Can this girl possible get any slower? I asked myself, waiting for Tammy at the bottom of the stairs of her house. We had to stop to pick up her sweater because it was cold at the arena. What a lot of crap, she was just stalling and I was missing my opportunity to get a date.
"Tammy!" I yelled, starting to get annoyed. She finally appeared at the top of the starts looking confused as to why I was yelling at her. I rolled my eyes, leading the way out of the house to the car. The arena seemed bigger the other night with all the people in it, maybe that's why, I thought heading down the stairs towards the team box. The Peewee hockey team was warming up on the ice. There he was taping some sticks while that Fulton guy was doing a head count.
"Oh my god." I said almost giggling with excitement, wait a minute. I never acted like this. I needed to play it cool. Not let on that I had a remote interest in going out with him. Fulton looked up and realized we were there.
"Oh, well, look what the cat dragged in." He joked as Tammy sneered at him. There was definitely a playfulness going on between them, no matter how much she tried to play, you could tell she was in love with him by the way she looked at him. It was almost as if, if you gave her a chance she'd be over that glass and knocking him over with kisses. Instead she stood her ground and made a hateful glare at him before Portman turned around. Right, stay cool; just act like there's nothing going on. Why is my heart pounding in my chest, never mind that, just sit down and relax, I silently told myself, finding a bench to occupy.
"Get a grip." Tammy mumbled under her breath at me. Was it that noticeable? She turned heading towards Fulton." I hope you're happy."
"Well, not as much with you here but thanks for asking."
"I mean, this." Her hands were flying in the air now and motioned to me. I really didn't care as I sat behind Portman, just staring at him. "She saw us."
"Your problem, not mine." He said heading out onto the ice to start practice.
"Humph." Tammy really was a spoiled brat, her next move of kicking the wall, proved it. She grabbed her foot, jumping around in a circle as I let a small laugh escape my lips.
"When did they make these so hard?" She exclaimed with a huff before plopping down next to me. She sighed deeply, moving her foot around before leaning back on her elbows. That is until she spotted a pretty blonde about my age coming in across the rink. Her eyes narrowed and her lips tightened to her teeth. I knew that look on her face. She was pissed.
"Who's that?" I tried to act casual about it. She glanced at me.
"No one." She didn't look like no one considering the death glare Tammy was sending across the ice.
"You want to take her out back. It'd be real easy two on one but then again, you're a wimp." I laughed slightly with amusement.
"I am not. I've kicked some butt in my days." I laughed harder,
"Whose? Your own?" She pursed her lips in annoyance and returned her gaze to the blonde.
"Okay, okay, I'll believe you kicked your own ass before." I joked.
"Are you trying to pick a fight?" She asked. I was annoying her again, I could tell. Okay, I'll let it go, I guess. Well, just one more comment, I thought smiling a little.
"No, I just want to see you kick someone's ass." I turned back to the ice, trying to spot this Dean guy but he must have sat down because I couldn't find him.
"You have such a foul mouth." What did she say? God, she is like a little mini-me of my Mother. I turned back to her.
"Like you've never swore."
"Look, we're here for the practice so just watch it and I'm going to take a nap." She finally shut up before leaning back again on her elbows to relax. I heard Fulton call the team over. The practice was ending.
"Finally." She mumbled softly immediately standing to leave. Not, so fast Princess. I thought, leaning up on the glass.
"Hey, Dean is it?" I asked in my sweetest voice. Okay, so maybe I was overdoing it but I had to make an impression.
"Um...yeah...do I know you?"
"No, I saw you last night. I'm a skater, like Tammy."
"Oh, that sounds cool." He said not really interested. I had to get his attention somehow!
"Hey, do you like Metallica?" I asked as he perked up. I had hit a right button.
"Dude, I love Metallica. They came to the Dome a couple months ago but I couldn't go, I was so bummed." He said almost sad. I smiled a little,
"OH, I absolutely love them too, I've been to see them twice. It was awesome." I grinned away as he started to smile.
"Aren't you that girl from last night? " He asked a little confused. I smiled. He did remember me.
"Yeah, I saw you walking in the back door." I nodded away.
"Oh, I'm thinking of someone else." I frowned a little but continued the conversation.
"Oh, so I gave Fulton my number for you. Did you get it?" I asked hoping he'd say yes. He whipped out his cell phone and started clicking buttons. There must have been 60 numbers of girls' names in there before he got to mine.
"Madison, right?" He asked as I nodded still in shock.
"Yup, I got it." He nodded a little with a proud smile. For a second he almost struck me as being slightly mental with his goofy grin and absent demeanor. I smiled with a little laugh before continuing,
"Well, if you want to hang out anytime just give me a ring, you know?" I asked trying not to sound desperate. He nodded,
"Will do." He said before spotting Fulton leaving the rink.
"I got to go." He told me and he ran after Fulton towards the locker room.
"Oh my god, he is so sweet." I thought with a little smile, definitely not a keeper but cute.
"This is going to be a long week." Tammy groaned walking away from me.
"Hey, you're not leaving me here!" I called after her as she headed but the stairs.
That night I lay awake in my bed at the hotel. My Mother was back to her cleaning antics.
"You know, they hire people to do that!" I grumbled at her, nearly choking on the scent of lemon freshness.
"Well, obviously they don't do it right!" She snapped back, returning to the sink she was scrubbing out. My cell phone started to vibrate against the hard wood of the night table, sending a drumming noise to my ears. I rolled over to pick it up and glanced at the caller ID,
"College of Minn. Minneapolis?" I questioned, picking it up. "Hello?"
"Hey, Madison?" A gruff, deep male voice answered me. I sat up in bed,
"Dean? Hi!" I was a little shocked that he'd called me so fast.
