Melting On Ice

"I am not going in there." I stubbornly crossed my arms in Miranda's car as we sat in the United Center parking lot.

"He just wants to talk to you." She hadn't told me where we had been headed and now I could see why. "The least you could do is talk to him. He is obviously distracted. I mean, have you seen the way that he has been playing?" She did have a point. The Hawks had lost games 3 and 4 in the Stanley Cup finals against the Flyers and Patrick had been playing less then his best, to put it nicely.

"If he wanted to talk to me, he should just call me. I am even more mad that you and him tricked me into coming here." I stared angrily out the window as the players came out of the arena after practice. I avoided each and every one of their eyes so that they wouldn't notice me.

She rolled her eyes and stuck her hand out expectantly. "Give me your phone." I reluctantly pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and handed it to her. I watched as she scrolled through the different screens on my phone. "Alright, here it is. Missed calls." I closed my eyes, already embarrassed for what was about to happen. "Patrick's cell, Patrick's cell, Patrick's cell, Patrick's cell, Patrick's cell and oh look," She pointed at the phone to mock me. "Patrick's cell."

"Fine, I get your point." I slowly opened the passenger door. "But he is the only one that is going to be talking. I have absolutely nothing to say to him."

"Oh Em wait." She reached in the back seat before I stepped out of the car. She placed a CD in my hands that had "Patrick Kane" written in pink sharpie along the top in my fifteen-year-old handwriting. "Don't forget this."

"I can't," I said as I pushed it back into her hands. "I don't feel that way about him. Not anymore anyway."

She sighed. "Something like that doesn't just go away because of one mistake." She pushed the CD back into my hands.

"Stop." I pushed the CD back at her and looked up to see Hjalmarsson watching us through the window. He tapped Jon who stared at us for a minute and the shook his head. I watched as he walked and got into his car, but didn't leave. "I do not feel that way." I said each word slowly, hoping that would make it sink in for her.

"Awwww." I turned to see her smiling down at my phone. "You keep his text! That is so cute."

"What?" I blushed slightly as she showed me my phone screen. "Just the important ones." I prayed that she wouldn't open any messages to check.

"Let's see." Oh great. "'Em, can you pick me up a Gatorade on your way to practice?' 'Hey Em, what's up?' 'Hey Em, you wanna catch a movie later?' 'Hey-'" I snatched my phone away from her. "Yes, those all sound like life-depending messages." She smiled mockingly at me.

"What is your point?" I snapped. By now the entire team was staring into her car, not even caring that I had noticed.

"My point is," She placed the CD back into my lap. "You wouldn't keep the text if they were from someone else. If they didn't have his name on it. If they meant nothing to you."

"I can't." I picked up the CD in my hands and twirled it slightly. "I just can't."

"You can." She pushed me slightly as her not-so-subtle hint to get out of her car as I put the CD into my bag. "He is already not talking to you, so how could it get any worse?"

"Thanks." I said sarcastically as I rolled my eyes at the poor excuse of a pep talk.

"I'll be here waiting." She called to me as she rolled down the window when I closed her door.

"Emma!" Versteeg came up and tackled me along with 23 other names and faces. I looked back at Miranda for help, but I saw that she was currently occupied with Jon who had filled my seat. "We've missed you! Where have you been!? You're our good luck charm!"

I laughed as he let me go and passed me on to Burish. "I've been at the games! You didn't see me? I just haven't been sitting on the bench."

"Don't tell me that you've been sitting in the nose bleeds." Sharp said as he pulled me into his arms, crushing my ribs.

"The game looks very different from up there." I said as I recalled myself straining to see the puck.

"Come on guys, let her go." Kopecky practically pried Campbell off of me. "Kaner's waiting for her."

"He can wait all day." I snapped as I hugged Hossa awkwardly because he wouldn't hug me back. They were all betraying me.

"Em, he just wants to apologize." Seabrook took my arm as he started to lead me towards the United Center doors.

"Yeah well I don't want to hear it." I turned around to have my path blocked by Keith. Did these guys have to do everything together?

"Too bad. This is for all of us." He practically carried me to the doors. "Do you want us to win the Stanley Cup or not?" Way to put the pressure on me.

"Fine," I sighed as I stood in front of the door. "But just remember that this is for the team, not for him."

"Yep, whatever you say." Keith threw me over his shoulder as Seabrook opened the doors, and carried me out to the arena.

