The Sound of You **on hold**

Chapter 8

Adelaide

"I'd definitely rate it as, exceeds expectations. Maybe even proficient."

"Not outstanding?" Pauline leans in my doorway as I inspect the bandage on my ankle.

"Well... no one's perfect. And I have this injury. Not that it's his fault."

She rolls her eyes. "You're too hard on people sis."

"At least he didn't spend an abhorrent amount of time bitching about his ex." I start to take off my clothes to take a shower.

"Ad. Do yourself a favour and don't begin something with Dawson by comparing him constantly to Nathan." She folds her arms across her chest.

I sigh. "You're right." I feel a slow smile building on my face. Without meeting Pauline's eyes, I say, "I really like him already."

"And it scares you doesn't it?"

"A little." Then I stand up straight and grab my towels off the ground. "But I'm also like, really excited!"

Pauline give me a toothy grin. "Good."

She lets me out of my room and I hop in the shower. As the hot water washes over me, I can't help but think back to when Nathan wasn't an asshole.

He twisted a strand of hair from my face in his fingers, and placed it behind my ear. He looked into my eyes, and then laughed.

"What?" I asked, suddenly self-conscious.

"A snowflake just landed perfectly on the tip of your nose." He placed his thumb on my nose, and my cold skin burned at his touch. I felt my cheeks flare with heat and I looked up at the dark night sky, snowflakes illuminated by the twinkling lights around us. Large snowflakes fell around us where we stood in the middle of the ice rink at Mirren Park. He slid one arm around my shoulders and brought me closer to him. He tilted his head and planted a hot kiss on me. I felt like I melted a hole in the ice beneath me. I wrapped my arms around him in response. And we kissed under the falling snow.

He pulled away from me smiling. A smile I reciprocated. He let go of me and skated away with finesse. I deducted he must be pretty good at hockey if he can skate with such control. I looked forward to seeing him play. I watched him skate around me and tried not to fall on my ass while trying to turn around in my rental skates. His toque whipped off of his head in a gust of wind, his long straight hair flapped around. He didn't notice, so I shuffled my way to pick it up. He quickly circled back to me and I passed it to him. He took my hand, I wrapped my other arm around his, and he held me up while I tried to move my feet like he did.

"This is so nice." He said to me. "My ex would never have done this."

"What? Gone skating?"

"Yeah. She was a bitch. Wouldn't come to any of my games. Didn't like it when I would go out with the team. I can tell you're not like that though."

"I would love to watch you play hockey!" I took my eyes off of my path and took a quick glance over at him. Which was a mistake, because as soon as my eyes left my travel lane, I slipped and landed flat on my ass. "Ow!" I yelped. I knew I'd probably end up with a good bruise.

Nathan let out a loud laugh and reached a hand down to help me up. I laughed too. It didn't hurt that much.

I try to shove my thoughts of Nathan to the back of my mind. After I fell I remember he just kept bitching about the ex he didn't like.

Instead, I reflect on my first date with Dawson today. The fact that he remembered me saying I liked biking with Stella and turned that into a date blows my mind. And he didn't seem intimidated by her even though I said she doesn't like men. She only growled at him a couple of times today. That has to mean something... right?