She rolls her eyes again but this time it’s followed by a small smile.
“I’m sure you saw what happened with the regional figure skating championship.” I shake my head. “Well, to spare the details, it was awful. Augustus dropped me and broke up with me in the same breath. We were disqualified obviously, but since then no one has paid any attention to the other events we’ve held, and the team will be cut if we don’t drum up support for it by the Winter Showcase in December.”
Jesus. I only heard whispers about what happen at regionals, but I never knew it was that bad. Maybe it’s because I didn’t really care. The hockey team never interact much with the skaters because they’re so uptight from training so hard and don’t take any shit from anyone. We try and steer clear unless absolutely necessary.
“That is pretty shitty,” I say, taking a swig of my beer.
“Yep,” she says, popping the ‘p.’ The way her full lips move around her words does something to me and I have to clear my throat. She catches me staring and narrows her eyes, her cheeks turning a light pink. “Your turn.”
I take in a breath. I put the rest of the beer down the sink because for once, I didn’t want to forget this night. “You know what happened to Carter Reyes, don’t you?”
Her face changes. Something in her smooths out, relaxes, but I can see the sympathy in her eyes. “Yeah, I do. And I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine...” She trails off and shakes her head lightly.
I nod in appreciation. “I found out something my family had been hiding from me and then just after that Carter got into his accident, and I went down this really dark path. I guess I’m still on it. I don’t know. Anyway, coach said I can’t play until I’m looking better and doing better in my grades which is really fucking hard to do without the motivation.”
What I don’t mention is how my mom had been cheating on my dad for half of my life and everyone knew, and no one wanted to tell me. My sister, Clara, who I thought I was close with had been hiding it from me the whole time. I don’t mention that it’s my fault that Carter was driving so late after I called him, a drunk mess, to pick me up. If I didn’t think my problems could be solved by a drink, Carter would not have gone on the road that night and he would not have been hit. He would still be here. I know he’s disappointed in me. Of course, he is. I didn’t lie when I told Coach Tucker I was trying. I am. Every time I think I’ll get back on the ice, I can’t do it. He should be here, playing alongside me. In some ways, I suppose he is.
“Well, look at us. Two rising stars, slowly falling down,” I say with a flourish, trying to lighten the mood. Wren grimaces, her arms hugging her middle.
“How do you know I’m a rising star? You’ve never seen me preform. I could be really fucking terrible,” she laughs, downing the last of her water. I cock my eyebrow and tilt my head.
“You wouldn’t be so worked up about it if you were bad. Plus, I’ve seen you skate before. I hope it was you anyway or else I have some explaining to do to a poor girl on your team,” I say, trying to piece together the images of the skater I usually see and her.
“And what did you think?” she asks, suddenly guarded, afraid that I’ll tell her that she isn’t any good.
“Are there any other blondes on your team?”
She shakes her head, pulling her lip between her teeth. I can feel my dick twitch at the motion. “Why?”
Suddenly feeling ballsy, I lean into her, my lips mere inches from her ear. “So, then I know it was you that completely mesmerised me. Over and over again.”
Her breath hitches and I pull away. I watch as she swallows, not sure what to make of my comment. I don’t say anything else. We stand there, neither of us speaking, listening to the music blasting from the stereos around us.
“I should probably get back to my friends,” she murmurs after a while, searching aimlessly around the crowded house. I don’t want her to leave. Not yet. I know we’re not even talking but I enjoy her presence. I feel like a moth and she’s the flame.
I reach out my hand and grip hers before she walks away. She turns back to face me, her eyes travelling to our hands and then to my face. She jerks her hand away with a puzzled look.
“I have an idea,” I announce, my hand suddenly feeling empty. She folds her arms across her chest. “Why don’t we help each other out? You need to get people to see your performance and I need to get back on the ice. I don’t know if you know this but I’m pretty popular and if I show interest in your little performances, people might start showing up.”
She laughs at my idea. Like, a full shoulder shaking, tears springing to her eyes, kind of laugh. I would be offended if I didn’t like the way it sounded so much. The way her head tilts back, giving me a perfect view of her throat. The way her voice rasps when she's come down from the high.
“I don’t really know you and I don’t particularly like you either. Why would we do that?” she asks when she catches her breath.
“Ouch,” I say, clutching my heart dramatically. I already knew that, but I thought we were getting somewhere. Apparently not. “Wait, how can you say you don’t like me if you don’t know me.”
“I know of you, and I know people like you.”
“Oh, so you’re saying that you know people like me, but you don’t?” I play on her words on purpose because I don’t hate the way she looks at me like she wants to strangle me. It only makes this more fun.
“What? You’re not making any sense.” She sighs, closing her eyes for a second. “Look, all I’m trying to say is I’m not your biggest cheerleader. Not every girl that you meet is going to drop down on their knees for you if you whisper sweet nothings into their ear.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing? Whispering sweet nothings into your ear?”
She laughs incredulously. “No, I think your trying to get yourself laid and it’s not working.”
I can’t understand how she can see through me so well or am I really just that transparent? It’s probably written all over my face that I want to touch her again. In any way. Anywhere. And I don’t even know why other than this tight magnetic force drawing me to her.
“Right. I thought that girls had the whole ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ thing written in the first page of their journal.”
