𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 | 𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬

"surely he wasn't a loverboy"

"Nice jacket," Adam mumbled with a smile.

"Yeah thanks, I don't know where it's from," Rowan sarcastically replied.

"You two excited for the first big game?" Adam's father, Phil banks, asked from the front seat.

"Obviously," He answered. His typical grin, which Rowan called 'The hockey look', sat happily on his face.

She found that Phil Banks was like a second father to her. He had been around all her life, taking her and Adam skating as early as the age of 3. She couldn't remember a single moment in time where she had ever felt unwelcomed by the Banks family.

"What songs do you have on your walkman?" Adam wondered, glancing over at the small black box in her hand.

"The usual: Stand by Me, Out of Touch, Jessie's Girl. Should be enough to get me through warm-ups," Rowan shrugged.

"I should've known that," He said, letting out an airy laugh.

"Yeah, maybe if you paid more attention."

"Hold it, I pay attention!" Adam argued, trying his best to sound offended.

"Right then, what's my favorite color?" She questioned.

"Green, easy. Come on, ask a real question," He said without hesitation, trying to prove how much he knew about his best friend.

"Favorite movie?"

"Stand by Me."

"Favorite song?"

"My Girl."

"Favorite book?"

"It."

"Favorite TV show?"

"Full house."

"When's my birthday?"

"June 15th, 1979."

"Celebrity crushes?"

"Oh, this is a long one -- Ralph Macchio, River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton, Jonathan Brandis, and Leo DiCaprio."

"You forgot one," She pointed out.

"Oh yeah? Who?"

"Anthony Hall."

"What? Since when?"

"Since 1985."

"Whatever, I still got like 95% of those questions right," Adam bitterly sighed.

"92% actually," Rowan corrected.

"Ok, your turn. Now you answer."

"Ask away, A."

"Favorite color?"

"Blue."

"Favorite movie?"

"Home Alone."

"Favorite song?"

"Smells like Teen Spirit."

"Favorite book?"

"Trick question. You can't read."

"Very funny."

"Ok, ok, I'm kidding. It's the Goosebumps series."

"Favorite TV show?"

"Full House."

"Birthday?"

"May 16th, 1979."

"Celebrity crushes?"

"Brooke Shields and Alicia Silverstone."

Rowan looked over to see a look of defeat and disbelief on Adam's face. "Now did I win or what?"

Adam tried with all his power to fight the smile that pulled at the corners of his mouth, but he just couldn't watch her sit there laughing, and not smile.

"Alright, we're here," Phil said as they pulled into a parking space in front of the rink.

They stepped into the large building filled with ice arenas. The hockey teams had the right-sided rinks while the figure skaters would have the left -- Rowan spent her fair share of time on both sides. They continued down the long hallway, passed the hockey rinks, and towards the locker room. As the two approached the door, they said their temporary farewells and good lucks. Rowan watched Adam walk into the room and heard a bunch of muffled cheers from his teammates.

It could easily be said that Adam was the star player of the Hawks. Yes, as a team they were amazing, but Adam was unarguably the backbone of the Hawks. Just as Rowan turned to walk towards the stadium they would be playing in, she heard the return of the cheers. This time, much closer, along with the swing of the locker room doors. She went to turn back to see what the commotion was, but was lifted off the ground and quickly surrounded by the Hawks. She had practically grown up with every boy on the team -- going to school together since they were 5 and attending every game for the past 3 years.

"Did you really think you could sneak off without saying hi to us first?" Larson hollered over the chatter of the teenage hockey players.

"Boys, what are you doing out here? Come on, we got warm-ups!" The Hawks Coach, Coach Reilly, practically barked into the hall. He glanced around his players until his eyes fell on the odd one out -- the only girl and non-hockey player insight. "You joining the team yet, Pierce?"

"Erm, not exactly," Rowan explained. "I'm sticking to figure skating."

"Let me know if you ever change your mind. We could use a player like you, it'd be great for our game," Reilly said before turning back into the locker room. Rowan returned a semi-awkward smile and nodded.

"Go warm up, good luck," She ordered, backing down the hall in the direction of the rink's entrance.

Rowan sat in the bleachers as the teams skated laps around their half of the ice. She only covered one ear with her walkman as she listened and read. Her brows were knitted together in concentration, flipping through pages as if she was hanging on to every last word.

The Hawks ran passing drills down to the goal, three players attacking at once and sending the puck around where defenders would be. Once in line, Adam glimpsed up at the stands. His crystal blue eyes landed on the familiar jacket that he recognized as his own. The boy stared at the girl -- too distracted to notice the two figures who skated up right next to him.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," McGill taunted.

"What do you think she's reading?" Larson asked.

"I don't know, but she's confused by it," Adam observed.

"How do you know that? She's like 200 feet away."

"Her nose scrunches up when she's confused," He answered simply.

"Could you tell me what I do when I'm confused?" Larson interrogated.

"You're always confused."

"Interesting..."

"Come on loverboy, the game is about to start," McGill chuckled, beginning to skate away towards their bench.

As dumb as they truly could be -- Larson and McGill were the only ones not completely oblivious to Adams's crush on Rowan. Rowan for sure didn't know. They weren't even sure if Adam was aware of his feelings.

Adam shook his head, attempting to take his friend's comments off of his mind. Surely he wasn't a loverboy, right?

a/n- Hi! here are a few quick things I wanna clear up right now, I did age up the characters just by a year or two to fit this story, meaning they would be 13 years old. I promise the Ducks will come in soon, I just wanted to establish what Adam and Rowan's lives were like before the D1 movie started!