CHAPTER ELEVEN

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THE TWO MEDIA admins stood near the stairs that led up from the rink to the locker room. Anastasia held her phone, the record button ready to be pressed when needed. Sofia struggled to hold the small microphone between her fingers. She's dropped it three times now. "Jesus christ, do you need me to hold it?" Stassie teased, leaning against the wall that separated the stairs from the rest of the room. Sofia held out a finger towards her, and flipped her off. "Nah I got it, it's just so fucking small." It was like as soon as the words left her mouth, the girls shared the same thought. "Don't you fucking dare." Sofia warned, as Anastasia struggled to hold in her giggle.

For the past two hours the girls sat at the top of Yost, sharing life stories. How Anastasia, Lola, and Mark all became friends, how Sofia's had a crush on Luke since last year, how Stassie and the group briefly talked about going to Hughes' lake house for spring break, how Sofia is actually from Texas, anything and everything you could think of, they talked about.

They were like long lost souls sisters. Anastasia's heart feeling full with nothing but care and adoration for the sophomore girl. Especially respect, given how she was majoring in a male dominated field.

And of course, since they talked about anything and everything, they talked about Ethan. How Stassie had a crush on him to begin with, that how they've been basically flirting back and forth since last December, and how she was really starting to feel something for him, but then those feeling got crushed like a snail under a boot when Mark told her his one request. But then how could she listen to him when he's been calling her pretty? Or when he's between her thighs sucking in her neck? The conversation ended with Anastasia saying there's a war going in in her mind.

And Sofia was very understanding throughout the girl's entire rant.

"So you're seriously thinking about not getting with Ethan because of Mark?" Sofia questioned seemingly out of nowhere, leaning against the wall that led towards the showers. Anastasia looked up from her phone, given she was fiddling with its settings to make sure her quality was decent. "I mean yeah, I love Mark and out of all my years of knowing him this is the one thing he's asked me to uphold. Not even in high school, did he ask me to not date his teammates. So when he asked me when we both got here, what was I supposed to do, say no?" She shrugged, lifting her head from her phone. Sofia nodded in understanding, "At this point, I understand you're viewpoint, but like," She blew a raspberry through her lips, "Mark doesn't have to know."

Anastasia quirked her head to the side, her face scrunched in a confused expression. Sofia rolled her eyes, "I mean you fuck him on the side." The obsidian haired girl furrowed her eyebrows, "It's not– We're not– I'm a–" "Holy shit you like him huh?" Sofia smirked, waving her tiny microphone around. Anastasia shrugged, "So this isn't just like a casual thing you really like him?" "We haven't hooked up, plus I'm still a virgin so I haven't even fucked around with the whole hookup culture."

Sofia ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek, nodding her head understandingly. "So, essentially, you have a crush on him," Anastasia nodded her head as a response, the thought that the boys could start up the stairs at any given moment made her steal glances below the wall where she leaned. "Mark still doesn't have to know. Just explain to Ethan your situation and I'm sure if he liked you he wouldn't mind." Sofia stated like it was the most obvious solution in the world.

Anastasia's brain hurt, it felt like almost a thousand pounds as she thought through every single solution she had to her stupid dilemma. First world problems, am I right?

Like here she is, struggling on whether or not she should withhold her promise made to her by her hot best friend, or if she should go behind her hot best friend's back to get with his hot best friend. it was all too much.

But while she was drowning in her love life's struggle, she secretly thanked her other, hot best friend, for the timing of her text. "Oh! Lola just texted,"

lola🤍 sent you a message!

lola🤍
they just finished huddle

lola🤍
heading towards the stairs now

lola🤍
warning: your ovaries are going to explode

ANASTASIA SCRUNCHED HER face up at Lola's last message, but nonetheless she knew what she meant:

That the boys were looking fucking god-like.

Part of the reason why Anastasia and Lola were such good friends is that they could basically communicate telepathically. Whether it be because they're judging someone, or a hot guy passed by them, with one look and they knew what the other was thinking. And in this instance, a text message was all Anastasia needed to know that she had to prepare herself physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically for when the boys finally bust through that door–

"Nah bro, you're just lucky I wasn't going all out," A male's voice spoke at the bottom of the stairs, the clattering of hockey gear hitting agains the walls echoed up to where the girls stood.

Sofia looked towards her media partner, Anastasia offered her a nod, letting her know that even though they were nervous for no given reason, (they were asking questions for crying out loud), that they were there for each other. Even if they had met earlier that day.

