Crush/Boyfriend Imagines

Loving On Thin Ice

You ran until your head was dizzy from the lack of air.

It still felt like it was not enough.

*

"What are they still doing here?" one of the other girls inquired, staring at the hockey team on the ice rink, providing no means of leaving.

"Shut up, let them be," another one said, "look at that guy, isn't he just so cool?" Of course, she was swooning over the hocker players again.

"Hey, who's that?" the girl was pointing at one of the guys. "He looks like he's new, I haven't seen him before."

"Yeah, I think I saw him a few days ago, too. He came to practice here while I was finishing practicing as well," you spilled, keeping your voice low to make sure he won't hear you. You weren't even sure why you did not want him to hear.

Just then, your trainer came back, unknowingly putting a stop on any further talk regarding the new boy on the hockey team, and said to you all, "so, apparently, they have a new member, so they've been practicing a little more than usual to make sure he can adapt. But their coach assured me they will be out in five minutes tops. What are you still waiting for? Go on, put on your skates," she urged you after seeing you all still just standing there, looking at the skating boys. You with all the other girls scattered on the bench to put on your skates, tying shoelaces for one another.

Just as you were finished, straightening up to see the boys walking out of the rink to sit on the other benches they had their shoes at, you just had the luck to catch the gaze of a particular boy that had mocked you just a few days prior, seen you fall down probably more than just that one last time (since you had no idea how long he was actually standing there watching you). And then there it was, that annoying smile.

As if he thought he was better than you.

You snorted to yourself, already feeling totally turned off by him even though you did not even know his name. Not that you had any interest in it.

Your figure skating practice went smoothly, with you managing to finally land the better portion of the jumps you've been having trouble with, but still not enough to be sure you can do them confidently.

Your trainer offered to have a few extra practices with you to help you better prepare for the qualifying round of the competition you were working to get into, but you politely declined her offer. You already had scheduled more individual practices with her than any other of the girls, and you knew you could practice on your own, too - you'd feel bad for keeping her there even longer.

Because as much as you needed the practice, you also knew your trainer needed some rest, too. She was always available to you whenever you needed something and you were glad for her directioning and helpful advice, but you wanted to learn to practice on your own, too, learn to put her advice she had given during both the collective and individual practices to use by yourself.

You enjoyed the silence as well, the only sound being the scratching of ice as you skates created tiny grooves on its surface, without any mentoring, being able to do the things you wanted and felt like you needed to go over again at your own chosen pace.

*

"I'm C/n," the new hockey player shouted at you once, watching you practice. It was in the midst of your jump, the call sudden, without you inquiring at all. You landed as you should, stabilizing yourself, before shooting a glare at him, standing in the entrance to the rink, with that smile of his he always wore, and the stick in his hands, subtly hinting to you to get lost because he wanted to practice himself now.

Why couldn't he just practice with the rest of his team? But you knew the answer sooner before the whole question could even form in your mind - he was new, and he needed to get adapted to a lot of new things, improve some of his techniques. It was similar to if you'd change your own trainer - you needed to get used to their different ways of teaching, different advice, different ways to do things as well.