Make You Better

“Derick, stop, come on, I’m scared.” I cried out as the man held my hands and skated me across the ice, my knees shaking as I thought about falling and hurting the both of us. “This was a really bad idea, I can’t do this.” I looked up to see the brunette laughing at me, his hands still holding mine. “You’re such an ass.”

“A cute ass!” Mats sang as he quickly skated by us and then cut a quick turn and circled us. Once he had done it a few times, I rolled my eyes and informed the man that he was being a show off. As he laughed at my words, he stopped next to Derick and then quickly gave the man a hip check to the side. As the taller brunette let go of my hands, Mats grabbed them and quickly started to skate backwards, pulling me along with him.

Laughter pushed passed my lips as I watched the scenery around us fly by. “Mats, you’re injured, you can’t do this, this is a bad idea, what if I fall on you! What about your ribs!”

“I’m a professional!” He called out to me as a wide smile appeared on his face. “I won’t let you fall, that’s why I’m teaching you, not Brass.”

“I’m a professional too, you little jerk!” Derick called over to us as he sat down on the bench along the edge of the pond and ran a hand through his messy brown hair. Looking over at me, he mouthed a small sorry and then shot me a wink.

Heart nearly exploding in my chest, I turned away from Derick and went to look at the brunette in front of me when my eyes locked onto the ice moving in front of me. Gasping, I felt my legs keep moving, as they were before to keep up with Mats backwards skating.

“You left me, what the fuck, Mats!” I cried out as my feet started to lose the rhythmic movement that had. Heart racing, I started to feel myself lose balance when the brunette that had abandoned me appeared at my side and wrapped his arm around my waist.

Laughing, he looked over at me, his eyes in line with mine. “You really thought I’d let you fall, huh?” He asked, the twinkle in his hazel eyes causing all of the anger I had for him to fade away. Letting out a sigh as I regained the smooth strides I had down before, I grabbed onto Mats hand still hugging my waist and let some nerves out in a heavy sigh.

“How do you guys do this for a living?”

“I was actually born with ice skates on, it was a international phenomenon.” Mats chuckled as I rolled my eyes and slapped a hand over my face, letting the cold fabric of my glove cover my freezing cheeks.

“You’re so dumb.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Mats sent me a smirk as he let go of my waist and then skated in front of me, keeping his arms out as I continued to skate forward. “Come on, you can do it, just keep the strides.” He looked down at my feet after a few seconds of me trying to keep my composure. When I didn’t fall, and managed to even my heart rate, Mats clapped and let out a celebratory howl as he moved from in front of me and skated next to me

“You’re doing great, Keaton!” Derick called from the bench, his hand waving in the air as I looked over at him and sent him a wide smile. Turning back to the ice, I felt my heart start to pick up when I saw the edge of the pond come close to me.

It was in that moment that I realized I haven’t really learned how to stop. Cursing under my breath, I looked to my side to see Mats off in the middle of the ice, picking up the stick and puck he had abandoned before to come replace Derick in teaching me how to skate.

Groaning, I tried to tilt my skates to the side, and then felt my balance split. In a small fit of nervousness, I decided to lean my body away from the ice, and within a second, I had belly-flopped into a large pile of snow at the edge of the pond. Feeling my body sink into the fluffy frozen water, I let out a heavy sigh; thankful I didn’t fall and slam my head against the hard surface.

Laying there, letting my muscles relax, I rolled over onto my back just in time to see the two men skate over to me, their eyes full of worry and concern. “You let her fall you little shit!” Derick snapped at Mats, his eyes angry as he reached his hand out to me. Taking it, I looked over at Mats and watched as his clenched his jaw and then crossed his arms tightly against his chest.

“Watch it with ‘L’ word, Brass.” Rolling my eyes as Derick pulled me into a seated position. I shook my hand from his and then watched as he turned to his friend and smirked.

“Getting a little temper there, Zucc?”

“I’m five seven, you’re only six inches taller than me, get off your high horse.” Mats snarled, his body turning towards Derick’s. As the two men faced each other, I rolled my eyes and watched as Derick kept pushing Mats buttons, using the words, little, short, tiny, and then petite. When he said that I thought Mats was going to pull his fist back and hit Derick right between the eyes.

Huffing, I pulled my legs into the snow and managed to stand up, the blades of my skates sinking into the dirt. Walking over to the edge of the snow, I reached my hand out and grabbed the back of Derick’s sweatshirt. Pulling on it, I watched as he slid closer to me.

