The rink was quieter than usual the next morning, a hush settling over the ice as if it sensed what was coming. Ethan laced up his skates slowly, his hands unsteady. The locker room chatter hummed around him, but his focus was stuck on the knock he had heard at the coach’s office earlier.
“Carter,” Coach Grant had said, poking his head out, “when you’re done here, I need to see you.
That alone had been enough to tie his stomach in knots.
Sam noticed the faraway look on Ethan’s face and nudged him with an elbow. “What’s up with you? You look like you just saw a ghost.”
Ethan forced a laugh. The coach wants to see me after practice. That’s all.
Sam smirked. “Relax, you’re not in trouble. If anything, he’s probably going to congratulate you for blowing up the internet last night.
“Yeah,
