Twenty-One ~ A Dean Portman Fanfic

Twenty-Six

Dean skated over to the boards as his teammates were leaving after practice, each giving a 'hey' to the brunette who waited by the boards. Arms up on the ledge as she'd watched the last few minutes, quite impressed with all of them, as she waited for the practice to finish. Smiling to the players, she fist bumped Russ and Averman before giggling at them and waved to the others.

Turning away as she watched the last of them walk into the locker room, she jumped away from the boards with a small spook as Dean stopped on an angle, shaving the ice. Evangeline approached the boards again with a headshake at his goofiness, lowering on her heels to touch the snow on the black rubber mats. 

Lifting her hand with the little snow, she blew it into the boy's face with a laugh. "It's on your nose." She pointed with a giggle.

Hockey glove brushed if off with a flick toward her as he leaned on the boards, giving himself a small break to cool off as he was sweaty, hot, and tired. "I was thinking of hitting a few more laps before going." He told her.

"Oh," She looked around the empty rink. "Okay. I can wait here for you to finish."

"Nah, go ahead. Don't wanna keep you waiting."

She smiled, not minding at all. "It's okay. Go on." She motioned and backed away.

With a small nod, Dean pushed away from the boards and skated off, proceeding to do figure eights across the ice. 

Grasping the front of her open jacket, Evie held it close to zip it up as she shivered. It got cold sometimes in the arena and mainly because she never did any physical exercise to keep herself warm like the hockey players. She pulled her hat down over her forehead, fixing her glasses as the red beanie had pushed it down.

The rink was covered in ice shavings after the hockey practice as the Zamboni was prepping off ice to clean it. Hence why Dean was taking his time to get his last solo laps in to cool off from practice before leaving.

Evangeline had gotten far enough away to still be able to see the rink but remain hidden from the eye, and she watched Dean skate around. He was flawless on the blades, effortlessly shifting from skating forward to backward with a slick motion. Arms to his sides as he glanced back, making sure he wouldn't skate into the net or boards, he went from one end of the ice to the other in quick paces.

Head tilted as she smiled lightly to herself.

Before becoming closer with Dean, she didn't really go to the hockey games unless someone asked. Now, she came because she wanted to and to support Dean, or the odd time he begged for her to come watch. The girl froze her ass off the last few games for him, but it didn't make her like him any less than before. 

Deciding on not standing around and waiting, Evangeline had instead wandered out from between the bleachers narrowing into a hallway. She approached the boards with her shoes laced up tightly and gazed to the far end where Dean lifted the puck onto the top of his hockey stick, bouncing it before he caught it and shot it at the net mid air.

She was mildly impressed.

Evie placed a foot onto the ice and almost slipped, letting out a small gasp before she applied a firmer pressure. With both feet on the ice, she penguin shuffled toward the middle where circle was, feet sliding rather than lifting one at time. She stared at the glimmering ground that sparkled up at her, the water a white rock now as she continued to shuffle her way rather proudly across the ice.

Cheeks heated up with redness at her confidence and Dean twirled around the net, skating on a single foot as he'd rounded the backside of the goaltender's spot. Brow rose as he shifted and noticed Evangeline on the actual ice, something he didn't expect to see as he'd mentioned he'd meet her and the fact she didn't do hockey, either.