Sacrifices

A few weeks had past. Livia saw Tyler just about every other day. Their schedules were both pretty hectic but they both made the effort to see one another. Livia laughed hard at Tyler when he said at least they 'work together' at the Garden. She really enjoyed spending time with him. She admitted to him that she thought all hockey players were pompous dicks and she never gave them the time of day, but he was different. He was as normal as he could be, given his career path. They had a good time together. Livia was headed from the restaurant straight to the rink for practice. Tyler was meeting her there later that night. He was coming home from a long away game stint. She hadn't seen him since he left four days ago. She watched the news each night to keep up with the games. Her schedule didn't allow her to actually watch them. The Bruins had won only one game and lost two. She knew Tyler would be a little miffed.

She skated around the ice, warming up, and waiting for her coach. She couldn't wait to see Tyler later and show him that she could finally hit her triple axel flawlessly during her routine. She still didn't get why she had so much trouble, but was glad to finally have mastered it. Sometimes when Tyler was done with practice, he would come down and watch her practice. He said he liked watching her skate. At first she thought that was weird, but then she enjoyed having him there. When her coach was angry with her or she was frustrated, she would look over to where Tyler was sitting. He would try and make her laugh or just smirk at her and it would instantly make her feel better. After her coach left for the night they would sometimes skate together. Just goofing around and having fun on the ice. Livia was so focused on being perfect and getting ready for nationals, that she forgot how fun and how much she loved skating.

Livia and her coach were planning out a new routine to work on when he walked in to the skating rink. They were arguing over song choice. Her coach was from Sweden and very old school. He wanted to stick to their usual music choices. Livia wanted to switch it up for once and try something different. She was trying to argue her point to no avail. When her coach got frustrated with her a lot of times he’d start cursing in Swedish. It always made her laugh. He began cursing and Livia skated to face away from him and stifled a giggle. That’s when she saw Tyler standing on the other side of the rink. He locked eyes with her then smirked and looked at his feet. She let out a squeal and started skating over to him. It was the longest time since they'd met that they hadn't seen each other. It was only four days but she missed him. He jumped over the barrier into the hockey bench to meet her. "Hi!" she said excitedly. Her cheeks were flushed from racing around the rink. "Hey!" he said back at her. Before they could say anything else, her coach motioned her over. She told him they were done for the night and that she'd just be a second.

Tyler sat on the bench and waited for her to finish up. His heart had raced when he saw her again. While he was on his road trip if he wasn't thinking about hockey he was thinking about her. They texted while he was gone but it just wasn't the same as seeing her all the time. She looked beautiful today. Her makeup and hair were done. Usually if she is just skating all day she didn't wear makeup. She didn't need to. Tyler thinks she looks the prettiest that way. He watched as she said goodbye to her coach and skated back over to him. She was grinning from ear to ear. "How was your trip?" she said making a sad face. He knew she was aware that the team hadn't done so well. He shrugged his shoulders. He didn't like showing how frustrated he actually got about losing games. "I'm just glad to be home." He stated matter of factly. They were both silent for a moment. Livia broke the silence with a high pitched noise. "Oh! I have something to show you Tyler!" she said excitedly. "ready?" she asked him. "Yes!" he replied matching her excitement. She skated out onto the open ice and stopped. She began to skate around the rink and directly into a butterfly jump; skated a little more then worked her way into a haircutter spin variation. Tyler recognized this part of her routine. He'd seen her do it a ton of times before. He couldn’t help but be mesmerized by her. She was so graceful on the ice. So opposite of him. Tyler knew that this is the part when she picks up speed to do an axel. When he left her and her coach were arguing about changing it form a triple to a double because of the trouble she was having. He watched as she took flight in the air and as she spun he counted. She spun three and a half times. She landed perfectly on the ice seconds later. He had never seen her land it before. As she finished, he threw his hands up in the air in triumph. He knew Livia had a very hard routine to learn for her competition. Everything else she had mastered, except that jump. He was so proud of her.

Livia glided back over to him. He held out his hand for a massive high five and she giggled and raised her hand to meet his. "That was amazing!" He said. She blushed and thanked him. Livia explained how she took in extra practices this week and tried to have fun with it, instead of being so serious and she finally hit the landing one night. She hasn't messed it up since. "You know what this means...” Tyler said. She rolled her eyes instantly knowing where he was headed. "Shootout!" He yelled and jumped off the bench. For the past two weeks Tyler has been trying to get Livia to play hockey with him. Livia said no about a million times until finally she made a promise to him. When she landed the triple axel she would play with him. She was hoping he would forget. "Fine!" she gave in. He ran off down the tunnel to go grab some extra gear. He came back with his skates, two helmets, two sticks, and a puck. "It's just a shootout, not an actual game." he stated just to ease her mind.

Livia thought it was cute how excited he was about it. She had good hand eye coordination and he agreed to go a little easier on her. He was shooting first because she had home field advantage and wanted to go second. Livia grabbed her helmet and goalie stick and positioned herself in front of the net. She imagined how silly she looked and giggled to herself. What was a figure skater doing in a goalie net? Tyler stood at center ice and began to slowly move the puck. He veered off to the left. She watched his eyes for a second to see if he was going to fake her out. He didn't try anything fancy and shot the puck gently off the left side and it slid past her. She almost stopped it. She could tell Tyler was going easy on her, but she had a surprise for him.

