Scars On Ice | Charlie Conway

t w e l v e

Aspen was put out for the rest of the day. She was frustrated to find that no matter how hard she tried, all she could think about was Charlie. For starters, she didn't really know much about him at all. She had no idea whether flirting like that was something he did frequently, or if he actually had taken interest in her. The fact that her crush on him was growing exponentially did not at all help her case. Whatever coy game he was playing had been fun at first, but she was beginning to get restless. Why did boys have to be so difficult?

On top of that, she couldn't help but wonder what would happen if they did happen to start dating at some point. Hockey was his number one priority, and probably always would be. She wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to force herself to go to one of his games – but that wasn't the part that tripped her up. She couldn't keep making excuses to all of her friends when they asked why she was avoiding both the jv and the varsity games. But at the same time, she knew for a fact that she wasn't ready to explain the real reason why she just couldn't go. She hadn't even worked up the courage to tell her brothers.

She wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to tell Charlie why she was so scared.

She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she hardly noticed Caine walking towards her after school. In fact, she didn't notice – at least, not until he bumped into her shoulder. At any other time, she would've seen it coming. She would've rolled her eyes and brushed him off, or, more likely, shoved him back. It was a brotherly thing to do, but more importantly, it was a Caine thing to do. She should've been expecting it.

But she wasn't. And the sudden nudge of her shoulder combined with both her already unsteady posture and her distracted thoughts nearly knocked her off her feet. She stumbled in the middle of the hallway, having to put weight onto her left foot to keep her standing. Her ankle teetered dangerously beneath her, but she was able to plant her right foot in time to remain upright. The pain that shot up her leg made her wince.

Before she was entirely stable, an hand caught her by the elbow. She had caught herself just fine, but it was aggravating to find out that her pain could've been avoided had she known that someone was there to steady her. She glanced up and immediately met Roland's concerned gaze. "Are you okay?" he asked sincerely, his eyes shifting hesitantly down to her ankle.

She nodded, gently shying away from his touch. She was honestly a bit embarrassed. She liked to forget about her limp as much as she could, so in moments where her handicap was impossible to ignore, her pride tended to take a blow. "I'm fine," she answered bluntly. She let out a sigh when she realized that she was being rude. "Thank you."

Roland seemed to get the message, as he quickly retracted his hand, instead using it to scratch the nape of his neck. He glanced over his shoulder at the parade of kids that brushed by. "Does Caine... always do that?" he inquired, slowly turning his gaze back to Aspen.

Blowing a strand of hair away from her face, she nodded. "Pretty often. It's been our thing since middle school," she replied. She felt her embarrassment creep back into her mind as she lowered her gaze. "I honestly wasn't really paying attention. He caught me off guard."

Roland didn't acknowledge her awkwardness. He instead just gave her a small smile that he hoped appeared encouraging. He nudged her shoulder comfortingly, "Hey, it happens. We all get lost in our thoughts sometimes." Aspen could tell from the way that he said it that he was curious about what had her head up in the clouds, but he didn't want to feel as though he was prying. Any other circumstance and Aspen may have been inclined to tell him. But she was definitely not about to talk to Roland Riley about her boy problems, regardless of how close they had gotten.

She let out another deep breath. As she was scrounging for a way to change the topic, a light bulb went off in her head. "Thanks for earlier, by the way," she said modestly as she allowed her eyes to once again meet his. The subtle wrinkle on his forehead told her that he was confused. "For covering for me about the quiz. You didn't have to do that."