26.
"Zoe," a deep voice called from my left, interrupting me on my way to the locker room. "I'm glad you're here."
I paused mid step, turned my head to the side to see the voice had belonged to one of Aiden's cousins. My eyebrow raised. Why was he glad that I was here?
"Luke, right?"
He smiled. "Dylan," he corrected.
The two were strikingly similar and I had only ever seen them one time. It was an easy mistake to make. Still, I felt my cheeks warm slightly at my mistake. "My bad." I took a deep breath. "Can I help you with something?"
He shook his head. "I just wanted to apologize for the other day. You seemed pretty upset when you found out about Aiden." Dylan rubbed the back of his neck. "Luke and I didn't realize that it was such a sensitive subject."
I bit my lip. It was cute that he had the same nervous behavior as Aiden. You could tell that the two were related. "That's sweet," I said, offering him a small smile. "But there's no need for you to apologize. I'm not mad at you or Luke."
There was no reason for me to take my frustration out on Luke or Dylan. They were not the ones at fault. Aiden was the one that had intentionally withheld vital information with the intent of using it against me. If anything, I was appreciative that the boys brought it up. Without their push I doubted Aiden ever would have told me the truth.
To my surprise, Dylan's face scrunched into an almost pained expression. "But you are upset with Aiden." His words weren't a question. He knew that I was more than a little upset with his cousin.
"It's complicated." If there was one thing that described my relationship with Aiden, that would be it. Complicated.
Everything about Aiden was complicated now more than ever. After hours of Riley and Lucy pushing and prying, they had officially convinced me that I was hurt because I did like Aiden. It was stupid. Insane. Downright impossible. Somehow, my feelings of hate had turned to something completely different.
"I get it." Dylan's face softened. "Aiden should have told you sooner."
I gave a soft smile, moving my gaze off Dylan. Desperate to find something other than Aiden to talk about, I forced a small cough. "So," I turned my head back to meet Dylan's dark eyes that reminded me so much Aiden. "Do you also play hockey?"
Dylan's lips curled in amusement. He let out a hearty laugh and shook his head. "My dad would have my head."
My brows furrowed. The family tree of these people had to have been the most dysfunctional group of people that I had ever met. Dylan also had daddy issues? I couldn't even imagine not getting along with my dad.
I shifted my weight from foot to foot, awkwardly trying to relieve the discomfort I felt. "You don't get along with your dad either?"
Dylan squinted his eyes as if that helped him to piece his words together. "It's not that we don't get along. He just puts an excessive amount of pressure on me to be like him."
I raised my eyebrows. So it was exactly like Aiden and Lance. I was starting to think that the parents of their family should have taken a parenting class before having kids.
"I'm guessing that you are either an athlete or you dad is a doctor, lawyer, or something of that variety then."
Dylan chuckled, crossed his arms over his chest with a nod. "Quarterback."
"I see." Dylan was tall, broad shoulders with what I'd guess was a lot more muscle hiding under his hoodie than it looked. He looked like a poster boy for what a young quarterback looked like. With his short brown hair spiked lightly in the front and a slight five o'clock shade covering his jawline, I could definitely see him as a hotshot young footballer. "So you're a football star."
"Football star?" Dylan grinned. "That's a big assumption to think that I am good."
I raised my eyebrows challengingly. "Aren't you? I mean if your dad is as hard on you as you say he is then I have to assume that it's because you are good. In order for him to live vicariously through you, you would have to be good."
His lips twitched in amusement. "My dad is an ex-NFL player. He would be hard on me regardless."
It was clear that Dylan had to have been a good player. He radiated that same level of confidence that I found so annoying in Aiden. A true trademark of a good athlete.
I smirked. "Do you have a future in the NFL?"
"I never said I was good at football."
A girly laugh erupted from behind me, and a second later Kelsey was at my side shaking her head. "Aren't you a little comedian." Kelsey turned towards me. "Dylan won the state championship with his team three times in high school and is now the starting QB for Florida State."
Hmm. Dylan really was more of an exceptional player than I thought. That's really impressive.
"Huh," I mumbled, playing it off as though I wasn't impressed. "I guess I was wrong then. You must have been a terrible QB if you didn't win state all four years."