Smiling at the other boy, I pulled Derick’s hood until he had slid back over to the edge of the pond. Giving him another tug, I watched as he hit the edge of the ground and then lost his balance and fell back into the snow, right into the huge pile I had fallen in. As his skates became perpendicular to the ice, Mats let out a howl of laughter and then quickly lifted his hand up to give me a high five.

“Us five foot seven people have to stick together.” I joked and watched as Mats jumped off the ice, pulled me into a tight hug, kissed both of my cheeks, and then sprinted back out onto the ice, heading right for the stick and pucks the boys had brought with them.

Watching the man rattle off shots into a snow bank, I went to ask him if it was a good idea to do that with his broken ribs when I felt a hand grab my own, and with one swift tug, I had fallen back into the snow. Letting out a scream on the way down, I listened as the sound of snow filling up the space around me rush through my head. After that, all I could hear was the muffled sound of Derick’s laughter.

“I’m going to beat you up, Derick!” I snapped as I quickly sat up from the snow and then pounced on the man next to me, my legs straddling him as I pressed my hands into the snow next to his shoulders, letting my long hair create a shield around our faces, blocking out the sun reflecting off of the snow.

As I stared down into his eyes, I watched as his smile winded down into a smirk. “You’re really going to beat up, super man?”

“I might have to take the name back, heroes don’t push girls into snow banks.” I said with a smile, my eyes narrowing as I watched Derick’s hands move from his sides, and land on my hips. As the feeling of his hands on my hip bones tore through my body, I felt my skin start to grow warm under my layers of clothing.

Whispering that he was hurt, he gave me a devilish smile before he quickly threw me into the snow next to him, and then as my head spun from the fast movements, he got back on his feet, pulled me out of the snow, and then picked me up in his arms, holding me bridal style as he stepped onto the ice and started to skate around. A shit-eating grin appeared on his face as I let out a yelp and wrapped my arms tightly around his neck.

“So what’s my name?” He asked as we neared Mats who was setting up the pucks in a line to shoot at the snow.

“Pretty sure it’s asshole.” I snapped; my heart throbbing in my chest as I felt my head rest against his strong shoulders. Looking up at the man, I ran my eyes over his scruffy beard and smooth skin as he rambled something off in French.

Too caught up in the sun making his skin and eyes sparkle, I didn’t realize that the man was speaking to me. Looking down, he pinched his eyebrows to the middle of his forehead and tilted his head to the side. “You there, champ?”

“Hmm, yeah, why?”

Derick rolled his eyes as he carefully set me down on my skates and then held me until I was stable. Giving me a once over he turned to Mats, took the hockey stick, and then handed it to me.

“Ready to become the next Gretzky?”

“Oh, no.” I let out a loud laugh as I pushed off of Derick and let my skates move me a few inches away form the men. “I can barely stand on these things, you expect me to… No, that’s not going to happen.”

“Yes it is, get over here.” Derick and Mats let out a loud laugh as I scrunched up my face and whined as the taller boy granted my sweater sleeves and pulled me over to him, my skates easily making my body close the gap between us. Once Derick had moved behind me, and I could feel his body heat rushing into mine, I bit down on my bottom lip and watched as they placed the stick back into my unwilling hands.

Mats set up a few pucks as I stood there, the stick awkwardly in my hands. Zeroing in on the pucks, I sucked in a deep breath and then listened as Derick started to talk about how I needed to hold the stick. As he moved my hands, I felt his body press up against mine, sending a wave of heat through my veins.

Holding my hands onto the correct spots, he moved us so I was standing in the correct position. Nodding as he spoke, I tried to keep my breathing normal. The task was hard due to the unbelievably fast rhythm of my heart beating.

After he had went through the motions with me a few times, and I let the feeling of his strong stomach against my back make me lightheaded, I nodded and then felt my muscles tense as he told me he would shoot with me.

“Alright ready?” He asked as he moved us over to the first puck. Groaning, he let a small laugh out. As the noise tickled my ear, I nodded my head, trying to keep my composure and then felt his arms above mine, holding the stick up. Tensing my muscles, I followed through with the movements and listened as the loud slap rang through the air. Looking up, I watched as the puck hit the snow bank, making a small dent compared to the holes that were from Mats.

“I did it!”

