Kiss My Ice

0|7

7.

I couldn't remember the last time that I had a weekend morning off from the rink. It felt wrong to be home. Like I was committing some sort of crime and Tiffany would be over at any second to drag me to the rink by my ponytail. If it weren't for Scott's surprise visit I probably would have been up in my room, angry and bitter at the hockey team.

"Anything in particular that you would like to do today? I have practice at 4, but can do anything before or after." I had invited myself into my brother's old room. He may have lived in Massachusetts now, but nothing had changed inside since he left for college at eighteen. The walls were still gray. Drapes black. His bedding red. Our parents insisted that there was no need to take it apart. Something about it not feeling right.

Scott looked up from his computer, spun around in his desk chair to face me. He titled his chin down to look up at me like one would do if they had on a pair of sunglasses. "Are you actually going to let me pick?"

I took a seat on his bed, my gaze focused on Scott's football trophies from high school. "It's your first-time home in a while." My eyes flickered to his. "I'm down for anything."

"Anything?" he repeated. Scott offered a boyish grin, suddenly starting to make me feel skeptical. Maybe I shouldn't have told him he could decide.

"Absolutely no hockey," I decided to add quickly. It should have been common sense since he knew how much I hated anything even remotely hockey. But I also knew he didn't share that hatred and that he was friendly with Aiden. I felt like I needed to clarify that one rule with how devious of a look he was giving me.

Scott smirked. "Noted. No hockey."

He stood from his chair, grabbed his wallet off the desk and shot me a large grin. "Come on," he said and headed toward the door. "Let go get some groceries."

~~~

When Scott suggested that we go get groceries, I thought that my brother must have aged a lot more than I realized if he though that grocery shopping was fun. It wasn't until after I had tirelessly bugged him for entire hour that we were at Walmart that he caved an informed me he wanted to host a bonfire. I knew that no twenty-one-year-old enjoyed grocery shopping.

The bonfire was set to start at 7:00PM. That gave me plenty of time to shower at the rink after my practice and I still at had time to pick up Lucy. She was excited to get away from her family for the evening.

My hand grazed the outer pocket of my duffel bag. I was trying to find my phone that I had stuck in there, but I was having no luck. With no luck of finding my phone I pushed open the locker room door with my free hand.

I began walking toward the exit with my head down to try and locate the dang phone. I needed to message Lucy to give her a heads up that I was headed her way shortly. If I didn't warn her I just knew that she wouldn't be ready when I got there. And there was no way that I wanted to sit through a bonfire with all of my brothers' friends by myself. Football players may have been better than hockey players – I at least watched their games, but they still came with a lot of testosterone.

Just as my hand located my phone, I turned the corner just in time to come face to chest with the one person I wanted to avoid the most. Dammit. I was really hoping that I didn't have to deal with him today.

"Uh hello there." Aiden laughed lightly, took a step backward to create space between us. For the first time since I met him, his face was soft. It lacked his usual arrogance.