"Hey, um...I'm thinking about going down to the park to play a little hockey at the pond, you interested?" He asked seeming a little nervous to talk to me. I smiled a little to myself; he was putty in my hands. Just the way I wanted it.
"That could be cool." I whispered, still smiling coyly.
"Cool, so I'll see you down there?" He asked as I smiled more,
"Maybe." I said as he chuckled nervously.
"Okay." He said a little confused, I was really starting to think he was dropped on his head as a child.
"Bye, Dean." I said hanging up. Playing a little hard to get was always fun. I decided I'd leave the hotel room in a few minutes to find this park. It couldn't be too hard. My Mother appeared from the bathroom a few seconds later with a dust mask on her face at which I let you a scream, falling off the opposite side of the bed to the hard wooden floor. Looking around nervously, I got up and looked at my Mother, who was staring at me as if I was nuts.
"You scared the crap out of me, I thought you were some crazy weirdo who broke in." I gasped, still breathing a little hard. She shook her head at me,
"You need to stop watching all those horror movies."
"Well if you didn't have such an obsession with cleaning, I wouldn't be getting scared. You know, they have people that do that stuff."
"They obviously don't do it right or I wouldn't have to." She said, finally sitting down in the chair as I marched across the room to grab my skates and jacket.
"Where you going?" She asked, "You hardly know this city and what if someone recognizes you." I snorted a little in response,
"Maybe they'll ask me for my autograph? That would be a first." I laughed a little heading for the door. "Besides, I think if I stay here any longer I'll be brain-dead from all the air freshener." I shut the door with that and headed down the stairs to the main entrance before embracing the cold night air of a late April day.
45 minutes later I had circled the town and ended up in the same place I started, right outside the hotel. Standing on the corner, I looked up and down the street to see if I at least saw someone that could tell me in what direction to head but there was no one. Where was the park with the pond that he was talking about? I was completely lost in the worst town in all of the United States. Wrapping my sweater tighter around my shoulders I turned to head back into the hotel when I saw a figure coming towards me in the shadows of the tall buildings. Feeling slightly nervous as to what the outcome of this encounter would bring, I backed up towards the corner. He looked up and I sighed with relief. He smiled; banging the sticks he was carrying on the ground before leaning against them, in an act of coolness, well maybe to him.
"I thought I'd stroll past the only hotel on Main Street and see if you changed your mind about the hockey. I've been waiting at the park for a half an hour." My heart slowed in my chest and I stepped a little closer as he face came into view.
"No, I just..." I said pointing to the corner, a little short winded. He looked around me and smiled a little,
"Oh, I see. Are you working, does this mean I have to pay for you to go to the park with me?" He asked, still smiling. I would have punched him right there but his goofy grin stopped me and I found myself laughing at his stupid joke as well.
"Well, how much you got?" I joked. He was actually going to pull out his wallet before I stopped him.
"I was kidding." I said turning him around to lead me to the park. He laughed again, leading the way.
The park was deserted as we skated around the pond. Okay so there are just some things that people are good at and then there's hockey and me. I couldn't score a goal if you paid me and quite frankly, I was getting a little annoyed that I couldn't score a goal around him. Who invented hockey? It must have been a guy, I thought finally stealing the puck away from him and heading towards his net. He was there in a heartbeat and blocked my chances of scoring a goal.
"You know what, screw this game." I said throwing down the stick he had loaned me and heading off the ice. This was ridiculous, I thought, changing out of my skates. He laughed a little heading towards me and taking off his helmet to look at me. For a moment I actually thought about falling in love with him but the idea escaped my thoughts as soon as the sentence escaped his mouth,
"Well, you just don't like to lose." He said. I finished tying my shoe and stood up to walk away. The park seemed farther away from the hotel then I thought and I looked around a little confused.
"The hotel's that way!" He yelled after me, changing his skates now. I groaned and shuffled back towards him. I hated to admit anyone was right or that I needed the help of anyone but I wasn't going to make it back to the hotel if he didn't walk me so I moved towards him and sighed,
"Dean, will you walk me back to my hotel please?" I asked as he smiled up at me,
"Well, that depends."
"On what?" I questioned. He stood up in front of me.
"On if you let me kiss you or not." He smiled coyly. I scowled a little,
"How dare you!" I said as he smiled down at me, I had to admit he was cute and that's what originally attracted me to him but now, standing here in the moonlight, I wanted to punch his face in.
"Alright, suit yourself. I'm heading out." He said picking up his sticks and skates and heading away from me.
"Hey! How do I know if I kiss you, you just won't leave me here?" I questioned. He smiled,
"I'll walk you first." I mentally debated, well you could just let him lead you back to the hotel and then punch him in the face when you get there. I reasoned for a minute and finally decided to take the offer, following him out of the park. The walk was short but I would have been lost in five minutes with the side streets and shortcuts. The moonlight was soft, not too bright and not too dull either. We reached my door and he turned to me. I looked up into his brown eyes and felt something I hadn't before, fear. A soft hand moved up my back and rested on my cheek and my body shivered with anticipation. Was I going to be a good enough kisser? Had he had better? My worries were something new for me and I hoped they weren't showing on my face. He leaned in slowly and touched him lips to me. The soft smell of Axe body spray filled my nose and I pulled him to me, locking our lips together. The kiss was over as soon as it began but left me feeling empty. No emotion showed on his face as I glanced up at him.
"Well, I guess I'll see you at the practice on Friday?" He questioned. I touched my lips with my finger tips and glanced up at him again,
"Uh-huh." I nodded as he nodded too,
"Goodnight, Madison." I said walking away before I could say anything. This complete went against my rules on dating. What had Dean Portman done to me?