24. slap shot

Kitt arrived back in her room to find Leo sprawled out under her covers with her lap top propped up on his knees. Her water bottle was on her nightstand beside her phone, which somehow had managed to get itself onto the charger.

She grabbed Leo's sweatshirt and pulled it over her pajama top, and went to join him.

"You look far too comfortable on my bed." She said. Flipping her messy bun up so she wouldn't lay on it and then getting settled beside him.

"Is that a bad thing?" He asked.

"I honestly have no idea. You aren't like anyone I have ever known." She shared tucking her feet under the covers.

"What does that mean?" He half laughed but seemed to stiffen slightly.

"Like, you just have this, um, way of being... comfortable." She tried to explain.

"Thank you?" He said. She could feel the tension in his body. She felt bad that she wasn’t being clear.

"I just mean, you are like so confident." She said suddenly, wishing she wasn't laying in bed with him.

"I still don't know what to think of that." He said, sitting up more.

"You just like came in here and took your clothes off and hopped into bed. I could never!" She said, touching his arm and staring at his bare chest.

"I mean, you totally could if you wanted to." He said in a low voice. He leaned over, so he was hovering above her.

Her heart skipped a beat before starting to gallop in her chest. Her hands tingled, and her brain swirled.

"I could never." She said again. Her breath caught in her throat.

"I promise I wouldn't have a problem with it if you came to my room and hopped into my bed." His voice was different. It was low and husky, and no humor left.

Kitt felt her body react to his voice, his breath on her lips, and her hand on his bare skin. She thought she might faint as he stayed perfectly still looking down at her with his darkened eyes.

"See? Confident." She smiled nervously.

"And like I said, is that bad?" He asked, settling back in next to her, his hooded eyes keeping their intensity.

"Of course it isn't bad! It's just different. I'm not used to that. And you are just so sexy, like even just being a person, so like when you do stuff like this... Like take your clothes off, you turn my brain to mush. And I find your... sexiness intimidating. It's super obvious that, like, you, um, know what you're doing. So I, um, get nervous. Seeing you so completely comfortable in my bed, it makes me, um, ..." She rambled, the words rushing out quickly.

"I make you nervous?" He asked with a large grin splitting his face.

"A little, yeah." She tipped her chin down, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks.

"Oh, I kinda like that." He smiled. He nuzzle into her.

"Why?" She asked, reciprocating his affectionate movements.

"Because you are Kitt, the all-powerful, baddass, and you feel nervous around me. I'm nothing special." He said with his grin not faltering even for a second.

"Oh, ok!" She scoffed, pushing him backward. He caught her hand and pulled her back with him, so she ended up laying on his chest.

"What?" He said in surprise.

"Oh, poor little sexy hockey legend." She pouted, teasing him.

"You think I'm sexy." He said, tucking a stray lock of her hair behind her ear.

"I also think you are annoying." She said with a grin.

"That's it!" He flipped her onto her back so quickly she didn't have time to react. He crashed his lips onto hers.

***

Kitt sat in class beside Trevor, who was outlining their next assignment. They had to outline a sports injury, from the mechanism of injury to signs and symptoms, to tests and labs, to treatment, to prognosis. He was focused on creating a chart in his app while she searched up medical articles on their chosen topic.

Ever since they had bumped into each other at the away game, they had gotten much closer as friends. Trevor didn't seem nervous all the time, which let Kitt really get to know him. She liked him much better when he relaxed.

"So how are things with the athletics director?" He asked.

"Ugh, who knew smashing the patriarchy would be so much work? And would involve so many super boring meetings?" She sighed.

"Really? I would have thought it would be pretty exciting." He said, fixing the formatting on his screen.

"The last meeting was spent reading policy and contracts. Not exactly show stopping excitement." She laughed. She copied a link and added it to her research file.

"Vin said you have been spending a lot of time with one of his teammates." He grinned.

"Yeah, I'm dating Leo Gordon. I figured you knew that already." She kept her eyes on her screen as her cheeks brightened slightly.

"Yeah, I did." He smiled.

"You and Vin are pretty close. Have you been roommates long?" She asked, deflecting the conversation off of her own life.

"Rommates?" He said with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't you guys live together?" She asked, confused.

"Yeah, we do." He said with a weird expression, like she was being daft.

"So you are roo- NOT roommates! Trevor! I had no idea!" She laughed, smacking his shoulder.

"Not roommates." He confirmed.

"He is so cute! Way to go!" She offered him a high five, which made him laugh.

"Right? I'm not complaining!" He laughed, smacking her hand.

"He is one lucky guy." She said, shaking her head.

"Thanks." Trevor blushed a little.

"Is he out to the team? Maybe we could double date? Or triple date with Liam and Josie!" Kitt said with a bright grin.

"Any which way, but like let's not invite Axel, that guy is so toxic. Have you met his girlfriend?" He asked with a face like he had smelled a pile of old diapers.

"That girl is her own main character." Kitt nodded.

"That's a nice way of putting it." Trevor laughed.

"Oh! And Dylan and his girlfriend, they can be left off the invite list." Kitt said, thinking of the girl who kept yelling at her in the dorms.

"I don't know her very well, but she seems ok." Treveor said.

"She yells at me in the halls about stealing scholarships from the male players and ruining sports and things." Kitt replied.

"Oh, so she is a bitch." Trever nodded.

"Totally." Kitt laughed.

After class they decided to continue working on their assignment over coffee.

