Throughout the practice, Saint's eyes followed Baby's every move on the ice. He saw the way he winced, the way he tried to act tough with his headache, the way his hands gripped the stick too tightly whenever the pain came rushing in.
But, to his surprise, Baby played effortlessly, even better than the previous day. He realised that smudge Baby's chaotic life, hockey was the only thing he took seriously.
The coach blew the whistle and declared Baby's red team the winner of the game.
After a quick shower in the locker room, Baby and Cam headed to class. Baby's oversized hoodie covered his entire face, hiding how tired and hopelessly sleepy he was.
They walked through the hallway in a blur and once they entered the class, they ignored the middle-aged Professor Forbes and went straight to their seat.
Baby plopped down on his, placing his head on his desk. He was glad Saint wasn't in class yet, he wasn't in the mood to entertain his goofiness.
"We won the bastard. At least, that's a compensation for my pain," Cam patted Baby's back, and lowered his head on the desk, too.
Professor Forbes' voice turned into a soothing lullaby in Baby's ears and slowly lulled him to sleep.
Baby was about to have the most peaceful nap in history when he felt the unmistakable presence of Saint beside him.
Anger, loathing and something else surged within him, something he'd felt that night at the balcony. An indescribable feeling that had his pulse racing miles.
He couldn't decipher what it was, and for that, he hated Saint more. He hated him for making him question his own response and feelings. He hated him for simply existing.
He didn't move, pretending to be asleep just so he didn't have to face Saint's annoying face.
But he knew it was impossible for Saint to simply let him be.
He felt it when he leaned in, his hair standing when he felt that darned warm breath on his arm.
"Sleeping in class, Captain?" Saint whispered.
He knew Baby was pretending, but he was going to play along. He observed the way Baby subtly moved his leg away so he was out of reach, but there was nowhere to run, the window was right next to Baby and there was no way he would suddenly fly out of the window in the middle of the class.
Slowly, Saint placed his hand on Baby's thigh, casually tapping his fingers on the inside of it.
Baby froze, his eyes widening like saucers as he stared at those long and beautiful fingers casually playing with his thigh.
Anger... yes, that's what he should be feeling, not confused, not shocked, and definitely not out of breath!
He snapped his head up and gripping Saint's hand, forcefully yanked it away from his thigh.
"Never. I repeat, never place your hand on me again. Are we clear, Mr. Kross?" He hissed angrily, his eyes blazing with rage.
He was about to release Saint's hand but Saint held on tightly, forcing Baby to keep his eyes on his face.
"Let go, Saint," Baby gritted out.
Saint watched Baby's face with an unreadable expression, his eyes slowly raking Baby's face.
The hushed whispered hot Cam raising his head from behind. He frowned as he saw the tense stand-off between Baby and Saint, he watched carefully to observe if he needed to step in or not.
"My duty is to call you back to order, mate. I can't let you slack off in any aspect. You fail, I fail, remember?" He gently pushed an Advil into Baby's hand and returned his attention to the professor.
Baby scoffed as he saw the medication in his hand, "We might be forced to work together, Saint, but they never asked either of us to baby the other. I don't need your fucking Advil," he murmured and threw the medication out of the window.
"No!" Cam suddenly gasped as he saw Baby throw away the medication that would have saved his miserable life at that moment.
The moment he realised that his voice was too loud, it was too late, the whole class was already staring at him, chuckling and smirking as Professor Forbes marched toward him with a frown.
"Cameron Wells," the professor called as he stood beside Cam's seat.
"Professor, I –"
"You wouldn't mind explaining that simple formula to the class, would you?" He asked, dropping his marker on Cam's desk.
Cam lifted his eyes to Baby and Saint for help, hoping they would tell the professor that they had been the ones to trigger his outburst. But they had faced the board like some innocent and obedient students, leaving him to face the processor alone.
"Yes, Professor, I wouldn't mind," Cam said, stood and picked up the marker.
He didn't forget to throw Baby a glare as he walked to the front of the class.
"You have to accept me, Baby... One way or the other, I'm getting to THC, and you're behaving." Sain leaned to the side and whispered, his tone final and resolute.
"We'll see," Baby murmured, clenching his fists.
___
"He's behind us, right?" Baby asked as he walked toward the dormitory apartment.
The sun was setting and the campus was slowly emptying behind them as students hurried back home to either study, party or sleep.
"Yeah... and I'm not talking to you yet. You betrayed me," Cam muttered, walking faster to get away from Baby.