"Hey! Put me down!" I punched his back which made absolutely no progress. We entered the ice arena and he threw me down on the bench. "Thank you." I pulled my hair into a messy ponytail and looked up to see Patrick skating around the rink. It sort of looked strange to me because he was just dressed in his normal clothes. I heard the heavy door echo through the empty arena as Keith and Seabrook left us alone.

I sat there with my arms crossed for a minute, just watching him skate around. It reminded me of when we were kids and would just ice skate for fun together. Spend hours just skating around the empty rink. No screaming fans, or broken hearts, or drama. Yeah, I could definitely go back to a time without drama. "I haven't got all day you know."

He skated to a stop at the center of the rink. "I called you here because I wanted to tell you something."

"Okay," I said harshly as I got up and walked to the edge of the ice. "Get on with it."

"I-um." He twiddled his thumbs and stared at them intently as he spoke. "I broke up with Amber."

"Oh." I waited for him to continue. I had known him long enough to know that was not was he had planned on saying.

"Yeah I," He rubbed his forehead as he skated a little closer to me. "I found her with another guy."

"I'm sorry Patrick." Even though I was angry with him, no one deserves to be cheated on. Especially not him.

"Don't be." He waved in my direction as if dismissing what I had said. "I set them up." He must've seen my look of confusion because he continued. "What? I couldn't leave her empty handed when I broke her heart." Despite myself, I smiled. He smiled crookedly back at me.

"Now what did you really want to tell me?" He laughed slightly under his breath.

"You really know me don't you?" He shook his head as I returned to my angry facade. "Okay, I know that you probably hate me right now and I don't blame you. I would hate me too. But just hear me out." He studied my features before continuing. "I am really, really, really sorry. I know that you don't believe me but I mean it. I just want to know what it is going to take for you to forgive me because," He took a deep breath. "Because I've been in love with you for as long as I can remember and that is not how treat someone that you love." I felt my face soften at his words. "I will do anything to make things right again between us, even if you don't feel the same way. I miss my best friend." He skated right up to me and I let him take my hand in his. "I miss you." I stood there, staring at him for a minute, letting his words sink in. This couldn't really be happening. I was dreaming. "Emma. please say something," He begged.

I slowly took the CD out of my bag and held it in my hands before handing it to him. "Listen to this."

* * *

Patrick's POV

"Kaner?" Madden slowly opened his front door and rubbed his tired eyes as he greeted me. "What are you doing here?"

"Do you have a Walkman that I can borrow?" I stepped into his house as he opened the door wider for me.

"You're kidding me right?" He looked at me skeptically. "Do you know what time it is?"

"I know, but it's an emergency." I looked around his house. It looked a lot different without all of the pink decorations from his daughter's party scattered everywhere.

"A music listening emergency?" He asked me sarcastically. "Why couldn't you just buy one? Or ask Tazer for one?"

"Please, Tazer is too young to own a Walkman." I ignored the first question, to embarrassed to admit that I hadn't thought to buy one.

He shot me a look before walking out of the room to go grab it. "Here, but I want it back ASAP."

"Is it alright if I just listen to it here?" I asked, already walking to go sit in his chair.

"Yeah, fine but I'm going to bed," he mumbled as he left me alone in the room.

"Thanks!" I called after him. I twirled the CD in my hands before putting it in the player. I slid the headphones on and waited.

There was a lot of static, but no music. For a minute, I thought that this was all some elaborate prank. Some sick joke that she had made to get back at me. This is exactly why normal guys do not tell girls how they feel. This is exactly why. "Hey Patrick," Emma's voice flooded through the headphones. "If you are listening to this, it is because of one of two reasons." She paused so that I could let this sink in. "The first being that I told you how I really feel. That I am really in love with you and have been since probably the 5th grade." I felt myself blush as she said this. "The second being that you found this in my room and were so curious that you decided to steal it." I laughed quietly to myself. I could almost picture her sitting cross legged in the lilac bedroom that she slept in at her foster parents house, just down the street from mine. Her hair pulled back into a sloppy ponytail as she spoke into the microphone.

"I am going to say that the second one is correct because I will never, ever be brave enough to tell you how I really feel." The fifteen-year-old Emma took a deep breath before continuing. "So this is a CD that I have created from my favorite songs that I wrote about you. Notice that I said favorite. I have probably written hundreds but I would rather you not listen to the bad ones." I crinkled my eyebrows in confusion. She never told me that she liked to write songs. "Here it goes. I hope that you like them, even if you don't feel the same way as me." I started to listen and fell asleep to the sound of Emma's voice.