Kiss My Ice

1|7

17.

Riley was wrong. Very, very wrong. Aiden did not deserve a chance. He was nothing like the teammates that I had hung out with last night.

My lips remained pierced in a thin line as I stared Aiden down from across the ice. My arms crossed firmly over my chest. "Let's just call it a day!" I barked, hearing my voice echo throughout the empty rink as it found its way to a preoccupied Aiden.

Several second passed before Aiden finally looked up from his phone. The device that had occupied his attention for the last thirty minutes. On several occasions he had pulled it out. Clearly, he was not taking this seriously.

And why should he have? It was clear that he had gotten help from someone else once again. There was no other logical explanation that came to mind for how he was able to execute a waltz jump first try with little help.

Aiden cocked his head to the side, his chocolate eyes latched to mine from across the rink as he started in a slow skate towards me. "We still have thirty minutes," he pointed out, shoved his phone back to its rightful place in the pocket of his sweatpants.

I sucked in a dry, bitter filled breath of cool air. "It doesn't look to me like you need it."

"Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?" His eyes flashed with amusement.

I dug my fingernails into the sides of my arms. He was testing my patience more than usual today. "What, exactly, do you think I have to be jealous about?" My eyes narrowed into a glare. "But I am wasting my time since you apparently already think you know everything."

He furrowed his eyebrows; a genuine look of confusion found its way to his face. "What?"

I rolled my eyes; my arms fell out of their crossed position. I shoved my hands in the direction of his phone tucked back into his pocket. "Your phone, Aiden!" I growled through clenched teeth. My voice came out much louder than I meant, causing even Aiden to flinch. "You have been on that stupid thing all practice! Not to mention that you already knew how to do waltz jump, so clearly you got help from someone else."

I dropped my head, inhaled a large breath as I took a moment to regain my composure. Deep breath in, deep breath out.

When I lifted my head back up, Aiden was smirking at me. He was taking pleasure in my frustration. I could have lost it on him in that moment. My petite frame was ready to pounce.

"Are you done?" He asked, his voice condescending.

Anger boiled inside of me. My fingers curled into a tight fist, digging my nails into the palm of my hand so hard that I sure I had drawn blood. I locked my eyes to his, shooting daggers at him. "You're an ass," I hissed.

His smirk didn't falter. "Language."

That was it. I was officially done with Aiden. I had had enough of him that I could possibly handle for one day. Skating up to him, I let all the emotion drain from my face. There was no point in giving him the satisfaction of seeing me mad.

"I'm done." My tone was indifferent, my words simple. I was done with him and the stupid punishment. If he couldn't take it seriously, then I was done tolerating him.

I pushed past him, purposefully bumping my right shoulder hard against him in the process. It wasn't necessary, but I was ticked.

Aiden was quick to grab ahold of my forearm, pulling me to an abrupt stop. "You can't just leave, Zoe."