They made their way across the main campus to the cafe. The sun was high and the day was the warmest day so far that year. Kitt slipped out of her hoodie the one she had borrowed -by way of taking with out asking- from Leo. She tied it around her waist and found a spot in the sun on the patio to sit with Trevor.

He offered to grab them coffee if she would set up her laptop and take notes so he didn't have to. She happily agreed.

"Hello beautiful!" Josie said plopping in the chair across from her.

"Hey there!" Kitt was surprised to see her.

"It's so fucking nice out today." Josie said laying back to let the sun hit her chest.

"Right?" Kitt nodded.

"Liam is taking me into town to get ice cream." Josie grinned.

"Nice! I'm so glad you guys are getting along." Kitt smiled.

"Yeah." Josie couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"Trevor and I are going to work on our assignment, but since the sun is finally out we can sit on the patio!" Kitt said gesturing to her laptop.

"That's a great idea." Josie nodded her approval.

"I thought so!" Kitt agreed.

"Ok, I'm off!" Josie jumped up and kissed Kitt on the top of her head.

"Have fun!" Kitt yelled after her friend.

Kitt focused on her laptop again.

"Hey!" Leo said hopping over the iron barrier around the cafe patio.

"Hi! I thought you had class now." She said smiling up at him. He bent and kissed her gently.

"The professor canceled class, he had to knit a sweater for his hampster or something." He said dismissively. He dropped his frame into the chair Josie had just vacated.

"I'm sure that's exactly what it was." She laughed.

"Want to go find something fun to do?" He grinned.

"I would, but I have to study." She said indicating her open laptop.

"Boo, I'm way cuter than... chromo-Malaysia Platelets." He said peering over her screen, horribly butchering the pronunciation of the words on the screen.

"Chondromalacia Patellae, also known as Runners knee." Kitt laughed.

"That's what I said." He grinned.

"Yep." Kitt nodded.

"But you have to admit, I am way cuter." Leo said putting his hands under his chin and batting his lashes at her.

Just then Trevor walked up with two coffees and a paper bag of cookies.

"Hey! Thanks." Kitt said smiling and relieving her friend of the items in his hands.

"Oh." Leo said suddenly standing up. The goofy grin on his face disappeared.

"Hey man, I'm Trevor." Trevor held out his hand to Leo who shook it with a weird tension in his face.

"Leo. Kitt's boyfriend." Kitt couldn't be sure, but it looked like he stood up taller, with his chest puffed out.

Kitt wanted to laugh. That must be a guy thing. Macho guys showing off to one another. She thought it was cute. She watched Leo hold his arms in a flex, just like the first night they met. Maybe it was just a Leo thing.

"Ok, I will message you later, as soon as we are done. Then maybe we can grab dinner." Kitt said forcing the two guys to look at her. With both otlf them standing while she remained in her seat, she felt out of place.

"Ok, babe, I will grab us some dinner and we can eat it in your room, alone. And like last night, we can watch a movie, or not." He winked at her and then leaned over to give her a kiss. He kissed her with passion that was a little embarrassing in front of her friend.

Leo clapped Trevor on the back hard and nodded before hopping back over the iron railing.

"Wow, he is, um, masculine." Trevor said slowly watching Leo disappear around the side of the building.

"I mean, I guess." Kitt shrugged.

"He was making absolutely sure I knew you were taken." Trevor laughed.

"Really? I don't think so. He saw us together at the hockey game, he knows we are friends. He was probably just being a 'dude'." Kitt shrugged.

"Yeah, and he shot dagger eyes at me then too." Trevor said taking a sip of his coffee.

"I think that's just his face sometimes." Kitt said sipping her coffee.

"Ohhhh kayy." Trevor didn't look convinced.

"Whatever. He isn't like that, not really." Kitt tried to assure him.

"Just be careful, sometimes guys like that don't show their true colours until it's too late." Trevor said shaking his head.

"What makes you think that he is a bad guy?" Kitt asked suddenly worried that Trevor could see something Kitt couldn't.

"Oh, I'm not saying that his is, I'm just saying that something doesn't sit right with me. I mean it's totally possible that I am wrong, and I hope I am, but how well do you really know him? Do you guys hang out in his room ever? Does he talk about his family? Do you know where he went to high school?" Trevor asked.

The questions made Kitt go quiet.

They never spent time in his room. She didn't actually even know which room was his. She knew he was in the Gingerbread Estates, but they never hung out there.

She didn't hear him talk about his friends or his family, ever. She had never asked though because she never talked about hers either. She didn't want to have to tell him about her mother's illness or how she felt guilty just being away from home. She didn't want to have him ask questions about why she cried some nights. Maybe he had a similar situation.

"Ok, so runners knee." Kitt tried to put Trevor's doubts out of her head and focus on the assignment. She would have time to worry later.

They studied for a few hours enjoying the sunny day. Once they got off, the topic of Leo and Kitt could focus they actually got a lot done. Kitt was proud of how far they had gotten and felt good about the assignment.

By the time Vin called Trevor to see where he was, they were at a good stopping point. Kitt stood up and stretched her arms over her head and rocked her hips back and forth. She had been sitting hunched over the laptop screen for a few hours and her body was stiff.

Trevor hugged her quickly and they went their separate ways.

Kitt decided to walk back to her room, it was a little far and she could have jumped on one of the mini shuttles that circled the campus or signed out a golf cart, but she wanted time to think. She could hear Trevor's words playing in her head.

What did she know about Leo? Maybe he had secrets or maybe he just didn't share much. The worries she had had early on in their friendship popped into her head. He was close with the director, the man she was taking everything from.

Could she trust him? She wanted to believe she could, but she wasn't so sure.