Pucker-Up

Chapter Six - Mathew

I walk away as a happy man after Gaby and I exchanged numbers. The second I asked for her phone number, I watched her cheeks turn a bright pink colour. Her nose was already red prior to that, from sitting in the sun for too long without shade. We parted ways after that, allowing me to finally throw out the cup which had been sitting there empty on the table for fifty minutes.

I walked my way through the university grounds, giving a few people a head nod as acknowledgment as I went. Right as I turned the corner of one of the buildings, I was stopped in my tracks to see two of my teammates, Ethan Edwards and Rutger McGroarty. "Hey hot stuff." Rutger grinned as his hand slapped against the back of my shoulder blade as a greeting, leaving his hand there for a moment as we all walked together. "About time you show up, we were starting to think you ditched." Ethan huffed lightly and Rutger's hand dropped off my shoulder. "Sorry, I had to do some stud—" Ethan cuts my sentence short "Yeah well now we will be a few minutes late for practice, let's just keep moving, yeah?" Ethan slightly separates from Rutger and I, walking a few steps in front like a sargeant leading his army for battle. Rutger looked to me with a small shocked expression, his eyes wide and his smile pressed into a tight line as he tried not to laugh from Ethan's sassy attitude. The three of us continued on our journey to the ice rink, which is right across the road from uni, on the bottom floor of a shopping complex.

—

The change-rooms at the rink are nothing out of the ordinary. It's cold, bland and bright as the fluorescent lights reflect off the white tiled walls. Laughter echos from the change-rooms and down the hallways, no secret being safe here from how much noise gets noticed. We exit the bathrooms in our jerseys, which are white with a bit of dark blue and yellow across them. Almost all the team are already standing in the middle of the rink, our coach explaining new tactics to play out. Taking the guards off the blades of our skates, Ethan, Rutger and I step onto the ice and glide over to join the team. After a short moment, everyone is dispatched and sent off to get in position. "Barzal." coaches voice grumbles across the ice, causing me to turn my head and skate over in his direction. I step off the ice and lean my body against the side wall around the rink. "Coach," he wastes no time by continuing "Have you been considering taking the position of the hockey captain?"
Coach has always treated us like family, wanting the best for us. Even if he seems a little grumpy sometimes, he always has the best intentions. "...I have thought a lot about it. It is something I'd like to be so I can support the team more." It took a lot of convincing by my mum to make me want to accept, I just know it will be a lot of pressure. He carefully whacks his hand against my chest and gives me a handshake. "You'll be a great leader for the team. Don't let me down, Mathew." I swallow hard and nod my head, getting sent back onto the ice to get more practice in.