It was her turn to shoot now. Before she got really serious about figure skating, Livia played hockey. When her Dad noticed that she had a knack for being on the ice he thought hockey would be her sport. She played for about four years. Once her Dad realized she wanted to figure skate instead, he gave up on her. This would be the first time she tried to play since she was fifteen. She would definitely be rusty, but she was going to try and impress Tyler. She stood at center ice for a moment planning her moves while Tyler set up in goal. Once he signaled he was ready she circled back to pick up momentum and then skated toward the puck. She began shifting the puck from side to side on her stick while picking up speed. Halfway to the net she spun in a fast circle taking the puck with her until she faced Tyler again. As she approached the net she leaned to her right and then backhanded the puck right past Tyler. Tyler just stood there. He didn't even try to make a play on the puck. He slowly lifted his helmet up and looked at her with a serious expression. "Where did you learn to do that?" he asked her as a smile formed on his face. "I may have played some hockey back in the day." She said casually but turned away from him so he didn't see her start to laugh. He skated to catch up with her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa...wait you played hockey? How come you never said anything?" "It must have slipped my mind." she joked. "It was only a few years. Those are the only moves I have." Tyler was flabbergasted. He just stared at her for a moment. "What?" she asked. "Nothing!" Tyler said. They both had smirks on their faces. "Now you just have to teach me some figure skating moves..." "I could" she responded. "It would be hard. You don't have a toe pick on your skates." Tyler chuckled "I was just kidding." He could see the wheels start to turn inside her head. "Oh come on!" Livia pushed "It'll be fun!"

Before Tyler could protest, she grabbed him by the hands and dragged him to center ice. He tried to get out of it as much as he could but she wouldn't let him. Hockey players could move on the ice but it was much different than when figure skaters did. Their goal was to get the puck and to keep the other team from getting it. They weren't always graceful in doing so. Livia wanted to show Tyler how to do a doubles spin. He would have protested more but she was so excited to show him that he couldn't. "First you have to put your feet side by side so that your knees are facing out" she instructed. He did as he was told. "Then grab my waist." she continued. "Excuse me?" Tyler said. They were already positioned really close together. He wasn't sure if he could handle this. "Relax, I'm going to do most of the work!" she said. She explained to him what he was supposed to do. She was going to skate to him he was basically going to catch her and then they would both spin simultaneously together. Tyler thought it was a recipe for disaster, but he agreed to try it.

Livia began skating around while Tyler stood at center ice. She gained a little speed and then angled herself towards Tyler. He caught her and they began spinning together briefly until Tyler accidentally tripped her and they crashed down to the ice. Tyler laughed it off but he did not want to look silly in front of her. After much protesting he agreed to try it one more time. He thought it was cute how determined she was to teach him. Livia repeated the same moves across the ice. This time he did not trip her. He held her as they spun together. She was holding onto his shoulders as they made two more rotations in the spin. Her touch drove him crazy. "Yesssss!" she screeched. She was so excited they got it right. Before Tyler could react she had jumped up to hug him. It threw Tyler off his balance and he couldn't stop as they slid towards the boards. They were still spinning as he tried to gain control. Before he could completely, Livia's back gently hit the boards and the momentum pushed Tyler flush against her, trapping her there. "Whoa!" she said as they abruptly stopped moving. "Nice save." "That's that last time I let you teach me anything." Tyler whispered. He was still holding her up against the boards. He didn't want to let her go. "Sorry." she said smiling. She didn't seem to mind that he had her pinned against them. Tyler thought to himself, now or never. He reached up and pushed a lock of hair out of her face. She looked up at him with a questioning look, but before she could say anything, he lowered his lips to hers. He hesitated for a second to see if she would protest but she didn't. Then he kissed her, slowly moving his lips over hers. At first her lips didn't move, but then he felt the grip she had on his shoulders tighten and her lips began moving in sync with his. He never wanted it to stop. He deepened the kiss, moving his lips a little more urgently. He cupped his hand around her face as he felt her tongue dart around the opening of his mouth. All the hair on his arms and neck were standing straight up. It felt like electricity was flowing through his body. They stayed kissing for a minute before he slowly moved his mouth away from hers. Tyler opened his eyes and read her face for a reaction. Her eyes stayed closed for a moment then opened and met his. She looked surprised. Finally she whispered. "Wow." The corner of Tyler’s mouth turned up. "I've been wanting to do that for a while now." he said quietly. "Oh?” She replied. She seemed in a daze not able to fully grasp what had just happened. They both stayed comfortably quiet for a while until Tyler spoke up. "What are you doing tomorrow night?" he asked her. "Just practice." she stated. "Milan's charity event is tomorrow night. It's a casino Night. I was wondering if you would be my date?" he asked her. Tyler wasn't sure were all this boldness was coming from. She thought for a moment then said "I'd love to." Tyler smiled. "good." he replied. "It's getting late. We should probably head out. I'm sure you have to get up early tomorrow." He said as he slowly skated away from her. "You're right" she let out a little yawn. The atmosphere was a little awkward after their kiss. "I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked. "See you tomorrow." he said. As they both went there separate ways out of the rink.