Reindeer Games, page 1
Finley Chuva
Reindeer Games
First published by Pink Ampersand Press 2022
REINDEER GAMES. Copyright © 2022 by Finley Chuva. All rights reserved.
This novella is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
First edition
To Sophie, for being the world’s best cuddler.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Preview: The Game Changer
About the Author
Chapter One
“Coming out with us tonight?”
Charlotte Sutton tugged her grass-stained jersey over her head, stalling for time. Avery Price stood in front of the cubby directly to her right, and there was no way Charlotte could pretend the question had gotten lost in the post-game locker room chaos.
The question was a simple one, and the answer should have been, too.
Charlotte didn’t have any plans tonight.
But the thing was, she wanted to keep it that way.
Charlotte loved her Denver Defiant teammates. But Thursday had been game night. Friday had been a concert by some local indie band Min had proclaimed “unmissable.” Last night had been a birthday party. Then today during halftime, several of her teammates had been making plans to go to a new club downtown where you got spattered with glow-in-the-dark paint.
She needed a night off.
Now, Charlotte was an honest person.
It wasn’t like she had a Girl Scout merit badge in the subject, but she’d simply never understood lying as a concept. It was why she hated daytime television and other forms of storytelling that relied heavily on nonsensical, manufactured drama when the solution was always so simple: just tell the damn truth.
“No, I don’t think so,” she answered, finally.
“What, you have a hot date?”
Unfortunately, Charlotte was also a people-pleaser.
Her brain was still spinning through a Rolodex of potential excuses that wouldn’t offend anyone, and she jumped onto this one like a desert island castaway onto a luxury cruise liner.
“Yeah.”
Avery’s ash blond brows lifted. “Wait, what? Really?”
“It’s…a Skype date. With my girlfriend,” she added on a wave of inspiration.
“Since when do you have a girlfriend?” Minyan Zhao—Min, to her friends—asked from the cubby on her left, and Charlotte cursed the small confines of the locker room. She could feel herself getting flustered as she scrambled to come up with a response. If it had just been Avery, she probably would have stopped the whole thing right then, said, “I don’t. Don’t know why I said that,” and then laughed it off.
Instead, Natalie Klein, one of Charlotte’s fellow midfielders, appeared, freshly back from the showers, a towel wrapped around her middle. “What’s going on?”
“Char’s got a girlfriend!” Min announced, tugging her black hair into a ponytail.
Then there were three different faces staring at her, and Charlotte was exhausted and dirty, and all she wanted was to get back to her apartment and take a long, hot bath. Maybe use some of her new lavender bath salts, queue up a good podcast. She was imagining it already, the peace and quiet she’d have while her roommate was out with the others. Charlotte wanted that. Most of all, she wanted to get it without hurting anyone’s feelings or having to explain why she’d just lied for no reason.
She forced a jocular tone. “Why is everyone so surprised? Am I that bad of a catch?”
“You know you’re not. You just hadn’t mentioned it,” Avery said.
“Well, it’s still kind of new.” Charlotte felt her lips curl at the accidental joke. Her fictional relationship was pretty new, all right, having existed for all of about forty seconds.
“Well, I’m happy for you,” Natalie said. “What’s her name?”
“Dani.”
The name popped into Charlotte’s head and out of her mouth without a moment’s hesitation.
It made sense, since it also happened to be the name of the person standing next to her in the photo Charlotte kept taped up in her cubby. It was one of her favorites, taken just before the start of this season. They were standing in front of a giant rock, both sporting huge grins, and the constantly-outdoors tan of Dani’s skin was still pale enough that it contrasted against the warm medium brown of Charlotte’s. The picture never failed to make her smile. While Dani was basically the only person she knew in Denver who wasn’t a member of the Defiant, she was more than that. She was Charlotte’s best friend.
She was also the person who maybe, sometimes, if she let herself think about it, Charlotte thought of as more than a friend.
Charlotte shook off the idea. That was only something she thought when she’d had too much wine or read one too many romances (or when she’d made the mistake of doing both at the same time).
“You’ve mentioned her before, haven’t you? That name sounds familiar.” Natalie asked, always the perceptive one. “Wait, isn’t she the one who came with you last year for the tie-dye thing?”
“Um, yeah,” Charlotte couldn’t hold back a smile at the memory of Dani, covered in dye, on her third attempt, insisting that she needed to get the ratio of the colors just right.
“Look at that grin.” Avery beamed. “You’re so smitten. How long have you two—”
They were interrupted by the splintering crash of broken glass. Charlotte gasped as something cold splashed onto her feet at almost the exact same moment, and she looked down to find Min’s glass water bottle in pieces on the stone tile floor, water spreading in every direction. Everyone in the room went dead silent, then all started talking at once, several people moving forward to help with the mess.
“This is what I get for trying to be environmentally responsible,” Min grumbled, bending down to grab at the largest pieces. “That stupid water bottle was twenty dollars.”
