Chapter 16: Frozen Feelings
By Victory Thru Tears
Adam's POV"What are you doing here?" I ask her, sleepily rubbing my eyes.
She pushes past me and steps into the room.
"Put some pants on, you're teaching me how to play hockey."
Charlie rolls over to look at whoever has just entered. He gives a groan and pulls the covers over his head. I can't help but stare longingly at the warm nest we had made. But then I remember Maya.
"Um, why do you want to play hockey? And what exactly are you doing here? It's Saturday, and it's…7:30??" My irritation escalates as I glance at the clock.
I suppress the urge to fall back into Charlie's arms.
Maya sighs, and falls to our floor. She draws her legs in and rests her chin on her knees.
"Just get dressed," she mumbles, putting her head down.
If she hadn't looked so sad, I wouldn't have listened. But Maya's done so much for me since I've known her, I have to comply.
She gets sort of overlooked, I realize as I dress in the bathroom. When you're around her and Taz, her girlfriend gets all of the attention. Purple hair, Irish accent, bubbly personality…but thinking about it, there's got to be a backbone for Taz; and it can't be anything but Maya.
I open the door, and to my surprise see that Maya is no longer on the floor. She's lying in bed with Charlie, who is mumbling tired jokes. How cute- an effort to cheer her up while still managing to stay in bed. Maya doesn't look amused. She eagerly jumps out of bed and leads me out of the dorm.
Charlie waves as I grab my bag 'o' hockey junk, and is asleep again before I close the door.
- + - + -
An hour later, we're finally putting our skates on at the school rink. Maya had realized that she doesn't own skates, so we had made a detour to Jan's shop. It hadn't taken her long to buy some, and we were back relatively fast. I have two of pretty much everything in my bag, so once she is finished lacing up, she grabs a stick and beats me onto the ice.
Despite my constant questioning, I still have no idea why we're here. I know it has something to do with Taz. Maya's obviously upset with her. After a week of seeing Taz's own bruises, I can infer that they hadn't come from falling down the stairs. Maya's clearly not dealing with it very well; we are on the ice at 8:30 in the morning.
Coach Orion and his daughter are on the other side of the rink. He's actually smiling. Charlie had told me about Emily, and my perception of the guy had changed too. It must have been really hard.
I think I want kids someday. I'll have to talk to Charlie about adopting. No, of course I'm not getting ahead of myself…
Maya is waiting impatiently for me. I sigh, and slowly skate onto the rink. I roll my wrist around a little, trying to make the stiffness go away. I haven't been allowed to play because of it. It's feeling better, and I should be able to start in our game next week, but I definitely miss being on the ice.
"So, you wanna tell me why we're here?" I ask as I move her arms in the correct way to hold a stick.
"Because I'm going to learn to beat things." She pushes the puck forward. Not bad.
"Why do you need to beat things?"
"Cause life is a bitch." She responds, going for the puck again.
"Maya, tell me what's going on…" The statement comes out a little more sing-songy than I had intended, and she responds in an equally mocking tone.
"Why don't you just leave me the hell alone, Adam?"
I could respond in two ways. One, throw down the stick, and skate off. It's way too early to be dealing with anyone in this bad of a mood. Two, keep badgering her, because we're friends.
I decide to settle for scenario Three.
I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder. She weighs less than I had imagined. Instead of kicking and laughing, she reacts by screaming like the devil is after her.
Coach Orion is staring at us. His daughter is too, but she's giggling.
"Hey Banks, your wrist hurts too much to play hockey, but not enough to take your girlfriend out for a little spin?"
Maya responds for me. "He wishes he was my girlfriend!"
Orion looks confused by her answer, but laughs nonetheless. I set Maya back onto the ice, and she pushes me down.
"Oh, so you want to be an enforcer?" I chuckle as I dust myself off. "Should have asked one of the Bash Brothers to bring you out, then."
"Yeah, they're too busy fighting." She tells me ask she attempts to make a shot.
"They're fighting?"
What did Charlie and I miss last night? We had kept to ourselves, and spent the night cuddling and watching movies. I figured that Maya and Taz had done the same thing.
"Yeah, they're fighting." Maya says it so that I know the subject is closed.
After a good half an hour of hockey, we skate onto the bench. Now would be a good time to talk to her.
"What's going on with Taz?"
She sighs, and for a moment I think that she's going to avoid talking again. "I don't know. I think her dad hit her."
I nod. I thought so. "She hasn't talked to you at all?"
"No. She keeps avoiding me, and last night she went out with Fulton and got drunk."
"What??" I'm not expecting that. Maya opens her mouth to give a catty comment, but I cut her off. "Are you ok?"
She looks surprised that I'm asking about her, and not Taz. "I…I guess."
I put my arm around her. "Charlie would have flipped out if he saw the bruises on my face and I didn't tell him what happened. I would do the same for him. I know you're not ok."
"Yeah, you're right. I just…I want to kill her! How can she keep something like this from me? A whole year we've been together, and loved each other. Doesn't that mean anything to her?"
"Sometimes people try to keep things from people they love because they think that it will hurt them." Maya's cowering in my arms, and I can tell she's close to crying.
"But I always tell her that I'd rather she tell me the truth than lying to me, even if she's trying to protect me. And I can help her. I really can…"
I feel so bad, sitting there on the bench with this small girl crying on my shoulder. To tell the truth, I had been feeling really good for the past week. During vacation it hadn't mattered that every time my parents turned around Danny would give me a quick punch or slap; I still had people on my side. I think my natural high had made me ignore the others around me, like Fulton and Taz and Maya, who are obviously in need.
My eyebrows raise as Charlie and Taz walk into the rink. I hold Maya closer to me. She's not going to be happy to see them, especially in this state.
The look on Taz's face is unreadable. She looks a mixture of relieved, sad, hurt, angry, and apologetic.
But she's approaching quickly. I have a feeling I'm going to find out exactly what she's thinking.