As the group of... one  guy made it up the narrow stairwell, Sofia offered him a kinda smile, "Hey, we're the media managers for the hockey team this year and we're just making sure its alright if we record you for the Monday question?" Anastasia watched from her spot which was slightly away from the wall, making sure that they were both in shot for the recording.

This year, the two girls had decided that they were going to change up the hockey's socials, compared to last year's. They were going to show their faces when they interviewed players, they were going to actually have fun with the account, and try to stray far away from making it so conservative.

The tall guy, who Anastasia had yet to learn his name, chuckled slightly before he removed one of his gloves, and then his helmet. "Yeah it's fine, plus coach said down there that if we don't do this he'll make us do laps." He shrugged, darting his tongue out to wet his plump lips. Anastasia truly wondered if Michigan collected the most attractive boys for their hockey team; he had dark brown hair, it curling around his forehead and neck due to his sweat from practice. She felt weird as she caught herself gawking over his perfect teeth; pearly white peeking out each time he grinned. He was... cute.

Sofia chuckled before she turned towards Anastasia, shooting her a quick thumbs up, letting the freshman girl know she could start recording. She struggled to hold in her giggles as she watched Sofia hold the stupidly small microphone up towards him. "So I'm here with," She trailed off, letting him know that it was his turn to speak. "Luca Fantilli." "And today's question is: cats or dogs, and why?" Anastasia was having too much phone recording this. She wanted to make those who would be watching like it was an episode of The Office, so she panned back and forth between the twin, until one of them spoke.

"Uh I'm definitely gonna say dogs, I just feel like they're easier to take care of." He shrugged, chewing on his bottom lip slightly as he looked down at the sophomore who stood next to him. "Awesome! Thank you so much!" She was over enthusiastic, not wanting to come off as mean or low energy to the players, and Anastasia couldn't help but laugh at her façade. He nodded in acknowledgment, letting his eyes drifted over Anastasia's body swiftly before he turned and made his way to the locker room.

And that's how it was with everyone, Sofia would briefly introduced the player before she asked the question; both of them were having too much fun doing such a simple thing. Anastasia was happy that Ethan and Mark sent in her application for the job unwillingly. But she would never admit that. At least not to them, she couldn't risk bumping their egos anymore.

But, of course Stassie being the strong willed, determined, and horny woman she was, she insisted to do Ethan's Mark's, Luke's, Mackie's, and Duke's. And luckily for her, they all walked up the stairs together in a herd, the smell of sweat filled her nostrils,  making her scrunch her nose up in disgust. They surrounded her, Mark, Mackie, Duke, and Luke on either side of her, and Ethan right behind her. Something about the sheer thought that he was standing so close to her, in public has Stassie's breathing picking up. Call her a virgin (she was), but she thought she was going insane when she felt his ungloved hand brush the small of her back.

And it wouldn't be that big of a deal, if he didn't keep doing it. To be honest, Stassie didn't know how the others that were around them didn't notice his wondering hand, as it either pinched her ass or pulled her hips back to meet his slightly. Was she just making all this up in her head? Was she the only one who could feel this? Who could see it?

"Okay, say your names," She waved off the heat that slowly invaded her body due to his touch, as she lifted the microphone to the boy's mouths, allowing them to introduce themselves. He was so close to her, his scent, although sweaty, was driving her insane.

Maybe Lola was right, she was a bitch in heat.

"Um I'm definitely gonna say dogs because I have a dog at home and dogs are just better." Ethan spoke from behind her, his finger lifting up the back of her oversized sweatshirt slightly, the calloused pads of his fingers practically burning her.

And that's probably when Anastasia took a few steps forwards, not trusting herself to be near him, in public, any longer.

"Okay, that's it for this Monday Question, thank you all for watching !" Stassie spoke into the microphone, her cheeks undoubtedly flaming pink due to the quite intense, and interesting, and intimate (?) moment. Mark wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his sweaty hockey gear. She cringed, "Ew what the fuck and why the fuck did you do that?" She writhed from underneath his arm, trying to escape the smell of musk. "You know why," he trailed off. Anastasia looked up at him, and quirked one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows, "No, I really don't know why, please enlighten me." She spoke with an innocent tone to her voice.

Mark looked down at his friend, before he looked at all the guys around him, all of them nodding their heads in a form of a secret agreement.

Anastasia was lost, all the way until the point where her vision had blacked out blacked out, almost free of any of the light that was around her.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
y'all plz stick with me for like 3-5 more chapters 🙏🏼🙏🏼

ik the them is going by SO SLOW considering a week hasn't even passed in the book, BUT I PROMISE ITS GONN get so good

i have the outline up until chap 25 done and it's so scrumptious 😍😍😍

anyways thank you for 2k reads!!