28.

Enough food to feed the whole skate club for an entire week littered the table. Mom had gone overboard with breakfast this morning. Eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, even fresh fruit sat off to the side in a large bowl.

"You're awfully cheerful this morning," Dad noted as he leaned across the table to get some bacon.

Mom nodded in agreement. "It's been a long time since I've seen you smiling like that."

Heat rushed to my face in an instant. All the memories of last night fluttered back into my mind, forcing an unwarranted smile to my lips. From landing my first triple axel, to making up with Aiden, so many positive things had happened last night. There was a lot for me to be happy about.

I dropped my gaze to the plate of food in front of me, focusing on the little black spot burnt spot on my toast. "What can I say?" I mumbled. "I'm in a good mood."
"And to what do we owe this good mood of yours?" Dad asked to which Mom laughed and added, "Acquiring minds would love to know."

Of the many things that were contributing to my good mood, only one did I feel like sharing with my parents. As close as I was with them, I wasn't completely sure what it was that was going on between Aiden and I. Things with us were new and we didn't exactly have a label on our relationship.

Pulling the burnt piece of toast off my plate, I took a small bite before lifting my eyes to meet my parents' gaze. "I landed my triple axel last night." My triple axel was a safe, and a huge part of my mood.

Mom's eyes went wide with excitement as she let out a squeal of glee. "Honey! That is so exciting, why wouldn't you tell us sooner?!"

"That is awesome." Dad grinned. "Do you think that you'll have it ready in time to include in your regional routine?"

I took another bite of my toast, offered a nod. "That's the goal. I still have a long way to go though. I've only landed it once."

There were still several months before the regional competition, but I still had only ever landed my triple once. Even with the added time that I would now have without having to worry about my punishment with Aiden, I had my work cut out for me.

With the punishment officially lifted, things at the rink could go back to how things used to be. Comparatively speaking, that is. Things were never going to go back to exactly how they were before Aiden.

To my amusement, Dad and Mom fell into a short-lived argument about whether or not it was okay for me to put in extra hours at the rink with my senior year starting soon. Mom was pro high school, Dad pro figure skating. It was safe to say that I was rooting for Dad to win the argument.

The doorbell rang, cutting off their debate.

"Were we expecting someone this morning?" I wondered, taking a sip of my orange juice. My parents stopped mid-sentence, giving each other a curious look. They shook their heads.

"No," Mom admitted. "We weren't."

All three of us turned our heads in the direction of the door.

Dad sighed, pushed his plate to the middle of the table. "I'll get it."

"You weren't expecting anyone this morning?" Mom asked once Dad had left the dining room. Her lips curled to a soft smile as she anticipated my answer.

I shook my head. The only person I knew that might stop by unannounced was Lucy, and I doubted it was her since she had extended family in town.

"Zoe," Dad called before I had the chance to comment on any theory of who I thought may be at the door. "Come here."

My eyebrows shot up; my hand paused with my half-eaten toast midair on its way to my mouth. I wasn't sure who would want to see me.

"I guess I'll be back," I whispered to Mom. She chuckled. I set the toast back to my plate and stood from my chair. I was about to open ask Dad who was at the door when I turned the corner and saw for myself.

Aiden.

A rush of excitement fluttered inside of me as my heart leaped at the sight of him. My mouth went dry. He looked damn good in his dark wash jeans, sporting a fitted navy-blue tank top that highlighted how much muscle he had on his arms. I couldn't help but reflexively swallow.

In my head, I was trying to say something – to say anything – but for once in my life, I felt tongue-tied. It was like I was back in elementary school and my crush had just walked into the room. I felt stunned.

"Zoe." Dad's voice snapped me out of my haze.

I blinked slowly, taking a second to gather my composure before I scrambled towards the door. I stopped a couple feet short of Aiden who was standing next to my father just inside the door frame. My eyes latched onto those chocolate eyes. Every ounce of me felt an annoyingly strong urge to jump on him and press my lips to his like some kind of crazy hormonal teenager.

