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I set my jaw and stared hard at the players celebrating on the ice. Rock Valley had just made a goal and they were lining up to make a short victory lap. Number thirteen was right there in the middle of the pack, skating hard next to the plexiglass. His cheeks were red from the cold and he wore a heavy frown. He looked my way as they passed us and nodded slightly when our eyes met, before veering off to get ready for the next puck drop. That spark I’d been trying to bury in my gut sprang alive the second his gaze fell on me, filling my torso with liquid warmth.
“Yeah, he’s totally hating on you already.” Lexi leaned against the plexi and grinned at me. “I think there’s some potential here and you’re just too stubborn to admit that you could fall for a guy like that.”
Of all the wild and crazy ideas Lexi could come up with, this one took the cake. I rolled my eyes and moved the camera to film the next play. She was going to bug me until she won some kind of footing in this battle. I knew how Lexi fought. The only thing to do was give her an inch in the hopes that she’d run away satisfied.
“I will admit that he’s not what I expected.” I glanced sideways at her, considering my next comment carefully. “He’s not a carbon copy of Michael. They’re actually quite different.”
Her eyes twinkled as she leaned in closer. “So you’re saying Gabriel got the looks and the personality?”
I hesitated as I looked out at Gabriel skating, his white number thirteen jersey standing out boldly among the black jerseys from Silver Lake. Technically, Lexi was right. No one could deny that he was a shining example of everything a teenage girl wanted in an eighteen-year-old boy. He was athletic, confident, and practically a Greek statue come to life. And it seemed quite possible that he might actually not be a total and complete jerk after all.
“All right, I guess that’s true.” I smirked at her. “But that’s all you’re getting out of me. My lips are sealed. Satisfied?”
“Thoroughly.” She sucked her bottom lip in and bit it with a grin. “I’m heading back to my seat, but this conversation isn’t over.”
I groaned as she bounced away. I should’ve known that giving her a little leeway would mean she’d follow me everywhere with this. Where was Charlotte when I needed her to act as a buffer?
After another fifteen minutes of filming, the game was nearly over. I’d gotten enough footage to do ten projects for anatomy class. My job here was done. I’d better book it before Lexi came back and took it upon herself to start planning my future wedding. Shutting off the camera and stashing it in a bag with the tripod, I took one last look at the rink.
Gabriel had the puck and was moving in fast toward the goalie, Michael trailing him by seconds. It looked like he was going to put Rock Valley High back in the lead. My heart rate sped up as two Silver Lake players came flying up on him at once. It didn’t seem like they were going to stop. And sure enough, two seconds later, they both crashed hard into Gabriel.
My palms pressed hard into the plexiglass as I watched all three go down to the ice hard. The crowd around me groaned. Michael tripped over a hockey stick and was soon on top of the squirming pile. Helmets flew off and sticks were thrown. Michael threw a punch that landed squarely on a Silver Lake player’s jaw. And then, all pandemonium broke out.
Half of the players and the refs swooped in to either join the fight or break it up. The crowd cheered and I knew both Hunter and Zane had to be thrilled about seeing such a big brawl break out. They’d be talking about it all week. It took several seconds for the refs to get things back to order, but by the time the dust cleared, they had Gabriel by the jersey and were directing him toward a small box on the side of the rink.
It didn’t seem right that of all the kids in that pileup, Gabriel was the one they sent packing. He hadn’t thrown a single punch. I’d been watching him the whole time. I looked at the audience for some kind of clue as to what was happening. All I could tell from the looks on their faces was that they weren’t happy. Some jeered at the refs. Others booed. Someone near me threw his half-eaten pretzel onto the ice. And Gabriel went into the box, tossing his stick and sitting on a seat with his arms crossed tightly over his pads.
Really, I should’ve just left out the back doors, but I was too invested to just slink away. Shouldering the camera bag, I rounded the rink until I came up beside Gabriel. From the harsh set of his jaw and steel flashing in his eyes, I could tell he wasn’t happy. Something had gone wrong.
“Hey!” I knocked on the plexiglass until Gabriel looked over at me.
Immediately, his scowl dissolved. He slid closer to me and nodded. “Hey.”
“Are you in time-out or something?”
His lips quirked with the hint of a smile, which gave me a little relief. “It’s called the penalty box.”
“Oh.” I supposed that sounded more grown up than time-out box. “Why?”
He frowned and anger flashed in his eyes. “For throwing the first punch.”
“But that wasn’t you. That was Michael!”
“Happens more often than you’d think, even with these jerseys.” The slight smile was back. “It’s okay, though. It’s not the first time I’ve had to do time for someone else’s mistake.”
I laughed and ducked my head in embarrassment. Okay, he got me there. It seemed like Gabriel was used to trying to clean up other people’s messes. It was an interesting tidbit about him. I never would’ve suspected it.
Just like I wouldn’t have expected him to ever look at me the way he was right then, his eyes shining with laughter and maybe even a little bit of heat. I shifted my feet, feeling the silence stretch between us, even as he continued to smirk at me through the plexiglass. His hair was wet with sweat again and mussed from the fight. I kind of liked it that way. It was a good look on him.
“So...I got the footage.” I held up the camera bag lamely, looking for a way to end the awkwardness. “We just need to go through it together, now.”
“Cool.” He raked his hands through his hair in a way that was effortlessly cool and
made my knees quake a little. “Want to meet here at the ice rink tomorrow at 5? I get done with practice then.”
Meeting in a practical freezer for a homework assignment wasn’t exactly my first choice, but I wasn’t going to prolong the awkwardness of this conversation for anything. It wasn’t like I had anything going on Saturday, besides gaming and homework. Spending the evening doing homework with Gabriel really didn’t seem so bad.
“Yeah, sure.” I shrugged, doing my best to put an end to this conversation. “It’s a date.”
