Love at First Sight

11. Nyssa

"You know the entire footaball team's scared of you now" Brooke said matter-of-factly to me as she dragged me along to yet another hockey game.

"Damn right they should be scared of me" I scoffed "I'm a fucking genius"

Brooke snorted, "Not just that, but, you also, kinda kneed their quarterback in the groin" she snickered "I'm honestly so glad you aren't some pushover, even if it does make you a little crazy"

I gave a humorless chuckle. Crazy. Insane. Phsyco. Unhinged. I've heard it all before, from Brooke, from my dad, from principles of different schools. Every time i lose my temper, it's always my fault. Never theirs, no, its never their fault, never the person who fucking provoked me. No on ever asks me if i'm ok. Its always them. Its always 'how could you do this?' or 'i hope they aren't hurt' or even once it was, 'fucking phsyco, you should be in a facility'

I don't blame them, i've tried controlling my tempermental issues, i have, really but...nothing works. no amount of therapists, councelling, etc. I'm always going to some kind of villain, and there's nothing I can do about it.

There's only one person, in my seventeen years of living, who asked me if i was ok after i beat someone up.

Aiden Rhodes.

He...he comforted me. And...he was on my side...i'm not sure how to feel. I haven't spoken to him since the incident, this is the first time i'll be seeing him since then. I hate to admit it but...blondie's chipping away at my defenses...i was vulnerable, well, as vulnerable as someone like me can be, around him for the first time and...he didn't take advantage of it...he held me and called me beautiful...he doesn't seem like the kind of person to lie...heck, he sounded nervous when he said it. He called my smile beautiful.

It makes me want to smile more. Just for him though. No one else.

I sat down on the bleachers, Nyssa handed me some oversized jersey she'd found in the lost and found and told me to put it on, to show 'team spirit' that was a blatant lie and she knew i knew it, regardless, I examined it for a moment, contempling whether or not I should wear it.

It was blue and white, Crestwood's colours, and had the last name 'Hudson' written on the back. Huh, I wonder if this belonged to someone. It didn't smell horrible, so i shrugged and pulled it over my tank top.

The hockey team was still warming up, Aiden was amongst them, he was currently weaving the puck through some cones. He was quite good at it. Not that I would admit it. I watched him skate. I've always wanted to learn how to skate. My mother almost taught me. Then she cheated on dad and left, so I stopped wanting to learn, and instead started channelling my energy inro school, and academics.

Brooke apparently noticed me staring at the way everyone was skating and nuged me.

"You know, there's still an hour or two before the game starts...we could go down there and skate, i'm sure the coach could lend us some extras" She said with a knowing grin.

My head perked up perhaps a bit too quickly, but then slumped down just as fast, I'm not going to show intrest, that's pathetic. But i did want to do it, so i gave a single nod and followed Brooke down the stands. She led me to where the coach was standing, observing the boys.

"Ecxuse me sir" Brooke said sweetly "Do you happen to have two pairs of skates for two girls who'd like to learn?" She said, tilting her head in an innocent manner.

I supressed an ironic chuckle, Brooke was anything but innocent, but when she wanted something, she could turn the act up all the way. That's probably why she has a new guy on her arm every other week.

The coach came back a moment later with two pairs of skates.

"These should be fine" he nodded, "Have fun, and don't slip" He attempted a joke, Brooke gave a loud laugh, and I stayed silent. It wasn't funny, why should I laugh? 

I laced up the skates, and Brooke helped me shakily walk into the ice rink. For whatever reason, Miles immedately stopped what he was doing and grabbed Brooke's hand to help her, all the while she screamed protests for him to let go of her. It would have been amusing if I wasn't seconds away from falling-

"Gotcha" A chuckle and familiar bright voice said next to me as he grabbed my hand and steadied me.

"Oh-thank-thanks" I mumble. Shit, was I always this awkward? No I wasn't. What was happening to me?

"I can do it myself" I said indignantly, trying (and failing) to gain some confidence back

"No you can't" He chuckled light heartedly, and didn't let go of my freezing hand, though, it felt warmer in his-

"Try walking like a penguin" He smiled, and placed my hands on the hockey glass, before demonstrating.

I found myself laughing hysterically as he demonstrated a 'penguin walk' on skates. Oh my god. I was laughing. Genuinely. For the first time in well..ages, and it felt good. I didn't want to stop.

He suddenly grabed my hand, "You try" he was smiling widely. 

I felt a little stupid, but reluctantly, I tried waddling like he was before and...well it worked, I didn't fall, and he wasn't holding my hand anymore...I was doing it! Sort of.

He was grinning ear to ear as he saw me waddle like an idiot on the ice. I felt him grab my hands again, and skate in fron of me, so he was skating backwards and facing me.

"Now push your feet back" he instructed. I bit my bottom lip, I was scared, what if i fell? and made a fool of myself? But Aiden had my hands so...slowly, shakily, i tried pushing one of my feet back. Immediately I slipped.

I braced myself for the impact, but...he still had me-he was still holding my hands-

"Woah!" He chuckled steadying me, "You alright? Come on, try again, you can do it" he grinned. I looked up at him in mild shock, he thought I could do it.

"Well of course I can do it" I muttered "That was...a mistake" the word tasted bitter in my mouth. Mistake. Its been a while since i've made one of those, in my personal life at least, excluding all the times i've let my rage get the better of me.

I started to push a foot back, and closed my eyes in case i fell again-

But I didn't. I did it. I pushed a foot back. Then the other. And then the other one again...until...I was skating! I actually did it! I was skating! Aiden wasn't holding me anymore! I probably looked so stupid, but i really couldn't care less, i did the one thing i had always wanted to do and-

He'd helped me.