Just a Kiss

“Sky! Just come here, none of the guys are going to hurt you.”

Everyone watched on silently, their faces decorated with amused smirks as Martin St Louis attempted to drag his cousin out onto the ice. A flash of blonde, curly hair catches my eye and I observe her as she plops down onto the player's bench and childishly sticks her tongue out at Martin. Her legs seem to go on for days, and her movements seem excruciatingly elegant, like a gazelle. The first thing that catches my eye is her hair, it's not an obnoxiously bright blonde, but more of a softer shade. Long curls fall down to the middle of her back, and I can tell they're natural when I notice how healthy the hair looks, not fried from constantly using a curling iron. She gazes out towards my direction, and her blue eyes meet mine, they're a colour I've never seen before, a navy blue colour with specks of grey in them. She offers me an ample smile, the corners of her eyes crinkle slightly, and it's infectious because I soon find myself returning the smile

Martin pouts, “What? You don't want to race me?”

She smirks, “I already know I would beat you, old man. Isn't it time for your nap anyways?”

He scowls at her, “I may be old, but at least I'm not as old as Dwayne!”

The goalie's head instantly snaps up and glares menacingly at Martin. Practice is pretty normal after the two cousins' quarrel, and every now and then the blonde girl makes a comical quip that nearly has the whole team laughing. Coach Guy just has us do regular warmups, and decides to give us the last 10 minutes to do whatever we want.

“Hey Victor!” Steven laughs when I skate in front of the bench, “Catch!”

Maybe if we were playing in an actual game, I would have made an endeavour to at least deflect the slap shot he sends my way, but I decide that I don't want to risk an injury, and I turn away from the direction the puck is flying towards, narrowly escaping it in the process.

A few gasps resonate throughout the ice rink, and I straightaway realize that I've done something fallacious. I glance up at Steven to find him staring at something behind me. I turn around as quickly as I can to find the blonde haired girl doubled over in pain, her small hands are cupped securely over her face and I can see blood dribbling down her chin and onto the white hoodie she is wearing.

I open my mouth to apologize, but my tongue abruptly feels dry and guilt consumes me from head to toe.

“I am so sorry,” I finally stutter out. I don't get a chance to say another word because Martin pushes past me, a cloth with the Lightning logo on it dangles precariously from his hand.

“Oh,” she finally looks up as Martin pulls her hands from her face, trying to get a better look at the injury.

“Am I bleeding?!”

Some of the guys snicker at her ridiculous question; blood is gushing from her broken nose.

“No, no, no,” She's suddenly hysterical as she realizes the warm liquid running down her face is, in fact, blood.

“Calm down Sky, it's just blood.” Martin tries to comfort her.

“I don't do blood! It smells nasty!” She wails, and I try to make sense of what she's saying.

I didn't even know blood had a certain scent to it.

Martin grabs her elbow and pulls her off the bench, her knees wobble and I wonder if she's going to pass out right there.

“Jesus Christ, I leave you guys alone for not even 10 minutes, and I come back to find out someone got a puck to the nose? What the fuck is going on?” Coach G shakes his head in disappointment when he sees Sky nearly being carried to the team doctor, complaining about having to get stitches.

“It was all Steven's fault!” Ryan Malone shouts.

Steven's eyes widen in shock as everyone snitches on him, “It was Victor's fault for not deflecting the puck!”

I roll my eyes, “It's your fault for shooting that puck in the first place. I was right in front of her for Christ's sake!”

“Alright, alright, calm down boys. Go to the locker room and change, practice is tomorrow at 9”

The guys groan, but file off the ice and make their ways into the locker room. I step off the ice, and ignore the burning in my calves from the warm ups. Out of the corner of my eye I see a bright green object on the bench. As I step closer to the bench I realize that it's a cell phone, decorated by one of those obnoxiously colourful silicone cases. I pick the phone up, figuring that Sky must have dropped it when she got hit with the puck. I tug my skates off and carry them by the laces in one hand, the cell phone in the other. This is only my third time being in the arena, so when I find the office that the team's doctor resides in, I consider it a victory.

The door is already cracked open, and when I peek in I see Sky sitting on the patient's table. Her head is tilted backwards, and an ice pack is pressed tightly to her swollen nose.

“Where did Martin go?” I ask bashfully, apologizing again when I startle her.

She observes me wearily, like I'm going to high stick her or shoot another puck at her face.

“Went to get changed... whatcha got there?” She gestures toward her phone in my hand, but she can barely see it since my fingers swallow the device.

I step forward hesitantly, “It's your phone, you must have dropped it.”

I continue to walk towards her and pause when I'm only a few inches away from her. I hold her phone out to her, and she graciously takes it.

“Thank you.” She says politely.

“I really am sorry about your nose, if I would have known that puck was aiming for you I would have blocked it for you.” I can't seem to stop apologizing to her.

“Stop saying sorry,” she gives me a reassuring smile, “It wasn't your fault.”

I nod lamely, and we stay quiet for a few awkward moments. The doctor is busy typing away on the computer, but I don't even notice him.

“Do you mind if I look at it?” I gesture towards her nose.

Her cheeks redden, but she obliges and pulls the ice from the swollen flesh, “Is it really that bad?”

The gash that blood had been gushing from has been sealed shut with stitches and is covered by a bandage, it's incredibly swollen, and the skin is an angry red colour.

I bite my lip, “Is not so bad.” My English cracks horribly, and she can instantly tell that I'm lying.

“You still look pretty, people are too busy looking at your eyes to even notice your nose.” I feel embarrassed as soon as the unexpected remark leaves my mouth.

“Thank you.” She whispers timidly.

Her face scrunches up, and she goes to rub her nose but I hastily grab her hand, and place it in her lap.

“I know it burns and itches, but trust me, the last thing you want to do is try to scratch it. If you do that you're setting yourself up for a world of pain.”

She groans dramatically, “This is going to be a pain in the ass.”

I laugh, “The worst is trying to sleep and breathe out through your mouth.”

“I probably won't get any sleep!” She pouts, and it's quite endearing actually.

I lean forward, and with the most precise accuracy, I lightly run my fingertips over the bandage. She flinches, but relaxes after a few moments. Her eyes stare thoughtfully into mine, maybe wondering why I was being so respectable to her when I didn't even know her very well.

My fingertips trail over to her cheek, and they slowly gravitate towards her jaw line. She sits still, and a smile slowly spreads across her face. Like a fly in a spiderweb, I'm caught easily by her charms.

“You ready to go to the pharmacy Sky?”

We both jump apart promptly as Martin enters the room unannounced.

“Y-Yeah, I'm ready.” She answers, obviously flustered by the abrupt intrusion.

She hops off the table, and even though she's 5'9 or 5'10, I easily tower over her.

She stands on her toes, and presses her lips to the corner of my mouth. She doesn't seem to care that Martin is watching with an amused expression.

“Thank you for bringing my cell phone back.” She whispers in my ear, and her hot breath sends a pleasant chill down my spine.

She turns around and exits the room with Martin, leaving me, and my frenzied heart all alone.

I press my fingers against the corner of my mouth, where her pink lips had come into contact with, and unconsciously smile to myself as the skin tingles in the most pleasurable way possible.

'Calm yourself down, it was just a kiss.'