“God, Zoe, I ask you to do one thing, and you have to complicate it,” Helen says. We’re in the dressing room after practice. Instead of gold stars for producing Noah, I’m getting grief.
“How am I complicating things? I’m giving you more things to auction off. Besides, Noah is right, it’s sexist to auction off men and not women.”
“But how are we going to recruit players from our team?” Helen wonders.
“It’s easy. You, me, Rocky, and all we need is one more player.” Rocky agreed as soon as I suggested the idea to her.
“I’ll do it,” Shannon Jeffrey calls across the dressing room.
Helen clears her throat. “Uh, Jeffers, how is that going to work? You date women.”
Jeffers rolls her eyes. “Yes, Helen, I am aware. Women will bid on a date with me. I’ll promote it on the college LGBTQ forums. People have been complaining that mainstream campus events are too heteronormative in nature.”
As Helen digests this concept, I jump in. “That’s a great idea. We’ll get even more people to the event, and then they’ll bid on the other prizes too.”
Jeffers gives me a thumbs-up and leaves. Then Rocky returns from putting on her makeup. “You ready to go to class?”
“Sure. Am I done here, Helen?”
“Yes. But don’t forget there’s a meeting tomorrow at 5:00 to get everything organized for the auction. Tell all the guys to attend.”
“I’m not going to see all the guys. Message them yourself,” I say. By all the guys, she means Noah. But Noah and I can’t both go to an evening meeting because who would do the chores? We can do a coin flip, and the loser has to go to the meeting.
“Helen drives me nuts,” I tell Rocky once we’re out of the athletic complex.
“Then you’re going to love what I have to tell you,” she says.
“What is it?”
Rocky leans closer. “I found out why Helen is in charge of fundraising.”
“She was in Coach Cray’s office at the wrong time?”
“No, no. Remember when we won the championship last year? We celebrated at that restaurant, but some people went to Helen and Jeanette’s hotel room afterwards.” Jeanette is a forward who graduated last year. Rocky’s eyes widen. “They trashed the room. I don’t know if it was them or some random guys they invited in.”
“Are you serious?” Rocky and I went straight to bed after the restaurant party.
She nods. “Well, their parents ended up paying for the damage, but the school had legal and administrative costs that came out of our budget. So Helen was assigned to run the fundraising event as a way of teaching her responsibility.”
“I cannot believe this. How did you even find out?”
Rocky’s smile is prim. “I have my secret sources. But it’s 100% true.”
“Wow,” I say.
“Now you owe Noah a big apology. You’ll have to do something extra nice for him.” She gives me an exaggerated wink and makes the universal hand job motion.
“Anything sexual I can do would be more of a punishment for him.” Besides, it’s not like I confronted him. I only disliked him more because of my suspicions. And as far as I know, Noah hasn’t asked anyone out yet, because that’s gossip that would travel at light speed. Maybe he’s too tired after all the farm chores.
The next day, not only do I lose the coin toss with Noah, but most of my teammates ask me to update them later so they can skip the Helen show. There are lots of empty seats in the large room that Helen has booked, so I slide into one beside my brother.
“She’s even bossier then you,” Derek tells me.
Right now, Helen is going on about entertainment, which I’m not involved in. She’s turning this fundraiser into a party. I really hate to admit this, but Helen is doing a far better job than I ever did. Score one point for forced community service.
“I’m shocked we got Goody to agree to do this,” Derek says.
“Why?” I ask.
“I dunno. When I met him, you know, the way he looks and dresses, I thought the guy’d be party central. But he’s serious.”
“Serious about what?”
Derek sighs. “Hockey. School. The guys on the team invite him out all the time, but he never comes.”
“So, he’s a snob?”
My brother shoots me a look, like don’t you know?
“Honestly, he doesn’t talk much at home either.”
“He’s not a snob,” says Derek. “Because he’s really nice at practice and games. That’s the reason we keep inviting him to stuff, because he’s a good guy. And he always has a legit excuse.”
“What’s he like at hockey?” Noah is a mystery to me in so many ways, even though I see him all the time. Everything I know about his history doesn’t line up with the guy who puts his head down and gets things done at the farm.
“He’s really good. Maybe our best defender.” Derek pauses to think. “Of course, Hunts is a better individual player: he’s bigger and tougher, with a better shot. I mean, Hunts has been drafted, right? But Goody, he’s the glue. Whoever he gets paired with plays better right away. I love playing with him. Everything’s easier. He can see the plays way before they happen.”
“And he tells you where to be, right?” I remember my experience in the co-ed game.
“Sure, but it’s more than that. He’s in the right place and then I’m in the right place too. And I feel more confident about my game.”
I nod. That was exactly how I felt, that I was good again. A fantasy that was quickly dashed by my next game.
Derek concludes. “I feel like we’re a better team now that Goody’s here.”
“Are you two listening to me?” Helen interrupts our interesting conversation, and we return to the auction details. But my mind keeps going back to Noah. I had a preconception of what he was going to be like based on his looks, his lifestyle, and his family. We got off on the wrong foot because his looks unnerved me. I thought he was grouchy, but maybe he was unhappy. But what would he have to be unhappy about?
After the meeting, I drive back to the farm. Obviously, Noah can handle the chores now because he did them when I was gone last weekend, but I still double check everything.
I microwave the dinner that my mother left for me and do some readings while I eat. Noah comes in and sits across from me. He pulls out one of his ever-present bottles of water.
“How was the meeting?” he asks.
“Boring beyond belief. I’ve got an info sheet for you though.” I root through my backpack and hand it to him.
“Thanks.” He reads through the paper and folds it up. “I saw you in the barn checking up on me,” he says.
“I never,” I say with my fingers crossed under the table.
“Liar.”
“I trust you. You did a whole weekend without me.” Unless he got help from Derek.
“Then let me do the milking by myself tomorrow. You can sleep in,” he says.
Sleep in? I haven’t done that for months. “Well, okay.”
“I think you mean thank you,” he says, but he leaves before I can thank him.
Of course, it’s impossible to sleep in if you’re used to getting up at 5:00am every day. I try turning over and going back to sleep, but it’s not working. Well, the least I can do is make Noah a nice breakfast. I get up and whip up some muffins. Once they’re in the oven, I look outside. I can see the chickens out there pecking around, but there are no goats yet.
I can’t help it. I sneak out of the house and go to the barn. I try to peek through the windows but they’re too cloudy. I go to the door and crack it open as quietly as I can. There’s a faint noise that I can’t identify. I peek inside and see Noah’s back as he milks Cookie. He’s doing really well; I can see a steady stream of milk and Cookie’s relaxed posture as she munches away.
And then I realize what the sound is. Noah is singing to the goat. His voice is wavering and off-key, but I recognize the song right away. It’s Baby Got Back except when he sings back, it’s all goat-y, like baaaack.
I step back from the door. What happened to the grouchy, gruff Noah? He’s completely adorable. I feel a warmth in my chest. Noah’s right: I didn’t really know who he is, but now I can feel myself falling completely for the real, sweet Noah. But even as my heart softens, I know there’s no way that he could like me back.