Caufield's girl

Chapter Ten

I only manage to squeal as I see Bell Centre right in front of me. "You have to be kidding me?!" I roll my eyes at him. "Just wait till we get inside." He grins devilishly as he parks in the private parking lot. We both get out of the car, and he leads me through the big steel swipe card door. We walk through a narrow hallway right to the Canadiens' locker room. "I guess I don't have to show you around; I assume you are pretty familiar already." He says as he turns on the lights, and at this point, I realize that we're probably the only people here. "Is there anybody else in here?" I ask in confusion. "Does it look like it?" He only shakes his head as he grabs his sports bag and starts looking for something.

"Ah, there they are." He takes out his pair of skates. "Now we have to find you a pair. Your size?" he adds. "There's no fucking way. I'm not gonna skate with you." I cross my arms in disapproval. "Too scared? Nah, I know. You can't skate. I also considered that option, but don't worry, I'll teach you." He replies. "You're unbelievabele!" I scoff. "What else did you expect to do in a hockey arena, smartass? Your size, please..." he says in anticipation. "Argh, 6.5. Happy?" I finally gave him an acceptable answer. "Perfect." He says this as he disappears from my view. When he comes back, he's already holding a random pair of white figure skates that have clearly been through a lot. "Just for you." He basically throws them at me.

We both sit down and begin to put on our skates; he's almost done with tying his while I'm struggling to even adjust them. I haven't been in skates since I was ten, so I'm not really in my natural habitat when it comes to this, but I don't let him know that I have no idea how to tie them properly. "Everything alright, over there?" he asks while the corners of his lips are twitching from amusement. "Yeah, I can tie these damn skates myself." I replied, irritated. "Yeah, I can see that. Why are you so damn stubborn all the time?" he asks, shaking his head. "Here, let me help you." He suddenly kneels down and ties them perfectly in the span of twenty seconds. "Thanks, that was fast." I give him the credit. "But I could manage myself," I add. "Yeah, of course." He replies ironically as he gets up.

"Ready?" He looks at me when I get on my feet. "Yeah, absolutely." I let out a loud sigh as he led me out of the locker rooms through another hallway, which led straight to the rink. On our way, he switches on the lights above the rink, opens up the flexible part of the board, and steps on the ice. I only look at the hockey rink in terror, completely frozen in one place. I'm honestly terrified of what's about to come. "You're coming or what?!" His voice wakes me up from my apprehensive thoughts.

"Uhm, sure." I take a few more steps until I'm standing right on the verge of my safe ground and suicidal frozen water. "Don't be scared; I won't let you fall down." He says this in order to comfort me as he sticks out his hand so I can grab it. I take advantage of this opportunity, and I finally make my first contact with ice. My other hand grabs the board, and somehow, I'm still standing on my feet. "You, see? It's not that awful." He says it supportively.

"Now take a few strides as you're holding onto the boards. I take a deep breath as I gather all of my courage before I do so. "I'm gonna kill you, Cole Caufield." I threaten him. "I wouldn't be so sure about that, smartass; first you'd have to catch me." He winks as he lets go of my hand and leaves me stranded with my only friend, the board. He starts to skate around the rink so fast that even the little particles of ice hang in the air and make him even slightly invisible from the distance. "Wow, how impressive! You, chauvinist." I joke sarcastically as he skates towards me again. "You really know how to compliment, I must say." He shakes his head, and he continues. "Alright, we're done with holding the boards. It's time to increase the level of difficulty."

"Oh my God!" I shout in apprehension as he drags me along the ice, forcing me to move forward and slide my feet one after another. "Think of something else and just slide. So... what's your favorite color?" he blurts out. "Seriously? Is this supposed to calm me down?" I shout mindlessly. "Blue. Baby blue." I respond. "Where are you from?" he asks again. "Boston. What about you?" I ask in response, trying not to concentrate on the slippery ice beneath my feet. "Wisconsin." He responds. "Yeah, I know." I smile. "So why the hell do you ask?" he says in confusion. "I just wanted to see if you're gonna lie this time, but I guess you've improved since the last time." I indicate the infamous incident at the bar. "Unbelievable. So now you're a stalker, huh?" he teases me. "Unfortunately, I've come across that information while trying to do the job of a reporter. Don't search here for anything personal." I say this in order to burst his bubble. "Yeah, right." He only shakes his head.