“Great!” Derick cheered and then slowly pulled his limbs away from me, letting my body get eaten up by the cold air. “Now do it yourself, you’ll be able to get one.” He reassured me and then skated away, his eyes sinking into me as I nervously thought back to the movements we had just done. Swallowing hard, I lifted the stick up and used every muscle I could to recreate the twist we had done. Letting all of my energy into the shot, I brought my eyes up and watched as the puck flew into the snow.

Gasping, I dropped the stick to the ice and turned to Derick, his arms up in the air as I let out a short scream. “I did it!”

“Nice shot, Keaton!” Mats laughed as he skated over to the snow and pulled the puck out. Letting a laugh tear through my body, I looked up just in time for Derick to wrap me into a tight hug, picking me off of the ice and spinning me in a circle. Once he was done, he set me down and put his hands against my arms, rubbing them up and down.

“Ready for a little two on one?” He wiggled his eyebrows as Mats skated back over and gave me a cheesy smile and two thumbs up.

Sharing a laugh with the boys, I looked up at Derick and rolled my eyes. “How about you teach me how to stop on these things, and I’ll think about it.”



The three of us stayed out on the pond for another few hours. Occasionally one of us would leave to grab a snack or use the bathroom. Besides that, we all skated around, shot pucks, and picked on each other. The boys were so much fun to be around. They made me feel like we had been friends since we were infants, they cared about me when I looked like I was about to fall, and tried to include me in every stupid competition they had. I usually bowed out of them with a polite smile.

When we had finally decided to head inside, right when it was starting to snow and the sun was starting to sink down below the horizon line, Derick scooped me up bridal style and easily skated us over to the small bench along the snow. Sitting down, I felt heat rush to my cheeks as I found myself sitting across his lap, my body leaning against his.

He managed to handle our awkward seating well, and instead of saying anything to make the moment ten times worse, he wiggled his fingers, asking for my ice skates. Pulling my feet up, he carefully shifted his body so my knees were on his lap, and my butt was planted against the cold wooden bench.

One by one Derick pulled my skates off and then slipped my boots back onto my feet. When he was done, I swung my legs back in front of me and watched as he leaned over, his fingers quickly working the laces of his skates as Mats stopped in front of us, sending ice shavings flying up into Derick’s face.

The two of us let out loud belts of laughter as Derick started rambling on in French. Mats and I shared a shrug as the other boy set his skates down and worked on his sneakers. Continuing his string of angry words, I felt my ears perk as the familiar phrase Lea had used earlier in the day hit me.

“It’s not nice to say ‘Va te faire enculer’, monsieur.” I whispered and watched as Derick’s eyes snapped to mine just as he stood up and extended his hand to help me off of the bench. As his eyes traced over mine, a smirk surfaced on his lips as I stood up, a few inches from him.

“Vous semblez chaud lorsque vous maudissez,” the brunette whispered to me as he let out a small laugh and then walked passed me, grabbing the sticks and pucks and heading right for the house as snowflakes started to pile up in his messy hair.

Lips pressing into a thin line, I looked over at Mats and watched as he put the caps on both of our skates and then looked over at me, jerking his head toward the house. As I walked next to him, pulling his sweatshirt hood over his head, I pressed my shoulder against his and felt his free arm lazily hang over my shoulders.

“Do you know what he said?”

“I can’t speak French.” He stated bluntly, his lips twisting into a smile.

“Not even a little?” I huffed, my eyebrows meeting in the center of my forehead as I looked over to him, happy that there was someone in the house I could literally be eye-eye with. Everyone else was almost at six foot.

“I know the curse words, but what he said to you was legitimate words.” We shared a laugh as we reached the house. Standing under the small overhang, we brushed the snow from ourselves, kicked the snow from the tread of our boots, and then headed inside, sighing heavily as the warm air started to thaw our frozen faces almost instantly.

After we went to our rooms and stripped down to a comfortable layer of clothing, we all decided to flip on the television and then make some of the chicken and vegetables that they had bought from the store. Mindlessly moving around the kitchen, I started to prepare everything to cook the chicken in a frying pan with some olive oil when my eyes caught a glimpse of the snow beating down against the window.

Eyes widening, I set the pan and spatula down on the counter and walked over to the window, letting my eyes run over the millions of snowflakes falling from the sky. Chewing on my bottom lip, I turned toward the living room where the two men were playing a video game on the console that was hooked up to the television.

“Hey, are we supposed to get a storm?” I called out to them, my heart throbbing in my chest as I thought about the two people absent from the house. “Have you heard from the blondes?” I called over to them, watching as the boys paused the game and then turned to me. “It looks really bad outside.”

