Day 22: 43,076 words about Jake Kneiss's jawline

When she got out of the shower, she felt like a new person. Showering had been so easy when she only needed one product, the Irish Spring Five/ Cinq in/ en One/ Un body wash. Needless to say, the entire arena was well-stocked with this particular product. 

She had to admit it: every time she used the Irish Spring body wash, she thought of Jake, illustrating that it had the intended effect from Jake’s perspective. There were many doubters. Many vocal doubters, even. But in the end, Jake had been right. It was a good gift. Unlike her prior revelation that being forced to take up running had saved her life, this would be a revelation that she would share.

The clothes that Jake had found for her included London Knights sweatpants that fit once she rolled them at the waist several times, an oversized London Knights T-shirt, and a London Knights hooded sweatshirt. She was grateful for all of the extra clothes, because it was cold in the arena even though it was the summer. 

Jake was outside of the locker room waiting for her. He had not only rustled up some clothes for her, but he had also found time to take a quick shower himself. He was similarly decked out in London Knights clothing, but on him it fit nicely. Very nicely. 

He was also carrying a pink tumbler that declared “ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID NEVER A SOBER ONE” in a no-nonsense font. Of all the things that had happened recently, this tumbler made more sense than anything. 

“Scottie,” he said as she emerged from the locker room. His smile was broad as he took her in. “You look great in those clothes. Go Knights go.”

“Jake,” she replied, grinning back at him so he knew that she was just as happy to see him, too. “You look better without the cheese powder.”

He pretended to be disappointed. “So many people don’t like me for me, they like me because I’m a hockey player and a coach. But if you don’t like me when I’m covered in cheese puff dust, you don’t deserve me when I’m not covered in cheese puff dust.”

“That’s beautiful,” Scottie said. “And highly relatable,” she laughed. “And for the record,” she added, “On multiple occasions, while I was running for my life, literally, I looked over and I thought that you looked handsome.”

“As flattering as that is, you probably should have been more focused on running for your life,” he chided.

“A life where I can’t admire my high school crush’s good looks isn’t a life worth running to save,” she replied. “I often wonder if I would rather die from running, or die because I didn’t run.”

“I didn’t know you were so philosophical,” he said appreciatively. “It’s one of the many things that I like about you.”

With every word, the space was narrowing between them. There was nothing stopping them anymore. 

Jake paused as they were standing so close that they were practically touching. “I was wondering if, after we are out of mortal danger, you might want to go out with me.”

“Yes. I would love to go out with you,” she smiled, shaking her head. “This is not how I imagined you would ask me out,” Scottie grinned.

“It would be weird if you had.”

“Although in high school I probably would have loved it if you had asked me to go out with you in some kind of hockey-related way,” she supposed. 

“I don’t think I thought about anything else in high school. It probably would have been hockey-related, but I don’t think you would have found it to be all that appealing. But fortunately, I like to think that I’m a more well-rounded person these days.”

“I’m glad that I have been able to know more parts of you, then,” she replied. “Although I wish that it had happened for a different reason, like I was visiting my parents in London. I wish that fewer local businesses had been burned down in the process.”

“Less arson is better, I always say,” Jake said helpfully.

Jake reached out and touched Scottie’s hair with the tips of his fingers. Their eyes locked, and time stopped. She ran her hands along his jawline, enjoying every inch of it as much as she thought that she would in the many times that she had thought about it.

Of course, at that moment, Gordon burst through the door with a dramatic flourish. He did everything with a dramatic flourish.

“Jackie explicitly told you not to linger,” he said annoyingly. 

“We aren’t lingering!” Scottie almost shouted in frustration. 

“He feels that moving at anything other than the most efficient pace is lingering,” Gordon said pedantically. 

“Well, that’s just his opinion,” Jake shot back. 

With a groan, Jake and Scottie followed Gordon and his cape back towards the coaches’ offices. While Gordon was decked out in London Knights clothes like the rest of them, he was still wearing his signature cape. Scottie assumed that there had not been a spare cape anywhere in the vicinity, so it must have been the same one that he had worn when the cheese puff explosion had occurred. This assumption was validated by the fact that the cape was still dripping wet. A fall risk, if there ever was one. Maybe even a Big Fall risk. 

“Sit down,” Jackie barked, leading them to immediately do as they were told. “We have a lot to cover, and we don’t have time for any further lingering.”

“No one was lingering!” Jake sighed.

“We don’t have time for needless debates,” Gordon said, as if his entire purpose was not starting and refusing to end needless debates. 

Scottie eyed Gordon irritably. “Let’s all stop lingering then. Let’s go over what we know.”
She walked over to the white board that was conveniently located in the coaches’ office. Uncapping a blue dry erase marker she addressed the group. “What do we know?”

What an expert at facilitating, Jake marvelled.