Kiss My Ice

3|0

30.

If there was ever a time that the ice would magically open and swallow me whole, now would have been as good a time as ever.

I forced out a small cough, pushed myself back several feet to create some much-needed space between Aiden and me. A sensation of heat filled my body as I saw how everyone had stopped what they were doing look thanks to Brendon's outburst.

"Explain what?" Aiden asked, to which I titled my head. It was rather obvious what everyone was curious about. We had just kissed in front of everyone. Unprovoked. The last time any of them had seen us interact with one another, I had stormed out of the rink.

I looked back to Brendon. Nate had joined him on one side, Brett on the other. The three musketeers. They looked so intense, so serious. Arms crossed over their chest, straight faces. I felt like I was a kid about to be scolded by three dads.

"We made up," I confessed as it wasn't obvious.

Slowly, the serious expression on Brendon's face started to lose its grip. His eyebrows raised. He cracked a smile. "You mean made out?"

My cheeks burned. If I wasn't a tomato before, I had to have been one now. Brendon may have just be teasing, but unfortunately for me, his teasing held a lot of truth to it. In that moment my poker face was nonexistent.

His smile morphed into a smirk as he noticed my obvious blushing. I bit my tongue, braced myself for him to call me out on it. Thankfully, he never did.

"Come on guys," Chris suddenly called. "Back to work. There is a better time and place for this that is not the middle of a practice." He shot a warning glance around the ice at all of his teammates, watched as they one by one started to go back to working.

A rush of relief washed over me as the team's attention was no longer on me and Aiden. I knew that sooner rather than later I was going to have to face everyone and explain, but thanks to Chris, I could push it off a little longer.

"That includes you three too." Chris shot Brendon and his amigos a warning shot. "You can pester Zoe and Aiden all you want after we aren't paying for the ice."

To my surprise, none of them protested. They just quietly went back to working on dribbling and passing exercises.

I looked over to Aiden, who, unlike the rest of his teammates, had not gone back to working on anything. He shot me a sly smirk, regained the distance I had put between us. We were polar opposites when it came to being under scrutiny. I was mortified and he was cool as a cucumber. Practically unaffected.

"What am I going to do with you two?" Chris skated over, strategically placing himself between Aiden and I to cut Aiden off from coming any closer. He turned his blue eyes to mine, then to Aiden. He sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose. "I feel like I should not have to tell you guys this, but that had to have been the worst possible way that you could have let the cat out of the bag."

Aiden laughed, shrugging it off as though it was no big deal. "It wasn't my intention to draw everyone's attention."

I knew before he kissed me that it was a bad idea to do it in front of everyone. I knew that it would stir up questions and lots of confusion. I knew all that and yet I still couldn't help myself.

"Sorry." This got both Chris and Aiden's attention.

Aiden's lips lifted softly to one side, offering a sympathetic expression. He didn't say anything, but I could tell that he felt bad for causing a scene.