15.
"Hey, you up for a little party tonight?"
I paused in my tracks. Was Chris actually talking to me? When he proceeded to ask the question for a second time, I knew I wasn't hallucinating. Chris was in fact asking me if I wanted to go to a party.
I titled my head to the side, eyebrows raised as I examined his face. An attempt to see if he was joking or not. The cheeky smile on his face told me that he was in fact being serious. And apparently, he was also delusional.
"Oh gosh, you are serious."
The idea of going to a party was not the least bit appealing. There were several reasons I wasn't interested, but the biggest one was that I had unintentionally drank too much alcohol and passed out the last time. Not to mention, if Chris was the one inviting me, then the party would likely involve the hockey team. No thank you.
Chris slid his hand from his damp hair. "Ah come on, Zo. Why not?"
My brows furrowed at him calling me by my nickname. It was weird. Only my family and Lucy ever called me 'Zo'. It sounded foreign hearing someone else say it.
"I don't do parties," I responded dully.
Chris frowned, rocked backwards onto his heels. "Is that a no then?"
I let out a soft sigh, my eyes narrowed onto the boy in front of me. He was being awfully persistent. "What is the party for anyways?"
"We are celebrating our win from last night," Chris beamed, a wide grin spread against his face from ear to ear. I couldn't hold back the urge to roll my eyes.
Much to my dismay, the hockey team had won their little scrimmage game last night. 4-2. It was all anyone could talk about today at the rink. All day I heard about how the hockey team was showing great potential. Everyone was high off of one lousy win.
Everyone except for me. I was sick of hearing about it.
"I'll pass."
The grin on Chris's face dissipated. "Riley will be there. She's hoping that you will come and hang out. She had fun helping you the other day."
I raised my eyebrows. Riley was easy to get along with from what I could tell, but it surprised me that she would want me to come to a party. We barely knew each other. I knew that she was good at hockey, but that was the extent of what I knew.
"Riley wants me to come?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "She wants to get to know you better. She liked that you took initiative to learn hockey on your own time to get back at Aiden."
I smirked. Chris had told me that he found it childish, and yet, it was what Riley liked. How ironic.
"So, you're the culprit who showed Lodge how to do a slapshot," Aiden quired, suddenly popping up behind Chris and me. I jumped at his voice, practically clinging to the wall next to me as if doing so would magically hide me from him.
Heat rose to my cheeks as I quickly peeled myself off the wall. Quickly gaining my composure, I turn to face Aiden with a glare. He shot me a sexy half smirk; the corners of his lips turned up just enough to show off his top row of teeth.
"Who said that I got help from anyone?"
Aiden raised his eyebrows. He was no fool. I had gone from barely being able to move the puck to being able to successfully pull off a slapshot. There was no other explanation to my improvement.
"Do you really expect me to believe that you just miraculously got better at stickhandling overnight?" He laughed, shoved his hands into the front pocket of his hoodie. "Besides, I just heard Chris."
A sigh of defeat left my mouth in one big huff of air. "Okay fine. I did get help. But that I only did that because I refuse to have to participate in a hockey practice when you tricked me into making that bet with you in the first place."
Aiden laughed at my confession like it was all a big joke.
Next to him, Chris smirked. "You never told me that your punishment for losing the bet was participating in one of our practices."
I frowned. "Unfortunately."
Chris didn't even try to hide his amusement. He was almost as bad as Aiden. "Well, that ought to be interesting."
I sucked in a long, slow breath of air, turned my head to sneak a glance at Aiden's reaction. It was supposed to be a quick glance to get a feel for what he was thinking, but as soon as I turned my head, my eyes latched onto his.
His usual dark eyes were a lighter shade of brown today. They lacked their usual hint of annoyance. For once he actually looked happy. It was a vast contrast from what I was used to seeing from him.
"Just wait until we find out what she has in store for me." Aiden let out a soft laugh, turned towards Chris, breaking our eye contact. I let out the air I was holding, my whole body relaxed.
Chris raised his eyebrows, giving me an amused grin. "What do you have planned for him?"
I could feel a lump begin to form in my throat. I coughed, forcing it away. "I don't yet. I haven't given it much thought."
Despite all of my efforts to trick Aiden into a bet that I knew I could win, I hadn't thought much about what I wanted from him in return. I knew that I wanted it to be something good, something he would hate, but that was as far as I had gotten.
"Maybe I'll make Aiden perform a full freestyle routine. Sparkly costume and all."
The look of sheer horror that filled Aiden's face brought a smile to my face. He was likely regretting his decision to make another bet with me now. Too late.
Aiden held his right hand up defensively. "Hold up, we never discussed a routine of any sorts."
Technically, we hadn't talked about what I would get for winning the bet at all. I never said what he would have to do. Although now, seeing how he didn't seem to like the idea of a figure skating routine, I would have to go down that route. It would be well worth it to see him in a sparkly costume.
I pushed my bottom lip out, imitating a pout. "Awe, I bet you wish you hadn't tricked me into making that first bet."
Aiden rolled his eyes, his hand dropped.
There was a long pause. Aiden stood with a sly smirk, not looking the least bit regretful. "Yeah," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
I frowned. "Yeah, what?"
In a short moment Aiden pressed his right hand up on the wall behind me. His tall frame was towered over my left side. My stomach flipped and I froze; it felt like I was suddenly paralyzed. He leaned down to my ear. His hot breath sent a shiver down my spine. "Yeah," he repeated, his voice dripped with confidence. "It was totally worth it."
He lingered there for several seconds. I could smell his heavenly cologne. A delicious mix of citrus and woods; a combination I wouldn't mind having on my pillow. It was a huge turn on. I couldn't resist the urge to suck in a large breath, savoring the scent.
This action earned a soft chuckle from Aiden, but thankfully, he didn't comment. He also didn't move. I think he knew that he had put me in an awkward position and took amusement in that. There was no easy out. Not unless I decided to make a run for it.
"Was it?" I finally forced out. My voice came out a mere whisper; like a little kid who was too afraid to speak up in class.
I forced myself to turn my head as an attempt to appear more confident that I felt. It backfired as I felt my internal temperatures start rising way more than they should have. I instantly regretted my decision seeing how close his face really was from me.
Our eyes locked onto each other's once again. His chocolate eyes were starting to be way too attractive for my liking. I sucked my lower lip in between my teeth. Aiden's face was only inches from my own. My eyes dropped down from his, landing on his soft, plump looking lips. I wonder what would happen if I leaned towards him?
"Getting to see you make a fool out of yourself doing different hockey drills will be well worth anything that you try and throw at me."
I blinked; my eyes jumped back to his eyes. I was losing my mind. His lips were moving, I knew he was talking, but it took me several seconds too long to register what it was they were saying.
"We'll see about that," I whispered.
Aiden's eyes held an unreadable expression as he scanned my face. Seeing the slight confusion in his as he looked at me like he was trying to figure out a puzzle snapped me back into reality.
I quickly side stepped away from him, my attention falling to Chris who standing looking more confused than I felt. I forced as normal of a smile as possible onto my face. "You can tell Riley that I will make an appearance, but no promises that I will stay."
This seemed to have appeased Chris as he shot me a goofy grin, all the confusion gone from his face. Aiden raised his eyebrows, glanced between me and Chris lost as to what we were talking about.
I didn't stick around to explain, or to even say goodbye. I quickly booked it down the hallway and out the rink front doors. My duffel bag clung closely to my stomach as butterflies swirled. What the hell was happening to me?