Clearing my throat, I finally said hi to Aiden. "Hi."

Aiden's lips curled into a contagious smile that caused an internal conflict in my brain. Don't smile, Zoe. Do. Not. Smile. "Hey Lodge."

I breathed slowly in through my nose, held the air for several long seconds before slowly exhaling. To my dad, it probably looked like I was trying my best to remain calm and not lose my temper. The trying to remain calm part was true, but I was doing everything in my power to keep my emotions in tack.

Although I was normally open with my parents, I really was not ready to share what little news that there was about Aiden and me. The last my dad knew, I still hated Aiden. He had to trick me into going outside by telling me that it was Lucy so I wouldn't bolt. Since then, my feelings had done a total one-eighty. I'd give Dad whiplash if I told him.

"What are you doing here?" I quired, keeping my facial muscles as straight as possible.

It was a valid question. Regardless of how his surprise appearance had put a giddy feeling inside of me, I didn't have a clue as to why he was here.

The smirk on Aiden's face caused my giddy feeling to morph into something else. "You didn't forget, did you?"

My mind blanked. Until last night, Aiden and I were not on talking terms. We didn't make any plans for today. I was certain of that.

Dad let out a hearty laugh next to me, and I turned to him with a frown. "What's so funny?"

"You're late for practice," Aiden answered for him. I turned to Aiden. My frown deepened.

"We don't have practice."

The little smirk on his face grew into a sexy one-sided grin. The giddy feeling erupted back into my stomach. What was this effect that he was having on me?

"Yeah we do," he pushed. "It's our final practice before Mark lets us be done with our punishment."

I knew for a fact that was a total lie. Mark had made it crystal clear last night that we were free. Our punishment was over. I wanted to push back, argue that we didn't have practice, but there was a small glint of something that flashed in Aiden's eyes as if he were telling me to play along.

Dad nudged my side with his elbow. "You should go, kiddo. Get your last practice of hockey done and over with so that you can focus solely on preparing your triple axel for regionals."

I opened my mouth to protest, but the words didn't come out. Despite knowing that practice was a lie, I found myself wanting to go with Aiden. I was intrigued. What was it that Aiden really wanted?

"I don't want to go."

Dad shot me a stiff frown and I knew that meant he wanted me to go. Despite my feelings toward hockey, Dad had always been a fan. I think he secretly loved that I had to learn the basics to hockey.

"Fine," I mumbled, turned back to Aiden. "I'll go. I'm coming."

Aiden grinned at me triumphantly. "I'll see you at the rink in thirty."

_-_-_

After scarfing down the rest of my toast, a few bites of eggs, I grabbed my duffel bag full of my skating essentials and headed to the rink.

The first thing that I noticed upon walking through the front doors was the overwhelming presence of hockey heads. To my knowledge, the hockey team shouldn't have had a practice. It was a Sunday morning. No one should have had practice.

However, the large number of players present at the rink seemed to tell me otherwise.

My stomach turned. Aiden had to have led me into some kind of trap. Again.

I felt like an idiot. His apology last night had seemed so sincere. He made me feel bad for how I treated him when we first met like I was the one at fault. I had let myself be deceived by him when really, he was just setting me up for whatever this was.

"Hey there stranger," Chris greeted. I spun to face him with a scowl. "What?"

"Have you seen Aiden?" I grumbled. "I need to have a word with him."

Chris raised his eyebrows. Clearly he was concerned about my intent to have a word with him. "He's in the locker room." He lifted his hand, pointing in the direction of the boys' locker room. "He should be out shortly." Chris sighed, titled his face to the side as he examined my face. "Is this about him figure skating?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "No," I answered simply.

The skepticism on Chris's face told me that he didn't believe me.

"Well, well, well are you ready?" Brendon's voice echoed from behind me. I spun around quickly to see him and Nate headed in my direction. He looked excited: like someone who was about to watch their favorite team in a playoff game. "I bet you can't wait to show us what you've learned."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I was confused and would have pressed for an explanation when I caught sight of Aiden exiting the locker room. My feet started to move before I had the chance to process what I wanted to say. I ducked past a now very confused Brendon and Nate and sprinted a fast-paced walk over to Aiden.

