when the ice melts // jack hughes

chapter seventeen

Nathan didn't intend on tonight being a date, did he?

I was so caught up in wanting to catch up with him that I didn't even realize what the plan was. Was it just going to be two friends hanging out? Or a date? I safely assumed it was just hanging out. After all, I was wearing a jersey and jeans. Not much of a date. I did have a bit of makeup, but I was keeping Cam in mind when getting all pretty. I was totally overthinking it, I just had to be cool. I was ready at exactly six when a knock came from the door downstairs. I ran out from my bedroom, clutching my purse and hoping my mom wouldn't beat me to the door. "Via!" My mom yelled, I ran down the stairs to see Nathan and my mom at the door, my mom looked slightly confused. "Hi, sorry Trey and I are going to the game tonight. Trey's friend is driving him." I tried to be quick as I put my shoes on, hoping my mom wouldn't have time to ask any questions. "O-okay, have fun." She smiled, I went out the door to Nate. "Hi, I don't know what she said to you but I hope she didn't interrogate you." I laughed, Nathan just chuckled. He opened the door of his car for me. "Nope, just explained I was taking her daughter out tonight. She said something about a cam..camera? It was kind of mumbled.." I shook my
head, it's obvious here she wasn't talking about a camera. "Eh, it's fine. Thank you for picking me up." I smiled at him and got into the car. Then it hit me, 'I was taking her daughter out..' "Nathan," I said impulsively, he turned over. He had just started his car. "Is.. Is this a date?" I brought my purse up to  my lap, Nate looked over at me. "Whatever you want it to be," He smiled, I shuffled my feet. "Is just hanging out okay?" I felt guilty for not telling him about Cam, but what would I say? Technically, Cam and I weren't even together.. and he was leaving. I take that last part back, he had next to no control over that. "Yeah, of course." With that, Nathan and I were on the road for the Arena.

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"Do you want anything before the game? That or we can buy stuff during the first intermission." Nathan and I walked passed all the concession while looking for our spot. I had usually either had Trey's season's passes which were always in the same spot, or ones supplied by Cam, also in the same spot. It was going to be weird not being in the usual spot. I was hoping so hard it wasn't near Cam's bench, or where Cam could see me very well. But I also had to see Cam during practice, it was kinda of a ritual now. "Hey, um can I just quickly go check out the warm ups? I'll meet you at our spot?" Nate nodded, I ran down the steps to the ice. Cam was warming up near the net, I made my way towards the glass near there. A bunch of girls were surrounding the glass, I couldn't make my way through the group so I had to wait beside them for my turn to see Cam. I waited patiently, seeing if I could spot Nate. That's when I realized the girls were now looking at me, I didn't know why. That was until I looked over to the glass and noticed Cam waiting for me to look at him, he had moved closer to the glass. He got up and skated around the face-off circle he was warming up near. He rested his hand on the glass in front of me and he skated passed, I couldn't help but blush. "Oh my gosh, now I know who you are. You're Cameron Koehler's girlfriend!" Two of the girls excitedly came over to me, "What's it like being his girlfriend?" "Do you get free stuff?" "Do you know all the players?" It was too many questions for me, so I just shook my head to all of them, "Sorry, I have to go. Excuse me." I made my way up the stairs of the section Nathan was sitting in.

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I found Nate at our spot, he had two bottles of Dr Pepper in hand. He offered one to me, "If I remember correctly.." I took the drink from his hands, smiling at the fact he remembered. "My favourite, thank you!" I sat down next to him, shoving my purse underneath my seat. "No problem, glad you haven't changed too much." Nathan smiled, he looked like he wanted to say more but didn't know what. "So, how was the move." I broke the ice, Nathan seemed to break out of his discomfort. "In complete honesty, it was terrible." He whispered, "I went to Langley Secondary, it was awful." I listened intently, wishing I could've been there for him somehow during his move. "I'm sorry," I grabbed his hand, "I wish there was a way I could've been there for you." Truth was, I could've been. But I made the personal choice not to write or call his house phone, I couldn't take the fact that he wouldn't be my closest friend or next-door neighbour anymore. "Don't even give it another thought, there wasn't much you could do." Nathan gave me a reassuring look, I only felt more guilty. "We can talk more during intermission, look." He pointed to the ice, the lights were going off and the players were stepping onto the ice to begin the game. I took off my jacket and got comfortable. I looked down at the ice and saw Cameron, he caught my eyes. That's when I realized that Cam had seen me with Nate, he knew. Cam continued on, he skated to the first line and got ready for the National Anthem. We sat back down after the anthem. "Hey, you good? Looks like you just saw a ghost." Nate bumped my shoulder, I jumped. "What? Oh yeah, I'm good." We stood up, Nate took off his jacket. He was wearing a giants jersey as well. "I like your jersey," I changed the topic, Nathan looked down at his jersey. "Thanks, it's a Tyler Ben jersey. Not sure if you-" "Know who that is?" I cut him off, grinning. "I'll have you know that hockey is my favourite sport, and the Giants are my favourite team. Ty is my favourite centre," I turned around to show my Koehler jersey. "Koehler? Seriously?" Nathan jokingly shook his head, "He's way too overrated." I shrugged, "What can I say? He's just a personal favourite." Nate squinted at the numbers, "Wow, you got it signed and everything.." I turned back around to sit comfortably in my seat, the game was starting. Cameron had not only signed my jersey, he added a personal message too. It said 'Via, thanks for teaching me that there's way too many ways to a make a coffee' with a heart. Why didn't I want Nathan to see? He was bound to find out about me being close with Cam anyways, I let it slide for now. "We got the first face-off! This is bound to a good start," Nathan and I turned our heads to the Pats' zone, where the Giants were dominating. I decided I was going to let myself have a good time. 

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Cameron ended up scoring in the first half of the period, I couldn't tell if he looked my way or not when him and Morrison did a celly near the glass in our section. Thank goodness Nathan and I were sitting a couple rows up from the bottom, I would kick myself to have to watch Cam see that Nate and I were, in fact, here together and not just seated next to each other. Cam must've noticed I wasn't sitting with Trey, which meant I was using a different ticket. Trey and his friend were sitting across the rink from us. "1-0, maybe your jersey is good luck after all." Nathan shoved my shoulder playfully, I forced a laugh. I was still mildly on the edge about Cam, I didn't want Nate to know how uncomfortable I was. I decided to make it all up to him by getting his jersey signed by Ty, somehow. "Hey," I looked over at him, he was focused on the game. "Would you want to get your jersey signed?" Nate shot me a confused look, leaving me to explain how. "Maybe they're doing a signing or something tonight.." Nate knew something was up, "I feel like I would know if Tyler was doing signatures, it's just the newer guys tonight.." Nathan turned back to the ice. "Fine, I know him decently well." Now Nathan was intrigued, "Really? That's crazy, is he the one who got you Cameron's signature?" I nodded without thinking, realizing that eventually I'd have to clear that one up, assuming I'd be spending time with Nathan in the future. "Bro, yes!" Nathan grinned, his excitement was radiating off his face. "I'll catch him after the game," I brought my legs up to my chest, sitting more comfortably. Hopefully that would make up for me being so off today. I couldn't believe this was the first time Nathan and I were hanging out in like, three years. It felt as if he never left.

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