Vulnerable || l.h.

Three

I didn't talk to Luke much in the days after our flirtatious encounter. I saw him every day at lunch, in calculus, and then after school either at hockey practice or at Ashton's house. I kept my distance because I wasn't entirely sure what had occurred between us that day, and I didn't feel like getting into it. Relationships with hockey players were always complicated because they were usually my friend's teammates, meaning that if we broke up things could get awkward and/or nasty. I had no idea what Luke's problem was, though.

Eventually, Friday came. The school was buzzing the whole day because it was gameday, which meant that the boys were more hyper than usual. I showed up to the arena that night with my jersey on, ready for the season to begin. I sat with Ashton's mom, who never missed his games. It was quite cute, actually. She greeted me with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Hello Maddie! How are you, sweetheart?"

It was obvious where Ashton's personality came from. "I'm doing well, thank you. I'm excited for the game."

"So am I! The team looks great this year. That new player, Luke Hemmings, seems like a real sniper."

I moved my gaze to the ice where I saw Ashton, Michael, Calum, and finally Luke all in a row lined up to take warm up shots. "Hm, really? I guess I haven't paid much attention at the practices I've been to."

The whistle blew and the game started. Cheers came from both sides of the crowd. This was what I lived for; the high-paced, hard-hitting action of hockey. The players raced up and down the ice, battling for the little black rubber puck. Calum got the puck and passed it to Ashton who passed it to Luke on a breakaway. He picked up speed, deked past the defenseman and shot it past the goalie. I jumped out of my seat, along with Ashton's mom and the rest of the spectators from my school and began screaming and cheering. Luke and his teammates exchanged high fives and made their way to the bench to let a new line take the next faceoff. Huge smiles were plastered all over their faces, as well as mine. Ashton's mom leaned over and said in my ear, "I told you that Luke boy looked good!"

You sure did.

***

I took a seat on Ashton's couch, all other noise being drowned out by the boys excitedly yelling at each other about what had happened in the game.

"Did you see when I threw that guy into the boards? Fucking incredible!" Michael said.

"Yeah man, but that wasn't as nice as when I totally faked that other guy out and laid out that sweet saucer pass to Hemmo over here." Ashton said as he put his hand on Luke's shoulder, who suprisingly remained silent.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the bowl of popcorn Ashton's mom left out on the living room table. This was how every Friday, and basically every other day of the week, was for me; sitting around with the boys listening to them talk hockey. For most girls it would be annoying, but I actually enjoyed it.

"That was pretty sweet Ash," I added, "but let's not forget when that guy on the other team threw that huge open ice hit on you." A chorus of "oohs" came from Michael and Calum while Ashton put his hand on his chest, pretending to be hurt by my words.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm just saying you gotta keep your head up out there." I shot Ashton a playful smile.

"Whatever you say, coach." Ash replied, returning the gesture.

The boys walked over and joined me on the couches in the living room and grabbed the various bowls of snacks from the table.

"So Ash," Michael said, "I saw that girl from our math class checking you out at the game today."

Calum's eyes widened. "Who, Olivia? Dammit, Ash I was gonna ask her out next week."

Ashton rolled his eyes. "Sure you were, Cal. It doesn't matter, though, cause I'm not interested."

"Are you serious, man?" Michael asked. "Olivia is hot!"

"I know she is, but I don't date during the season. You guys know that."

Calum and Michael began to mimick Ashton and he threw popcorn at them. I turned to Luke, who the boys had forgotten about.

"Good game." I said to him. He gave me a small smile.

"Thanks." he replied.

"No seriously, that breakway goal you scored was beautiful."

"Thanks."

"You don't say much do you?"

He gave me the same small smile. "Nope."

Now he was pushing my buttons. "You know, I thought we had made some progress with our conversation after calculus the other day."

"The one where you admitted that you find me attractive?"

I looked over at the other boys to make sure they weren't paying attention, and they were still focused on their own conversation. I turned back to Luke. "I never said that."

He smiled bigger now. "You didn't have to."

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Oh, really? And how do I know that you don't find me attractive as well?"

"Maddie, if I found you attractive, you would know."

"Yeah? How would I know?"

"You would just know."

I knew he had nothing, so I decided to push his buttons this time. "But how? Do you have like pickup lines or something?"

"Sure."

I didn't expect that answer. "You have pickup lines? Oh my god tell me one."

"Why would I do that?"

"It'll be fun just tell me one."

"Okay fine." He took a second to think. "Okay, I have one. It works all the time." He leaned closer to me, his voice now a whisper. "Ready?"

I nodded.

"Are you a girl? Because I like you."

I  laughed louder than I meant to, but the other boys didn't even notice. "Are you serious? That's ridiculous."

Luke shrugged. "I'm telling you, works every time."

"That does not work."

"It does! What can I say? I'm just irresistible."

"Okay, now you're just getting cocky."

"You said it yourself Maddie, girls love me what with my 'brains and athelticism and whatnot'." he made quotation marks in the air with his fingers when he recalled what I had said to him just a few days before.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, sure, whatever you say Luke."

"You guys wanna order a pizza?" Calum asked, bringing us all back into one large conversation.

"Cal, it's almost midnight." Ashton said.

"Yeah, so? I'm hungry!"

"Fine, I'll go get the phone."

Once he got up, Calum and Michael looked at Luke and I. "So what were you guys talking about?" Michael asked.

Luke and I looked at each other. "Nothing," I said. "just calculus stuff."

Michael nodded and continued to talk to Calum about the video game they were discussing before. I looked at Luke, who tugged on his lip ring with his teeth, which I could tell was a nervous habit of his. He saw me looking at him and mouthed the word irresistible. I rolled my eyes and got up to help Ashton with the pizza order.