scoring you

Chapter 10

Alyssa

Tess was right, getting that job was fucking easy, almost too easy. Today is my first official day and I can barely drag my ass out of bed.

"Get up Alyssa!" Tess pours water on my head. Ice cold water. I scramble up too quickly and fall off my comfortable bed onto the wooden floor. I still have books and clothes chucked all over the ground, fuck I need to clean up.

"Tess!" I yell, "What the actual fuck!"

She shrugs with a slight grin, "It woke you up, didn't it?" 

I groan and check the time, "It's 7-oh-clock already!" I rush to the bathroom and brush my knotted hair. "Why didn't you wake me up sooner Tessa? I'm going to be so fucking late on my first day."

"I tried waking you up, your scary in the mornings," she says. "You should be thankful I poured a glass of cold water all over you."

I roll my eyes and hop into the shower, chuck clothes on and run out of the house with my bag in hand. I walk down the icy streets with my air pods in my ears listening to Taylor Swift, folklore specifically- the best album.

I don't hear the footsteps behind me but I feel a soft tap of hands on my shoulder and I jump in response- my air pods falling out of my ears onto the pavement.

"Fuck!" I screech so loudly I probably woke people up. I almost run away until I see the face belonging to the hands, Aiden. I am still holding my hand to my heart feeling the pulse of it still pumping an unhealthy amount. My eyes are wide and my face has probably gone pale, "What the fuck Aiden! You can't sneak up on someone like that!"

His eyes are wide as well, what the fuck is he surprised about? "Shit. I'm sorry- I didn't mean to scare you or anything-"

"What the fuck do you think I would of thought when a mans hand touches me on the fucking shoulder in the morning in middle of the street!"

He winces at the high pitched tone in my voice, "I'm sorry. I don't know why I didn't think of that."

My pulse has now returned to normal- sort of but my blood still boils. Aiden picks up my air pods from off the ground, "at least they aren't broken?" He says as if it's a question.

"Sure." I mumble snatching them from his hands. "Whatever reason you snuck up on me better be worth it."

"I didn't exactly sneak up on you-" he says before looking at the expression on my face. "Okay. That's fair." He points to a black Toyota parked on the side of the street. "I saw you walking and wondered if you wanted a drive to- work."

I'm almost taken aback because that's almost sweet? Or is that just basic humanity? Whatever it is I didn't expect it from Aiden peters let alone any man.

"Oh?" I say. "Oh okay."

Though now I remember it he did walk me home in the dark after that party.

"Thanks."

His hands are tucked into his jean pockets and he looks surprised that I accepted his offer. He stiffly nods his head once and I follow him into his car.

"You don't have a car?" He asks after a minute of silence.

"No." I shake my head, "Too expensive."

"But you have an apartment?"

I reach into my bag looking for a pack of peppermint gum only to find a yogurt instead. No gum. I wonder who switched them around.

"Yeah Tess's parents paid for it."

He nods and looks to my hands holding the yogurt, "I don't mind if you eat that in here." 

I put it back in the bag and zip it up, "thanks but no thanks. Not very hungry."

We fall into a comfortable silence as he drives us to the rink and when we finally get there we sit in the car for a second longer than necessary.

"I'm sorry about before by the way." He says into the ground.

"No- it's fine." I get out of the car, "I kind of overreacted anyway."

I leans his hands on the bonnet giving a nod and a pursed lip smile.

When we enter all of the guys are already crowded around Coach. I don't actually know his name I don't think anyone does so they just call him 'coach'

Every eye in the room points to us and I see smirks and smiles on some of the players faces, fuck knows why. Aiden clenches his jaw as we walk over to the team and I see Matthew whisper something into his ear and I just know it's about me. Fucking great.

"You two are late." Coach says blandly.

I fiddle with my fingers, "Sorry, caught up in traffic." I stand beside him since that's what I assume an assistant does.

"Yeah I haven't heard that one before."

One of the guys on the team cut in, "Wait you two drove here together?" I see their faces turn between Aiden and myself.

"I saw her walking and gave her a ride." Aiden mumbles, "not that it's any of your business."

I inwardly let out a sigh of release, the last thing I could want right now are rumors. Especially ones that are so far from true it isn't even fucking funny.

Coach starts talking them through some warm up exercises that they are going to complete today and he asks me to go to his office and get the equipment for it.

By the time I arrive back confusion flutters their faces with what I am holding.

"Why are we using skipping ropes?" One of them asks- Jackson I think his name is. I still don't know who half of them are apart from Aiden and Matthew- that's probably something I should know even if I don't want to.

"Well I assume you are skipping," I say raising my eyebrows as I pass the ropes to each player.

"It's a new warm up activity that we are trying out," says coach.

"Skipping?" One of them asks stupidly.

Coach nods impatiently, "Yes, hurry up."

They all take their ropes and go to different corners of the stadium which is hard considering most of it is covered in ice. I hold a timer in my hands and once it begins they all start skipping for five minutes. Their faces are sweaty and red after they finish- looking at them you wouldn't assume they are full time hockey players.

I sit on the bench and Matthew walks over to me- I can see sweat dripping down the muscles of his arms, they all ditched their hockey uniforms half way into skipping.

"Wanna give me a hug Al?" He opens his arms wide and I pull away from him holding my hands out in front of me.

"No thanks. Your all sweaty and gross." I pull a face.

He places his hand on his heart, "Rude. Also I think I look quite nice."

"Then I guess you don't own a mirror." I hear a small snort come from Aiden's direction which I ignore.

"Nobody wants to touch you looking like that mate," another player on the team says.

Matthew sits down next to me, "what do you mean? Plenty of women want to touch me."

I recoil away from him, "Okay, gross." The other players chuckle behind me.

They begin their training and I notice that Aiden is pretty damn good- like really good. I know he got a scholarship and everything but- wow. 

After two hours I pass them all towels to wipe their faces on and I stop short at Aiden, "your good at hockey." I say.

A crooked smile appears on his face, "You think?"

"Don't flatter yourself Peters."

His smile only grows larger.

---

Thank you so much for reading! Random question: what's your favorite song? Currently i'm obsessed with 'Do I wanna know?' - artic monkeys, it's so good

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All my love, Willow <3