Chapter Text
The black puck flew across the ice, zooming from player to player. Crowds cheered as the rubber is pushed from stick to stick and from team to team. A blonde in a blue, green, and white uniform caught and passed to a brunet in the same uniform who let out a gasp in surprise as it was swiftly taken away. The crowd’s cheering and ‘boo’s fueled the player’s ears, helmets clashing together in the rush to get the points. A point for the red team, a point for the blue, two for red and then one for blue.
A loud, “God damn it! Pull it together you guys!” Was heard from a woman on the blue-green team as the puck got stolen for what seemed to be the hundredth time. Even though the teams were tied, the blue-green team was still pushing each other to do better.
Some passing and missing of goals later, another person stole the puck, this one lad in blue. A skilled player who had been playing hockey for nine years, one who'd finally gotten the puck into his possession and was now mere inches away from the other team’s goa, and he wasn't gonna miss his chance.
This was his shot, his win, and as if in slow motion, the brunet let out a concentrated huff, and jolted his stick in a controlled motion, sending the puck flying past the goalie’s legs.
The rubber made it into the goal with the referee blowing on his whistle and shouting, “Game! The winners for today are the team of Yore Mam University!”
The crowd erupted into an uproar of cheers and claps. George turned around to look over the long rink and over to the crowd. He felt pride and joy well up inside him as the other team’s goalie looked utterly defeated. Relief washed over him like a wave as he let the cheers flood his ears.
"How could you let that pass!? It was so easy!" A person on the opposing team yelled as the goalie groaned.
"Stop acting like you could have done any better!" Another teammate snapped back, defending the goalie.
The other team let out noises of frustration and bursts of arguments as George’s team rushed over to him for jabs in the shoulder and celebratory high-fives. Some were sure to leave bruises on him, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.
"Damn, George! Nice play!" A woman with a thick Irish accent and purple hair congratulated as more teammates crowded the brunet, most of them taking turns to give him shoves and headache inducingly loud compliments.
"Yeah, man, that was sick!" A blond boy with icy blue eyes added.
"Thanks you guys," George responded as more compliments came flying in.
The praise from fellow teammates was interrupted by cries of excitement filling the rink by the fans, ears ringing from the team members in the middle who soaked in all of it.
George had scored the final point for his team, even if it was just for a practice game between Yore Mam University and Lahzeem College, it felt like he had won the state championships.
As some cheers died down George took a moment to take a deep breath.
I just did that. He thought to himself as he gripped his hockey stick tighter. George began pushing through the ice, watching them disperse into their little friend groups.
They all were heading in the direction of the locker rooms, words of a team dinner to be held after everyone had showered and changed floating through the air. George was excited for it; it would have been the first victory outing of the season. And it was all because of him.
He looked over to the people in the bleachers, even though the game had already stopped, and everyone was just trying to get off the ice, there were still groups in the crowd still cheering on certain players. The brunet could hear mixes of ‘Tommy’s!’, ‘Minx’s!’, and the occasional ‘Sam!’ or ‘Techno!’ being shouted. But no matter whose names he heard, he could always hear his name over the rest, which only fed his ego.
Still caught up in the moment and in the cheering, he almost missed his friend Sapnap skate over to him, leaving the group he was with which included one of his shorter team members, Quackity, who was now talking with his other friends, Charlie and Wilbur. They seemed to be discussing the plan for the team dinner.
“Dude! That was insane! I totally thought the goalie would shoot it straight back!” Sapnap yelled, giving George a high-five that would have been a little too hard to anyone who didn't expect it.
“Are you underestimating me, Ersonn?" George retorted with a smug tone watching Sapnap’s cheery smile turn into a sour one, catching the playful use of his last name.
“Of course not Davidson, I would never dream of it,” Sapnap retorted as the two neared the exit to the locker rooms. Before they could get in, a group of people from the audience, who were mostly female, started cheering for Sapnap.
Sapnap, who now had a toothy smile plastered on his face, raised a hand at the fan-girls who swooned, bursting out into squeals and giggles.
“They love me,” Sapnap pridefully gloated and George sighed.
“They wouldn’t love you as much if they knew you didn’t have rock solid abs.” The brunet teased with a cheeky smile as Sapnap let out a hurt gasp.
“Dude… You didn’t need to go that far, that was just a ‘lil bit too mean,” Sapnap responded, a twinkle of earnest in his tone.
