On The Ice (boyxboy)

twelve

CHARLIE'S POV

I'm left standing in the middle of the locker room. He left. I shouldn't have done that. It's all my fault.

The sweat on my body begins to turn icy. The rush of warmth I did feel, now fading slowly.

I touch my lips, the ghost of Ollie's still dancing on mine. Holy fuck.

My first thought was run after him. Go find him and fix what was ruined. But I need to give him space. He needs his space. Actually, fuck space. I need to find him. I need to fix what's now broken.

I rush out of the locker room and turn left towards the home locker room. The period has to be ending soon.

I go down a secluded hallway. It's much darker than the others. I see a black figure, sitting with their knees drawn up. I can tell it's Ollie because he still has all his pads and his skates on. I do too. If people saw us they would think we're a pair of idiots. I didn't care.

"Ollie?" I ask. I notice he was startled by the sound of my voice. He stood up so quickly and came face to face with me.

"That can never happen again. It will never happen again. I don't know what I was doing. I'm sorry. I need to be left alone. Don't follow me." He said in a rush.

He pushed past me. I stayed facing the way he was sitting for what felt like forever. After only a few minutes I turned and walked back towards the locker room.

The period had ended and the team gaped at me when I walked in. Ollie was there already. I did not want to sit next to him, even though I really did. Truth is, he doesn't want me like I want him and I need to leave him alone. For now, at least.

Coach sees me and he rubs his forehead. "What happened out there?" He asked. Clearly he was asking both me and Ollie, but it seemed Ollie wasn't going to speak.

"Well, did you not see the hits they were laying out on me? That was fucking brutal and I got pissed and laid em out. I don't know what else you want me to say coach. I was sent over the edge and I'm sorry but I'm gonna defend myself. I hear enough slurs from my own team, don't need to hear from them too," I said. I wasn't taking their bullshit. It pisses me off that people cant do anything out of the 'norm' without people losing their cool, even though differentiating sexualities is normal. It's not right.

Coach seemed to understand why I did what I did. He stopped looking at me and looked towards Ollie. "What happened Ollie? You're normally more levelheaded, I don't need my captain picking fights and getting ejected. I made you captain because you didn't pick fights, so I better hear a damn good explanation from you."

Ollie slowly looked up from his socked feet. He must've taken off his skates while I was on my way, but his pads were still on. He finally made eye contact with coach and said, "I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry coach."

I felt he knew exactly what came over him. I was gonna find out what he thinks he doesn't know. He wouldn't just fight people.

"I guess I just got ticked that they didn't call the cross check or slew footing, which by the way are probably one of the worst things that can happen on the ice. They're illegal hits for a reason. So sorry for sticking up for my teammate and disappointing you." He continued.

Coach just nodded. Intermission was about over and he sent the team, excluding Ollie and I, back to the ice for a better third period. As coach was walking back, he patted me on the shoulder and left me and Ollie to ourselves to get changed.

This was now awkward as fuck. I needed to say something. I walked over to Ollie. I wanted to comfort him.

"Are you okay? Don't tell me to go away either. I am your friend; therefore I want to know what's up." I said. I wasn't gonna listen to him say the kiss was a mistake or that he's not gay or some other bullshit. I just wanted him to feel comfortable with me again.