Anyone But The Hockey Boy

-4-

Ria:

Hunter texted me again telling me he'd be by to pick my up in thirty minutes. Olivia insisted on coming over and decided what I would be wearing, slightly baggy jeans and a thickly knitted quarter zip.

I had thought it was cute but Liv insisted on adding a thick pair of hoop earrings and a pair of black Blundstone boots from the back of my closet. And of course she really wanted to do my hair in normal Olivia fashion but I drew the line there, I didn't want her pulling at my hair.

"You look adorable," she tells me, "let me get a photo of you," she steps back and pulls out her phone.

I cover my face with my hands and laugh, "Liv you're not my mom you don't need a photo".

She only rolls her eyes and snaps a photo. "No but I am in fashion school and need design references." We only sit around for a few more minutes before I hear a knock at the apartment door. I jump up and run to try and beat my friend to the door. Unfortunately she's not wearing boots like me and can dash to unlock it before me.

"Damn," she says as her jaw drops to the floor.

"Olivia." I scold pushing her to the side, "you can't just say that".

"It's fine it's fine," Hunter is clearly embarrassed but waves it off like it's nothing before reaching out his hand. "Hunter," he introduces himself.

"Olivia," she shakes his hand. "So you're taking my teammate on a date today? I need her in tip top condition for scoring points so I'll be watching".

I turn to give her a nasty look which earns me an award winning smile. "Be back by eleven, and don't do anything stupid," she kisses me on the cheek before pushing me out the door.

The wood slams in my face and I've never felt more embarrassed in my entire life. "Olivia," I smash my hand on the door a few times, "you don't live here," I remind her.

"I'll be gone as soon as you are," she yells through, "have fun".

I move to look at the guy who's in front of me. I nervously chew the inside my cheek like I do before a big race. I'm in no way a short or small girl, I'm a solid five-foot-nine which is much taller than average. But somehow I feel like the size of an ant when in the presence of him.

"Are you ready?" He asks me taking a step back. He's dressed similarly to me with charcoal coloured cargo pants paired with a pale blue hoodie and a black puff jacket left unzipped.

"Yeah, let's do this," I say trying to get the awkwardness out of the way and taking a few quick steps down the hall.

The silence almost echos around us as we make our way to the parking lot out front. The only unrecognized car is a big truck sitting on its own close by.

"Mines the truck," he presses his hand to my lower back and guides me in the right direction. The touch sends a shiver down my spine and I get excited.

"What's the plan?" I ask.

"Well," he rushes in front of me to open the car door. I have to step up really high in order to get in, when I do he shuts the door and makes his way to the passengers seat. "They have this thing called Autumn fest going on," he explains, "it honestly sounds like a rip off of winter fest but I think it will be fun. I've been meaning to check it out."

"Oh that's cool," I say drumming my fingers on my thigh.

He glanced over at my hand as we pull out of the lot, "you look nervous," he tells me and I stop. "I told you earlier, I'm not a serial killer."

A laugh bursts out of me, I remember texting him that earlier as a joke. "Well I don't know what to say so," I shrug.

"You swim right? Tell me about that," he encourages.