Kelsey giggled at my teasing while Dylan furrowed his brows, mouth slightly agape as he processed my jab. I grinned. What a fragile ego.
"Was it at least your freshman year that you lost?"
"Nope," Kelsey answered quickly for him. "It was his junior year. Actually, it was Luke who bested him."
Interesting. Both Luke and Dylan were football stars. Aiden must have missed the memo that he was supposed to play football, not hockey.
"We still made it to state," Dylan mumbled, earning a laugh from both Kelsey and I at his bitterness.
"I should probably get changed and ready for my practice," I said with a small sigh. As much as I had enjoyed talking with Dylan and Kelsey, my practice with Tiffany started soon and I couldn't be late.
I turned to start on my way to the locker room, briefly pausing to glance back at Dylan. "Thanks for the apology."
Dylan nodded; his brown eyes held a soft apologetic gleam. "Anytime."
_-_-_
I felt at peace. Practice with Tiffany had gone amazing. Every jump she called for me to do I landed with ease. I was skating like my old self: distraction free. Even with all the drama in my life, I was able to push it all away and just skate.
I let my arms remained spread wide as I skated around the ice, feeling the crisp air brush against my face. The only noise was the sound of my own skates as they glided across the ice.
There was something special in the air at the rink tonight. I felt focused, eager. Like I was finally ready to try out my triple axel again.
After a few more laps around the ice, I took a deep breath. This was it. I was ready. I was going to attempt my triple axel for the first time in weeks. Gathering myself together, I prepared myself to take off. I glided effortlessly backward; my arms scissored. As my left foot came by my right, I pushed my toe pick into the ice.
One spin... two... three...
With just a half rotation left, I felt a sense of hope surge inside of me. My skates hit down onto the ice and I staggered to balance myself to not fall. I continued to glide across the ice. "Shit," I whispered seconds before a triumphant smile swept over my face. By the grace of God, I had finally managed to land a triple axel.
It was an amazing surge of adrenaline that rushed through me as I skated over the ice. It didn't matter that it wasn't the cleanest of landings. After all of the months of struggles I had endured, I finally landed a jump. There was nothing that could have brought me down.
"Didn't anyone tell you that the rink closed an hour ago?"
Nothing except for that.
Aiden.
My heart lurched inside of my chest as the sound of skates hit the ice. Please leave, please leave, I repeated in my head, praying that it would magically make him turn his butt around and leave me in peace to enjoy my massive achievement.
"Hold up a second." Aiden was at my side in a second. My breathing quickened and I was careful to keep my eyes locked firmly on the ice ahead of me. "Look, I know that you are pissed at me, but would you please just hear me out?"
I could feel his eyes trained on me. I bit down on the insides of my cheeks. Those damn eyes had a knack for making my stomach flip. It made me that much more adamant that I had to get out of here. I pushed myself faster.
He groaned, pushing himself to catch up to me. "We need to talk about this eventually."
Aiden's hand wrapped around my left hand and suddenly he was pulling me to an abrupt stop. My eyes widened in horror as I tripped on my own toe pick – not ready to stop. Aiden's hand slipped from mine as I went down, my body hitting against the ice with a loud thud.
"Shit, Zoe. Are you okay?"
Pain shot through my right thigh up through my hip. An anger boiled inside of me as I lifted my gaze up to Aiden for the first time. Admittedly, he did look guilty for causing me to fall.
"Nice going," I hissed through gritted teeth as I picked myself up. I pushed past Aiden's outreached hand with a scoff. The last thing I needed was his help up when he was the reason that I fell in the first place.
I turned my back to him and pushed forward in the direction of the exit. I needed out of here. "Just leave me alone," I barked.
Aiden let out some inaudible words under his breath before I heard his skates push off across the ice behind me. My heart flipped as he skated in front of me, turned on his skates so he was skating backwards. His chocolate eyes latched onto mine. I couldn't help but reflexively swallowing my spit.
"Please just hear me out." Aiden's words came out strained, like he was desperate. His hand raked through his messy hair causing a few pieces to fall into his face just short of his eyes. "I know your mad that I didn't tell you about my past with figure skating. If you just give me a chance to explain."
There was something in his tone, the desperation in his expression, his pleading eyes, that made me want to stop and listen. He looked so vulnerable.