Worry started to rush over me. What if we were stuck in a blizzard? My car was good in the snow, but that was up to six inches, if we got more than six, more than a foot, we would be stranded in the middle of the woods. I knew if my car was shitty in a lot of snow, Carl’s had to be even worse.

“I’ll call them, maybe it’s a quick-“ Derick was cut off as Mats let out a heavy sigh and shook his head.

“We’re in the middle of a storm, it’s not going to end until Wednesday.”

“Wednesday!” I called out with wide eyes. “It’s only Monday!” I could feel my heart racing as I thought about us being stranded in the middle of the woods. “That’s going to be so much snow! My car can’t handle that! Carl’s can barely handle like four inches, what the fuck are we going to do? Oh my god, what if the power goes out!” I felt my heart start to race as I pictured the three of us stuck in the house with no heat, no phone, and no power. We wouldn’t be able to use our computers, watch television, call for help, and eventually our cell phones would die too.

“Whoa, whoa, calm down.” Derick laughed as he walked up to me and wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug, pulling my back into his chest. “We’ll be fine. Mats will call Carl, if anything they’ll get here before it gets bad, okay? It only started an hour ago.”

“Yeah but-“

“No buts, relax, everything will be fine, okay?” He spun me around and locked his eyes on mine, sending me a bright smile. As I inspected them, letting the calmness swimming through them fill my head, I nodded and let out a long exhale.

I wasn’t calm. I could feel a slight shake to my hands as I tried to cook the chicken and vegetables on the stove. With every passing second that Mats didn’t announce when Carl and Lea would get back, my heart beat would get a little faster.

Sure, they both bothered the shit out of me, but right now I just wanted them standing behind me, making snippy comments about Derick and I standing so close to each other.

Once the food was done, Mats made his way over to us and let out a heavy sigh. Turning toward him, I watched as my eyes sunk into his beanie and winter coat. Tilting my head to the side, he forced a small smile on his lips before he spoke, “Carl and Lea can’t get their car, the lodge they were at shut down because of the storm. So they could either stay there, or I can go get them.”

Derick was about to speak when I bit down roughly on my lip, “You can take my car, it has all wheel drive, great traction in the snow, and that little light comes on when it’s sliding, it also has a full tank of gas.” I offered and watched as Mats nodded and then pulled his phone from his pocket.

“I’m going to call them and see what they want to do, I’d rather them be here than stranded somewhere, you know?”

“Yeah, exactly.” I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose as I felt a warm arm settle around my waist. After the boy next to me whispered comforting words into my hair, I dropped my hands to my sides and looked up at him, forcing a smile onto my lips.

Nodding along with what he was saying, I let out a heavy sigh and walked over to the living room, grabbing my keys from a side table near the couch. I knew Lea like the back of my hand, and I knew that the only place she would be comfortable being stranded was with her friends. She never really liked the idea of being stuck in a large place with a bunch of different people like that. She had watched far too many horror movies growing up to be able to stay calm in a moment like this.

Meeting up with Derick in the kitchen, already shoving broccoli into his mouth, I watched as Mats walked in and sighed. “I volunteered myself to go get them, the lodge is only a half hour away, right off the highway, and do you want to come too or-“

“I mean, should we?” I asked looking over at Derick who stopped mid-chew of his chicken.

“Nah, I grew up in the snow, as long as the car can move I can get there and back. Don’t let that monster eat my food, alright?” Mats pulled me into a hug as he grabbed my keys. “I’ll be careful and if anything happens, I’ll buy you a new car.”

“Yeah, okay,” I chuckled and watched as he sent me a wink and headed to the front door. “I make millions a season, girl, I can buy you like seven.”

“Okay, bye Mats! Be safe!” Derick called out to him as he wrapped his arm around me and led me back into the kitchen. Mats let out a loud laugh and opened the front door. As the howling wind filled the air in the house, I let out a long sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose again.

When Derick noticed my tense body, he set a hand on the small of my back and then rubbed it in a small circle. Just as he got finished telling me how everything would be okay, and that they normally played up storms just to make sure stupid people didn’t think they could go driving around, every light that was on in the house went out at once.

“Can I start freaking out now?” I whimpered as my eyes sunk into the dark house. Heart racing, I felt Derick wrap both of his arms around me and pull me close to him.

“Yeah, now’s a good time.”