Thin Ice

CHAPTER FIVE

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER FIVE

            Text messages flooded in my direction. One or two were from my father, five or six were from my friends Roxanne and Jenna, and fifteen were from my boyfriend Michael. I checked the ones from my father, and only chose to read a few of Michael’s. They were flooded with apologies, which almost made me smile. Roxanne and Jenna sent me messages trying to convince me to respond to his texts. I didn’t.

            I turned my phone off, frustrated with their attempts. Usually, I liked to be comforted when I was upset. In that particular scenario, I wanted to block everything out. Forgetting my friends, I switched on the television and scrolled through the channels. Deciding to enjoy someone else’s’ drama, I switched to ‘Teen Mom’ on MTV.

            I grew bored of the episode shortly after switching to it and growled in frustration. Boredom was taking its toll, and I didn’t feel tired enough to try and nap. Sighing, I scrolled through the channels again. My thumb was numbing.

            Suddenly, my eyes landed on a channel that made my eyes go wide. NHL.

            I checked the guide for which game was playing on the hockey channel, and to my greatest happiness, it was Denwich Infinity versus the Lilith Parrots. A grin spread on my face and I propped myself up more comfortably on my bed. They were huge rivals in the sports world.

            I watched my black suited team swirl around the ice, sliding into proper positioning. Lucky for me, I had only missed the first period. The score was tied 1-1, so I hadn’t missed much. The orange suited Parrots glided gracefully – not as gracefully as Infinity – along the ice and stared down our team. The five starting players lined up accordingly for the face-off and waited for the referee to drop the puck and start the second period.

            Hours later, after watching the game with excited eyes and loud cheering, I was exhausted. Our team had won, like I’d expected, and a fight managed to break out. Scotty had scored the final goal that allowed our team to win 5-4. I was so proud of him.

            That allowed me the time to think about poor Scotty, and how he got home after Michael dragged me out of the fast food place. Was Scotty upset with me, and was he alright? I missed his adorable personality already. I imagined him walking home like a lost puppy – his tail pitifully wagging as he trudged along the busy streets – and frowned.

            It was getting dark out, I noted by looking out the window, so I prepared myself for bed. I brushed my teeth and dressed in pajamas, squeezing in a few extra minutes to wash my face. I slid under the covers of my bed and my eyes shut quickly, throwing me into dreamless sleep.

*

            I woke up, feeling the need to apologize for Michael’s affinity for starting fights. I began with Scotty, searching through old papers in my desk drawer until I found his cell phone number. I prayed that it was the same as it was when he gave it to me a year ago. I’d gotten a new phone and had lost all of my contacts a few months before, so I hadn’t kept in touch with him.

            I dialed it slowly, careful not to mess up the numbers as I pressed the keys.

            After four rings, I got a tired, “Hello?”

            “Hi, um, is this Scotty?”

            “Uh, yeah,” Scotty’s voice sounded unsure, “Who wants to know?”