Where Do We Go From Here? [A.Matthews]

[two]

I took my first puff, and moments later took another. 

I remembered my steps. Inhaler, clear thoughts, calm. 

"It's okay. Please just relax." He said, upset. 

Inhaler, clear thoughts, calm.

Clear thoughts, calm.

Calm.

My breathing returned to normal, and I was finally able to look him in the eyes. 

"Are you okay?" Auston asked.

I nodded, wiping away the tears that escaped during my panic attack.

"I promise, nothing happened. I'm really sorry I made you think otherwise. I know I'm an asshole, but I'm not that big of an asshole." 

A smile spread across my lips, and that made him smile too.

"I'm sorry I scared you." 

"Please don't apologize." He said, standing, and offering a hand to help me up. "Does that happen...a lot?" 

"I have anxiety, kind of bad. I just got back on my meds so it tends to happen more frequently when my meds chance." I explained. "I swear I'm not crazy." 

"I know. That's not what I was thinking." His eyes were wide once more. 

Silence came over us, as we just stood there staring at each other. 

It was way too long that I realized that I had on just my sleep shirt. No bra, and a skimpy pair of underwear. My shirt was not long enough, and I could feel my ass exposed. Auston on the other hand stood there in some basketball shorts, but zero shirt. 

His eyes wandered down to my pantsless legs, and grinned in appreciation. 

I cross my arms over my chest, and rolled my eyes as I made my way towards the bathroom. I could feel his eyes following me, and I knew they were on my ass. I turned to face him before closing the door.

"Can you please not tell Steph or Mitch? She'll freak out and call my parents, and I really just don't need that when I just got here." I explained.

"I wouldn't do that. I swear." He assured me.

"Thanks." I smiled shyly at him, closing the bathroom door behind me.

Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

Maybe.

+

I was nervous. God, was I nervous. 

"Alright ladies. Welcome to your first day of training." Natalie, the lead ice girl yelled to all of us. She was blonde and gorgeous. Everyone around me was gorgeous. How I managed this gig was purely nepotism. Mitch worked his magic and here I was. "Lace up your skates, and we'll get on the ice here in a few minutes." 

I got out my hockey skates, and sat down to lace them up. Half the girls around me had figure skates, the other half hockey skates. They all seemed to know each other fairly well, and here I was, the new girl.