Spellbound

Bang.

Geno was outside, ugh what time was it? Bang bang bang.

“Elodie come on,” I love how he used my full name. More banging. “Max said something about practice and his girlfriend. You might finally get to meet her...” At this my ears perked up. I jumped out of bed, grabbed some clothes and ran across the hallway to Geno's bathroom. I'd been staying at his a few nights lately, when Max wanted some alone time with his girlfriend. To be fair it was his apartment so I couldn't really complain.

I ran out of the bedroom and bang smack into Geno's toned body. It was like running into a brick wall. I couldn't help but smile to myself at how much I liked his body. I wished Tom's body was more like Geno's, Tom was a bit, well, podgy to say the least. He never went to the gym, he thought they were for losers and that real men had a bit of extra weight.

Geno helped me up effortlessly. Man, he was strong. And then he guided me into the bathroom, set all my clothes down on the side and turned on the shower while I stood slightly dazed and rubbing my head, my body in shock at being awake so quickly. When the shower was at an acceptable temperature, he kissed me on the forehead and left.

I moved my hand to my forehead slowly, touching my skin, still tingling at the feel of his lips. I showered, washed, changed, all while in a daze about Geno's small kiss. As much as I knew it meant nothing, I couldn't help but wish he would kiss me again.

Tom's kisses never made my skin tingle. They were always quite rough, whereas Geno's kiss was so gentle, as though I were some delicate being that might break if he pressed his lips to my skin any harder.

Once I had finished getting ready I made my way out into the breakfast kitchen to see what I thought I could smell: pancakes.

“Mmmm, Geno these smell really good. I didn't know you could cook”

“Well, I try” he said with a cheesy grin, “there are a lot of thing that you don't know about me though.”

“Oh yeah, like what?”

“Urm. I don't know, anything really. Ask me something and I will tell you the answer”

“Ok, mayonnaise or salad cream?”

“Mayonnaise. You?”

“Ah ah ah. You can't ask me the same question I asked you.”

“Oh, right, sorry. Favourite colour?”

“Blue. Favourite European city?”

“Paris. Dogs or cats?”

“Dogs.”

We went on like this as we finished breakfast ad cleared up. We even carried on asking each other questions throughout the car ride to the arena.

As we walked into the arena I saw Max and Sidney and ran over to Max, jumping on him causing much laughter from Sid and I. I got off Max and looked around.

“So Maxie, where's your girlfriend?”

“Not coming, she doesn't come to practice, Els”

“What, ever?”

“Nope. Hockey's not really her thing”

I looked at him blankly. How can hockey not be anyone's 'thing'? Now I know why the guy's didn't like her too much.

“But Geno said she might be here” I whined.

“But Geno just wanted you to watch him practice” Max whined back, mimicking me.

For some reason my insides jumped at this, I held it together though. “No, he definitely said something about practice and your girlfriend”

“Because he knows you want to meet her, and he wants you to watch him practice, spend time with him, you know”

I didn't know, but I wanted to. Why was Geno so keen on me watching him practice? I would have to remember to ask him later.

I sat and watched practice for a few hours then when it was over Sid came and found me, telling me that everyone was going back to Max's place and his girlfriend might actually be there. Geno shortly followed and said I could ride with him.

“So, why do you want me to watch you practice so much?”

“Uh, erm. Well, you like hockey, and I play hockey. So it might be fun for you?” he questioned, as though he were asking whether I believed the crap he'd just come out with. I just nodded ok.

A small spell of silence ensued, not the awkward type, but not the comfortable type we were used to. I was wracking my brain for something more to say, when Geno spoke up.

“What's your ambition in life?”

Now that was a hard one. I knew what I wanted, but it was always short term. I didn't really have a clue what I wanted to do with my life exactly. “I guess just the usual stuff; fall in love, be successful, that sort of thing?”

“What do you want to be successful at?”

“Hey, it's my turn to ask a question.”

“No, it's all part of the same question. You didn't answer it properly.”

“Sneaky. Ok then. If I could be anything in the world it would be a linguist. I would love to be able to speak more languages than I can, and I love the idea of interpreting them, seeing the similarities and differences between them. That sort of thing.”

“What languages do you already speak?”

“French, German, Spanish & Swedish.”

“So no Russian?”

“No, not yet anyway. Why?”

“Just wondering. I could maybe help you learn if you wanted to?”

“That would be great, I've always wanted to learn. Thank you Geno.”

“And your other ambition, to fall in love. You've never been in love? What about Tom?”

“What's this? 20 questions? But no, I've never been in love, not even with Tom.” It was true, I did love Tom, we had known each other for so long it was impossible not to, but I wasn't in love with him.

“Oh right. But you do love Tom?”

“Yeah”

“Just not in love with him?”

“No. Seriously Geno, what's with all the questions?”

“Nothing. I just wonder what type of man it will take for you to be in love with them. Someone very special I imagine.”

“Yep. Definitely someone special. Someone that can warm my insides just by thinking about them, someone that can cheer me up no matter how upset I am, someone that can keep me thinking about just the smallest of kisses”

My mind immediately flicked to Geno sitting next to me. He was looking across at me; we had got to Max's a while ago but kept on talking so it seemed. He was listening intently, as though he were trying to remember everything I said. As he was concentrating on my words his lips occasionally twitched, attracting my eyes to them like a moth to a flame. I just couldn't get that kiss out of my head.