✓ 𝐆𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐎𝐔𝐒, adam banks

03. riddle me that

❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜
chapter three: riddle me that

tw(s): some rick content, a major argument
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★ ━━━ "IF IT ISN'T Captain Ducky," Rick jeers, coming to a stop in front of the J.V. team.

Leslie is sitting on a bench right in front of the glass, with her legs crossed and her back hunched over a considerable stack of homework assignments. Plastic binders in all different colors are scattered haphazardly in the space next to her, and notecards with sloppy highlighting and smudged ink are in a mess on top of her accordion folders.

Leslie has been aware of Rick's conceit and snobbiness for the full stretch of time that they have been dating. She gets angry, chastises him, and he gets angry, chastises her for acting like his mom. She storms out of his dorm room in a huff, maybe yelling expletives and threats to break up, and he shows up at her door the next day with a bouquet of red tulips and an invitation to her favorite restaurant, and she always says yes, yes, a thousand times yes, because she loves him and believes he loves her, and that's all they need to be okay.

"Hey, get your hands off him!" Fulton says, shoving Rick back.

"Ooh, a Bash Brother, I'm so scared," Cole taunts sarcastically.

"You should be, Cole," Leslie interjects, clicking her pen and looking up from her work. "He could quite literally murder you. You being an idiot just makes it easier."

"Roasted," Les coughs into his fist.

The Varsity coach disassembles the crowd, and Leslie begins doodling on the corner of her notebook page. She sketches Rick's figure, shades in his jersey and leaves space for the stark white Riley printed on the back. She traces the deep scratches of the skates on the ice, the bright glisten of the fluorescent lights. 

She outlines the figures of the J.V. team on the other side of the rink. Adam's side profile, with his nose that juts out just a little bit, with a rounded tip. The curve of the jaw and the hair that sticks up from his head. He's quite cute.

When Leslie looks up to assess her drawing, she can't help but realize how much detail she drew Adam in, while the graphite that makes Rick's face is muddy and blurry. 

Her heart beats a little faster.

She probably just smudged it with her hand by accident. She returns to Rick's illustration, reinforcing the edges, and not letting herself get distracted by the other side of the page.

★ ━━━ "SO, HOW WAS your first hockey practice?" Leslie asks, shuffling slowly through the lunch line, her eyes scanning the row of metal trays. "I booked it as soon as your coach came waltzing in."

Ted Orion is an intimidating man, in Leslie's opinion. She has always been on his good side, due to the fact that her father's company covered a good deal of his daughter's medical costs after her accident, and Orion has been eternally grateful. But still, her nerves got the best of her once she heard the screech of his whistle.

"It was crap. That guy's a total hard-ass," Les whines, pushing his glasses up his nose. "To make matters worse, your little friend was wrong. We don't have to maintain a C average. It's gotta be B's or better."