My Hockey Alpha

Nina

That night, the anonymous poster who referred to himself as “K” sent me his information. He was located a few hours away from me and seemed eager to make the drive to meet up. We’d meet in a public place, of course, and unbeknownst to K, I would have Luke standing guard across the street if anything went wrong. I knew it was stupid to meet up with strangers from the internet so quickly, but K didn’t know my real name or address, and I’d cover my hair and face with a hat, sunglasses, and a surgical mask.

I didn’t tell anyone that I would be going to meet K except for Luke, and even with Luke I kept the information vague.

“I’m meeting up with an internet friend in a couple of days,” I said on the morning of the next day as I walked to get breakfast at the dining hall. “I want you to keep watch from across the street if anything goes wrong. Just in case, you know?”

Luke didn’t question it. He simply nodded and agreed to do whatever 1 needed.

Once that was all squared away, all 1 had to do now was wait and think about what sort of questions I would ask K. I hoped that he would have some real information for me and wasn’t a total crackpot. What I would do with that information later was still a mystery to me; right now, my only goal was to just. learn as much as I could, and I wanted it to come from a source that wasn’t Enzo or Luke in case they weren’t being entirely truthful. I still didn’t know for sure if I could entirely trust them.

Besides, planning the meetup with K kept me from thinking about my sexual encounter with Enzo at the party last night. It was better not to think about it. I hadn’t heard from him or seen him at all since I left the party, and if I thought about it for too long, images of him having sex with Lisa in the woods flooded my mind.

It was just better if I stayed away.

It was Sunday, so thankfully I didn’t have class, and anyone who was at the party last night was still hung over in their dorms. I would have been hiding in my dorm as well, but unfortunately, with everything going on lately, my grades were starting to get a bit shaky. I had another exam in a few days, so I had to study.

After I grabbed a quick bagel and coffee for breakfast, I walked over to the library with the intent to study all day.

The library was mostly empty, aside. from a few other students who were probably in the same boat as me.] found a table by a window and sat down, opening my laptop and getting out my notebooks to start studying.

with you?” a familiar voice said not long after I sat down. I looked up to see James, the graduate student from Tiffany’s office, standing at the table. He was looking down at me with a sweet

honestly happy to have the company. “Sure,” I replied.

up from my laptop for a moment to catch him looking at me, which made him blush a bit and

help

working on?” he

have a pathology exam in a few days,” I responded. “And admittedly I’m not doing very well

and cocked his head to the side, which made him look

said. It was technically the truth. I couldn’t tell him specifics, obviously, he’d think I was

passed pathology with flying colors when I was in undergrad,” he said with a warm smile. “Want me to

he sat down beside me, I could

as he leaned close to me. His closeness made me feel a bit shy as he started to explain a few things. “See, if

the way that

moments, James held my gaze while he attempted to continue to explain a concept, his voice eventually faltering. “That’s why…

my lips. I blushed and looked away, pretending to be completely absorbed in my notebook… But I couldn’t help but notice the feeling of our shoulders pressed together as we

by. My stomach growled, and although I was enjoying

shyly as we packed up our things. “I’m

it up to me by acing that exam. And… study with

and looked down at my feet