Him vs Her

Chapter Six

"Healing doesn't mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls our lives."

"Summers what are you doing?!"

"Get the fuck up!"

"Are you even trying?!"

"Get your head out of your ass Summers!"

To say this practice has been difficult would be an understatement. Every time I touch the puck I manage to screw up whatever it is I am supposed to do. I can not seem to focus no matter how hard I try.

Drew passes the puck to me from the back of our zone. I receive it easily and begin skating forwards. I see Rhosyn hitting her stick against the ice diagonally across from me as Eden and another girl, Grace, speed towards me. I shoot the puck towards Rhosyn just as Eden slams into me, sending me flying into the boards.

I clench my teeth and get up. She knows we aren't supposed to hit that hard in practice. However, the only person that gets in shit is me.

"Kaelin!" Drew yells, skating up to me. "Just go home and figure your shit out. You're useless to me right now."

"But-"

She shoves me against the boards. "I said go home."

Shame burns my face as I nod and skate off the ice. I can feel Eden's smug gaze piercing through my back as I walk towards the change room. She probably loved watching me fail. I found out from Rhosyn that Eden wanted the Assistant position and was furious when I, a fresh recruit, 'stole' it.

I slam the change room door open and rip off my helmet. I am about to throw it as hard as I can at the wall when I look up from the ground. Holy shit.

"You lost, little girl?" One of the men sitting in the men's change room says to me. I remember him vaguely from the party, he was rude to me. I could tell instantly that he is one of those sexist assholes that thinks hockey is a men's sport.

My cheeks flush in embarrassment as at least twelve pairs of eyes look up and stare at me. "Uh... Uh... Sorry..."

Then Nolan walks in with Lucian and Oliver at his side. All three of them are clad in towels around their waists, with damp hair and water dripping down their bodies. Oh my g- I quickly avert my eyes to the floor.

Don't look at Nolan, Kaelin. Don't you do it. Not even a peak.

"Summers?" Oliver asks, seeming genuinely surprised to see me. "What brings you here? Shouldn't you be practicing?"

"I...I was..." I stutter. I do not want to admit to Nol- I mean, the entire men's team that I just got kicked out of practice. But at the same time, I can't really think of a good excuse. "I was uh looking for Nolan!"

You fucking idiot.

"Really?" I can hear Nolan coming closer. "We can talk outside if you want."

I nod and he follows me out of the change room. Even in my skates I'm still an inch or two shorter than him. I try desperately to maintain eye contact with him as ever fibre of my being screams at me to look down.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Nolan asks, snapping me out of my trance. His amber eyes look skeptical and rightfully so.

I tried really hard to come up with a good lie, trust me, I did. All that came out was, "I needed to ask you for...For some help moving my refrigerator?"

He raises as eyebrow at me and crosses his arms over his chest. I allow myself a quick glance down, which turned out to be a really bad idea. My mouth goes dry when I catch a glimpse of his tattooed arm that is rippled with muscles. A particular tattoo catches my eye, it's a tiny black plane on the inside of his wrist, with even smaller Roman numerals inside of it.