Sapnap was George's best friend since early that year, and they had met on the hockey team, Sapnap being almost as good as George at the time. It started out as a rivalry to one-up each other but their competitive roots never seemed to leave for good, even after they relaxed. And one of George’s favorite hobbies was to poke fun at the fact that no matter how hard the guy tried, he just could never seem to get abs.
After the recent comment, George didn’t reply, but he kept his childish smirk plastered on his face as they entered the locker room with Sapnap having a playful pout.
After going through the green door, the two instantly met with their coach, Philza, who looked extremely proud of them, also being greeted with the sour smell of sweaty college boys.
“Good fuckin’ play, mates! Especially you, Davidson, good clutch,” the blond man yelled, putting a hand on George's shoulder and giving him a toothy smile.
“Thank you Coach Minecraft,” George keened, returning the smile, not as toothy but his pride stood out even still.
“Anytime-,”
“Get back here, Tubbo!” George’s other teammate, Tommy, yelled as he chased a short brunet boy who had an adrenaline filled smile.
“Leave me alone!” Tubbo laughed out, running past his fellow teammates who had annoyed expressions as Tommy followed.
“Boys! Cut this shit out or you won't be invited to the- Hey! What did I just- Hey!” Phil yelled, shifting into groans as he went to stop the lower-year classmates from fighting, leaving George and Sapnap at the entrance of the locker room.
“Isn't he just so cool?” George asked Sapnap who playfully rolled his eyes.
“He wasn’t so cool last week when he made you do extra drills when you were thirteen minutes late,” the ravenet said as George let out an annoyed huff.
“People change, Sap,” George replied walking deeper into the room to reach their lockers, both boys doing their combinations.
George grabbed his clothes and started changing, Sapnap doing the same. As they changed, George felt he was missing something. He didn’t know exactly what it was yet, but something felt off. The brunet began looking around himself, looking at his gray Vans, black jeans, and white t-shirt… His jacket sat off to the side, George unaware of it sitting in his locker.
That's odd… He thought as he closed his locker and put the lock back on with a ‘clank.'
George shrugged off the feeling and walked to the exit of the locker room, scrolling through his phone while waiting for Sapnap to join him. Sapnap finally got over to where George was waiting, George scoffing in annoyance. “What took you so long?” He questioned.
Sapnap simply shrugged in response. “I dunno, maybe it's because I have a sense of style and more than two shirts,” Sapnap sassed, looking George up and down, putting an arm on his waist.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, let's just get to the restaurant already, I’m starving. Being the best is very hard work,” George retorted with a shit-eating grin.
Sapnap groaned and began stomping out the exit, with George following, chuckling at his annoyance.
As the two walked through the doors, a tall dirty blond boy walked past them along with two other boys following him, one with light brown hair and the other with black hair with light blue highlights, some of the highlights being on his eyebrows.
George looked confused for a moment but as the two kept walking deeper into the parking lot, George remembered that those were the figure skaters that usually came in right after them but he didn’t think much of it, until Sapnap tapped his shoulder.
“Who were those guys? I haven't seen them around,” Sapnap said, looking behind his back to George.
“How do you not know who they are? They’re on the figure skating team.” Sapnap looked even more confused. “They come in right after our practices, and do little spins and stuff on the ice?” George replied, looking at Sapnap’s baffled expression.
“Oh quiet. I know what a figure skater is, I’m just surprised they’re, well, mostly dudes. I just thought they were chicks with short hair or something,” Sapnap itched the back of his head, an incredulous look across his features.
“Well, you thought wrong, but honestly, that's just a Sapnap thing to do,” George retorted as they got closer to the raven's car.
“‘A Sapnap thing to do’?” Sapnap repeated.
“To be dumb. You just proved my point.” George quipped as Sapnap unlocked his car with frustration.
“Whatever,” he mumbled, getting into the red Chevrolet. George smiled at how angry he got Sapnap, but just as he was about to get into the car, he heard a loud shout of his name coming from behind him. He turned to see one of his teammates, Tommy, hanging out of a white Sedan with his teammate, Ranboo, in the driver’s seat.
“Hey, big man! Are you going to the team dinner? I’ve heard the place we’re going has great food!” The blond asked as the car pulled into a stop right behind Sapnap’s car.
“Of course, why would I not go? I scored the winning goal after all,” George reminded him, as he let a cocky grin paint his lips.
