Kiss My Ice

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4.

My throat tightened and I couldn't help the unwanted thought that crept into my mind. Was Aiden the ticket to the hockey team having a successful season? One good season from the hockey team and I feared that the skate club might become a thing of the past.

I forced a laugh. Hockey was a team sport. It was humorous that I could think, even for a second, that Aiden was all the hockey team needed to win. Aiden could have been the best hockey player alive and wouldn't have mattered if the rest of the team still sucked. He couldn't win games on his own. At best he would he help the team's chances of winning a couple more games than last year.

The cool rink air entered my lungs as I took in a sharp breath. My gaze focused intensely on Aiden as he pushed the puck around the ice effortlessly. Frustration boiled inside me. Why did he have to move to this town, and join this rink? I knew less than nothing about hockey and even I could tell that he was going to be a huge asset to the team.

"Are you feeling okay?" Jackie Davis asked me. I pulled my gaze off of Aiden and onto her light hazel eyes. She took a seat on the bench next to me. "You must be sick if you are actually sitting here watching a hockey head."

Jackie Davis was a fellow figure skater. A few years younger than me. She was good but lacked the commitment to go all the way to top. That also that she was one of the few girls at the rink that didn't seem to see me as their competition.

"If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that you were crushing hard on the new guy."

I scrunched my face. Clear disdain at the thought of such a thing. "As if. He is about as likeable as stepping on a Lego with your bare feet."

Jackie's eyebrow raised. "You've talked to him?"

"Unfortunately," I mumbled. My head turned back to the ice.

"So... why is it exactly that you are watching him practice?" Her voice gave off her confusion.

My eyes narrowed in his direction. Daggers, they were shooting daggers. "I'm just trying to figure out what makes him so special." I groaned. My head turned back to Jackie who was staring at me with a look of concern. "You know, he has been the talk of the town. Everyone has been buzzing about him all day today."

It was frustrating. I had heard his name mentioned at least fifty times in the first ten minutes of me arriving at the rink. The rink employees, the coach's, my fellow figure skaters even. Everyone was talking about Aiden as if he was some kind of celebrity. I couldn't wrap my head around why everyone was so obsessed with him.

Jackie's face softened. "Do you think that he had something to with the hockey team getting your practice time?"

Probably.

"Don't know, don't care."

Jackie crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes now eyed my skeptically. "Are you sure you watching him doesn't have something to do with liking him then?"

I rolled my eyes. Did she honestly expect me to be such a cliché?

Yes, I was madly in love with new guy. Just your average teenage love story: a small-town girl who instantly fell head over heels for the attractive new guy in town.

The very thought sent me into a fit of laughter. Yeah right!

"What are you laughing at?"

I paused my laughter, blinking slowly at her. "You!" I turned towards the ice, gesturing my hand in the direction of Aiden. "The fact that you could possibly think that I could like that."