Melting On Ice

"Emma, I am trusting you with my baby here." I rolled my eyes at Dave Bolland. "I swear I love her more then life."

"Alright, alright I get the point." I attempted to grab the keys from his hands but he pulled it back just out of my reach.

"I'm not kidding." He looked me square in the eyes. "I will not hesitate to kill you. If there is even a breath mark on her-"

"Relax," I patted him on the shoulder, unsuccessfully trying to calm him. "I'm hardly going around the block." He reluctantly released the keys into my hand, flinching as he did so.
"There you go." I used a voice similar to one that you would use with a toddler. "I promise it will all be okay."

He scowled at me. "One. Breath. Mark."

"Thanks Bolly!" I got out of the locker room as fast as I could before he changed his mind. I typed in the address that Derek had texted me that morning into the GPS. As I drove, I realized that I did feel a little bad for using Patrick to get Derek's number, but he was asking for it. The only thing was that now Patrick was out for revenge and I was afraid of what was going to happen to me. The GPS brought me up to the opening gates of a mansion sized house. I pulled up to a man in a booth who seemed to be controlling who went in and out.

"Excuse me Ms." His sunglasses slid down his face as he spoke. "Can I help you?"

"Um, yeah." I scrolled through my phone looking for the text with address on it. "This stupid GPS must be broken. Could you tell me where this address is?" I showed him my phone.

He squinted his eyes as he read it, then handed it back to me. "You're at the right place. Who are you looking for?"

"Um Derek?" I said it as more of a question then a statement.

"Yes, Mr. Berilli mention that he was expecting someone. Proceed." I slowly made my way forward as the gates started to rise. Derek was waiting for me at the top of the driveway on the porch.

"Nice place." I said, as he slid into the passenger seat.

"Nice ride." He looked around the small car quickly before getting buckled.

"It's actually Bolly's" I corrected him playfully.

"Bolly as in Dave Bolland?" His voice rose with excitement like a little kids would.

I laughed slightly. "Yep, I almost wasn't able to come pick you up. He was...reluctant to let me drive it."

"I can see why," he mumbled, scanning the car one more time. We sat there in awkward silence for a few minutes. I noticed that he was only in shorts and a T-shirt despite the chilly weather.

I searched my mind for some small talk. "Where are you from?"

"Here originally," He gestured out the window to the city as he spoke. "But actually right now I'm going to college in Georgia. I'm back home on summer break." I nodded. "How about you?"

"Buffalo." Luckily the ride back to the United Center was a short one.

"So that's how you know Patrick Kane." I laughed under my breath at the use of his full name.

I nodded slightly. "You can call him Patrick you know. Or the guys like to call him-"

"Kaner" he interrupted me. "But I think I'll stick to Patrick Kane." He winked at me and I forced a smile. Derek followed me into the arena when we finally reached the United Center. The entire team was already on the ice, practicing slap shots to Niemi.

"Bolland!" I yelled. When he looked up, I jangled his keys in my hand.

"Is she alright?" I laughed right out loud at the concern in his voice.

"Just perfect, right Derek?" He nodded, speechless.

He narrowed his eyes at me but said, "Just throw the keys in my bag." I nodded and ran back to the locker room, leaving Derek to fend for himself with a bunch of hockey players. While I was in there, I grabbed my skates and some extra ones for Derek.

When I came back out, he was staring at the guys intently. I tried to plan it so that he would get to watch some of the practice but I wouldn't have to sit through all of it and we could just get straight to the meet and greet. We didn't really have much conversation because I wanted to let him get the experience. That and whenever I said something to him he only gave me a halfhearted response. Maybe bring him to a sporting event was not such a good idea after all.

When practice was finally over I started to tie up my skates. I saw Patrick watching me but he was still ticked at me so I knew there was no chance of him helping.

Sharp was the first one off the ice and he walked directly over to Derek. I braced myself for the embarrassment he was going to cause me.

"Hi, I'm Patrick Sharp." As Derek shook his hand, he looked up at him in awe. "Hey Kaner!" Out of the corner of my eye I saw Patrick look up. "You've got some competition! This guys pretty hot!" My face turned bright red as I ran over to them before he could say anything else.

"Sorry about that Derek, sometimes he forgets to take his medications and-" Sharp punched me gently in the shoulder.

"Don't you have to go change now Sharpie?" I mouthed a silent "thank you" to Jon as he came up behind us. "I'm Jonathan Toews. Nice to meet you." I seriously thought that Derek was going to pass out. Everyone on the team took turns saying hello except for Patrick who just walked right by. I swear, sometimes I think that he's the younger one.

I handed Derek his skates. "When your ready, I'll be out on the ice."

"Are we allowed out there?" I nodded and laughed before stepping out onto the rink.
He hesitantly stepped out onto the ice, holding the wall for balance. As I skated past, I watched him skate extremely slowly, never letting go of the wall.

"Come on out here!" I skated to a stop in the middle.

