Meet Me at the Rink

Chapter 5

~ Allison ~

Great! Just what I needed to happen on an early Saturday morning! I had a bunch of stuff in my hands as I was walking out of the dressing room and out toward the lobby. I had pylons stacked one on top of the other, carrying them in one hand while the other hand had my stick in it as my bag was slung over my shoulder. The bucket of pucks was starting to slip out of my hand as I was passing two guys who were standing outside of their dressing room taping their sticks.

"Please don't slip, please don't slip!" I whispered to myself praying that the bucket wouldn't fall out of my hand but, it was too late. The bucket falls from my hand and crashes to the ground with a loud thud. "Great!" I say to myself. "Just what I needed." I put my stuff and the pylons on the ground before I'm picking up the pucks.

"Here, let me help you with that." One of the guys says before he starts picking up some of the pucks. I tell them that there's no need to help as I continue to pick up the pucks and toss them back into the bucket. "Allison?" I stop and slowly look up at the mention of my name. "Wait, dude... Is this the girl you kept looking at during our game last night?" His friend asks as I keep my gaze on Austin while heat rises to my cheeks.

Oh my god, his friend noticed that too?! Now that's a little embarrassing. "Um Alex, this is Allison. Allison, this is my linemate and best friend Alex." Austin says after an awkward moment of silence. Alex put the last of the pucks into the bucket before helping me up. "Hi Allison, nice to meet you." He says with a big smile. "Nice to meet you too Alex and thank you guys for helping me pick those up." I reply collecting all of my belongings. "No problem." Alex replies.

"So what are you doing here?" Austin asks. "Oh, I help out with the Timbits hockey practices and games. Usually, my brother comes out to help me but he's out of town today for his own game." I reply. "That's nice, helping the hockey stars of the future! Good for you!" Alex exclaims. "Thanks! What are you guys doing here?" I ask. "We've got a morning practice today." Austin replies as Alex gets back to taping his stick.

"Bro I'm gonna go finish getting ready. Allison, it was nice to meet you." Alex says. "You too." I reply before Alex disappears into the dressing room. An awkward moment goes by before Austin speaks. "So your brother plays hockey eh?" He asks. "Yeah, he's been playing ever since he could skate." I reply. "Nice." He says.

"Hey remember when you autographed the puck you gave me last night?" I ask as I look up at him. "Yeah what about it?" He asks. "Well I'm not trying to jump to conclusion or anything but Leah said you wrote your number on it. Is that true?" I ask as he stands there balancing back and forth on his skates. "You found it eh?" He asks curiously. " Well if it's the numbers I found in small writing then I may have." I reply. "Then you did find it." He smiles with a wink. "Sneaky but well played." I reply.

"Look, I've got to finish getting ready for practice. But I'll see you around?" He asks. "Yeah, I'm sure I'll see you around." I say as he grabs his stick before turning back and grinning. "Bye Ally." He says. "Bye Austin." I smile before I start walking towards the lobby and out to the parking lot to find my car.