Unknown Beginning

Part 32

As Riley and Kenny walked in to practice Sunday they passed by Kristin and a group of their teammates who had all been talking but stopped abruptly and glared at Riley as they passed by.

"That was weird" Kenny stated, "I wonder what that was about."

Feeling anxious, Riley feigned ignorance "I dunno".

It didn't take long before word had spread through the locker room and the ice that James had broken up with Kristin last night and Kristin was understandably upset. The part that Kenny didn't hear was that Kristin suspected the breakup happened because of Riley. Riley had gotten this inside information from the first-year, Hannah, that she had been especially friendly with since that first hockey-house party. Hannah had explained that Kristin apparently had been suspicious for a while now and never liked the attention James gave Riley. James had not mentioned Riley when they broke up but Kristin was now determined to turn the team against Riley by spreading the word.

Riley, as expected, did not take this news well. Of course she had felt twinges of guilt when she and James had flirted and she couldn't deny her guilt regarding kissing James but she had just gotten into a good rhythm with her team. She didn't want to be forced back to square one again. Luckily for Riley, she was about to get almost three weeks away from the team due to winter break. Normally they didn't have practice on Sundays but this coming week was finals which meant everyone had different schedules, needed to study, and would be done with the semester on different days and times which made scheduling hockey practice nearly impossible. Then the whole team had two weeks off before they had to return to campus for a game on January 2nd which meant only the winter athletes would be on campus until classes began the third week of January . Riley desperately hoped things would all blow over by the time everyone came back. In the meantime, Riley planned to avoid James and keep her head down. Which she did very successfully both at practice and again on Monday when her psych project group met briefly in the library to iron out any remaining details for their final presentation on Tuesday. Riley had even gone so far as to plant Kenny in the library during their meeting and made a beeline for her immediately after it ended which left James without opportunity to talk to Riley.

Unfortunately, Riley couldn't escape fast enough on Tuesday after all of the psych presentations had been completed and everyone began leaving the classroom. Riley had packed her back as quickly as possible and was heading to the door when she felt a hand grab her wrist. Defeated, Riley turned to face her captor knowing it was James and said "Hey sorry I'm kind of in a hurry."

James hadn't released Riley's wrist but did now as she said "I just wanted to see what's up. We haven't talked and you're clearly avoiding me."

Riley looked down as she roughly scuffed her shoe against the floor and muttered "I didn't ask you to break up with Kristin."

"I know you didn't."

"Well then why did you?" Riley retorted. "Now the whole team hates me again."

"First off, no they don't" James corrected. "It's just Kristin and a few of her friends but they'll get over it. Second, what did you want me to do? I didn't want to be with Kristin and it wouldn't be right to stay with her when I feel this way".

Surly, Riley mumbled "I know but..." She shook her head as if trying to clear it. "I don't know. But everything is a mess now".

"No it's not, it's going to be fine" James reassured, taking a step closer to Riley.

Riley took a step back, maintaining their distances "It's not going to be fine. We can't let anyone see us together. I don't want the team to know there is anything going on with us."

James was serious now "For how long?"

"I don't know," Riley shrugged "awhile."

James contemplated this "But we can still text? And see each other in private sometimes?"

Riley considered this before apprehensively agreeing "I guess so. But nothing serious. And as long as no one knows."

"Ok" James agreed, not looking deterred at all.

"Ok..." Riley said awkwardly "I'm gonna go now. I'll see you around I guess?"

"Yup" James stated confidently.

With one quick glance at James' face, Riley averted her eyes, turned quickly, and left the classroom.