I grabbed ahold of the black fabric on the sleeve of Aiden's hoodie, tugging on it to get his attention. He spun on his heel to face him. His head dropped to look at me with a curious expression.

"What the hell is this?" I barked, trying my best to keep my voice as low as possible. As much as I felt like yelling, I didn't want to get in trouble with Mark the day after he lifted our punishment.

Aiden's eyes dropped to my hand on his arm. His lips parted into an amused smile; he lifted his gaze back to my eyes. "What the hell is what?"

I narrowed my eyes, used my free hand to gesture to all of the hockey players around the rink. "All of this," I spat, keeping my eyes firmly locked to his. "Is this some kind of setup to embarrass me in front of the hockey team?" My voiced lowered, letting the hurt I felt ring in each word I said. "I knew that I shouldn't have trusted you."

Aiden's smile faltered, giving the illusional that my words had hurt him. "Zoe," he spoke softly, masking the hurt I was certain I saw in his eyes moments ago. "This isn't a setup to embarrass you."

A queasy feeling formed in the pit of my stomach. I was torn between wanting to hate him and want to apologize for being such a pain. "Oh?"

He lifted his hands up, placing each of them firmly around my biceps to straighten me out in front of him. His soft eyes remained locked to mine. "Do you remember the bet I tricked you into making where you had to participate in a hockey practice?"

It was hard not to remember. It was that stupid bet that had led to me befriending Chris and meeting Riley. If it wasn't for the bet, I would never have gone out of my way to learn how to shoot a puck just to beat Aiden at his own game. It was that bet that had led to me befriending the hockey team.

"Vaguely."

He took a deep breath and smirked. "That's all that this is. It'll be fun, promise."

My mind began to spin. So many different emotions flooded my brain that I wanted to scream. I felt an overwhelming pressure from myself to fight all possible feelings towards Aiden. I was trying to find any reason to hate him. It might have been weird, but I felt like I was turning against my younger self: betraying her for thinking for even a second that I could date a hockey player.

Aiden shared a lot of similar characteristics to those hockey players from my childhood. He was overly confident, arrogant, and self-centered. I knew that, but yet, I also knew that there was also a softer, more vulnerable side to him that I had just recently started to see.

If Aiden were really all bad then he wouldn't have come to my house after the bonfire incident just to check on me. He wouldn't have apologized last night either. I didn't know a whole lot about him outside of him and hockey, but I realized that I wanted to.

Then there was also our chemistry. There was no denying the sexual chemistry between us now. My body craved his touch.

"Hockey isn't fun," I finally said after several long, silent moments. My voice was light, almost teasing. "I can barely hit the puck."

Aiden leaned backway away from me as if he thought I was suddenly an entirely different person. He released his hands from my hands, let his arms fall back down to his sides. "I don't think that you give yourself enough credit. You aren't that bad."

"Awe," I grinned. "It's cute that you don't want to hurt my feelings. I suck and you know it."

He returned the grin. "Well, you've gotten better." He hesitated before adding with a wink, "You did have a good teacher."

I rolled my eyes, punched him hard in the shoulder. It was surprisingly enough to cause him to stagger backward a step. "No need to pad your own ego," I teased. "It's already big enough."

Aiden laughed. "Only for you."

Another eye roll. I turned back toward where Chris, Brendon, and Nate were currently watching my exchange with Aiden intently. They all looked genuinely confused by whatever was happening between us.

Without a second thought, I turned back to Aiden and leaned up on my tip toes to place a light kiss on his cheek. "I'll meet you down on the ice."

I turned my head to the group of boys who were now even more confused and winked before starting in the direction of the girls' locker room to get changed. Aiden shook his head in amusement, remaining in the same spot with a soft smile as he watched me walk off.