A Million Little Stars || Carter Hart

chapter 9

Tally carefully slipped one foot onto the ice, clutching on to the boards with one hand and to Carter with the other. He stood in front her holding her steady while being able to stand on the ice just by himself. He wasn't geared up because he wanted to work on his eye-hand-coordination and not take pucks, so he just wore his outerwear and his skates.

"Gosh, I wasn't made to walk on ice. Why are we doing this?", Tally whined and took her foot off the ice again, standing securely on the ground.

"Come on, once you get a hang of it you'll enjoy it", Carter assured her, stifling a laugh. Tally looked ridiculously cute; Worry was written all over her face and she was hectically blowing strands of hair out of her face, that had wiggled out of her braids.

"Well, you can't force me", she said plopping down and sitting in the doorway. She almost brought him down with her but he caught his balance and was now looking down on her.

"I can just drag you onto the ice", he said with a grin.

"I thought we live in a democracy."

"And I thought you were willing to do some bonding here." Tally laughed. It was true. It had been her idea to visit him while he was doing what he does best. Hockey consumed so much of his life, he was talking non-stop about it, and she loved to listen. Obviously, she had some knowledge – she watched it for a couple of years now after all – but the depth in which he was talking about and analyzing his movements and that of the others was more than confusing for her. She tried, though.

"I thought you Canadians are known to be polite", Tally finally said and crossed her arms, feigning snobbishness.

"I don't know how you do it in England, but in Canada, we ask politely first and then we cross-check them from behind".

"Wow, we're onto the threats now. I think that's my call to leave", Tally said and clumsily tried to get up. Carter extended his hands, which she pushed away and finally managed to get back onto her feet again.

"Woah, you can't leave, we just got here", Tally tried to walk away, but in one swift motion, he snatched her small wrist and pulled her towards him. Taken by surprise, she stumbled towards him, and as she took one step on the ice she immediately lost balance. She held onto to Carter who lost his footing with her weight on him and they both fell to the ice with Tally laying on top of him.

"Ugh", Tally said, moaning, but he knew she was putting on a show. Her head laid on his chest as she muffled into him. "I think I'm concussed."

"You're fine, Tal. I warned you", he laughed and pushed her off of her so he could get up himself. She was kneeling on the ice and looking up at him with those big, glossy eyes and he felt his knees go soft and other things.. rather hard. They weren't natural around each other yet. They kissed once, so he didn't know yet if he could just kiss her all the time or hold her hand. He wanted to touch her and caress her, and he was not too proud of how big his desire for her was sometimes.

Carter extended a hand for her – which she took this time – and cleared his throat.

"I'll support you, I promise", he said and skated backwards, taking both her hands. She grunted but agreed and they slowly started moving.
At first, she felt like she would fall any second, but after some – or at least 20 – laps she felt a bit more secure, actually moving her legs and not just getting dragged by Carter. At some point, she could even move on her own and assisted him on his training. Everything was at such a slow pace that it wasn't really benefitting his coordination, but he wanted her to feel involved.

Tally's legs grew really tired really fast, due to her being so tense. She sat down near the boards, just watching him doing his thing. It surprised her how good of a skater he was. She never thought about him doing any other position than goalie, but he definitely had potential.