Well I think I've come up with a way to get more reviews: It's a game I like to call Guess where this quote came from. Today's quote:

"Who said hockey was supposed to be fun?"

Remember I own nothing

Chapter 17: Skating?

As I was trying not to cry Matt came in. "Hey kid something wrong?" He asked sitting in my computer chair.

"I don't know. I think I might have ruined my relationship with Dean but we'll have to wait and see what happens with that."

"Oh look Becca don't worry he'll be ok after he thinks about it. It'll turn out fine."

"Matt I want to ask you something but you got to promise not to laugh."

"Why would I...?"

"Just promise Matt."

"Alright I promise."

"Matt you know how I said I haven't skated in 5 years and everything?"

"Yeah?"

"Well seeing you guys out there skating and playing hockey got me thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

"Well that maybe I was wrong."

Matt's PoV
When I walked into my sister's dorm room at Eden Hall I was scared she wasn't going to accept me. Chris said she would but I was still a bit shaky on it. I also thought that after I drove to Ohio to threaten my brother she would hate me and never talk to me again but as we sit here and talk I realize how much like my mom she really is. I think I know where this conversation is headed but I still had to make sure.

"Wrong about what Teddy Bear?"

"Wrong about..." She trailed off looking like it might have been a bad idea to ask me.

"Teddy are you asking me to help you brush up on your skating skills?" I asked taking a chance and hoping and praying to high heavens that was what Lizzy was asking. I didn't want to hope too high by thinking she as asking me for hockey practice but that thought did occur in the back of my mind.

"Yeah I mean if it ain't too much trouble with everything you already have going on and all." She said, her southern accent coming through nice and strong.

"Not at all first off do you have roller skates?"

"Yeah."

"What about ice skates?"

"Seth bought me some last Christmas."

"Alright but I promised Charlie last night on the ride back that I would come to practice today. I'm sorry but we'll have to wait until tomorrow afternoon to start ok?"

"Alright." She still seemed unsure about all of this.

"Look Aaron will still be here and so will Chris and Ben if you need anything." I said comfortingly.

"Thanks Matt." She said. "Oh and will you send Aaron in please?" I nodded and left the room finding Aaron in the living room watching TV.

"Aaron, Lizzy needs to talk to you. She's in her room." I left it at that and drove down to the pond where the team was already practicing ready to start giving tips.

ER's PoV
The next morning the breakfast table was a frosty place. I think everyone could sense what had happened or at least something had happened but no one was saying anything. "We had better get going. Charlie wanted us there by nine." Julie said.

"I think he's becoming the new Captain Blood." Kenny said.

"He just wants y'all to be good." I said.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out he's training us too hard." Luis put in.

"Come on it can't be that bad." I argued.

"Yeah believe what you want about your cousin but..." Dean put in but was cut off by the phone.

"'Scuse me I have to get that." I said getting up to answer that. "Hello?" I asked.

"Hey it's me I just wanted to make sure everyone knew the plans for today." Charlie's voice came from the other end.

"Your practice starts at nine and ends at 1:30?" I asked.

"That's not enough time." Charlie argued.

"Charlie that's 4 and a half hours. They're on break let them have fun too Charlie." I begged.

"Oh alright. Everything ok between you and Portman?" He asked.

"That's none of your business Charlie."

"Skater-aide, I know you don't like me butting in but I just want to make sure he didn't hurt you."

"It's the other way around Charlie and don't worry about it. Somehow it'll work itself out."

"If you say so." Charlie mumbled.

"I do but now you know and agree to my plan right?"

"Yes I'll talk to you later."

"Bye Char." We hung up and I made my way back to the table.

"What's up?" Dwayne asked.

"That's was Charlie, just wanted to make sure everyone knew what was going on."

"You mean practice today from 9 till 5?" Julie asked.

"No practice from 9 till 1:30. It's only four hours and then after that there's an arcade and a strip mall and of course the Mall of America." I said.

