forget me not ~ q.hughes

2.4

Georgia had questions. A lot of questions.

"What was that!" Georgia was practically talking into Aurora's ear canal, she was so close. "Do you know him? Because that was definitely not an I just met you and think you're cute interaction. How do you know the Captain of the Vancouver Canucks, and why is that not information that you share with your best friend?"

Aurora turned to look at Georgia, "Did you say Captain?"

"That's all you got out of that? Yeah, Quinn Hughes, Captain of the team, certified hottie, two younger brothers in the league, one of the best defensemen in the entire NHL." Georgia rambled off the facts she could name about the man. "How do you know him?" She asked again.

"G, I didn't know he'd be here. We were friends years ago, and um- I guess we lost contact." Aurora cringed at her own statement. It didn't seem to do the situation justice, but Georgia didn't know everything about Aurora's past- just that she'd had a rough childhood, moved around a bit as a kid, and didn't speak to her family anymore. It was better that way. The past stays in the past. Until the past shows up as the Captain of the team her best friend is obsessed with.

The players were now exiting the ice, and the lights got low again as the zamboni came out to redo the ice.

"You didn't know he'd be here?" Georgia looked positively perplexed by this revelation, "I've definitely mentioned him before." Aurora knew she was right.

"I guess I kinda thought it was just another guy. When we were kids we didn't really talk about hockey, I mean- I knew he was good, he was on the u18 national team, but I didn't know he'd been drafted or anything." Aurora sighed as she remembered that summer, "G, it didn't really end well. It was kinda sudden that we stopped speaking."

"Oh." Was all Georgia said. She could tell that her friend was in her head about all of this, and probably didn't need her pestering her with questions about her past. Georgia had tried to inquire about Aurora's childhood before, but she shut her down everytime, and it was never something that Georgia pushed. She didn't really care about Aurora's past, if it was something that Aurora wanted to share, then she would. All Georgia cared about was that her friend was where she is now. That somehow her past led her to Vancouver, which led her to Georgia and that was all that mattered. "Well, how about we go get some overpriced beer and popcorn, and we'll figure out what to do about this later."

Aurora sighed in relief that her friend wasn't going to push this anymore. She was already busy in her head trying to figure out what Quinn had meant by 'after.' He obviously wanted to speak with her, but it wasn't like she could just walk into the locker room or the players parking lot and they would hash it out later. She assumed that Quinn would find a way to get her the details and she would just go along with it.

He looked so relieved to see her. Aurora couldn't get the look on his face out of her head. The way his eyes had lit up, like a dog seeing it's favourite toy, and the smile he gave her, now framed by facial hair- but the exact same one he had given her the last time they'd seen each other.

The girls had gone to get their snacks, and were back standing in their seats as the national anthems started to play. The players were lined up in front of them, beyond the glass and Quinn was conveniently standing directly in front of Aurora. She was sure that the singer was doing an amazing job, but instead of paying attention or singing along to either anthem, Aurora took this time to scrutinise everything about the back of Quinn's head.

He'd let his hair grow out, she'd noticed. And with this new length came a new curl pattern. It was fluffy on the top, the same shade of brown it had always been, and near the nape of his neck the ends curled up and grouped together. He had his head slightly bent over his stick, with both gloved hands resting on the knob.

Before she could analyse him any further, the overhead lights were turned on and the fans were cheering again. She had to squint her eyes to adjust to the now blinding light reflecting off of the pristine ice. The puck was dropped at centre ice and suddenly the guys were off.

She'd forgotten how quickly this game moves. She was never big on attending Theo's games when they were growing up, but highlights were always playing on the tv. When she was younger and thought she still wanted to spend time with her family, there were never movie nights. There was watching game tape, reruns, and sports commentators picking each move apart. She knew how the game worked, she just wasn't fond of it.

Two players slamming into the boards in front of her caused Aurora to jolt slightly in her seat. Looking to her right, she noticed Quinn was now gone. She let her eyes scan the ice. He was slightly to her left, back bent the tiniest amount, and knees ready to move. He watched the puck intensely and then moved faster than she thought was possible. He chased after the puck across into Vancouver's end and behind the net, pausing slightly as he waited for a change before he was off again- skirting around players while pushing the puck from his forehand to backhand expertly.

He was entrancing to watch.

Quinn pulled his arm back and sent a wrist shot straight into the back of the net from nearly the blue line. Beside Aurora, Georgia had jumped out of her seat- along with around 16,000 other people and started hollering. Aurora was too busy looking at the smile on Quinn's face to process the goal celebration. He was pounced on by his teammates, all of them giving him pats on the back, or taps to the back of his helmet.

Quinn headed towards the bench, where all the players leaned out to give him a high five, and when he got to the end of the line, he skirted his eyes around until they landed on her. Then he raised the corner of his mouth up slightly and gave a tap to the glass in front of her.

That couldn't have been accidental.