Page 27 of Love Me Boldly

I didn’t need to look toward the other students to know who she was talking about.

I could feel her heated glare from across the space between us.

* * *

Hockey was wildly crazy.There were fights and shouts. The puck flew across the ice so quickly I kept losing it and then finding it when the players were suddenly fighting behind the net at the opposite end of the ice. Every time our team scored, a horn blared, and lights went off through the arena. The music was loud, the announcer explained everything that was happening, and while Tracey and I tried to watch every minute, I had absolutelyno cluewhat was going on.

The most terrifying moment came when Eli got in a fight across the ice from us. Helmets and gloves went flying. Fists started slamming into each other’s faces. More players from both teams joined in, and soon, Graham’s fists were flying as fast as everyone else’s.

No onewas bothered by this. In fact, the arena turned electric. Parents and students and even the away team across the rink jumped to their feet, clapped, and cheered.

By the time uninvolved teammates and the referees separated the players, blood was dripping from more than one player’s nose or from a cut by their eye, and players from both sides were shoved into a small, enclosed bench area off to the sides of their teams.

“Sin bin,” Tracey had muttered, clearly trying to learn about the game by Googling it on her phone. “It’s actually called a penalty box, but it’s most commonly referred to as the sin bin.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Google.”

“Shut up.” She chuckled and bounced her shoulder against mine. “I’m learning. Consider me your new hockey tutor.”

“Thanks.”

Whatever had happened, and whatever the reason for the fight, everyone quickly settled down, and the game resumed like it hadn’t happened at all.

The entire experience was confusing, but there was no hiding the fact that Graham Marchese was by far, the leader of the team. He moved faster, and out of all the shots on goal, he had landed two, putting the Wolves ahead by four to zero.

The buzzer went off, signaling the end of the second period.

“I’m freezing,” Tracey muttered. “I need more hot chocolate. Want some?”

“No thanks.” She tossed her half of the blanket onto my lap and headed down the stairs. Thanks to my hockey tutor, I now knew there was a fifteen-minute break and then one final twenty-minute period.

While Tracey was gone, I did my own research about hockey and pulled up the site Tracey had been using. Apparently hockey teams fought for all sorts of reasons. They weren’t only an expected part of the game, but one of the most exciting.

“Who knew?” I mumbled and kept reading.

Tracey came back before long, hot chocolates in both hands and handed one to me. “I know you said you didn’t want it, but I bought you one anyway.”

“Thanks.” As soon as the warm cup was in my hand, I definitely wanted it. The heat alone helped.

“Anything exciting happen while I was gone?”

“It’s intermission. What could happen?”

“With you around? Who knows.” She shrugged likeIwas the wild and crazy one out of the two of us.

I laughed her off, sipped on my hot chocolate, and then pulled up NCWU’s hockey Instagram page. “Apparently they’re pretty good,” I told Tracey as I saw a graphic with their conference standing. “Number two in the conference right now.”

“I don’t know what that means,” she said.

“You know?” I closed my phone and slipped it into my coat pocket. “I don’t really either.”

We dissolved into laughter, drank our hot chocolate, and by the time the third period started, I was ready for my backside to stop feeling like a block of ice, but I was actually looking forward to the end of the game.

“Man,” Tracey muttered, as the team took their spots back on the ice. “Is it weird that I think all that gear makes the guys look kinda sexy?”

“Considering you can’t see their faces or what’s hiding under all of it? Yes.”

“Maybe I like the appeal of mystery.”

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