Chapter 29: The Same Drew?

Drew held out one of the paper cups toward me, his hazel eyes crinkling at the corners with genuine warmth.

"I bought a black coffee, but I can swap you for a cocoa if you prefer," he said, taking the seat next to mine without an ounce of hesitation.

"Drew, seriously," I stammered, holding the cup with both hands just to give my trembling fingers something to do. "How are you here? Oakhaven is ninety minutes away."

"My uncle had a couple of corporate sponsor passes he wasn’t using," Drew explained, leaning back in his seat and resting an arm casually over the empty chair beside him. "He offered them to me this morning. I figured since you mentioned working late and stressing over classes, I’d drive up and cheer you on in person."

He looked down at me then, his gaze dropping to the massive fabric pooling over my lap.

His eyes lingered on the silver number nineteen stitched across my chest, then flicked up to my face with an amused, suspicious tilt of his head.

"So you’re into hockey now?" he noted in a teasing voice. "Back in Oakhaven you told me you just borrowed a sweater from a tall friend because you were cold. Now you’re sitting in the second row wearing his jersey?"

"I... it’s just a loaner," I lied quickly, my cheeks burning beneath the harsh arena lights. "I didn’t have anything purple to wear to the game, so he let me use it for tonight. It’s really no big deal."

Drew smiled faintly, looking at the silver name SHERIDAN arched across my back, but before he could press any further, the aisle steps thumped as Priya returned, holding two steaming cardboard cups of hot chocolate.

She stopped dead in her tracks two steps away, her jaw dropping slightly as her eyes darted from Drew to me.

"Oh," Priya said, her eyebrows shooting straight up into her hairline.

"Pri, this is Drew," I said, feeling the air in my chest get tight. "Drew, my roommate Priya."

Priya’s eyes widened with instant realization. "Wait. The same Drew?"

Drew raised an eyebrow, a warm, amused grin spreading across his face. "The same Drew? Have you been talking about me, Nora?"

"I just told her you helped haul fifty-pound flour sacks, okay?" I snapped, flustered as my cheeks went even hotter. "Don’t let it go to your head."

"She left out the part where you’re very tall," Priya chimed in smoothly, a wicked grin on her face as she gathered her coat. "I’ll just take the seat right behind you guys in row three. Don’t mind me at all."

"Priya, no..." I started, but she was already sliding into row three, winking at me over Drew’s shoulder.

Before I could say anything else, the arena lights dropped into pitch black.

The crowd roared as purple and gold spotlights swept across the ice. Deep bass from the speakers vibrated under our feet as the Briar hockey team skated out in formation, their silver-and-purple uniforms shining under the lights.

Knox skated straight to the center circle for the opening face-off.

Across the red line, Chase from Kingston University took his position.

As the referee stepped up to the circle with the puck held high, Knox settled his skates into the ice. But right before he bent into his face-off stance, his dark visor turned toward the glass behind the Briar bench.

Toward Section 102. Row two.

His eyes locked straight onto Drew, who was leaning in close to say something to me over the noise of the crowd. Then Knox’s gaze dropped to my shoulders... to his own home jersey, draped over me while another guy sat in his row.

Through the clear acrylic glass, I saw Knox’s posture go completely still.

His jaw clamped shut behind his dark visor. His broad shoulders squared, and his gloved hands tightened around his stick until the composite flexed under the strain.

"Whoa," Drew muttered beside me, squinting at the ice. "Your captain looks like he wants to murder someone."

"He always looks like that," I lied, my pulse hammering in my throat.

The referee blew the whistle and dropped the puck.

What happened next wasn’t just a face-off... it was a statement. Knox didn’t just win the puck; the second the rubber hit the ice, he threw a shoulder straight into Chase’s chest.

The impact echoed through the glass like a gunshot. Chase went flying backward, crashing hard onto his back as Knox swept the puck backward to Milo and took off down the ice.

The Briar student section went completely wild.

I didn’t know anything about hockey, but even I could tell Knox was playing furious.

For the next fifteen minutes, he was a menace on the ice... slamming Kingston players into the glass hard enough to shake the second row, moving faster than anyone else, and driving the puck forward like a man possessed.

With four minutes left in the first period, Knox cut through two Kingston defenders at the blue line, faked a wrist shot, and ripped a hard slap shot straight into the top right corner of the net.

The red light flashed. The goal horn blared through the rafters.

Three thousand fans jumped to their feet, screaming and high-fiving. Knox didn’t celebrate. He didn’t raise his gloves or hug his teammates.

He skated slowly past the net, turned his head toward Section 102, and stared directly at the row where Drew and I were sitting.

Drew tilted his head, watching Knox circle back toward the bench. "Okay, serious question, Nora. Is it just me, or is number nineteen staring right at us every single time he scores?"

"He’s just focused on the game," I stammered, pulling the oversized collar of the jersey tighter around my neck.

"Right," Drew said quietly, though his hazel eyes narrowed with a perceptive sharpness as he looked from Knox on the ice back to the silver name stitched across my back.

The horn finally sounded to end the first period with Briar leading three to zero.

As the players filed off the ice into the tunnel, the arena lights came up for the intermission. I let out a long breath, leaning back against my seat.

Just then, my phone buzzed hard in my lap.

I flipped the screen over to see it was a text notification.

Walking STD: Concourse. Behind Section 102. Right now.