“Whatever, Davidson, you’re lucky you’re all the way over there. If I was next to right now I’d-” Tommy is cut off by George.
“You’d what, huh? You’d whine at Coach to come make me do drills to death?” George retorted, making Tommy let out an angry groan.
“You know,” Ranboo spoke, “I would honestly love to sit and watch you two argue in the middle of the parking lot like this, but people need to get past me, and we’re running late,” Ranboo pointed to the short line of people sitting behind him, a few people starting to honk.
“Alright, Ranboo, whatever you say,” Tommy rasped, saying Ranboo’s name like it left a bad taste in his mouth. Tommy pulled his head back into the car, buckling his seatbelt aggressively.
“Next time Tubbo gets to sit in the front,” Ranboo mumbled, shifting the gears and driving off. Tommy sat in the passenger's seat, blowing an angry raspberry.
George let out a light chuckle along with a look of pride as he opened the passenger’s door and hopped into Sapnap’s car. Since Sapnap had been waiting for the last minute for George, he already had some music playing.
“Wow, now look who’s the late one,” Sapnap retaliated, cocking a brow at the brunet, fingers on the stick, putting the car's gear into reverse.
“Sorry, I had to deal with a child,” George explained, buckling himself in with a smirk. He relaxed in the passenger seat in triumph, rolling his window down a bit, letting more of the cool air from the outside roll into the car. Sapnap pulled out of the parking spot they were in and began driving to the exit of the parking lot.
“Can you open Google Maps? I need the route to the restaurant,” Sapnap asked, looking at the street he was about to drive into.
“Alright.” George opened his phone, putting in his password of "4 0 4” and exiting out of his recent tab, opening Google.
“Where are we going again?” George asked as Sapnap drove into the street and turned right, driving towards a red light.
“Connor’s Soup,” Sapnap replied, checking his rear-view mirror. George looked up the name in Google Maps, luckily it was only a ten-minute drive.
As they drove through streets of their city the two made dumb jokes and comments about the looks on the other teams faces when George hit that last shot. Sapnap had no problem bashing the team and George joined in, just less so.
But when they arrived at the restaurant, they both exited the car before George turned around to Sapnap with an angry look, “I forgot my jacket.” George had only noticed due to the cold Autumn air spiking his back.
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Sapnap exclaimed, running his hand through the bangs that hung over his bandana. Sapnap then glanced inside the restaurant to see that everyone was motioning the duo to come in as the rest of the team were about to get seated. “I’m not going back, you can drive, go get it.”
George leaned back and groaned looking up.
“What if I come back late and everyone is gone?” George whined as Sapnap facepalmed.
“That won't happen, idiot, now just go get your jacket,” Sapnap said, crossing his arms.
“Fine. Give me your keys,” George said, holding out his hand, watching the ravenet scavenge through his pockets to pull out a pair of jangly keys, shoving them into George's palm. After George had the keys in his hand, Sapnap wished him luck and rushed inside.
George sighed as he watched his team get taken deeper into the restaurant, able to smell the delicious food from the building. He grumbled as he hesitantly turned back to Sapnap's car and moved into the driver's seat. He put the keys in the ignition with harsh force and turned up the heat.
He arrived back at the parking lot for the ice rink, and it was now sunset. George felt a chill run up his spine as he shut Sapnap's door, cold air from the late fall weather making him chilly. He jogged to the entrance of the locker room and once inside, he leaned on the door and let a sigh escape his lips. It was a lot warmer there than it was outside.
“Jeez it wasn't that cold earlier..."
He gazed around the locker room, savoring the heat a little before actually going to look for his stuff. George walked past a few rows of lockers until he finally got to his, and since he was a junior, his locker was a bit further back. He stood in front of his locker and messed up his combination a few times, fingers rushing to open it, but he got it eventually.
He pulled out his varsity jacket, mostly white with two parallel stripes of green and blue going down the sleeves and where the jacket met his hips. An embroidered logo of a large ram rested on the back with the number six and his last name written above it. George slid it on and sighed in content, shutting his locker and putting the lock back on with a click. He walked in the direction of the exit, but stopped in his tracks when he heard music coming from the direction of the ice rink.
Music was blasting over the speakers, the same that had been used to announce the scores earlier that day.
