Heartbeat

“You brought us to the igloo?” I asked as we stepped out of the car, suddenly regretting my wardrobe choice. I mean the name itself conjures up an image of some frozen, desolate land—which was what I pictured hockey rinks as. In my mental image of a hockey rink, there was snow and icicles hanging from the ceiling. I suppose that only showed how little experience I had with them.

Ever since I could remember, Mario had invited Alexei and me to hockey games and every time, we declined. Well, Alex actually rarely declined when he was not busy talking to oil executives in the Middle East or gun runners from Nigeria or whatever. I just never showed interest in a bunch of guys pushing a piece of rubber around on the ice with a big stick. Which may be simplifying the game just a tad, but you get the picture.

When Luke invited me to his hockey games, I’ve always found excuses out of it. I had enrolled in so many college courses down at the University of Pittsburgh that with my tougher course load, competing in equestrian events and cheerleading my excuses bore the heavy weight of truth—what once was a lie became reality, I was too busy to see him push that piece of rubber around.

“So what are we going to do at the igloo?” Marc’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I focused my attention back on the two boys as we walked in through the doors. I immediately felt the rush of cool air against my arms, missing the Pittsburgh summer heat already. I put on my jacket and followed them through the hallways into the locker room.

“You made me ride.” Sidney said with a grin and Marc looked at me curiously.

“You were a natural.” I teased as we pushed open the doors of the locker room. Sid went to the back and Marc just shrugged.

“So I figured, since you’ve never seen a hockey game before, you can at least learn to play.” He said, coming back out with skates.

“You’re kidding.” I replied flatly, hearing Marc-Andre laugh in the distance.

“Put these on and take—“ Sid handed me the skates then looked along the wall for a hockey stick. “—take this one.”

I took the equipment gingerly and walked over to a bench, sitting down to put on my skates feeling defeated. After several attempts to tie them I gave up, throwing the laces down impatiently.

“This is hard.” I said and Marc sat next to me on the bench, patting his legs.

“Let me see.” He said and I swung my leg over so that he could tie the skates.

“Awww, little Lily needs her shoes tied for her first day.” He joked and glowered at him.

“Watch it, Fleury. My blades are sharp.” I replied and he motioned for the other leg.

“So do you know how to skate?” Sidney asked, putting his own skates on with ease. Marc and I laughed together at his question.

“That would be a no.” I replied and Sid grinned, standing up and grabbing his own hockey stick before taking the jacket of his Penguins track suit off and handing it to me.

“You might want this, it’s a little cold in there“ he said.

“Thanks.” I said, standing up on my skates. I wobbled and grabbed onto a cubby that was next to me, putting on the jacket. It was ridiculously big on me and you could have probably squeezed in a second person into the jacket. I raised my arms and let them drop, feeling the empty space in the jacket.

“Who are you, the green bean giant? This thing is massive.” I said to Sid and he laughed, shrugging.

“No. I’m just not a member of the lollipop guild.” He replied and Marc laughed.

“I swear to god, if anybody starts singing that song, I’m going to smother you both in your sleep.” I said, moving one foot forward while still holding onto the cubby.

“You’re not going to fall, moron. You’re not even on ice.” Marc said, finishing up lacing his own skates. I let go of the wood easily, balancing on the rubber flooring before following Sid out onto the runway where we stopped before getting onto the ice.

“You ready?” He asked, holding the door open with his free hand. I shook my head.

“Absolutely not.” I replied, not moving forward. He had to be ten kinds of crazy at least if he thought I was going out there.

“Come on, Lily. It won’t be bad. I swear on Wayne Gretzky’s life.” He countered and I just stared at him.

“Who is Wayne Gretzky?” I asked and Sid looked at Marc in disbelief.

“You did not just ask that.” Marc said, giving me a push. I moved onto the ice quickly through force and grabbed onto the boards, feeling the cool glass press against my fingers.

“Let go of the boards, Lil.” Marc said, skating around. I shook my head violently. There was absolutely no freaking way I was going. But then I felt Sidney tug on my jacket—well, his jacket—prying me away. I latched onto him.

“This isn’t funny. I’m going to die.” I said and he turned me around to face him, grabbing both my shoulders.

“You’re not going to die. I’m going to let go of you when I count to five okay?” he replied and I groaned. This wasn’t funny. This was everything but funny.

“One..two…three” he counted and suddenly let go of me, flying away on his skates.

“Hey you said five!”

“Just push off.” He said as I stood there in the middle of the ice, with bare legs and a huge jacket and a hockey stick. It took awhile, maybe a whole minute, but I eventually got up the courage to listen and pushed off, admittedly using my stick to balance. Marc and Sid swung by me, snowing me with their skates. Marc dropped a puck in front of me.

“Try to get it in the goal. I’ll go and try to block it.” He said, skating off to the goal. He put on his gloves in net.

“Are you sure? You don’t have padding.” Sid yelled and I could see Marc-Andre laugh in his net.

“I’m not too worried.” He replied and put a helmet on. I took the stick and placed it near the puck before lifting it up high.

“Wait, no.” Sidney said, coming over by me. He grabbed my arm and we skated a little further back, before he took my arm and maneuvered my hockey stick closer to the puck.

“Okay, pick up the puck and slide it along with you as you skate.”

“Are you joking?” I asked and he grinned.

“Try it.”

“I can barely skate!” I replied and he laughed.

“Okay just, here.” He began, standing behind me to try to help me direct the puck. “Now shoot.” He instructed, moving away from me.

“Wait! You bitches are unfair. I’m going to get gear. I didn’t need it if she was just shooting but you’re helping.” Marc said suddenly, moving away from the net. I shot the puck anyways and it flew to the opposite side of where Marc-Andre was. He looked at it and shook his head, moving back into the locker room.

I skated over gingerly to retrieve the puck, with Sidney following closely behind.

“Okay, this isn’t so bad. Wait, how do you stop?” I asked as I neared the boards, my comfort turning into sheer panic. Sidney just grabbed me by the waist, a move that admittedly surprised me. But then he turned me around and I found myself staring up at him.

And then he kissed me.

Right there on the ice, in front of 16,000 empty seats.