✓ | Melted Ice - Nolan Patrick

1.9

"Thank you, Sebastian," I said and Sebastian's mom asked if he could get a picture with Nolan. I stepped out of the way for them to take their picture.

Why was Nolan so adorable when he was around little kids?

Once the two were finished Nolan walked back over to me. He lead me through the building and pulled me over to one of the ice rinks. He opened the door and walked into the stands. A hockey team was practicing. The coach didn't turn around but spoke.

"This is a closed practice, you can't be here," He said and Nolan smirked.

"You sure about that Coach?" He asked and the coach spun around with a smile on his face.

"Nolan Patrick, what a surprise," the coach grinned. I followed Nolan as he walked back down the stairs and to the bench. Some of the players had turned to see what was happening.

Nolan's old coach and him hugged for a second then he spotted me.

"You finally get a girl, Pats? Took you long enough!" He joked and bumped his arm. Nolan chuckled.

"Coach Johnson this is my girlfriend Lila Konecny. Lils this is my old Coach, he taught me everything I know about hockey." I smiled and waved at him and he smiled.

"It's nice to meet you. You did a nice job with this one," I said and smiled at Nolan who playfully rolled his eyes at me.

Nolan talked to his old coach for a little bit until they said their goodbyes. Nolan waved to some of the kids on the ice who were still in awe before walking out with me.

He showed me around practically all of Winnipeg. I was shown the elementary school, middle and high school Nol went to, his favorite stores, his favorite restaurants, and all of the places he recommended that we go to when we have more time. And then we were off for the two hour ride to Brandon. Honestly, two hours wasn't that bad, especially because Nolan was so giddy and excited to see his old friends. It was adorable, he was grinning the entire time until we pulled up to the arena.

"You are so excited," I said with a laugh, he nodded. He grabbed my hand as we walked into the Keystone Center and lead me down to where the ice was.

"It's an open practice today so there's gonna be a lot of people, just a fair warning," Nolan said and adjusted the hat on his head. What is the deal with hockey players and baseball caps?

Nolan walked down the stairs with me trailing behind him. He went down to the glass and watched his former teammates skate around on the ice. His arm wrapped around my waist and I watched as he had a sad smile on his face.

One of the boys noticed Nolan and shot a puck at the glass where we were. Nolan looked over and his smile got wider - if that was even possible.

"That's Tanner, Tanner Kaspick. He was my best friend," Nolan said and I nodded as Tanner skated over to us.

"Come down to the locker room after practice!" He shouted and Nolan nodded. Tanner smiled and skated back to continue practicing.

I tried to suppress my sadness asking. "You miss it, don't you?" I wrapped my arm around Nolan and leaned my head against his arm. He sighed.

"I'm not going to lie because I don't want to lie to you. Yes, I do. A lot in fact. I knew it was going to be hard transitioning from Brandon to Philly but not this hard. Of course I have you, I have Ivan, Travis, Shayne and Claude and everyone else. Don't get me wrong I love you all, but I have a certain chemistry with these guys. A chemistry that takes years to form, in fact. Don't take offense to this, Lils, but if I could come back I would. It's nothing against you, baby." My heart may have broken a little bit hearing him speak with such bleakness.