“I told you it was a bad idea,” Natalie said.
Charlotte stayed in place, making sure not to step on any glass, secretly glad of the distraction and hoping it would keep the conversation away from her nonexistent girlfriend.
It did.
The talk turned to Min’s clumsiness, which miraculously didn’t exist on the soccer pitch, but somehow extended to most other areas of her life. Charlotte happily contributed to the ribbing, her love life forgotten by everyone.
Well.
Or so she thought.
* * *
A week later, Charlotte was at Spill the Beans, the coffee shop closest to the apartments where most of the Defiant players lived in team-subsidized units. They had all come here after practice, celebrating Natalie’s birthday with lattes and giant chocolate chunk cookies Coach Talia probably would have given them hell for, had she known about them. But she wasn’t here, and Charlotte was going to enjoy every single bite.
Charlotte was sitting at the bar, waiting for her latte, when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out, saw a meme from Dani, and chuckled, rolling her eyes before she typed out a quick response. When she lifted them again, she found a pale redhead with heavy lipstick and kind eyes leaning toward her.
“Is this seat taken?”
“Oh, um,” Charlotte hesitated. She was used to being hit on in bars but not usually in coffee shops. Not when she was freshly showered, hair tied back into a tight bun, face bare of any product other than a quick swipe of lip balm. Still, the woman seemed nice enough. “No, it isn’t.” She slid her phone back into her pocket. “I’m Charlotte.”
“Sarah.” The woman reached out to shake her hand, her smile revealing slightly crooked front teeth that were somehow totally endearing.
“I promise I don’t normally just go up and start talking to random women in coffee shops, but I saw you, and I just had to take a shot.”
Charlotte felt her cheeks flush. “Oh my gosh, you really don’t—”
“Hey, Charlotte?” Elena Torres, one of her teammates, appeared over her right shoulder, and Charlotte turned toward her.
“Hmm?”
“Your latte’s ready. And we’re about to do presents.” She handed over Charlotte’s mug and inclined her head toward the back of the lobby, where most of her teammates were gathered.
Charlotte nodded. “Oh, great. Thanks.”
She meant the words as a dismissal, but Elena stayed there for a long second, and, taking the hint, Charlotte stood, turning back toward Sarah.
“Looks like duty calls. It was really nice to meet you, though,” Charlotte said, giving her a smile she hoped the other woman could tell was genuine. Still, they hadn’t quite interacted enough for Charlotte to be comfortable giving out her phone number, so she just felt a fleeting moment of disappointment at the lost possibility.
Sarah looked a little confused, but she covered it quickly, smiling and murmuring a few pleasantries before Charlotte and Elena walked away.
“What was that?” Charlotte asked quietly once they were out of earshot.
“It looked like she was hitting on you.”
“And…?”
“I was trying to help you let her down easy, since you hav
They’d reached the rear of the lobby, but they stayed a few feet back from the crowded mass of players. “No,” Charlotte cleared her throat. “Not at all. I appreciate it. I just didn’t realize that you knew.”
“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but I was in the locker room when you were talking about it with Avery and the others.”
“No problem.”
Elena said nothing for a long moment, and Charlotte thought the conversation had come to an end, but then Elena grinned and leaned a little closer, keeping her voice lowered. “Can I just say I totally called it? That time she came to the tie-dye fundraiser? She was throwing out some major heart eyes.”
“What? No, she wasn’t,” she scoffed, and then realized that was not at all a thing she would have said about a girlfriend. “I mean, um, we were just friends then. That was before the whole…” Charlotte gestured wildly. “…dating thing.”
“Could’ve fooled me. Min thought so, too.”
Elena’s eyes were bright and curious, and she was one of the people Charlotte respected most on the team. Charlotte knew that if she could come clean to anyone, Elena would be the easiest, the one who wouldn’t make too much of a fuss.
She chewed the inside of her lip and then took a deep breath. “Actually,” she started, but the words were cut off by Min climbing up onto a chair a few feet in front of her.
“Everybody, on three!” she boomed out. “One, two, three! Happy birthday to you…”
The song continued, and Charlotte started singing, raising her voice high, trying to drown out the feeling in her gut that this had been the last moment she could have confessed to the charade without consequences.
But then, as she sang along with the rest of her teammates, Charlotte thought, Well, maybe there don’t need to be consequences. It would be complicated with her roommate, Priti, being on the Defiant. But Charlotte hung out with Dani often enough that they could probably pass for being in a relationship. If Priti asked, she could just say that Dani wanted to keep the whole thing low-key, and that she didn’t want Priti bringing up anything for fear of making Dani uncomfortable.
So she let the word get around, and soon, it was common knowledge that Charlotte was off the market.
A month passed, and then two, and as it turned out, having a fake girlfriend was pretty harmless, as far as lies went. It was the perfect excuse to get out of plans she didn’t want to be a part of without hurting anyone’s feelings, and she didn’t even have to mess with all the dating nonsense. It was almost better than the real thing.
