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Harris slipped past the door that Kip held open, stepping inside the empty smoothie shop.
“Girl!” the woman from behind the counter shrieked. She wore a Straw+Berry hat and looked like she was grateful for the distraction.
“Girl!” Kip replied.
The woman smiled as she glanced over their small group. “I didn’t know you were bringing half of the gay WAG chat over.”
Harris laughed, glancing at the board of smoothies, searching for something with cinnamon or apple.
“I told you I was bringing friends,” Kip said as he walked around the counter and pressed a kiss to the woman’s cheek. She gave Kip grief for a few seconds before turning to Harris and Fabian.
“I finally get to meet you two.” She shot them a smile. “I’ve heard so much about you. And Fabian, we’ve been playing your last record non stop.”
Fabian did a little bow accompanied by a hand flourish. “Love to hear we’ve hit the retail chain market. Not the target audience I’d expected, but I’m not one to complain.”
“You would absolutely complain if you walked into, like, the Gap and heard your album playing,” Harris countered.
“Ew. Why am I walking into the Gap?”
Harris rolled his eyes and ignored his friend in favor of the woman behind the counter. “Hey there, I’m Harris, you must be Maria. Kip talks about you all the time.”
“That’s me.” Maria smiled. “Only good things I hope.”
Kip started pulling together fruit and putting them into a blender. “Well, they all know you’ve got your claws into Jalo,” he supplied.
Maria shook her head, her face displaying a fond exasperation. “Matti wishes.”
Kip’s eyebrow raised high. “Sure, Jan.”
Harris knew that name, knew he was easy on the eyes too. “Jalo? Admirals defenseman?”
“The one and only,” Kip replied.
Fabian bumped his hip against Harris, and he knew it was a silent request to pull up a photo. It only took seconds before the Admirals lineup was on his screen and he was zooming in on Jalo’s face.
Fabian’s eyebrow rose. “I’m not usually into hockey men, but, respect.”
Maria laughed. “You may be in the wrong crowd.”
Fabian shook his head. “We all like hot men, but honestly, it's really only Harris that likes the sport. The rest of us are here for the eye candy.”
“Hey!” Kip cut in, offended. “I’m learning.”
“Only because you get interviewed about hockey too often now not to.”
“And it turns Scott on.”
Everyone laughed while Maria groaned. “Do you have to be so sickeningly in love?” she asked.
Kip didn’t answer. He just dumped tropical fruit into the blender and hit the button, letting it roar to life. When the fruit was fully liquified he poured it into a cup and slid it to Fabian. “Mango Over Manhattan for you.”
“Oooh,” Fabian crooned. “You do know what I like.”
Kip smirked. “They don’t have big beefy bears on the menu, so this will have to do.”
“Are you taking back your old job?” Maria asked.
“God, no.” He went to the back of the store and pulled out a bag of apples and grabbed a jar of peanut butter. “I’m just here so you have no excuses when Fabian and Harris help draft you a text to Jalo.”
Maria’s jaw dropped. “I do not need help--”
“Girl!” Kip cut in. “These two are experts at wooing hockey players--”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Harris began at the same time Fabian said, “Uh, no.”
“--these two are experts at locking it down,” Kip amended as he twirled a knife and brought it down on the apple. “Just go for it.”
Harris turned to Fabian and whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear, “I have no idea what to text a straight man.”
Fabian let out a deep sigh. “I have to do everything.” He took a long sip of his smoothie. “Oh wow…this is actually good.”
“Told you!” Kip cheered. He threw the apples into the blender and spooned in some peanut butter and water. “Now earn your keep.” He gestured to the phone.
“I’m a guest here!” But he started typing anyway.
Harris looked over his shoulder, eyeing the screen. “Hey. I stole my friend's phone. She wants to date you. You’re both hot, and straight, so us gays have determined it a match made in heaven.”
Fabian didn’t even wait before pressing send.
“Oh my god,” Harris muttered under his breath. “That’s the worst text I’ve ever read.”
Maria shrieked. “Holy shit! Did you actually--!” The sound of the blender went off, harsh against the apples and peanut butter. By the time the blender finished its job and Kip poured its contents into a cup, sliding it over to Harris, Maria’s phone chimed a text.
“Oh my god,” Maria hissed, reaching for her phone. “He replied.”
They all hovered over her phone. Fabian and Harris took long sips of their smoothies. Harris had no idea what Jalo would say, but after two weeks at hockey camp, he trusted Fabian’s instincts. The smoothie was almost good enough to distract him from the drama. Almost.
Well, I wouldn’t want to disappoint the gays. Tell her to meet me at the Kingfisher at 8pm and we’ll take it from there.
Fabian whistled under his breath. “He’s direct. That’s hot.”
“Girl!” Maria shrieked at Fabian.
“Girl!” Fabian shrieked back.
Harris just sipped his smoothie again and enjoyed the chaos.