"Bro, would you rather I stand in front of the class and ruin my reputation?" He asked, his voice teaing.
"Duh... that's what best friends do. I'm starting to feel like Saint is taking my space in your –"
"Don't you dare finish that abominable sentence," Baby cut Cam shot, narrowing his eyes at him.
"Fine," Cam sighed, "If I'm still your best friend, take me out to our spot tomorrow evening?" Cam paused and faced Baby as they stood at the entrance of the apartment.
Baby rolled his eyes, "Deal. Can you stop acting like a pussy, now?" He questioned, raising his brows.
"Yeah. Speaking of pussies, how was it with that Latina last night?" Cam smirked, wiggling his brows at Baby.
Baby glanced behind and saw Saint getting closer, he grabbed Cam's hand and pulled him into the apartment's reception so they could get away from Saint.
"You saw what happened. That jerk cock-blocked me, twice," Baby muttered as he went over to the elevator.
"Oh, that's true. What happened out there? Did you two fight or something?" Cam asked, standing behind Baby as he pressed the elevator open.
Baby paused his hand as he recalled what happened. Surely, it was anger at first, then more anger, and more anger, until he suddenly couldn't explain what it was between himself and Saint.
'Friendship perhaps?'
Never.
Baby would never allow himself to be one friend with Saint, so friendship was ruled out. It was the alcohol, yes, it had to be the alcohol.
"We fought... kinda," Baby hurried into the elevator and pulled Cam in.
"Wait, wait, wait," Cam suddenly stopped the elevator from shutting.
"Are you crazy? Are you waiting for Saint?" He tried to drag Cam from the door before Saint would get to them.
"No, no. Not Saint, your Latina," Cam smiled, gesturing his head to the girl from last night walking toward them with a smile on her pretty face.
Baby immediately blurred Saint's image in his mind, focusing on the sexy woman in a tight turtleneck that accentuated her bouncy breasts and tight leggings that made everything bounce as she moved.
"Yeah... hold that darned door, Cameron," He smirked and leaned his back against the wall of the elevator.
He had wanted to crash out the moment he got home to cure his residual hangover, but he just found another means of relaxation that was guaranteed to cure his head and body aches.
He didn't even mind when Saint entered the elevator and stood by his side, he forced his attention on the girl, and there was nothing that would stop him from having sex with his hot Latina, not even Saint's unwanted interruptions.
"Hi, Baby," The girl walked in and threw herself at Baby, hugging him so tightly that their fronts squished together.
The elevator moved, pressing them even closer.
"Hi, Celine," Baby murmured, his hands lowering to grab Celine's behind.
"Baby," Celine giggled, "People are watching," she glanced at Saint beside her who had his dark, unreadable eyes on her.
"Focus on me, darling, every other thing is... insignificant," he whispered and kissed her.
And just like that, they started to make out in the elevator.
Cam started to whistle, tapping his foot on the floor and moving his body to his non-rhythmic tune.
Meanwhile, Saint slowly took his eyes away from Baby and Celine, pushing his hands in his pockets to fist them.
He had watched dudes fuck people in front of him and simply looked and felt unbothered by it, but each time he saw Baby kissing a girl, he felt rage, a burning unexplained rage consumed him.
He wasn't sure why, but he wanted to believe it was his resentment for Baby's promiscuous ways. He felt angry because Vaby was being careless with his actions, placing them in a position that was easy to target for an enemy, and once an enemy saw an opening, they would stop at nothing to bring them down.
That was why he was angry, he needed to talk to Bsby about his promiscuity, which needed to be toned down or stopped completely.
The elevator soon opened and Cam rushed out to open the door to Baby's apartment.
Saint watched Celine untangle from Baby's body and pulled him out behind her.
"Hurry, Baby, we're picking off where we left off last night," She bit her lip as Baby led her into his apartment.
Saint was behind them, watching with growing rage as Baby led Celine right into his room, slamming his door and locking it just in case someone wanted to interrupt.
Saint didn't realise he was standing at a spot and glaring at Baby's door until Cam snapped his finger in his face.
"Pervert! Give them some privacy. You better not be planning to pick another fight with-hey! Come back here, I'm not down speaking to you..." his words died in his throat as Saint slammed the door on his face.
"Jerk," Cam muttered.
Inside Saint's room, he stood in front of his mirror and stared at his livid reflection as he listened to Baby's groans coming from Baby's room.
Veins popped out from the sides of his head, his jaws clenched tight.
In the next second, he pulled out his phone and dialled coach Nickel's number.