(Well, minus the companionship. And the orgasms. But she was pretty good at giving herself the latter, and she had Dani for the former.
And if that was slightly messed up, well, no one but Charlotte would know it.)
Chapter Two
There was a little bistro right next to Charlotte’s apartment that made the best soup in the world. She and Dani had eaten there at least every week or two since she’d been traded to Denver two years before, knowing absolutely no one in a three-hundred-mile radius.
On the first Sunday in December, Charlotte sat at their favorite table next to the window, tapping idly on the menu she didn’t even need to open. She was still waiting for Dani to show up, even though she herself had been several minutes late. As she waited, she flashed back to the day they had first met, when Charlotte had been sitting at this very table.
“You’re Charlotte Sutton.”
There was a woman with brunette hair standing in front of the table, staring at her with a lopsided grin a slightly widened dark blue eyes.
Charlotte smiled. “I am. And you’re Danielle?”
“Got it in one. Sorry I’m a little late,” she said, and Charlotte was enchanted with the way she drawled her words, lingering just an extra fraction of a second on each one. “And you can call me Dani.”
“Dani.” She tested the name on her tongue, and it seemed to suit her. “Nice to meet you.”
Dani reached out to shake her hand before she sat down. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I swore to your cousin I wouldn’t get star-struck, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling it a little right now.”
Charlotte laughed. “Relax, I’m not that big of a deal.”
“Listen, I’m a huge Defiant fan.”
“They’ve only existed for a year.”
“Exactly! Do you know how long I had to wait before we got a team here? Before that, the nearest women’s soccer team was in Texas. Texas! Who wants to root for Texas?”
“Hopefully not you.”
“Well, certainly not now,” Dani said, her head drawn back in playful offense, an easy grin on her face.
Charlotte didn’t know what to say after that, because something about the way Dani’s face transformed with that wide grin…it made her lose track of her thoughts.
Charlotte hid behind the menu, hoping that Dani wouldn’t notice the heat seeping into her cheeks.
“So, have you been here before?” Charlotte asked.
“Yeah, I just live a few blocks down, so I’ve been here a couple of times. Their BLT is to die for.”
“Noted.”
Charlotte examined her menu, and they discussed food options until the waitress came back to take their order. After she left, Dani leaned back in her chair and winked at her. “So, I know the basics about you. Hazel’s cousin. Excellent soccer player. From New York. Generally super cool person.”
“You forgot Black, gay, and childhood piano prodigy.”
“Really? I never knew that. About the piano thing, I mean,” Dani clarified with a blush, and Charlotte was curious to know whether she was embarrassed about already knowing that Charlotte was gay or about having accidentally implied she’d somehow missed the obvious fact that Charlotte wasn’t white.
“That’s because no one but my mom thinks it. I’m pretty sure I was just deeply average.”
Dani chuckled. “Now, what do you know about me?”
“I know…your name is Dani.”
Dani raised her eyebrows. “Wow, that’s where we’re at, huh?”
“Hush, I’m just getting started. You went to school with Hazel at NYU,” Charlotte said, feeling a pang of homesickness at the thought of her older cousin back in New York. “You’re an…English teacher? Right?”
Dani nodded, and Charlotte continued. “Let’s see, what else? I know you agreed to meet a complete stranger and show her around the city, just because you were friends with her cousin in college. So that means you’re a pretty nice person, probably.”
Dani chuckled.
“How’d I do?”
“Right on all counts. I teach high school English at Trent,” she said, as though that meant anything to Charlotte. She assumed it must be a local high school. “I also coach the girls’ soccer team.”
“Oh, nice! You really do love soccer.”
Dani nodded. “I do. You should see the group I’m coaching this year. They’re all amazing, but there are a couple…they could be on the National Team one day, I swear.”
“I’d love to meet them sometime.”
Dani’s eyes widened. “Really? I mean, if you’re just saying that to be nice, no big deal. But if you think about it and decide you want to drop in on a practice sometime, I know that would mean the world to them.”
“Absolutely. Just let me know.”
“Will do. And for the record, I’m also gay, though I’ve never touched a piano in my life, so jury’s out on being a prodigy.”
“Hey, Char.”
Charlotte was snapped out of her flashback daydream as Dani plopped down opposite her. This Dani was two years older than the one in Charlotte’s memory, her hair a little longer, and she was wearing a winter coat instead of a tank top, but her smile was just as vibrant as ever.
(It still took Charlotte’s breath away as much as it had the very first time, but she’d gotten better at ignoring it.)
Charlotte had gone on that first outing just to show Hazel she was grateful to her for the connection, but she and Dani had hit it off so well that they’d been close ever since. For Charlotte, Dani was one of those people you met and immediately forgot there was a time they hadn’t been in your life.
