𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐘 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 || 𝐀•𝐁

𝟎𝟎𝟓 || 𝐍𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝟖𝟕

"𝐖hat a freak."McGill laughed, the silence dawning on them after the girls left the pond.

Some of the others joined in on the boys amusement, but Adam frowned instead of smiling. He sighed, grabbing his hockey stick that fell from when she bumped into him and pushed forward the puck to ignore his friends.

The puck slid across the ice, it stopped into a small curve a few steps away. Adam's eyebrows furrowed, skating towards it to find a damp navy blue Nike windbreaker coat on the hardened surface.

Adam looked around, all of his friends had their jackets on and so did he. It looked small, and slim like most Women's clothing and it felt like it hadn't been left for long.

He picked it up, shaking it incase anything was on it like bugs or dirt but it was clean. He opened the jacket gently, searching for a tag until he found one underneath the black collar.

A.R.

Adam realised it was Ashley's once the first initial came into sight. She wasn't wearing a jacket, when she fell and he distinctly remembered that the other girl was wearing about three jackets, so it had to be hers. Although, he didn't know her name for sure.

The jacket folded over his left arm, and his skates went from the slippery ice to the hard concrete. He sat himself down on a dry, snow free part of a bench not too far away from the pond where the obnoxious laughter from his teammates emerged from.

"Adam, where are you going? We're just about to start a game, man!"McGill shouted, looking over to find his team captain tying his Reeboks up. Adam looked up, biting down on the left side of his cheek before pulling himself up to head home.

"My mom wants me back, sorry!"Adam lied, it was the first thing that came to mind and he hoped his friends would buy it. They all looked at each other, before shrugging and waving him goodbye.

Adam let out a relieved sigh, taking a right down one of the roads that was dimly lit by towering street lamps that had multiple novelty stickers placed randomly and slanted and missing cat posters taped to the cold, grey metal.

The wind was starting to pick up, the trees whistled as the frosty air breezes through the naked branches. His eyes avoided the forests behind some of the houses, something about the shadowing dark scared him. The stars were shining, but not enough to give light down onto the ground that he walked on, the lights flickering with some of the old lightbulbs buzzed until they shut off completely.

"Hey!"A feminine voice laughed, her footsteps were fast and consist; like she was running away from something.

Adam looked back, seeing the girl from the pond. He felt a push on his arm, the jacket dropping to the ground and a shadow next to him. He crouched down, grabbing ahold of the jacket but the shadow's hand brushed against his and jumped back.

"Oh so- Oh..it's you."Ashley grimaced, taking her hand back and slowly rising back up. Adam bit down on his cheek, unsure of what to say but Ashley already had that covered.

She wiped the snow off her shoulder, the goosebumps making her arm red and slightly bumpy when she ran her fingers over it. A scowl fell onto her frostbitten face, the redness was almost bright on her nose and cheeks but they lightened back down to a rosy pink.

"Ice-Eater, huh? That's rich coming from you, Cake Eater. I thought your kind would have better insults, i mean it's almost as if you're not as good as you all think you are."Ashley sneered, crossing her arms across her chest. The wind whistled, clearing the dead silence between them until Adam finally managed to speak up.

"Here's your jacket."Adam held out, he lowered his eyes to the concrete beneath him and awaited the snide remark that would leave Ashley's pale lips, but nothing came out except-

"Thanks.."Her voice had softened from a raspy yell, to a gentle hum. He nodded his head, keeping his thoughts to himself after getting the backlash he deserved from her.

Ashley looked at him, he wasn't much taller than her, only by a few inches or so. Her eyebrows furrowed, and teeth sunk into the right side of her cheek. The fabric that grazed her hands as she dug them deep into her pockets kept them warm, but she still felt cold.

"You stay in Edina, right?"Ashley asked, even though she knew he did. Adam looked up, and nodded. Keeping his eyes from hers incase they gave away that he felt slightly intimidated by her.

"Well, going straight until you reach Edward Street takes you there quicker." She advised, now slowly walking with him and keeping her own eyes to the ground aswell.

It was an awkward silence, the thought of Adam being shy made it's way into her head but shyness affects lots of things in everyday life. Ashley wasn't shy, she was quite loud in fact. But around Adam, she was quiet and calm in a way when they weren't fighting, of course.

"How do you know that?"Adam questioned, slowly looking up from the icy ground and towards Ashley was trying to miss the cracks in the sidewalk. The feeling to smile burned on his face, but for the sake of making her uncomfortable, he didn't.

Ashley shrugged, jumping over two slabs. "I know my way around Minnesota."

It was quick to see, one minute she was standing and the next, she was on her hands. Her laughter was contagious, like the smell of fresh brownies. It made you want them, and Adam wanted to join in on her laughter but double-thought and decided to keep a straight concerned face.

Although, it didn't work after she kept sliding trying to get back up again. The two of them were laughing, both of them caught the giggles trying to catch each other from falling (even though ashley already did.)

Adams hands went out, wrapping around Ashley's left arm and kept her steady when she slowly stood up back. Her smile still played on her face, looking at him. Gently, he removed his hand once she could balance decently and took a step back to give her space.

"Thanks."Ashley chuckled, looking up at the tall street sign that was in front of her and read out Edward St. A small, hardly visible frown fell onto her rosy face once the words came into view, and she didn't know why.

"Um..i'll see you later..?"Adam noticed the sign too, some of the cars that drove down looked like ones his neighbors owned and he knew it was only five minutes away until he could get inside his warm bed that his mother probably made for him that morning.

"Ashley."Filling in his sentence for him, she turned around and made her way back to go find the cat that she had accidentally forgotten about the game of Tag! for taking Adam halfway home.

Adam smiled, taking another look behind him and spotted she wasn't to be in sight. "Ashley..that's nice."