"You mean he's giving us the afternoon off?" Kenny asked.

"Yup from now until the end of break you can only practice for four hours a day the rest of the time is yours to do as you please." I said.

"How will Charlie agree to this?"

"You don't know my cousin as well as you thought you did. I'm spoiled and his baby cousin, he'll see my reasons and agree. As the baby of the family you learn how to get what you want when you want it." I smirked.

Luis coughed but I could have sworn it sounded more like "Bitch." Obviously I wasn't the only one who heard it.

"Hey." Dean and Fulton both exclaimed. Dean stood up and Fulton walked into the room.

"I didn't say anything." Luis said.

"Let it go. Julie was right you had all better go."

"How many cars we taking?" Dwayne asked.

"I figure three. I want to give you guys some more tips today and I know Portman had planned on going and since you won't all fit in the Mustang and the Vette alone and I wanted to leave right after practice while you guys were out sight seeing I figured it would be the easiest way." Matt said.

"And just who's driving?" Kenny asked.

"The only three with licenses. Me, Portman, and Fulton." Matt responded. "Fult I'm sure Ben wouldn't mind you driving his truck."

"It's ok Dad's out of town on business again and Mom's letting me drive his car until he gets back." Fulton answered. Matt nodded and they left. I hung around with Aaron and Chris that morning as Ben went out on an errand run.

Around 11:30 Ben came back. "Hey Lizzy, ready to go?" He asked.

"Go where? I asked.

"Airport, Russ lands in half an hour remember?"

"Oh yeah." I stood and got ready to leave. Once at the airport I looked around. "Gate 3A, LA, California to Minneapolis, Minnesota flight 213." I said. We found our way down to the gate just in time for people to start getting off. "Can't see anything."

"I see him." Ben said lifting his arm and waving. Soon Russ appeared in front of us.

"How was your Christmas?" I asked.

"Good yours?" Russ asked.

"Well Christmas was good but right now things are just a bit rocky."

"What'd Portman do now?"

"Let's walk and talk." I said leading the way. "You do have other luggage right?"

"Yeah."

"It's not really what Portman did it's what I did." I sucked in my lower lip and started chewing on it.

"Hey you're an ex-hockey duck we stick together no matter what."

"I don't know I mean only me, Fulton, and Dean know what happened."

"Maybe that's a good thing I mean people on this team can't really keep secrets."

"I know but apparently they can to an extent."

"I won't tell anyone I promise." I sighed as we picked up his stuff.

"Alright but you have to swear you won't say anything to anyone."

"I swear." He said. I could see the honesty in his eyes. So on our walk out to the truck I told him what had happened. "Oh wow. Don't worry about it Portman will figure it out but I think he needs a little shove."

"Russ you promised you wouldn't say anything to anyone."

"And I won't but I'll come up with something. Before the end of break you'll be back in his arms doing all that mushy gushy stuff." Russ said wrinkling his nose as we loaded his stuff into the truck.

"Thanks." I answered climbing in before him.

"So you have two choices I can either take you to where the rest of the ducks are or I can take you back to the house." Ben told Russ.

"The ducks are practicing aren't they?" Russ asked.

"Yeah but only for another hour and 15 minutes. Then the out of state ducks are going sight seeing. That is unless Charlie has turned into Captain Blood."

"I guess some practice won't hurt." Ben nodded and told me to call Adam. I punched in his number and let it ring. Russ started laughing at my funny faces. "Do you do that every time you don't get an answer?"

"Only when they have strange ring tones. This one happens to be something by Dream." I said.

"Hello?" A voice asked.

"Adam?"

"No it's Jesse."

"Jess-mister what you doing answering Adam's phone?"

"Hey Lizzy, Cake-eater's showing off on the ice again."

"So you're still down at the duck pond then?" I asked.

"Yeah although the game's a little uneven."

"I can fix that." I told him then to Ben I said "Turn left at the next light."

"You playing again?"

