Slip and Fall

Michael closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “It’s not fair,” he mutters, looking at Allie with glassy eyes. He stills his feet and lets Allie knot his shoelaces. “Everyone else can.”

“Oh, Michael,” Allie coos, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll get it eventually. It just takes practice.”

Michael snaps his eyes open, and he slams his hands on the metal bench. “But I practice all the time! I do, I do! I still can’t get it.”

Allie tugs Michael’s jacket together and zips it up. “Don’t worry, Michael. Worse comes to worse we can buy you velcro sneakers again,” she teases.

Michael crosses his arms but there is a smile tugging at his lips. He falls into Allie, hugging her tightly. “Love you.”

She squeezes him back. “I love you too, Tiger.” She lets go and stands up, grabbing his hand. “Ready to leave?” she asks, picking up Michael’s hockey bag with her free hand.

Michael nods his head in agreement and he looks to the door. Allie catches how his eyes go wide, and she barely has enough time to take a breath before Michael is off and running, dragging her with him. His smile is spreading and he’s already shouting a hello to the two men waiting by the door.

“You guys won!” Michael all but screams, letting go of Allie’s hand to clap his own and jump up and down. “You won! You won!”

Allie recognizes the two men as the players from before, the ones who kindly talked to Michael during the game. They were changed now, out of their uniforms, carrying duffel bags with what Allie guesses are their uniforms. The one who she thinks was called Ryan is wearing a leather jacket, hanging open to show an iconic, tourist t-shirt. The other man is grinning down at Michael, putting his hand out for a high five.

“Yeah we did!” he says, and Michael hits his hand. “First game we won all season.”

Michael’s grin stretches. “I’m Michael.”

“Tom,” the man replies. “And this is Ryan from before.”

The man with the leather jacket gives a sort of half wave. “Hi, Michael,” he says, and then glances down at his phone. He blinks at the screen before looking out the door.

Michael seems not to care; he just turns his attention back to Tom. “We should be friends,” he smiles. “But Allie’s bad at making friends, so…um, I’ll do it for her!” He tugs on Allie’s hand and holds it out for Tom to shake. He whispers, loudly to Allie, “Shake his hand and introduce yourself.”

Allie blushes all kinds of colors, but holds her hand out. “Allie.”

Tom is smirking as he grips her hand. “Tom.”

“See, the thing is,” Michael begins, ready to explain everything to Tom. “Allie doesn’t have a lot of friends because she doesn’t talk to a lot of people much, except my mom. She talks to my mom a lot, but I think we could be friends. Right Allie?” he asks, turning to her.

Allie can’t say anything except yes, because Michael doesn’t really understand how embarrassing his speech was. He honestly thinks he is doing her a favor, and his honesty is the only thing that is keeping her from screaming.

Michael launches into a play-by-play recap of the game with Tom, who doesn’t seem to mind. He goes along with it, letting Michael babble on, agreeing with him and adding in his own commentary. It’s Ryan who pulls Allie into their own conversation.

“You like Palahniuk?” he asks, pointing to the book resting inside Michael’s open hockey bag. The cover is peaking through, just between the teeth of the zipper. She’s surprised he recognized it.

Allie gives him a weak, unsure smile. “I just started getting into him, so…”

Ryan tweaks his lips up at the corners. “Read Invisible Monsters. It’s the best book, like, ever.”

Allie nods and Ryan’s still smiling at her. His brown eyes are bright, almost twinkling in the light of the rink. He pulls his jacket closer around him, and joins Michael’s conversation.

They’re laughing when a woman walks in, blonde hair ruffled from the wind outside. Tom and Ryan turn to her, and Tom launches into an explanation before her eyes can narrow.

“Z! Meet my new friends Allie and Michael,” Tom introduces, making a gesture to them. “Allie, Michael this is Elizabeth, but we call her Z for short.”

Z closes her hand around Ryan’s and smiles slightly. “Hi,” she says coldly. She turns to Ryan, saying, “Ready to go?”

She’s already pulling Ryan away, but Ryan throws a quick goodbye over his shoulder.

Tom rolls his eyes. “I should go, they’re kind of my ride home.”

“When’s your next game?” Michael asks, already excited again.

Tom thinks about it. “Maybe next week, I’m not a hundred percent sure, though.”

Michael doesn’t care, because he turns to Allie and asks, “Can we go?”

Allie lets out a small laugh. “We’ll see, Michael, we’ll see.”

“It was nice meeting you,” Tom says, before turning and leaving.

As Allie and Michael leave the building and head to her car, Michael swings their linked hands back in forth. “Tom is so cool!”