Sparkling Hope (The Eastburgh Devils Series Book 1)

The game was over, and the Eastburgh Devils narrowly won the home game. It was quite a head-to-head race as the Vancouver Falcons played pretty aggressively and tried to unfairly hurt everyone on the Devils team and didn’t even get a penalty.

Henry got a bat under his helmet and was taken off the ice for a short time to get his lip patched up.

I wondered if Weston noticed I was wearing a jersey with his number. I would have preferred not to wear the Devil’s jersey after Aria, and I compared back numbers in the café, and my jersey had the number eleven on it.

I would have preferred any jersey.

It doesn’t change that I was mad at Weston, even when he tried to talk to me in the café.

The only reason I wore a Jersey was Aria; otherwise, I would have just gone in our college sweater.

After all, the sweater had the same colors as the jerseys.

Once we got home to the Sinclairs, Aria and I were the only ones there. All the lights were off, and it had been too quiet for anyone else to be in the house. No car was in the large driveway, which further supported my suspicions.

My best friend was here for the first time, and she was fascinated based on her expression.

Because she looked just like I did when I first got here.

‘Holy shit. I think I’m dreaming,’ Aria looked around the ample space where the living room and dining room were, and around the corner was the kitchen.

‘Two-hundred dollars for such an ugly piece?’ she whispered, putting the really ugly figure back in its place.

‘This house is full of pieces like that.’ I got two glasses from the kitchen cabinet to pour Aria’s mixed drink, which she had brought.

We walked up the wood-covered stairs to the landing and entered the guest room filled with my things.

‘Did you know that my Jersey had a different number on it?’ I asked her the question I had wanted to ask her all along.

The looks Henry, Carter, and Charles were giving each other in the café were very suspicious.

So was Aria’s giggle.

‘I swear on my jam cookie secret recipe that I knew nothing about it. I didn’t even know Henry could organize some for us.’

I snorted and placed the jersey on the rail of the bed.

‘I got the idea for the Jerseys so spontaneously after having sex with Henry in his Jeep. I would say after sex, I always have the best ideas,’ she laughed.

‘Okay, enough information,’ I rolled my eyes and flipped her off with a shirt that was within my reach.

When I spent time with Aria, it felt like I was constantly listening to a song and realizing from the first moment that I would never get bored of it. As if that song would always be my favorite.

Our first encounter was pretty funny. I had bought cocoa at the coffee shop where she worked before college, and when I paid, she arrived from the back room with the same hat on her head as me. A white crocheted hat with a pom-pom and red hearts.

From that day on, we were inseparable and still are.

Aria has been in college as long as I have, but she knew the campus and the team much longer because she was Coach Henderson’s daughter and has had the whole team sitting in her living room once or twice a week.

‘Here’s your costume,’ Aria tossed me a few packets containing the individual pieces for my costume.

Music was playing on the side at a comfortable volume so we could still talk while we got ready.

I sat in front of the big mirror and did a little makeup with red eyeliner, red lipstick, and mascara after curling my brown hair with a curling iron and putting on a hairband with red horns that shine.

‘Luna, do you have hairspray? Mine is empty,’ Aria tried to spray some more from her bottle of hairspray, but nothing but the sound of gas came out.

I already had the red tulle skirt and only my red lace bra on because I was afraid I would get my red long-sleeve shirt dirty while doing my makeup.

‘Yeah, wait a second.’ I got up and walked through the mess Aria and I made in the room.

When I went to open the bathroom door, I realized it was locked from the inside, and as I listened with my ear to the door, I heard the splash of the shower head turning on.

Weston was already home by now.

I wasn’t surprised that Aria and I didn’t notice Weston coming home because the walls were so thick that sometimes I thought metal plates had been installed.

‘Seems like he’s home by now.’

‘Who?’ asked Aria as she pulled white eyeliner on her eye, matching the color of her costume.

‘Who do you think? Weston, asshole number one. He seems to be trying to shower off his huge ego.’ I sat back in front of the mirror, started applying the red glitter to my cheeks, and humming along to the song.

A few minutes passed, and I heard the door from the bathroom to my room being unlocked again.

So I ran to the door and opened it.

The bathroom mirror was fogged up, and the smell of mint rose into my nose.

But the real shock was Weston standing before me, soaking wet and only wearing a towel around his waist, while I stood in front of him in my bra and tulle skirt.

‘Fuck. What are you doing here?’ I held my hands before my torso and gulped when I saw him standing there.

‘Uh, I live here, and I’m allowed to shower. After all, you’re the one who’s nested here like a fucking virus,’ he grumbled, not breaking eye contact.

‘I need my hairspray.’

‘Then go get it,’ he leaned against the wall in front of the bathroom cabinet, blocking my way.

‘Stop playing games. I’m not in the mood for that kind of thing. I just want the hairspray, Weston.’

‘Not until you listen to what I have to say.’

‘Over my dead body.’

An ugly grin formed on Weston’s lips which made me angry.

‘You know you look silly in that costume, right?’

‘Save your bullshit comments. We’re done with each other. You really got your brain fucked out, you know that?’ On the vanity, I saw another hairspray I assigned as Weston’s.

‘I must have so much brain left that I can at least tell you that you look stupid in your strawberry costume.’

‘That’s a devil costume, you idiot.’ Without saying anything else, I grabbed the hairspray from Weston and left the bathroom.

I purred my shoes off while Aria came down the stairs.

‘Henry’s here,’ she gloated as the horn honked outside.

‘I’ll go out ahead and show him my costume,’ she dug her lip gloss out of her bag to apply to her lips in front of the mirror in the hallway.

‘Take your time,’ she bellowed as she headed for the front door.

‘Can you try not to tear your clothes off?’ shouted Weston to Aria, standing in the kitchen, sitting on one of the bar stools and typing away on his cell phone.

‘You’d better hurry up then,’ was the only other thing I heard before the front door slammed into the lock.

Ever since Aria had told me about their fuck friendship, the two of them had been acting like a cheesy high school couple. But anyone with eyes in their head and a functioning brain saw that there was definitely more going on between the two than just a fuck friendship.

‘What are you going as? As a male whore? Then you’re ready to go. All that’s missing is a hickey,’ I asked Weston.

‘You can give me that one if you like, Hazel Bug.’

‘Dream on.’

I rolled my eyes and walked out the front door to Henry and Aria with a red zip hoodie in my hands.

That was enough talking and enough that we had to sit in the same car the drive there.