"No but I'm bringing someone who does play."

"Jesse off the phone." I heard some one yell in the back ground.

"Shut up." Jesse yelled back.

"Jesse you're on." I heard a female voice say closer than the last had been.

"See ya soon." I said.

"Bye girl." He said then hung up. We made it to the pond and Russ and I climbed out. After he got his hockey stuff from the bed of the truck I looked out over the ice. "Russ." Jesse called.

"Told ya I'd bring someone who could play." I said as the team abandoned the game. "Charlie can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked. He nodded and we walked over to where my Mustang sat.

"So what's up?"

"I want to make a deal with you." I said sitting on the cold trunk of my car.

"Alright what did you have in mind?" Charlie asked.

"If you only practice for four and a half hours a day I'll...Umm...I'll"

"You'll meet my girlfriend and try to get along with here when we get back to Eden Hall."

"That what I have to do?" He nodded. "Fine you got yourself a deal." I sighed walking back to where the team was gathered.

"You gonna stick around?" Matt asked.

"No I'm gonna head home but I'll see you there. Have fun guys." With that Ben drove us home. After Matt came back we got to work.

"Hey Teddy Bear, go get your blades and meet me at the basement door." Matt said.

When I got there he led me down the stairs and to the farthest door. I finally remembered what was in the basement. At the bottom of the stairs there was a hallway. The door on the left side led to a game/TV room, the one on the right was the room Chris and Ben used to practice pitching and catching. Even now I could hear the soft thump of the ball against the padded wall that had been installed to absorb the shock of the pitches when Ben missed or Ben wasn't around to play with. There was also a pitching machine Ben used when Chris was too busy. I cracked that door slightly and saw Aaron in there practicing. The door next to it was a bathroom and there was one other door in the hallway and it was the one at the end.

When Matt opened the door my jaw dropped. I had forgotten that the door led to our skating rink that had floor to ceiling walls on 1 and a half sides and a low wooden wall that ran the rest of the way. To get on to the actual floor you had to remember where the door in the wall was. The rink was like an actual rink completely stocked with bathrooms, a concession stand, benches, a few extra pairs of skates, and a couple of lockers. As I looked at it a memory hit me.

I was 5 years old, Seth was 9, and Matt was 15 I think. I was standing in that room and Matt and Seth were bored and didn't want to play roller hockey. It was summer and they didn't have a way to get to an ice rink. So Matt got the smart idea to fill the rink up with 3 inches of extremely hot water and then turn the AC in the room as cold as it cold as it would go. Three hours later they had a homemade ice rink. They were skating around practicing when our dad opened the door.

"Oh there you are Lizzy. I wondered where you had gotten to." I remember him saying. "What are you doing? Watching your brothers practice?" Then he noticed that they had their ice skates on. I don't think I've ever seen him that mad since except for right before I went to Eden Hall. "Matthew Anthony Jacobs, Seth Thomas Jacobs what have you done to this floor?" He yelled. Long story short he grounded them for three months straight and had to get the floor replaced from where it had been warped from the water.

"Well come on." Matt said snapping me out of my trance. He spent the rest of the afternoon helping me get the hang of skating again this time without the ice. At first I was quite awful but eventually I got the hang of it. He turned to me as we took off our blades. "Becca I really think that tomorrow afternoon you'll be ready to hit the ice again." He said.

"I don't know if I'm ready for that."

"Don't worry my baby you'll do fine."

"Promise?"

"I promise by the time you go back to school you'll be as comfortable on the ice as you are on the baseball field or damn near close." So the next morning he continued my training in the basement and around 11 he told me to pack a bag for a trip to the ice rink. Matt spent the morning of New Year's Eve down at the pond and that afternoon took me ice skating again. We only had three days left in our vacation so Charlie cut practices to two hours and spent the rest of the time hanging around my house. Matt decided two days before we went back that I was as good as I could be so he let me hang out around the house.

"Hey Aaron." I said sitting down next to him on the 2nd of January.

