Page 19 of Jesse and the Ice Princess
She was different from Charlotte in every way—Charlotte didn't date, hadn't ever dated. She had better things to do—even if her parents allowed it.
"He's coming this way." Hadley squeezed Charlotte's arm.
"Breathe. He's just a guy." With a sigh, she turned to see Jesse skating toward them. With a glance at Hadley, she held in the biting words on the tip of her tongue. For her friend, she'd do it.
Jesse stopped in front of her, barely sparing a glance for Hadley. "Do it again?"
"What?"
"Take the puck the length of the ice and skate with it."
He was too close. Charlotte backed away. "Why?"
"I want to see if it was a fluke, a lucky sequence."
Hadley laughed. "There is nothing fluky or lucky about Charlie. Show him, Char."
"Yeah, Charlie." He grinned, flashing his adorable dimples.
No, not adorable. Frustrating. "My name is Charlotte."
He jabbed his thumb at Hadley. "She called you Charlie."
"Yeah, well, she's my friend." She skated over to where she'd left her stick leaning against the wall. She'd do this but only to shut him up.
Hadley let out a cheer, but Charlotte tuned her out, only hearing her skates cutting through the ice, the scrape of her stick blade as she located a puck. Being left handed, she slid her left hand down the shaft and rested her right at the top.
Starting slowly, she cradled the puck, going from backhand to forehand as she rounded the far net. Her lips curled up as she cut across the left dot, picking up speed on her way to the neutral zone. She didn't know if Jesse was still watching, or if he'd been distracted by Hadley.
But with a puck on her stick, that didn't matter. She didn't skate like a hockey player, she knew that, but once she got going, the imaginary opponent behind her couldn't catch up.
Moving her body from side to side as she kept control of the puck, she passed Jesse and Hadley, only briefly registering Hadley jumping up and down in her skates.
She circled the goal nearest to them before flipping an easy backhand into the net.
Hadley cheered, and as Charlotte came to a stop, spraying ice at Jesse, even he clapped, his jaw hanging open.
"That prove anything to you?" She crossed her arms over her stick. "Am I going to be saved from your mocking?"
"Mocking?" Jesse shook his head. "That was awesome. Wait until the rest of the team gets here and sees it."
"The rest of the team?" She sucked in a breath. One golden boy she could deal with. Twenty of them? Not so much.
"Yeah, when we don't have official games on Fridays, we meet here after hours for a game of our own."
"And my dad lets you?" That shouldn't surprise her. Jesse Carrigan could do no wrong in her father's eyes.
"He thinks it's good for team moral."
"Sure." She turned to Hadley. "We should go."
"What?" Disappointment flashed across Hadley's face. "It's early. We can't leave yet."
"You can't leave." Jesse stuck his lip out in a pretend pout. At least, she hoped it was pretend.
"Give us a moment," Hadley said to Jesse. "I need to talk to my girl."
With a shrug, Jesse skated to where he'd left his gear on the bench and retrieved his stick.