“It’s probably just the figure skaters.” He mumbled to himself as the music's speed picked up, which intrigued George.
He pulled out his phone and checked the time.
6:12 PM
He left at 5:57PM so he felt he could watch a little bit of whatever the skaters were doing.
He hummed as he walked over to the door on the other side of the locker room and peered his head around the dividing wall that sectioned off the locker rooms and the rink. He watched as three skaters in comfortable long sleeved jumpsuits danced in synchronized movements. The music quickly came to an end, and the skaters went off to their coach, a short woman with thick white hair. She talked to them, George not able to hear her words but the smile on her face telling him that what they had done was at least good.
The coach pointed to a few of the other dancers who nodded and skated out into the ice, coming to a halt with practiced precision, nothing like the clunky skating George had gotten used to seeing with his teammates.
Wow, they're good. George thought, amazed at just the line up.
The six changed their positions to form a triangle with the person in front landing so he was facing the locker room door. George made brief eye contact with the blonde, watching as the stranger’s gentle smile grew into a wide grin of pride.
Once more, the music started up over the old speakers, leaving it slightly muffled and broken, but George was used to it, the noise seeming just as clear as it would with a nice pair of headphones in his mind.
The first swell of music started up as the blond began to move, backward into the other members as they moved out of the way with practiced spins. The main skater stretched forward, face contorting into a wishful expression to match his movements as the dancers beside him moved with fluidity. He bent back, nearly folding his body in half backwards before springing up and breaking through the small crowd once more, but before he could get through, he was grabbed and pulled back.
George watched, enamored by the performance, all facing towards him as if that blond dancer had directed all the anguish that he was acting out onto him. The routine went on like that for a few more minutes but to George’s dislike, they had switched the direction in which the party was facing several times throughout the song.
He watched the back of the main skater’s head, small ponytail just barely keeping the shorter hairs out of his eyes in wishful curiosity.
After a few more spins and graceful glides across the scratched ice, the group returned to their coach, this conversation taking longer than the previous and the coach making them repeat a few of the moments. One of these was just past the beginning, right before the first change of redirection happened. George watched as the blond skated forward, towards him, before winking George's way before his face went back to one of distress. He jumped and spun away as if it hadn’t happened, leaving George to wonder if he had imagined it or not.
He pursed his lips together in surprise, eyes going ever so slightly wider as his brain tried to process what had happened. His eyes stayed glued to the blonde dancer, watching each movement and not at all focusing on the other skaters at that point. The dancer was tall, slim but clearly muscular from all of his time doing the complicated jumps. Ones that George had no idea how he managed to do. One, two, three, four turns in just one little leap with outstretched, dramatic arms.
It took until they had finished the section of the dance that George had realized he was staring and looked down.
He grabbed his phone and checked the time again.
6:22 PM
“Shit,” he hissed under his breath as he gathered his stuff in his arms in a rush before leaving the bench he was sitting at, weaving through the lockers until he found his way outside, mind still itching to go back and watch the dancers. He fumbled with the keys, finally finding the one to unlock the car. George slipped in as he felt a few drops of sweat form on his forehead slide down to his eyebrows.
He had watched them for ten minutes, that’s not gonna look good.
“Shit,” he cursed again, leaving the parking lot and making his way to the restaurant in eight minutes rather than ten.
He lightly jogged his way into the restaurant, being greeted by a waitress who directed him into the direction of his party, expecting one last person already due to the team telling her about the late arrival.
He found the table Sapnap was at, taking a seat and quickly pulling a menu over in front of him.
“What took you so long?” Sapnap questioned with a furrowed expression, George trying to keep his slightly red face hidden within the menu.
“N-nothing, just messed up my combination and-and some traffic,” George stammered as his eyes landed on a lasagna option on the menu.
“Dude you look like you saw a ghost. Are you sure everything's alright?” Sapnap asked genuinely, cocking a brow at the slightly hunched over brunet.
“I'm just tired and hungry. I rushed and got my jacket in a hurry because I didn't wanna miss out on the food.” George looked up to Sapnap whose face shifted into a now amused look rather than concerned.
“It shouldn't have taken thirty minutes,” Sapnap said matter-of-factly, putting his chin on the back of his fist, leaning on it with a curious look on his face.
“Thirty minutes? It’s been that long?”
“Yeah, did someone,” he paused to draw out words, “keep you company?”
