Page 17 of Lucky Sucker

I hadn’t intended on taking Wren out on the ice, it was a lucky coincidence, excuse the way I was named Lucky by most. He’d been on my mind most of last night, and in class. I hadn’t been able to focus, thinking about the conversation we’d ended on. And I wanted to know more about him just like he wanted to know more about me, I assumed.

We’d compromised on his stuffed killer whale teddy being on one of the chairs in the penalty box with a view of us on the ice.

And to my surprise, he wasn’t like Bambi, or fragile at all. A surprise to say the least. He had a little trouble stopping himself without bashing into the barriers and hooking up chunks of ice in the process.

“You wanna ask me some of your questions?” I asked, glancing up at the large digital time displayed near the scoreboard. We had twenty minutes before we would be screamed at to leave.

His nose and cheeks were nipped red. “How did you get into ice hockey?”

“Ok, so, I always loved roller blading, but my mom thought it was super dangerous.” I skated backwards toward him, hoping to impress him.

Wren laughed. “So, she hasn’t watched you on the ice then?”

“Oh, she has, but she saw all the gear I have to wear when I play. So, she kinda assumed I was more protected,” I told him. “She still asks me if I have all my teeth after every match though.”

“And do you?”

“Surprisingly, I do.” I ran my tongue across them, as if it would’ve prompted my teeth to change. “Except one of them was chipped. The dentists did something with it so you can’t even tell.”

At the barrier, stopping himself with sheer force, Wren fanned his face. “I’m surprised I’m so warm.”

“Wanna see?”

“See?”

I opened my mouth. “The tooth. It’s this one.” I didn’t know exactly where I was pointing, and I was sure I was the only person who could visibly see the tooth that had been remade in a dental office.

“Oh,” he laughed. “I don’t know what you would’ve even meant.” He got closer to my face, pushing up on the skates.

“Can you see?”

As he pushed up on the edge of the blade to look inside, he slipped, landing on me, and pushing me on my ass as he fell on his knees between my legs.

“Fuck, are you ok?” I asked, trying my best to hold him almost. “I should’ve dipped or something. I forgot these things add inches to my height.”

Wren grumbled slightly, biting hard on his bottom lip. His eyes were glassy and a little pink, almost on the verge of tears. “I’m fine,” he let out in a croak.

“You’re not fine. Let’s get you off the ice,” I said. “I’ll have to look at your knees. You fell with some force.”

He continued to push his tongue between his teeth and bite down slightly. “Yeah. It hurt.”

“You don’t have to be brave,” I told him. He wasn’t one of the players, he didn’t have the put on a facade for me. “It’s ok. I won’t tell anyone.” On my feet, I helped him up to his. He was still sliding around on the skates, cooing at his knees. “Lucky we’re near the gate.”

“I’m glad nobody saw.”

“Except for the security cameras.”

He groaned. “No, no.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone see them, not like I have the key for the office, but I won’t tell anyone.” I just wanted to stop him from feeling like he had to feel ashamed for falling, with whatever I said, I hoped I was doing right by him.

On the chairs, I kneeled in front of him. The first step was unlacing his boots and pulling them off. I didn’t know if he’d twisted or rolled his ankle at the same time, so I made sure to inspect them as well. I saw the socks again, with tiny killer whales on them.

“You think I’ve done serious damage?” he asked.

“I can get the physio to look at you, but I’m not even sure if they’re in,” I told him. “Your ankles are fine.” I rolled his trouser leg right up to the knee. They seemed a little red and tender to the touch but only to the touch, he didn’t seem to have any other issue besides that. “Well, I don’t think we’re gonna need to amputate them.”

He choked on a gasp. “What?”

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