We arrive at the rink soon enough and head into the locker room for the guys to change.
I sit at Cole's locker and put my skates on. I have figure skates, even though I can't really skate at all. Dad bought them for me, hoping it would help me. It didn't really. They are still pure white, and stiff to wear. I've only worn them once, at the rink back in Michigan. The coach files in first, then a whole bunch of other boys. They greet me.
I take my normal spot in the corner as the other guys change, and soon enough Noah, Cole, and Zac take me out onto the ice.
It seems warmer than our Friday night game. Cole grabs my hand as he skates onto the ice. I almost trip, but he catches me. We skate around for a while. Cole is very patient with me. I can't skate very fast, or even hold myself up very well. I did tell them I have never skated before. That might have been a tiny little lie, but it helps my ego at this point. I have my reasons.
After skating for a few minutes, the other guys start to skate onto the ice. Behind me, someone pinches my sides. I squeal. As Noah skates in front of me, I hit him up side of his head. "Ow", he says with a smile.
"Stop doing that. I'm going to take you down at some point", I say, about to hit him again for good measures.
The guys start practice as I skate around for a while. I'm getting a little better, but I still need the boards to hold me up. The guys finish up and hour and a half later. I know because Noah takes me by the waist and pulls me over his shoulder. His hand balances me from the small of my back. My head is half way down his back. He smells like sweat.
"What the hell Noah? What is this?", I scream as he puts me down at the door of the locker room.
"I told your parents we were going to kidnap you. That started after hockey practice. It's after hockey practice. Now take your skates off, and I would go change into your bathing suit under your clothes, we are going straight from here", he says with a smirk as he heads into his own locker room. Noah throws me my bag and I find the girls locker room down the hall.
I change quickly as I hear a knock on the locker room door. I open it to see the entire team standing with smiles on their faces. "The kidnapping starts now", Noah and Cole say at the same time.
We drive for a while, maybe 45 minutes, out of town. Along the coast. We end up at a house on the beach. It's huge. The outside is a light gray, with navy blue trim. Cole turns to me from the passenger seat, "We're taking you swimming".
"You do realize it's mid-October, right? The water is like forty degrees".
The guys laugh, "Not in the ocean. That would be stupid and, frankly, irresponsible of us to do to you. My parents own this place. We have a pool in the basement. Let's just say my parents are loaded when it comes to buying nice vacation houses. They spent more on this vacation house than on our own house, and we barely use it. We also have one down in Mass, that we have yet to use".
More cars and trucks pull into the driveway, the guys file into the house. The foyer seems bigger than my entire house. The staircase that leads to the second and third floor looks like something in a mansion, but I guess that's what you would call this place.
"Am I going to be the only girl here? Like, don't you guys have girlfriends or something?" I ask.
Cole looks at me, "If we had girlfriends, you would have either met them or heard about them already. Only a few guys have girlfriends, and they hate hanging with us other guys", I nod. The girls at my old school would have thought other wise. They would constantly want to be surrounded by the hockey boys who would have eyes on them, even though they already had boyfriends, some of them already hockey players.
The team all run upstairs into different rooms, including Cole. Noah stays with me for a moment before heading into a bathroom down the hall. Moments later, Noah comes out in his swim trunks. Orange, yellow, and blue stripes. He doesn't have shirt on either, and I must say. I'm glad. He has a six pack. Damn.
He notices me looking at him, "Like what you see?" I blush.
I hear the guys rush down the stairs, all in their swim shorts. Each and every guy I see has a six pack and major biceps. Cole notices me staring and waves his hand in front of my face. He smiles a little, but doesn't say anything.
I take off my coat and sweatshirt, leaving me in my jeans and a t-shirt, my swim suit underneath. We head into the kitchen, which once again seems bigger than my entire house, and down the basement stairs. A small hallway leads to a steamed glass door. Noah opens the door, and we walk into a room that feels about 80 degrees. The pool looks just a bit smaller than Olympic sized.
"If you don't want to strip in front of us, there's a small bathroom over there", Noah points out to me.
Gladly agreeing, I walk into the bathroom and shut the door quick. I can hear splashes of the guys jumping into the pool. I take my shirt off, examining my top. It's a teal top with a bit of frill over my top. Next my jeans. I examine myself in the mirror. My bottoms are high waisted and have a chevron pattern.
My flat stomach is something that I have always had, but I don't know how, I don't do sports, well, not anymore. I go for a run every once in a while, but not often. The long scar on my leg isn't noticeable unless you really look for it. And that I am extremely grateful for.
I hear the guys scream outside of the bathroom. I take a deep breath and open the door. Hollering came to a halt when a few guys spot me. Their eyes travel over my body. I feel exposed, probably because that's what I am. I stand, looking back at them; my hands on my hips, and my right leg hold most of my body wait, my left extended a little to the side of me.
To stop my nervousness, I look at Zac, who has been eyeing me the most and say, "Ever seen a girl in a bikini before?"
He shakes his head out of his trance. "Sorry", Zac mutters.
Before I can realize it, Noah is out of the water. He picks me up and walks to the edge of the pool. He throws me, my back hitting the heated water. My feet just barely touch the bottom of the pool when I halt to a stop after a second. I push myself up. I finally reach the top, when Noah cannonballs just barely a foot away from me, the force pushes me under again. I come up for air.
"Oh, come on Noah, my hair wasn't even in the bun. It's going to be a mess when it dries", I say, laughing nonstop.
The guys continue to splash each other, and I drag myself onto the edge of the pool, my feet still hanging in the water. Cole starts to splash me, so I drop myself into the pool again and go over to him. I splash him in the face first, and he splashes back.
We fight for a few moments, and I think the other guys start to take sides. Most are on mine. I feel his hand grab my wrist and pulls me to his chest. We stop laughing and stare at each other. This is like one of those scenes from a movie where we kiss and then love each other forever. My hands feel the top of his chest. Our faces just a few inches away from each other. I don't hear anything behind us, so the others must have gone quiet. We stare into each other's eyes.
"You have amazing eyes. Just so you know", Cole whispers so only I can hear.
I think I like Cole.
Edited: 3/2/22
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Just Another Goal (Counting on Hockey #1)
العاطفية*Book one of the Counting on Hockey series* To Meredith, watching hockey was torture. But her sister was a hockey player. She wanted nothing to do with hockey, even thinking about it made her angry. But she had her reasons. Starting 10th grade at a...
