Connie shuffled on the spot. Her tone of voice was rather neutral—disinterested, almost. “Anyone been giving you shit?”

“Well, I mean…Not as much as I would have expected. Not to my face, really. A lot of staring and whispering and giggling but nobody has actually really said anything other than, yano…” I motioned dismissively with my hand. “Slurs and whatever. Under their breath mostly. Nothing I can’t deal with by literally just not listening. Ignoring them.”

“Well…That’s good then, I guess. For you.”

“Why, um—why are you still hanging around?”

“I have to close up both of the changing rooms when everyone’s out. Your girlfriend waited until the rest of the team were done before she went in.”

“What? Why?”

Connie rolled her eyes, huffing. She was closer to me than I had realized, so close that I could almost count the freckles scattered across her nose. “I figure she waits until everyone else is done before she goes in to get changed.”

“What?” I frowned at her. “Are you serious?” Julia had never mentioned anything of that sort to me, and I had never noticed. I knew she didn’t exactly get along with her team members but to think that she felt so excluded, so ostracized, that she couldn’t even change alongside them. “That’s, uh—I didn’t realize that happened.”

Connie responded with a noncommittal grunt before she sighed and stood up a little straighter. “What did you think of the game?”

“It was…well, it was hockey. You played well, I think? You weren’t marking Jules.”

Something flashed in her eyes. “No, I wasn’t marking Jules. O’Doherty bullied Andrews into letting her mark her instead.”

“She asked him to? Why?”

“Why do you think? Did you watch the whole game with your eyes closed?”

“I don’t—”

“O’Doherty spent more time aiming for your girlfriend’s shins than she did the ball.”

“She did? But—what—if you knew that why didn’t you stop her?” I frowned at her, a chill coursing through me. “You’ve told them to lay off her before—”

“What do you expect me to do? She’s the opposition, if O’Doherty uses her shins as target practice it’s not my place to step in. I told them to drop it when they slagged her for being gay before. I make sure nobody says shit to her on the field but other than that—I’m not going to get involved.” Connie took a step forward, her green eyes suddenly void and cold. I touched a nerve I didn’t know not to touch. “She’s your girlfriend, Alex. She’s not mine. I’d do anything for you but screw you if you think I’d stand up for her any more than I have to—”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

Something seemed to wash over her and her breath hitched ever so slightly. “I fucking hate her.”

We stood in a drawn-out silence for a long moment before I opened my mouth to retort just as the door swung open. Next to me Connie jumped in surprise and stepped away almost suspiciously while Julia glowered at her, glancing back and forth between us. Fighting back my own annoyance—whether it was at her for interrupting or at Connie, I wasn’t entirely sure—I beamed at her, opening up my arms.