, who practically didn't even have one.

"It was the best experience of my life. I should be thanking you, really," I said.

"No," she said, then grabbed my hand.

That must have been where Viktor got that habit from.

"You helped him more than you know. Thank you," she continued.

I hesitated. "I didn't—"

"Yes, you did," Annika interrupted. "Half of the reason Mamma sent him to the states was so he'd figure out the real world."

"Well, he got more than he bargained for, didn't he?" I laughed. "What was the other half?"

"So he wouldn't get distracted by other people all the time, but that didn't quite go to plan," Annika said.

I grimaced. "Whoops."

I finally sat back down and began to eat my popcorn. It had already gotten a little cold, but because I was such a nice person, I decided not to blame it on Viktor's family.

Plus, they were all just as adorable as him.

"I haven't seen you in forever, Matt. How are you doing?" Annika asked.

"I'm doing a hell of a lot better now that I'm here. I figured Viktor would get here eventually, but he really did it the hard way. How are you?" Matt asked.

"I'm a little overwhelmed. My brother is famous now, even though he's really just a dork. And everyone at school wants me to get his autograph for them, which is really weird, because even though he was pretty popular at home, a lot of people are jealous, especially his old teammates."

"Oh," I said, even though I technically wasn't a part of that conversation.

People liked him wherever the hell he was. He and I just couldn't be any more different, apparently.

"Trust me, people are jealous here too. I sure am," Matt said.

Annika smiled. "That's just strange to me. He's the same as he always has been, but at the same time, everyone has a different opinion of him than they used to have."

I nodded. "People are fake. He's just going to have to live with it and treasure the real friends he's made over the years."

"That's what he said he loves the most about you. You're real," Annika said.

I let myself smile, but all I wanted was to finally hear it from Viktor. It had been a few months since I had talked to him in person, and listening to him talk about whatever the hell he felt like talking about sounded like the best thing in the world.

Of course, watching him play was another solid option. But I didn't love Viktor the hockey player nearly as much as I loved Viktor the person.

***

After the game, Viktor unlocked the door to his hotel room, but as he swung the door open, there was nothing in there besides walls and a floor.

The plumbing was all there too, but if someone wanted to steal a toilet, that sounded like a personal issue that needed to be addressed.

"What the screw happened in here?" he asked, barely above a whisper.

"It's a 'welcome to the team' present from your teammates, I guess. Either that, or all your shit got stolen again," I said.

"You're never going to let that go, are you?"

I shook my head as we walked into the room, then looked up at him. "I didn't realize you were this minimalist."

He laughed. "This isn't funny."

"It's pretty funny. It's always fun to fuck with the rookie's mind."

"Don't look at me like that. I'm trying to be mad right now, and your smile is making it difficult," Viktor said.

"If you want, I can go back to my usual resting bitch face, complete with a homicidal glare," I said.

He took my face in his hands. "Why are you so cute?"

"I'm not cute. I'm evil."

"You're the most adorable person I know."

I rolled my eyes. "Gross. You're going to make me throw up."

A small smile rose upon his face as he continued to look into my eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"Is this what winning feels like?" he asked.

"I don't think so. You lost three to one today."

He shook his head. "Not all victories are on the score sheet, and that's not even what I meant, Candy Cane. I could lose everything, but as long as I have you, I'll feel like a winner."

"You've clearly been thriving without me," I said, still not daring to take my eyes off of him. "I mean, look. You're here. This is what we've always wanted."

"I know, and it's more than I ever dreamed it would be. But hockey's just a little less fun when you're not here to tell me everything I did wrong."

"There's nothing we can do about that besides deal with it. For me, it's worth it. It hurts, but this," I looked down at my hands, which grasped at Viktor's shirt, "this makes it all worth it."

As I looked back up at him, our lips met. I let myself smile just a little, and the comfort of familiarity slowed my speeding heart rate down just a tad. He was the little bit of sweetness I craved, and he sure as hell was a lot healthier than the cupcakes I tried to replace him with. Viktor gave me a reason to take care of myself, and he also liked being taken care of. But that was perfect for someone like me.

Maybe we were better at winning than we ever gave ourselves credit for.

Final Final Score: Amanda and Viktor: 50, Everything Else: 0.