Chapter 12 Love Potion


    The locker room was pitch ck. Had we lost power?


    I didn’t dare to move in case I would identally bump into Enzo and give him the wrong idea. He was


    still hovering over me, his hand on the locker above me and his muscr body shielding me. I would


    be lying if I said that I didn’t fantasize about taking advantage of the dark and kiss him, letting him run


    his calloused hands all over my body and fuck me up against the locker…


    But before any of that could happen, a light flicked on at the end of the row of lockers. Just a single


    light, beaming down like a spotlight from the ceiling. Enzo quickly moved away from me.


    There was the sound of shuffling in the darkness, then someone stepped into the light.


    It was Justin.He was holding his guitar.


    Everything in my whole body cringed when he started ying his guitar and singing. It was a song that


    we had listened to the first night we hung out, and it was the song that we had our first kiss to.


    Under any other circumstance, I would have found this gesture sweet. But now, it just made me even


    more embarrassed.


    When he finished singing, the lights turned on and the rest of the team flooded in while Justin gazed at


    me with sorrow in his eyes.


    “Please take me back,” Justin said. ” I’m so sorry, Nina. I’ll make it up to you.”


    I stood there biting my lip, unsure what to say. My face felt hot, and grew even hotter when the rest of


    the team – excluding Enzo, who was sitting on the bench next to the medical tools as if he had never


    gotten up from his seat — started chanting.


    “Forgive him!” they chanted. “Forgive him!”


    I squirmed ufortably in my spot, avoiding Justin’s gaze. The chanting grew louder as the team


    closed in on us, urging us to get back together.


    “Alright,” Enzo said, standing. No one listened at first until he raised his voice. “That’s enough!” he


    shouted.


    The team went silent. Justin’s eyes flickered back and forth between Enzo and I. I could tell that he was


    starting to put two and two together. It didn’t seem like anyone heard my conversation with Enzo or saw


    him leaning over me at the locker, but Chapter 12 Love Practice maybe something about our body


    language was giving it away.


    “This is hockey practice, not a lovemaking session,” Enzo said. ” Enough with the high school antics.”


    One of the team members scoffed. ” You’re so boring, Enzo,” he said.


    Enzo folded his arms. “I was gonna make everyone do 25ps after this shit show, but now I’m thinking


    that you in particr should do 50, Jared.”


    Jared’s shoulders dropped and he hung his head, embarrassed.


    “Go on,” Enzo said to the team. “25ps. Now. All of you.” He gestured to the door, and as the team


    filed out, grumbling to themselves, he followed them. He cast onest look over his shoulder at me


    before leaving me alone in the locker room.


    Letting out a heavy sigh, I looked at the clock and realized that my shift was over. I packed up Tiffany’s


    supplies and lugged the heavy medical bag out of the locker room, just happy that I could go home and


    not have to see Enzo or Justin for the time being.


    When I left the locker room, the hockey yers were runningps around the outside of the rink and


    comining. I didn’t see Enzo among them; when I looked around, I realized that he was standing off


    to the side and talking to someone.


    That someone was Lisa.


    She seemed aggravated and was gesturing frantically, although I couldn’t hear what she was saying.


    As I approached the exit where Tiffany stood waiting for me, Lisa nced over. When she saw me, her


    eyes shot daggers and her face twisted into even more of a scowl.


    “What is she doing here?” I heard her say as I walked past, trying my best to just ignore her. I didn’t


    hear Enzo’s response.


    “Interesting first day, huh?” Tiffany said as I approached. She held the door open for me and we


    stepped out into the rain. It was more of a drizzle now, and there was a bit of a fog on the campus. The


    chill in the air felt nice after being cooped up in the smelly locker room all morning.


    “Yeah, I guess so,” I said as I followed


    Tiffany back to her office.


    “No one even got hurt in the arena earlier,” she said with a chuckle. “It was all a setup. I take it that


    Justin boy is the ex you were talking about?”


    I nodded. Tiffany stopped in front of her office door and took the medical bag from me, which she


    carried with a lot more ease than I did. The woman Chapter 12 Love Practice was stronger than she


    looked.


    “If you want me to have a talk with him, I will,” she said with a smile. “I know those boys pretty well at


    this point.”


    I shook my head. “No,” I replied. “It’s alright. I’ll deal with it on my own.”


    Tiffany reached out and squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. “Tomorrow will be better,” she said. “No


    hockey team. Although, you might find that the football yers can be just as obnoxious.”


    Tiffany was right. The next morning, we did the physicals for the entire football team. Granted, it was a


    lot easier than the hockey team without the drama between myself, Justin, and Enzo, but the football


    yers still acted like high school jocks.


    During their practice, Tiffany and I would pull out yers individually to Chapter 12 Love Practice


    perform their physicals. It was all going well until two yers collided into one another, then both held


    their ankles in pain.


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    Tiffany and I ran over to the field to check on them. My first instinct was that they were being a bit


    dramatic, but maybe I was just too inexperienced with sports injuries to fully understand what


    happened.


    While Tiffany started checking the ankle of one yer, I took the other.


    “Um, can Nina bandage me, actually?” the yer that Tiffany was helping said. Tiffany looked up and


    threw me an amused nce.


    “No, Nina’s bandaging me! Buzz off!” the football yer that I was helping said.


    Just then, the other yer stood as if the “pain” in his ankle had suddenly disappeared.


    “C’mon, man, you always steal the cute girls!” he shouted. The yer who I was helping stood up, too,


    nearly knocking me over in the process. “I don’t steal the cute girls. You’re just ugly!”


    The two yers suddenly started fighting, tackling each other and rolling around on the ground.


    “Stop!” I shouted, but they weren’t listening. Fists were flying, and suddenly, a rogue helmet that got


    knocked off by a punch flew directly toward my face.


    Right before it hit me, a hand shot out of nowhere and caught it.


    I looked up to see none other than Enzo standing beside me, holding the helmet. What was he doing


    here?


    Enzo threw the helmet to the ground and angrily stormed over to the boys, grabbing each one by the


    backs of their shirts and dragging them to their feet.


    “I knew the football team was immature, but not this immature,” he growled. “You almost hit your


    doctor!”


    The football yers looked at me, then at the ground with embarrassed expressions on their dirty


    faces. Enzo let go of their jerseys and picked up the stray helmet, shoving it into the arms of the yer


    who lost it.


    “You should consider yourselves lucky if I don’t talk to your captain,” Tiffany suddenly chimed in. “Go


    on, get back to practice. And next time you just happen to collide, maybe I won’t be so quick to think


    you actually got hurt.”


    As the football yers walked off sullenly, Tiffany cleaned up her supplies and started walking back to


    the sidelines to continue physicals.


    I went to follow her, but Enzo stopped me ca we talk ? He said.