005- DATING 101

005

DATING 101

AURORA

I stare at my phone after the call ends, my reflection blurry through the tears still clinging to my lashes.

Typical.

Even from miles away, my mother still somehow manages to comfort me and bully me at the same time.

A watery laugh escapes me before I wipe at my face again. God. I probably look insane right now.

My eyes feel swollen, my nose is stuffy. It's embarrassing.

I inhale shakily before forcing myself to stand. The room spins slightly from exhaustion. I haven't eaten properly all day. Between the bus ride and the emotional destruction of my relationship, my body officially hates me.

I walk toward the mirror hanging beside the desk and immediately grimace.

“Oh wow,” I mutter at my reflection. “You look haunted.”

A soft knock suddenly sounds at the door.

I jump.

For one horrible second, I think it’s Brian.

Then Jayden’s voice comes from outside the door.

“Shortie?”

The relief I feel is concerning. Which is ridiculous because I barely know this man. I quickly wipe under my eyes with my sleeves before clearing my throat. “Yeah?”

The door opens slowly. Jayden steps inside holding a paper bag and two bottles of water. He glances at me and I can see his expression change.

Oh no.

No no no.

Please don’t notice I was crying.

Unfortunately, his eyes narrow slightly.

“You’ve been crying.”

Traitorous tears immediately start forming again.

Wonderful.

“No, I haven’t.”

He stares at me silently.

I stare back.

A tear literally slides down my cheek.

Jayden blinks once. “Aurora.”

“I said I’m fine.”

“You look like somebody kicked your puppy.” He points out. When I don't say a word, he tilts his head. “Okay,” he says slowly. “You look like somebody killed your goldfish.”

Despite myself, a laugh escapes me.

He sets the food bag down on the desk before unscrewing one of the water bottles and handing it to me.

“Drink.”

“I’m not five.”

“You’re right. Five-year-olds listen better.”

I glare at him weakly before taking the bottle anyway.

The cold water soothes my throat instantly.

Jayden leans against the desk across from me, arms folded over his chest. It's silent for a while. The silence stretches for a moment before I quietly ask, “Do all hockey players share one brain cell?”

His mouth twitches. “Pretty much.”

“That explains a lot.”

“Careful,” he says. “You’re living with one now.”

I know his words are an half-assed attempt to get me to cheer up.

He sighs softly and rubs the back of his neck. “Look... for what it’s worth, Brian’s an idiot.”

I stare down at the water bottle in my hands. “It’s not even just the cheating part,” I admit quietly. “It’s the fact that everybody saw.”

“Hey.” Jayden's voice turns firm. “None of this is embarrassing for you.”

“Easy for you to say. You weren’t the girl standing there looking stupid.”

“You didn’t look stupid.”

I glance up at him.

He shrugs slightly. “You looked hurt.”

Something about the way he says it makes my chest ache all over again. Because he says it like those two things are completely different. Like being hurt doesn’t make me weak.

Brian never understood that.

I sink slowly onto the edge of the bed again, exhausted.

“I just keep thinking about how hard my mom worked for this,” I whisper. “She picked up extra shifts for months because I needed new skates. She barely sleeps. And meanwhile I’m over here ruining my life over some guy.”

JAYDEN

Aurora’s still glaring at me when I pull my phone out of my pocket.

Honestly, I’m only checking it because Coach has this psychotic habit of messaging the team at random hours like military deployment is about to begin.

But the second my screen lights up, I frown. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

Aurora frowns immediately from the bed. “What?”

I don’t answer. Because what the actual fuck am I looking at? There’s a notification from Tyler. Then Duke. Then six different hockey group chats exploding at once.

And right at the top?

A sports gossip page.

NORTHFORD TEA.

The caption reads:

CAPTAIN JAYDEN VALE STEALS TEAMMATE’S GIRLFRIEND AT HOCKEY HOUSE PARTY?!

Attached underneath is a video.

A very clear video.