"Yeah?" He asked

"I know you go back tomorrow and all and I just wanted to say I'm sorry for not spending that much time with you."

"It's ok besides I knew you were doing what you had to do and Chris and Ben were good company, with all your baby pictures and deep dark secrets and the like."

"They did not."

"Ok so I only saw a few of your baby pictures and they helped with some baseball practice and stuff. But it's good to see you smile again. Juliet what happened?"

"It's nothing really just slight boyfriend problems."

"You know why I won't date you?"

"No why?"

"First off you're too good of a friend and secondly it's against my personal rules to date a player."

"You're funny remind me to laugh next time."

"Oh come I didn't mean it like that."

"I know." I said glancing over at Dean.

The entire team was just hanging around laughing and joking and just hanging so I didn't feel too bad except when Charlie said "Hey Lizzy can you come with me for a second?" I knew whatever he wanted was going to be a bad thing.

I followed him to the very same pantry my brothers used to lock me in when I was being annoying. I however found out my lock picking skills worked very well and that there was a secret room where I could just hang out until my brothers decided to let me out and flipped out because I wasn't there.

He pushed me in and then I heard the lock click and footsteps retreating. I flipped on the lights and walked around inside. Our pantry was actually a pretty decent size. Behind me I heard the door open, close, and lock again. Before I even heard the voice on the outside I knew who had locked us in here and why. "Sorry man but you have to work this out." Russ said. I sighed as Russ walked away. I knew Dean was right behind me and this was Russ's way of fixing things without saying anything. I turned around and saw I was right. He was leaning backwards against the door looking at his feet with his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"You know why this happened right?" I asked quietly.

"No." He answered stubbornly.

"Come on Dean I know you ain't that dense. They hate our fighting as much as I do." He didn't answer so I went on. "Do I have to say it again Goose? I'm extremely sorry, truly I am, but I just had to find out or else it would have been bugging me." I said.

He stood there and then let out a sigh. He glanced up quickly and then looked back down. "How would you feel if our positions were reversed?"

"Pretty grossed out I mean you kissing Fulton?" I shuddered.

"You know what I meant." He snapped glaring at me. I dropped my gaze and backed up quickly.

"I would try to understand."

"Even if it was me and Julie." He asked.

"I know you and Julie are close and maybe even felt something for each other when you played in the games. I would take that into consideration especially if it had my reason behind it. You two were just seeing if there was anything left over." I said.

"It just doesn't make any sense. He's my best friend."

"He was my best friend first and when you are as close to a girl as Fulton is to me sometimes you think that maybe something can come out of that friendship. Sometimes you don't know if all you're feeling for the other one is platonic or sensual. What happened between us was the last piece of the puzzle and helped clear that up. We both now know that there is nothing but platonic feelings for each other. What I feel in Fulton's company is the same thing I feel when I'm in Adam or Jesse's company, an extremely good and close friendship. It's not the same as what I feel when I see you, when you hold me close, when we kiss. I know that when I'm with you my world completely stops and I wish time would do the same. What I feel for Fulton is platonic but with you it's more than that."

"Oh really?" He asked.

"Yeah most of the feelings I have for you are sensual."

"Really? Like if you could do anything right now, anything at all, what would you do?"

"Without worrying about what anyone thought or caring if anyone could see us?"

"Yes."

"Well I would...um well it's kinda embarrassing."

"It's ok I promise I won't laugh." I looked up at him to see that he hadn't moved from where he had been standing but his facial features weren't as harsh as they had been. I chewed on my lower lip and he pushed away from the door and took a few steps toward me.

"Well if I could do anything and not have to worry about anything I would bull you down on this here floor and make out with you all night but I don't think that's ever gonna happen again."

"And why not?" He growled crossing his arms over his chest. I dropped my gaze to the floor and back away as far as I could from him.

Here's your hint it's a Disney movie. Leave your answer in the review. Thanks for reading.