Page 14 of Pucked On Camera

The locker room is silent with no guys chattering around. Still no sign of her. I’m beginning to wonder if she took the day off also and find myself thumbing my phone, contemplating a text. No, this needs to be face-to-face.

I go ahead and get that stretch in, at least now I didn’t outright lie to Coach. As I’m finished and about to give up for the day, I finally catch sight of her darting around the corner with an armful of towels, her ponytail swinging.

"Amelia!" I call out, my heart picking up speed. She freezes, then turns, her eyes wide.

"Riley?" Her tone is guarded, but there's a softness there that wasn't before.

"Look, about the other night..." I start, but she cuts me off with a shake of her head.

"Let's not do this here," she says quickly, her eyes darting around the empty room.

"Then let's go out. A real date," I suggest, the words rushing out before I can second-guess them.

"Are you sure?" she asks, grappling the ends of her ponytail and bringing it to her mouth in a way that sends my thoughts careening into dangerous territory.

"Yes, I’m serious.” I mean it. Whatever her secrets, I want to know Amelia beyond the rink, beyond the whispers of teammates who don't get it, beyond a one night stand.

"Okay," she murmurs after a moment, and the tension between us shifts, becomes charged with possibility. "A date."

"Monday night after we return from our out of town game?" I push, watching her closely.

"Sure," she agrees, and I swear I feel the temperature in the room rise a few degrees.

"Great," I say, my voice sounding steadier than I feel. "I'll pick you up at seven."

"Make it seven-thirty," she corrects with a hint of a challenge in her gaze.

"Seven-thirty it is." I nod, trying to ignore the flutter in my chest.

I left the rink and was completely buzzing the rest of the day, and until we got on the plane to head to Minnesota. I’m actually excited to play the Mammoths tomorrow night because I’ll get to see one of my old teammates from Fairfax, Ethan Hawking. It’ll be nice if I can catch up with him and his girlfriend, Journey, while I’m in town.

At school we were a tight knit team, and it’s cool to be able to still connect with former players even though the majority of us are split all over the United Stated and Canada now.

I’m sure that Jasper, Alfie, and Zach would also want to meet up with Ethan also. So I fire a quick group chat with all four of us.

Tiger’s Connect Group Chat

Me:Ethan, the Blades are on our way to Minnesota. Pregame chat, or post kick your ass chat?

Ethan:Haha… Post the Mammoths kick your ass chat. You guys can come out to mine and Journey’s place after the game.

Zach:Yo! Yo! Yo! In the air we go. Sounds good to me.

Alfie:(thumbs up emoji)

Jasper:(thumbs up emoji) It’s funny how you think you’ll be the team whipping our ass out there tomorrow. See ya soon, bro.

Just before I pocket my phone, I send off another message to give Amelia a little heads up on the date I have planned for us. I heard that girls like that kind of thing, so they know what to wear. At least my sister, Kindra, was always talking about stuff like that. Although, she’s the hopeless romantic of the family, and anything she says to do, I usually just cut it in half of the actual task and do that.

Me:Do you know how to ice skate?

Amelia:Are you asking a serious question or just trying to play with me? You know I work for a hockey team, right?

Me:Yes, I’m serious. Just because you work at a rink, doesn’t give you magical skating knowledge of how to skate.

I asked her the question, already knowing the answer because now I know her secret along with her screen name, Ms. Puck. So surely, she knows how to skate and loves hockey, right?

My thumbs race across the screen, a stupid grin plastered on my face. Amelia's texts are like shots of adrenaline.

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