George’s eyes went wide in offense, slamming the menu down onto the table as his fingers twisted to fists on top of it. “Keep me company? You’re disgusting.” He turned away from Sapnap, only mild joking coming across in his tone.
Sapnap snorted at the brunet's defensiveness, which only led Sapnap to believe something did happen.
“You sure George? You seem really, I don't know, suspicious?” Sapnap pushed, causing George to gag dramatically.
“I did nothing. I just got a little- side tracked, uh, sidetracked?” George mumbled, making Sapnap coo.
“Sidetracked with what? You keep avoiding- That's why I assumed you-”
“I watched the figure skaters alright?! I just got curious and stayed to watch them practice for a bit,” George said, shoving his face into his arms on the table, covering the top of his head with his hands.
“That's all you needed to say! Jeez,” Sapnap sighed, looking at George with a confused but still all too taunting smile.
George stayed quiet for some time after that, shame burning his cheeks as he often found himself thinking about the dirty blonde dancer, the way he moved, the wink, how he made George's stomach twist into around a hundred knots. George didn’t understand why he felt different from the way the blond looked at him.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by a tap on the shoulder from Sapnap, making George jump up from his seat.
“What…?” George asked with a hint of annoyance in his tone, his face slightly flushed from his memories.
“The waitress is here.” Sapnap pointed to a woman holding a notepad with a smile. She was pretty, and he felt his face grow hotter than it was already at the thought of admiring her, hoping Sapnap wouldn’t notice his blush.
“Hello, sir! What would you like? Could I get you a drink to start on?” She asked, keeping the kind smile on her face, making George relax a bit. He sighed and returned the smile.
“Uh yeah, could I get a lasagna with some water?”
The waitress wrote down his order, smiled and nodded.
“And would anyone else in the party want anything more?" She asked, looking around the tables, and ushered over to where one of George's other teammates, Punz, and took his second order of fries.
“A lasagna? Really? How could you be so boring?” George heard Sapnap say with a chuckle.
“Me? Boring? Look what you got! Soup?” George retorted, looking at Sapnap’s dish.
“Ramen, George. It's ramen,” Sapnap corrected, clicking his chopsticks together before using them to grab a few noodles from the bowl.
“Sure, Sapnap, sure,” George said with a chuckle, slowly forgetting the show from earlier as he relaxed into a usual routine of dinners after games with his friends.
As he waited for his food, George talked with a few other people at the table. Other than him and Sapnap, it was Quackity and Tommy.
George liked finding ways to annoy the younger freshman. That and handing out plenty of 'short' jokes to Quackity, causing the small man to speak aggressive Spanish which led to plenty of loud outbursts of laughter from George and Sapnap.
The pretty waitress returned with George's lasagna and water. George thanked her, and she went to give Punz what he ordered.
George sighed as he watched the woman leave, but he quickly picked up his fork and began eating his lasagna. It tasted great, it was better than the lasagna from the last place the team went, it tasted like it was made in a dishwasher.
After some more small talk and jokes, the lady came back to refill cups.
"Thanks again!" George commented as the woman picked up his glass cylinder.
"No biggy!" She said with a wink.
At first, George smiled at the gesture but he sat in his chair quietly soon after, memories of the blond figure skater came hurling back.
George understood how the pretty woman made him feel, he just couldn't pin down what about the boy got him so flustered in such a similar fashion.
He sat and pondered with a light blush still dusted on his cheeks as more memories of the blond clouded his thoughts. It was minutes until he came to the conclusion to meet the blond boy again, and maybe get to know him better.
That's it, I'll find a way to meet him… George thought confidently, but more obstacles became apparent.
He didn't know how, exactly. They had practices after a few of his games, but he was always with his team, and it seemed unfair to the guy to ask to hang out right there.
Fingers drummed against the scuffed wooden table as he went through the options in his head, considering and ruling out options as they swirled through his mind.
It was only when Sapnap poked his arm that he was brought back to the present, immediately coming face to face to an exaggerated grin, all teeth including a little tooth gap that he had come to associate with his friend.
“Whatcha thinking about, lover boy?” George groaned under his breath, just loud enough for Sapnap to hear and giggle in glee. “That waitress? She really is a catch. And her name is Chanelle, isn’t that so gorgeous?"
The name was pretty, but the thought of humoring Sapnap and agreeing was not something George was keen to do.
