Je t'aime, tu sais?

"Yeah?" Patrice asked, making eye contact with Jamie. He tugged the tongue of his old skate tightened around her small ankle. She blushed and nodded. The last he had skated on these skates had been during his final season with the Providence Bruins AHL team. He had saved them in his closet as a reminder of his time well spent; he had brought them today as encouragement to continue to spend his time wisely. As a person who wasn't particularly superstitious, he felt as if passing the skates onto Jamie--even if just for a few minutes--and even unknowingly to her--he may be able to work some magic.
"Oui." She said softly. She lifted her leg from in between his pad-clad knees and gently placed her newly fitted foot onto the rubber flooring in the locker room. "How much time do we have left to skate?"
Patrice stood and offered her his hand. "About fifteen minutes, but there's no rush. No one really wants to skate with all their loved ones in public though, and in fifteen minutes they'll start allowing people into the stands."
"Fair enough," Jamie said, rising. She was unsure of whether or not to let go of Patrice's hand but he never loosened his grip as they ascended out of the locker room and onto the players' bench.
"I assume you skate, being from Quebec," he laughed. "Am I right?"
"A bit," Jamie laughed, gingerly stepping onto the ice. "My family preferred skiing in the winter, though."
Patrice hopped backwards and took her other hand in his. He was very aware of his teammate's eyes, and even some of the stares from their wives and regular girlfriends. He didn't tell anyone besides Milan and Andy that he had invited her; in fact, besides those two and Marchy and Segs, no one knew Patrice had an outside interest. Immediately, he heard the familiar skates of his linemen, hurrying alongside him.
"No way!"
"You're here!"
"We didn't know Bergy invited you!"
"Thanks for the head's up, pal!" Marchy and Tyler greeted them in their own special way. They were skating side by side with Jamie, Marchy to her right, and Tyler to her left. Patrice rolled his eyes and smiled apologetically at her across from him.
"Don't you guys have your own friends to skate with?" he tried.
"Ooh."
"Harsh," Tyler said, dragging out the "sh" at the end of the word.
"You better be nice to him or he'll leave you hanging on your Beta move at faceoff!" Marchy yelled, looping away from the couple and beckoning Tyler to come with him.
"I won't be able to see the puck through all my tears!" The young winger called over his shoulder, mock hurt.

Jamie noticed the blush that tinted Patrice's cheeks. He gingerly released her hands and looped around so he was skating alongside her.
"Thanks for coming though, really," he said, softly smiling. As they made their way around the rink they waved to Guill and Gretta.
"Of course; thanks for inviting me--and for letting me skate; it's really quite a treat." A few beats of silence passed between them as they exchanged smiles and bashfully looked away from one another. Patrice waved off a few confused looks from some team mates and even made awkward eye contact with Claude himself, who ended up smiling and nodding.
After a circuit or two around the rink, talking picked up again.
"Do you get nervous about these big types of game?" She asked, looking up at him.
"Like this being the Winter Classic? No, not really," he shrugged, aware of her eyes on him. "To be honest, I was more nervous about whether or not you were going to come."
"But why wouldn't I come? You invited me and I said yes..."
"I don't know; I was worried maybe I was being too forward, or something, or, I dunno," he laughed nervously. Jamie smiled at him, noticing team mates grouping and discussing them, every now and then taking looks at her and Patrice. She felt really hot and was nervous. Had he told his team about her? If he had, what would he have said? 'Oh, I have a friend that's coming; we kissed one'; it all sounded so dumb. Had he NOT told them about her, though? Is that worse?
"I dunno, it's stupid. I'm really stupid about these things," he was blushing still and had broken eye contact with her, looking down at his skates and shaking his head and laughing to himself.
"What? No, Patrice," Jamie laughed, touching his arm as they skated side by side. "It was really sweet of you to invite me. I'm glad you did." She nodded as he met eyes with her. "I'm really glad you did," She smiled and bit her lip, looking away from him, incredibly conscious of the other skaters watching them, probably debating who she was.
She felt a warm finger touch the side of her hand, gently asking for accommodation. She looked up at him and they shared a smile and locked hands, looping around the rink before the big game.
He was a good hand-holder.