Page 108 of Our Bender

“Guys! Look!” Stevie hollered, cutting me off. She was holding extra sticks and pucks from the zam doorway. “Let’s play!”

“Ooh! Yes!” Josie yelled out, then she looked back at me with wide eyes. “Wait, what were you going to–”

“C’mon!” Stevie shouted.

Josie gave a shy grin, then pushed out from the boards and skated away, and I sat there feeling like a chump for wimping out.

I slowly glided to the zam door where Josie was teaching Stevie how to hold the stick and puck handle. I shouldn’t have been surprised, I watched that viral clip of her absolutely smashing eggs with slapshots in that dickbags apartment.

“Damn girl, you got hands?”

“Pshhh of course. You know what they say, don’t you?” Josie responded.

My eyebrows pinched together. “No?”

“Figure skaters can pick up hockey, but hockey players can’t pick up figure skating. So we’re actually the superior athletes in the rink,” she said, popping her hip out.

“Ooooh!” Stevie chorused.

“No, no, no. I can figure skate,” I deadpanned, dropping my stick.

She bit back a laugh. “Let’s see it then, big boy.”

“Yeah, let’s see it then!” Stevie challenged.

“Okay, Stevie’s the judge,” I said. “Show me something to do.”

She did a quick little jump that looked simple enough.

“Okay, I can do that,” I whispered. I pushed out on my left foot, jumped and swung my body around to land on my right. I think it was a pretty solid jump, but my balance was off after landing and I wound up on my ass.

Both girls started cackling at my expense.

“Okay, okay, maybe you’re right,” I conceded, grinning at the two of them.

“That’s the first time a hockey player has ever admitted that!” Josie burst out.

“Thought I already showed you I was different from other hockey players,” I said, getting to my feet and brushing the snow off my butt.

Her nose scrunched up and she looked at Stevie. “Oh, that’s right, he’s just a bender.”

I sucked in my bottom lip to keep from laughing and shook my head. I should’ve never blabbed that out to her. “That’s it!” I said, but she knew I was going for her, so she took off skating.

I caught up to her in a second and grabbed her hips, pulling her into me.

“You’re gonna pay for that,” I whispered in her ear, and her body shivered against me, making me harder by the second.

“Oh yeah?” she cocked a challenging eyebrow.

“Yes. But we’re going to have to wait here for a second because…”

“Because?”

I swallowed hard and pulled her flush against me.

She started cackling and turned in my arms. “That feels like a personal problem,” she said, but she threw her arms around my neck anyway.

I just shook my head and carried her with me as I skated.

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