Keeping Casey (Keeping Him #1) - Amy Aislin Page 0,54

a rolled-up sock. Beyond the rolled-up sock was a glowering Theo, expression murderous.

Ethan raised both hands. “We’re going.” Tugging Casey out into the hallway, he closed the door gently behind them. When he met Casey’s gaze, they giggled helplessly, their humor following them into the kitchen.

A few of his teammates were making themselves breakfast. Ethan nudged his way between Sommersby and Lajoie and made himself and Casey protein smoothies, pouring them into tall to-go cups. He smiled the whole time, imagining what next year would be like. Their own place off campus, maybe a basement apartment, or perhaps they’d be allowed to take over April’s lease on her townhouse since she was graduating this year. They’d wake up in each other’s arms every morning. Ethan would drive them to campus for their classes and they’d share kisses after Ethan walked Casey to class.

He blushed, biting his lip as he turned. Casey sat at the island, yawning, scratching his head, looking rumpled and adorable and like a baby animal who’d awoken too soon.

“Here.” He handed Casey his drink. “Let me drive you back to the dorms.” Casey had his first class in an hour.

The last time Ethan had driven Casey home, the drive had been tense, the air thick with emotion. Today, the drive was again tense, the air again thick with emotion. But this time it was tense with anticipation, thick with excitement and a newfound awareness of the other person.

Ethan kept sneaking glances at Casey, who sat in the passenger seat, knee bouncing, bundled up jeans wrapped into a ball on his lap.

Casey kept sneaking glances at Ethan too, small smile playing around his lips, eyes bright and happy.

Pulling into the drop-off area of Casey’s dorm, Ethan took a deep breath, hands clenched on the steering wheel, and said, “Can I take you out tomorrow?”

Freezing with his hand on the handle, Casey slowly turned to him. “Like, on a date?”

“Yeah.” Nerves bounced up Ethan’s chest and into his throat.

Casey’s smile was pure sunshine. “Okay.” Hopping out of the car, he bent at the waist to say, “Have a good game tonight. Stay safe.”

“Will you be there?”

“Of course.”

Of course. As if it was a given that Casey would always be there.

As Casey went inside with a wave and as Ethan pulled out of the lot, he reminded himself that that might not be the case. Casey might panic again.

The important thing, though, was that Casey wasn’t panicking now. And Ethan could work with that.

Twenty minutes before the game, Ethan sat in full gear in front of his locker, trying to ignore the cacophony of sound around him. He’d been so focused on his science classes recently that he’d neglected the reading for his one English class, and he had a short book of poems to read for Monday’s tutorial discussion.

Why had nobody told him that poetry was basically the worst?

Harkrader gave his shoulder a nudge. “Cole’s giving you the stink eye.”

Across the locker room, Britton was, indeed, unimpressed. His flat gaze went from Ethan’s to the book in his lap and back again. A silent message: There’s a time and place for studying and this is not it.

Ethan ignored him and went back to his poetry. “I’ve got to read this before Monday.”

“There’s three days left before Monday,” Harkrader pointed out.

While that was certainly true, he had other homework and reading assignments to complete this weekend. At least today’s and tomorrow’s games were home games, so he didn’t have to worry about losing time to traveling. It was always harder to concentrate on schoolwork when the team was on the road.

He got two lines into the next poem before closing his book and turning to Harkrader. “What?”

Harkrader was peering at him, lips pursed. “I know you’re frowning at me right now, but you seem overall perkier than you have in the last few days.”

“He and Casey made up,” Theo said from Ethan’s other side. Leaning around Ethan, he whispered to Harkrader, “And they’re a real couple now. I think.”

“They were always a real couple.”

“What?” Ethan’s brow furrowed. “No—”

Theo held up a hand. “Don’t even bother. Casey already tried.”

“He did? When?”

“We went to see him at the antique store a few days ago,” Harkrader said, lacing up his skates.

“He’s our friend too,” Theo added with a shrug. “We wanted to make sure he was okay.”

“Oh. That’s . . .” Trailing off, Ethan blinked at his friends. As far as he knew, Casey was still having trouble connecting with his fellow classmates,