The Hockey Star Regret

Episode 6

COLEEN

I walked home in a daze, not believing what had just happened.

It wasn’t until I had gotten into my apartment that the reality of what I’d done settled into me.

I had freaking humiliated myself in class because of Hayden Michaels!

Oh, God, this was a disaster of unbelievable proportions, and there was no way I was going to leave it down.

I already knew that the professor was going to hate me for disrupting her class the way I did. She had a reputation as a no-nonsense person, and now I've gone and put myself in her bad books.

Fuck, how on earth was I going to redeem myself to her?

There was also the fact that anybody in that class could have made a video of my outburst and had probably uploaded it on social media.

My plans to maintain a low-profile in college was going to absolute s**t. Thanks to none other than, Hayden freaking Michaels.

And what the hell was that?

Hayden had never apologized to me in all the years I'd known him, so why start now?

Or was he finally becoming mature?

I shook the thought out of my head. Nah, that’s not possible.

The Hayden I knew was a spoiled man-child and that man has never felt any form of remorse so that must have been a ploy to get in my head and I had to give it to him, it f*****g worked.

I went to our small kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

Luckily for me, Mark had classes till evening, so he wasn't at home to give me a lecture I definitely wasn't in the mood for.

While I was currently feeling so embarrassed, I had never felt this free. Hayden had always seemed like this force that I couldn't stand up to, but after today, that didn't seem so true anymore.

I mean, was he still intimidating? f**k yeah, but I also sensed something different about him. He almost seemed human, and for a while there, I almost felt bad for him.

The last thing I wanted was to navigate four years of college with Hayden being a pain in my ass. He might have successfully done that in high school, but that was where that s**t f*****g ended.

I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me weak anymore. I didn't know how we still ended up in the same class after I transferred out of all our joint classes, but I wasn't going to let him chase me out of another class.

Especially not the class I was looking forward to the most. I might have royally messed up with the professor today, but I wasn't going to give up until I ended up in her good graces.

Since I had no other classes for the day, I spent the rest of my time reading up on my lecture materials so I could be prepared for the next day’s lectures.

I was just about to order dinner when Mark got home.

“Hey, you,” I greeted him with a smile.

"Hey, my little troublemaker," he responded, giving me a sly wink, and I knew that something was up.

“What is it, Mark?” I asked.

“Uhm… I should be the one asking you that question,” he replied. “You’re the one having a lovers’ quarrel in the middle of campus.”

Shit. Word had already gotten around.

I should have known better than to wish for the nearly impossible.

"I don't have a lover, Mark, and you know that," I told him.

"Apparently, I don't, and you guys seemed to really be going at it from what I heard."

"I don't want to do this with you, Mark. I've already had a long day, and I'm stressed enough as it is. Please don't add to it," I begged.

He moved to take the seat beside me.

"You seem to forget that I'm not just anybody," Mark said. "I'm your best friend and just like I tell you everything that's going on with me, I would also love it if you could tell me everything as well."

I sighed in frustration. I hated to admit it, but he was right. If there was one thing I needed, it was a confidant, and Mark was the only one I had.

“I’m just so tired of Hayden and his f*****g games,” I admitted.

“What did he do this time?” he asked.

"I transferred out of all the classes we had together, and he still managed to get into the same class as me," I told him.

Mark was quiet for a while before he said, “I don’t see what the issue is.”

"The issue is that he sat beside me and proceeded to make himself a nuisance. It was too much for me, so I snapped. I just wanted him to leave me alone."

"Have you ever stopped to think that maybe the reason why Hayden is always all up in your business is because he likes you?" Mark asked, and I burst out laughing.

The thought that Hayden would like me was the funniest thing I had ever heard, and I didn't know where Mark got that inkling.

“That’s the biggest load of bullshit I’ve ever heard in my life,” I said.

“I mean it,” Mark added. “Because the only reason why a guy would be so hooked on a girl the way Hayden is with you is if he has feelings for said girl.”

"Okay, you know what. I think we need to get something to eat because you're already saying nonsense. Maybe when you come back to your senses, once we get some food in your system."

It was Mark’s turn to laugh at me.

"Good one, Coleen. Trying to change the subject by bringing up food. I'll let you have this one for now, but don't for one second think this conversation is over," he said and picked up his phone, probably to order us some food.

“So are we doing Chinese or Mexican?” he asked.

“Mexican,” I answered.

However, as far as I was concerned, that was the end of our conversation.