When Worlds Collide

chapter eleven.

chapter eleven. Late Night Skate Session.

third person POV

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"Mac." Astrid let out a sigh as she continued to race down the stairs to stop Mac from walking away from her. "MacBentley, wait. I have a plan." The conflicted Canadian teen stopped walking and waited for Astrid to jog in front of him. "I'm going in goal and you're going to take shots at me. Now if you can't score against me then you should most definitely quit and you've found your answer."

"No, I can't," Mac shook his head no, "the last time a figure skater went into goal, they blocked all of my shots and I ended up going to the hospital so..."

"Lucky for you, I'm not a figure skater," Astrid wiggled her eyebrows, loving the plan she came up with. "Get your skates on, you're doing this."

"You mean that literally or metaphorically?"

"Yes," Astrid replied before pushing him towards the locker room. While the pair got ready for their skate session, Sky had left leaving the two alone in the empty building. Well the pair thought they were alone but Elina was in the back part, fixing up a pair of skates, minding her own business.

"Please tell me you can at least skate in a straight line... right?" Mac questioned as him and Astrid walked towards the ice rink together once their shoes were laced up. While Astrid's idea contained Mac shooting pucks at the young girl, he thought it would be best to teach her the basics first before moving to shooting pucks at her.

"I can stand upright on the skates, does that count?" Astrid questioned as they approached the entrance gate.

"Uh um," Mac winced slightly, "we have a lot of work to do then." Mac stepped out onto the ice and gestured for Astrid to take his hand. The Swedish girl took Mac's hand, a little hesitant at first, but trusted that Mac would save her if she were to fall down. Mac grabbed onto her second hand once she stepped onto the ice, pulling her towards the middle of the rink so they had room to work with.

"So I'll pull you along, doing all of the work," Mac started off with a small smile on his lips, "while you just get the feeling of moving your feet as we move, okay?"

"I won't fall right?"

"I got you," Mac assured the girl with a small simple head nod.

"Okay," Astrid stated uneasy but trusted the boy anyways. Mac slowly backed up, moving Astrid forward as she balanced to keep herself standing upright. Mac moved them in a circle around the rink, almost completing a full circle with Astrid staying on her feet the whole time; which was very rare for the girl. "Shut up! I'm doing it!"

"See, it's not so bad," Mac smiled at the girl, happy she was finally learning. "Your dad is going to love this."

"He tried so hard to teach me when I was a little kid," Astrid explained to Mac, "but for some reason every time he let go, I would just fall over and give up."

"That doesn't sound like you.. giving up I mean," Mac stated as they completed the full lap.

"Honestly," Astrid sighed, never revealing what she was about to say next to anyone before, "I didn't want to learn."

"How come?" Mac questioned as he continued to pull the girl along so she could fully get used to the motion of moving around on the ice.

"I didn't want to be a hockey kid," Astrid admitted softly, shrugging her shoulders lightly. "I grew up going to my dad's games ever since I was born. There's countless of press interviews where I'm sitting on his lap as a baby while he talks about the game he just played in..." Mac titled his head to the side, curious on why that translated into the young Swedish girl not wanting to participate in the same sport. "I just didn't want to always be around hockey, like me personally playing it. I love the sport, I really do, but..."