Of me grabbing Aurora by the waist and kissing her.

Jesus Christ.

The comments are already flooding in by the thousands.

I click the post.

Big mistake.

“Oh no,” I mutter.

Aurora sits up straighter immediately. “Why do you sound like that?”

“Because this is bad.”

“How bad?”

I turn the phone toward her.

The second she sees the video, all the color drains from her face.

“Oh my God.”

Yeah.

Exactly.

The video shows everything.

Brian trying to come toward her.

Me stepping in front of him.

The kiss.

The room screaming.

And then my dumbass saying:

“She’s my girl now.”

Fuck me.

Aurora snatches the phone from my hand. “Oh my God,” she repeats, horrified. “Why does it have almost fifty thousand views already?!”

Because this is NORTHFORD.

Her eyes widen more and more the further she scrolls. Her eyes pause at what I'm guessing is a comment.

“…Jayden.”

The tone of her voice makes me nervous immediately.

“What?”

She slowly turns the screen toward me. There it is. How very shocking? Why'd I not think about her. The original uploader of the video is the blonde from Brian’s lap.

Caption included.

POV: The hockey captain steals another athlete’s girlfriend at a team party 😭 #CaptainStealsTheSkater #NorthfordScandal #AthleteConduct

Athlete conduct? The fuck is wrong with her? That hashtag alone is enough to attract attention from the athletic department.

Northford takes athlete image seriously. Especially scholarship athletes.

One scandal and suddenly sponsors start caring.

Coaches start caring.

Administration starts caring.

Aurora looks genuinely panicked now. “Wait... wait, can they actually do something about this?”

I run a hand down my face roughly.

“Depends.”

“Depends on what?!”

“How badly this blows up.”

As if summoned by Hades himself, my phone immediately starts ringing.

Coach.

Perfect.

I stare at the screen.

Aurora stares at me.

My phone rings again. And again.

Coach doesn’t call three times unless somebody’s dying.

“Answer it,” Aurora whispers.

I exhale sharply before swiping the call.

“Coach. ”

“What the hell did you do?”

Yeah.

That sounds about right.

I glance briefly at Aurora before stepping farther toward the corner of the room.

“It’s not what it looks like.”

“That video is literally HD, Vale.”

Fair point.

Coach sighs aggressively into the phone. “Do you understand how bad this looks right now?”

“It was a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding doesn’t usually involve tongue.”

I close my eyes briefly. “We didn’t...”

“Save it,” Coach cuts in. “The athletic board’s already involved because both of you are scholarship athletes.”

Fuck. That gets Aurora’s attention immediately. I hate the way her face goes pale.

Coach keeps talking. “And now people online are accusing you of creating a hostile environment between athletic departments.”

I blink slowly. “That's pushing it too far...”

“You kissed another athlete’s girlfriend on camera in a hockey house full of drunk witnesses!”

“…When you say it like that..."

“Because that’s exactly what happened!”

I rub my forehead. Stress headache incoming.

Coach lowers his voice slightly. “Listen carefully. Public image matters at Northford. Especially this close to recruitment season. Figure skating and hockey are two of the university’s biggest programs right now.”

Great.

Awesome.

Love that.

“So what now?” I ask flatly.

“The easiest solution?” Coach says carefully. “Convince people it wasn’t scandal.”

“No.”

Coach ignores me completely. “If the public thinks you two were already together before tonight, this turns from athlete misconduct into relationship drama.”

I stare at the wall.

Absolutely not.

Behind me, Aurora’s watching my face carefully now, trying to read the conversation.

Coach sighs again. “I’m not officially telling you to do anything. But if this spirals, both athletic departments are gonna step in.”

“Coach...”

“Handle it before administration does.”

Then he hangs up.

Aurora immediately stands. “What did he say?”

I stare at my phone for a second longer before looking at her.

Fear flashes across her face. “Jayden.”

I exhale slowly. “They think...” I pause. “They think it’ll calm down if people believe we were already dating.”