His shook his head quickly. "No way! I'm going to fall flat on my face. I usually like to save the embarrassing moments for the second date."

I smiled at him. "Come on just try." He slowly let go of the wall and fell the second he moved his foot.

I couldn't help but giggle as I skated over to help him. I let him hold my hand as we skated around so he wouldn't fall again.

We skated and talked for about an hour before he checked his phone and said, "I really should get going now." I actually felt my face fall as he said this. I was having a great time.

"But I had a really good time today." He smiled. "Probably the best time of my life." Suddenly he closed his eyes and started to lean towards me. Was he really trying to kiss me? There was a loud, awkward cough and we both turned our heads to see Patrick sitting in the bleachers.

My heart was racing from being startled. Thank you Patrick I thought to myself.

"Well um bye." He patted my arm awkwardly.

"Bye" I whispered, giving him a small wave,

"It was nice seeing you again." Derek said to Patrick and he hardly nodded back in response.

"Come on." Patrick yelled to me when Derek had left. "Coach Q says it's time to go." I started to slowly skate to the other end of the rink, but slipped on my lace, that had come undone, and fell flat on my face. Patrick smirked to himself. "I knew that was going to happen."
* * *
"This is so dumb" Patrick said to me as he threw his sleeping bag into the tent.

"Don't be such a party pooper." I hopped inside and set up his bag next to mine. "It's going to be fun."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, because it's so much more fun to sleep in a tent in my living room then in the nice comfy bed in the next room over."

I scowled at his sarcasm. "The only thing that I learned in my few years of girl scouts is that camping builds bonds."

He slowly unzipped the tent and laid down next to my bundled up body. He laughed under his breath. "Your going to be dyeing in there."

"Not if you keep the AC this high." I shivered, enhancing my point. "It's like a meat-locker in here."

He rolled his eyes. "We have a game tomorrow and I swear, if I have a stiff neck-"

"Come on, we're supposed to be bonding!" I interrupted him.

"Fine," he leaned on his elbow so that he was facing me. "What do you want to talk about?"

I tapped my chin with my finger, pretending to think of something even though I had already planned what I was going to say. "Well, first I want to know why your mad at me."

He snorted. "That's easy, because you used me to get some guys number."

"Alright," I said slowly. "And why does this make you angry?"

He sighed. "Emma, I really don't feel like playing Dr. Phil right now. I need to get some rest. In my own bed."

"Fine," I said, rolling over so I didn't have to look at him. "Let's be mad at each other the rest of our lives and never talk again." Even in the dark, I could tell he rolled his eyes. He was quiet for a long time and I heard his breathing get heavy. What a jerk. He actually fell asleep.

"Emma?" Or maybe not.

"Yeah?" I didn't move, afraid that anything might stop him from speaking.

"Do you like him? I mean really like him?" I already knew that he was talking about Derek.

I shrugged. "Sure I guess. I mean he's nice and everything. And we had fun." When he didn't respond I said, "But I don't know. It was only our first date." He was again silent but I wanted to keep talking. "Do you really like Amber?"

It was his turn to shrug. "I don't know. I don't know anything about relationships." I heard him scratch his head quickly. He always did that when he was nervous. "It's just - I don't know."
I rolled over so I could see his face, He studied me in the dark for a moment. "Do you like her?"

"Well it depends," I propped myself up onto my elbow. "Do you want the truth or a lie?"

He pursed his lips, as if actually considering it. "The truth."

"Then no."

He raised his eyebrows. "Not even a little?"

"Not at all." He rolled onto his back. "Are you mad?"

He shook his head. "No."

I crinkled my eyebrows. "Why not?"

"Cause I absolutely hate Derek." I laughed quietly to myself.

"Any particular reason?" He paused, thinking about it.

"Cause he's not right for you." He finally said. We didn't talk anymore after that.
* * *
I was startled awake by the blasting ringtone of my cell phone. I went to reach for it but found myself restricted by Patrick's arms wrapped around me. I was even more surprised to find my arms draped around his neck. I gently removed his arm and sat up. "Yeah that feels good" I whispered sarcastically, referring to my very stiff neck. "Hello?" I glanced over at Patrick to make sure I didn't wake him.

"Good morning beautiful."

"Derek?" I unzipped the tent and quietly walked over to Patrick's kitchen.

"Expecting someone else?" He asked jokingly. "Just wondering if you wanted to grab some breakfast before you have to go to school."

"Um" I glanced at the clock. 6:30 am. "Sure."

"Cool. I'll come pick you up in a few." I snapped the phone shut and went to go get ready. When I finished I grabbed a sticky note from the desk in Patrick's room.

"[i'Hey Patrick, went to go get breakfast with Derek. Text me when you wake up. Love, Emma"

I stuck the note on my empty sleeping bag and checked one last time to make sure he was still asleep. I grabbed my purse and right before I closed the door, I heard the faint sound of paper ripping.