“Names can’t be pretty, dumbass.” He looked around to make sure she wasn’t in earshot. “And she wasn’t that attractive.”
“Really? Didn’t seem like that when you were eyeing her up and down earlier. And you were blushing.”
“I was not!” George stuffed himself with another bite of pasta, rushing to wipe the extra sauce from the corners of his mouth before anyone could notice.
Sapnap let out a roaring laugh but was prompted to finish his ramen before he could bite back any remarks. After some time, though, George’s teammates began leaving, and George was getting tired.
“Alright. Well, I’m leaving. Bye, losers,” Tommy said, getting up to go grab Ranboo and Tubbo, not pushing in his chair.
“We should all get going, we finished our desserts twenty minutes ago.” Sapnap ran his fingers through his hair as he spoke, “Unless, of course, George wants to stay to drool over the waitress some more.” Sapnap looked over to George, who let out a heavy sigh.
“Really gonna start this again?” George asked in annoyance as Quackity snickered and covered his mouth.
“Nah, I think I’ve pestered you enough, I kinda just want to go home right now and pass out on the couch,” Sapnap hummed, standing up and stretching his arms above his head to loosen the muscles that had gotten stiff from sitting.
George looked at him with some lingering sass from earlier, but dropped his gaze with a huff and nodded. He grabbed the check and paid for his portion of the meal with a bill and left a sizable tip off to the side for the waitress.
“You’re gonna drive me home, right?” George asked, standing up from his seat, copying Sapnap’s stretch.
“No, George, I’m making you walk home,” Sapnap sarcastically mumbled, looking at George like he was stupid.
“Whatever,” George scoffed, rolling his eyes with a small smile forming on his face. Quackity stood and pushed in both his and Tommy’s chair, rolling his eyes after seeing the other didn’t bother to.
“What time are you gonna be home, Quackity?” Sapnap asked, as his roommate looked up and back to him.
“Around eleven,” he hummed, putting his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.
“Alright! Cya!” Sapnap said, waving off the short boy who waved back, pulling George to the exit of the restaurant. The two soon got out of the restaurant and back into the parking lot.
“So, did you get her number?” Sapnap teased as George scoffed.
“I thought you said you weren’t gonna start this again!” The brunet complained as they reached Sapnap’s car.
“Yeah, but then I got bored again." They both got into the car, turning up the heat and George kicking his sneakers off as they clunked to the floor.
“Ew- George! Have some decency!” Sapnap gagged and pulled out of the parking spot with a disgusted look spread across his face.
“This is what you get for making fun of me." Sapnap just rolled his eyes.
While they drove out into the street, George turned on the radio, continuously changing stations until he found a music channel that didn’t buzz too horribly.
They arrived at George’s house first, dropping him off at the curb with a sleepy wave from both people, the exhaustion finally setting in for them.
George sluggishly unlocked his front door and walked inside. His small house had been left clean since he cleaned it before heading off to class that morning.
He walked past his kitchen and down through the hall to reach a door that never seemed shut all the way.
He tiredly pushed through the door and quickly put himself into his bed. Soon, he was gonna see the blond boy again, he was sure of it.
____
George stood outside the locker room, slim fingers interlacing as he chewed on the inside of his cheek, making eye contact with himself in the bleak bathroom of the locker rooms.
He waited for any sign of life outside the bathrooms one last time before locking the door. His phone buzzed with a message, but he didn’t check it, knowing Sapnap was trying to get an explanation as to why he didn’t want a ride home for today. George had never bothered to drive himself to or from practice before, so the sudden change of heart was odd.
He tensed when he felt his phone buzz again, over-rehearsed words flying through him as his lips moved just the slightest to copy them.
'Hi, I'm George, and I was wondering if you'd like to hang out sometime!'
Each time the words passed his lips he felt himself cringe.
"Ugh! Why is this so hard…" he complained to himself. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked into the deep brown contacts he wore.
Just as he was about to retry his internal monologue again, he heard a knock at the door. George's breath hitched at the sound.
"B-be out in a second!" He stammered as he rushed to fix his mop of hair before turning around and flushing the toilet despite that it hadn’t been used. Hands slicked with sweat twisted against the rusted handle, pressing down-and-out so the door gave out and let him into the main area of the locker rooms. George looked up from the tiled floors, just to immediately meet a pair of brilliant blue-green eyes.
“Oh, hi again.”