I took a deep breath in, held it briefly as I chewed my lower lip. "You have two minutes," I said in quick exhale.
Appreciation flashed in his eyes, and he let out a soft, nervous chuckle. "I'll take what I can get." He broke our eye contact, focusing his attention to the empty bleachers. Hands shoved into the front pocket of his jeans. "I don't think that figure skating is easy. I never thought it was."
I frowned. "Then why the hell did you say all those disrespectful things about it?"
His head snapped back to me, letting his eyes fall back onto mine. "Because of you," he stated with a shrug.
Heat boiled inside of me. My fingernails dug tightly into my palm. "Because of me?" I echoed; voice slightly raised.
Aiden nodded, looking like it was the most obvious thing in the entire world. "You picked a fight with me," he explained, only pausing when his lips curled to an amused smile at my death glare. "You disregarded me and my achievements as if being the top center in the state of Massachusetts was a small feat. Like moving out of state made that state irrelevant."
My eyes narrowed as my facial features slowly fell into a deep pout. I had a faint memory of telling him that he was irrelevant. But I only said that when he mocked me for being a figure skater.
"You mocked me first," I defended, my arms crossed over my chest.
"I mocked you?" Aiden raised his eyebrows. He clearly remembered the events of that day vastly different from me. "If I recall it correctly, all I said was that I should have guessed you were a figure skater. You know, considering that this is a small town and when I first met you at that coffee shop, you gave off the impression that you were some kind of athlete. I just meant that I wasn't surprised to find out that you were a figure skater."
My frown deepened. Aiden hadn't intended to pick a fight with me. That didn't make any sense. "Why did you purposely pick fights with me then? You made it abundantly clear that you thought I was some kind of joke. Why did you lie?"
A soft smirk lifted his lips, amusement flash in his eyes. "Retaliation? You were kind of a bitch that night at the rink. You made it perfectly clear that you were the one with the vendetta against hockey. I wanted to get a rouse out of you."
My frown morphed to a scowl. I knew that this was all just one big game to him. "You're an ass," I growled.
Aiden's hands flew out of his pockets as he lifted them up in defense. "After that first conversation we had here at the rink, I was convinced that you were just some stuck up know-it-all girl who thought she was better than everyone." I narrowed my eyes. This had to have been the worst so-called apology in history. "I genuinely hated you. That hatred is what fueled the fighting, but it wasn't because I thought that figure skating was easy. Everything I said was because I knew it would piss you off."
"Gee, thanks," I grunted with a roll of my eyes.
Ice flew up onto me as Aiden slid sideways into an abrupt stop. "No, you are not allowed to do that. You hated me just as much as I hated you."
Once again, for the second time in the span of a few minutes, I was not prepared to stop and this time I skated right into Aiden's chest. Aiden staggered backwards but was quick to regain his balance. His hands grabbed onto my hips as I reflexively grabbed onto the front of his hoodie to steady myself.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to catch you off guard."
I sucked in a breath, feeling my body go numb where I felt Aiden's hands. Heat flushed my face and I dared myself to look up. His chocolate eyes were focused on me. A concern expression cloaked an amused gleam I could tell he was holding back.
"It's fine." My voice was shaky, uneasy. The nerves swirled rapidly in my stomach by our close proximity.
He smiled. "Just so you know, I never thought you weren't a real athlete." Aiden's voice soft, he was genuine. "I actually admired how much time you put in to better yourself."
A quiet laugh escaped unknowingly from my mouth. "You sure have a funny way of showing your admiration."
"I didn't want you to get a big head. You know," he teased softly. "With how little respect you have for hockey."
How little you respect hockey. That comment surprised me with how much it stung. It didn't matter how much truth that statement once held. It was no longer valid. I did respect hockey.
"I do respect you," I whispered, dropped my head to avoid his confrontational stare. I nervously ran my fingers over the fabric of his hoodie, trying my best to think of the right words. "You proved to me from day one that hockey was harder than I ever gave it credit for. Just holding the stick was harder than it should have been."
Aiden's chest raised and fell, finding humor in my confession.
"I know I was a bitch to you when we first met," I admitted. "You just reminded so much of some hockey players from my childhood. The two that started my hatred of the sport." I let out a large breath, dropped my hands from Aiden's hoodie, spun a half circle to face away from him causing Aiden to drop his hands from where they still laid on my hips.
