I Pucking Hate You [Charlie Conway]

part 25- declarations of realization

She had never seen the rink so dark.

The stars twinkled above the building as the pair pulled up, the silence of the car ride continued as Charlie put the car in park and stepped out, Mia trailing behind him on crutches as she could see no method to his most recent moment of madness.

Charlie made his way to the back door, no matter how many times Mia yelled at him for answers, he stayed quiet. It takes some amount of resilience to not give in when being annoyed to death by the girl of whose life you essentially ruined.

It was like Charlie had practised picking the lock of the rink, taking him only one minute to complete the break-in and Mia to ask 23 questions in that time. No matter how far she pushed, Charlie didn't make a sound.

She followed him as he entered the freezing building, he knew where to find the light switch even in the veil of darkness. The old lights flickered on, leading Charlie into a larger room that held a large body of ice. Only one light appeared over the rink, enough light for her to see Charlie begin to put on his skates.

"You left yours in your locker, go put them on.." He calmly speaks, the first set of words to appear from his lips in what felt like hours.

"Charlie, if you haven't noticed, I can barely walk!" She protested.

"Just do it, you're already here, put them on.."

Instead of arguing, Mia did something very rare for her, she listened. After discovering the light switch to her changing room, her locker was in clear view. All her equipment was in there, it was left there after the accident as Mia hadn't the heart to look at it. She dug through the large heavy pads and broken hockey sticks that had been snapped out of rage to reveal her skates. Mia returned outside to see Charlie ready to go and waiting for her, rather impatiently.

She laced each skate up and Charlie extended his hand, allowing her to drop the crutches and support herself by leaning on him. He didn't stop her, Charlie wrapped her arm around her to help her stand upright, and she fixed her posture as they made it towards the gate.

Charlie held both of Mia's hands as he stood in front of her, he had already made it to the ice, standing somewhere Mia hadn't in weeks.

"Charlie I'm really not sure-" She began to doubt.

"Come on. If this was me, if I was doubting and you were standing trying to get me onto the ice, you'd call me a pussy of some shit like that. So don't be a pussy.." She laughed, making Mia laugh with him.

She used Charlie as support to pull herself up onto the ice, the feeling of gliding and unknown endorphins that fueled a feeling of freedom released into her brain. Charlie skates backwards, pulling Mia with him.

"That wasn't so hard.." He smiled, noticing how tightly Mia was grubbing his hand, she needed him right now and he wasn't leaving.

"Easy for you to say, what am I gonna do in a game? Hold your hand and try to shoot?" She smiled back.

"I wouldn't object, just saying.."

She didn't respond, she smirked instead. The realization of the situation soon hit. She was out in the middle of the night, learning to skate again with a guy she was supposed to hate. Although right now, she didn't see why she ever remotely disliked him. Instead of a dickhead, Mia saw someone who cared, someone who did something incredibly sweet for her. She saw past Captain Conway, she saw Charlie.

When she realized this, she stopped him.

"Why are you helping me like this, aren't we supposed to be mortal enemies?" She asked him.

"Why should we be enemies? I don't want that, I don't think you want that. I'm helping you because you deserve to be a part of team USA. I feel like I fucked up your chance at that.." He explained, he stopped moving as well.

"You didn't mess this up for me, Andrew did. And for the record, I don't hate you.."

"Neither do I.."

"Then why the fuck are we always fighting?" She broke out laughing, looking into his eyes, he just smiled.

"Maybe we're crazy.." He smiled back.

For a while, Charlie had looked at Mua in a new light. Not as an enemy, but as a good person. Now he saw a form of hope, a hope of them.

When that realization hit, he didn't hesitate to run one hand through the back of her hair, pulling her in to meet his lips. She fell into them, not pulling away. He knew she could fall at any moment as he wrapped his hand around her waist, pulling away for just a moment.

"So, still hate me?" He smirked.

"Shut up.."