"When I was seven years old, I had my first skating lesson." It seemed only fair that I explained to Aiden why I was so quick to pick a fight with him. "I was on a high from it. Just one hour and I had quickly fallen in love with the sport. But these two hockey players were quick to stomp on my joy."
I hesitated, taking in another large breath. This wasn't easy for me to share with people. Most people thought that I was childish and petty for holding a grudge against the whole sport of hockey for years on end. It wasn't easy for me to confide in him.
"They made comments like 'figure skating is easy, anyone can do it', and 'you know it's not a real sport, right?'. They made me feel like I was an idiot for enjoying myself out of the ice. Like it was a total waste of time. That's why you got under my skin so much. Your comments, then reminded me of those boys."
A long silence hit me like a truck. I'd just bombarded Aiden with a petty grudge that I had held for ten years, and now he didn't know what to say. I must have sounded like an idiot.
Aiden arm snaked around my waist, suddenly thrusting me around so that I was face to face with him one more. His face was soft as he licked his lips. "I'm sorry."
My cheeks flooded with heat. Now more than ever, I was certain that I had gotten Aiden all wrong. He was nothing like those two hockey players from my past. He was different.
"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you that I used to take figure skating lessons." The left side of his mouth twitched upward into a sexy half smirk. His eyes dropped to where his where his arm was holding onto me, preventing me from bolting away. "I wanted to see you struggle with hockey," he admitted. "Had you known that I had a past in figure skating, I didn't think your reactions would have been so fun to watch."
"You played me." My voice was barely a whisper.
Aiden sighed, dropped his arm from my body. "Maybe, but I never set out to do that. I was never going to accept the punishment until you jumped in with no hesitation."
I bit my lip. This was a lot of information to think about. Aiden sounded so sincere with his apology that I believed he wasn't trying to hurt me. At least not anymore. I couldn't really blame him for retaliating when I was the one you threw the first punch. I was the one who was the most at fault. It was me.
"Your two minutes is up," I whispered, my eyes dropped to my skates to advert his eyes. It was a cop out. I wasn't mad at him anymore; I just didn't know what to say or do. This whole thing had started because of me and yet I was the one who got mad at him. He had every reason to hate me when really, I had no reason to hate him. I hadn't given him a chance before I jumped to conclusions.
Aiden's fingers curled around my hand, gently intertwining our fingers. My stomach flipped. "There's one more thing you should know." He pulled me closer until I was almost pressed up against his chest. We were so close I was positive that he could hear my heart beating out of my chest. "You thought I was appalled by our kiss." His thumb moved in small circular motions over mine. "You also said you were wondering what it would feel like to kiss again."
What was happening?
My stomach felt like I'd just gotten off a roller coaster that had a million different loops. This conversation had been a roller coaster of emotions and I could feel that there was one last big drop coming. I braced myself, keeping my eyes locked down to avoid confrontation.
Aiden didn't say anything more before he placed his free hand under my chin, gently lifting my head until I didn't have a choice but to face those chocolatey brown eyes. He smiled, "Did you mean it?" His eyes dropped to my lips, watching in an anticipation for my answer.
My brain shut off and my body took over. I knew what was to come and I couldn't help how much I suddenly craved it. I craved him. I felt myself slowly nod; my eyes drifted shut as I leaned up towards him. "Yes," I whispered. Not even a second later I felt Aiden's soft lips press lightly against my own.
The kiss was different from the first time. It was softer, sweeter like too much force and we might break. I felt myself melt into his embrace as though standing there with my lips pressed to his was the most natural thing in the entire world. It was everything that I knew I needed. He was what I needed.
Too soon, Aiden pulled his lips away. His arms wrapped around my torso protectively, pressing my body to his. I didn't even try to fight him and just relaxed, letting my head rest easily against his chest.
"I'm sorry for how I treated you," he whispered into my ear. His hot breath sent a shiver down my spine. "And I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about my skating sooner."
My knees felt weak and wobbly. If it weren't for the firm grip that Aiden had on my body, I would have crumbled to the ground. I lifted my head from his chest, looked up at him with a soft smile. "Apology accepted."
"Zoe. Aiden." Mark Hansen's voice echoed over the empty ice. "My office, now!"