Jude and I are the last ones to leave—we planned it this way. The thing is, Thea and I haven’t gone on an actual date. I don’t count going out for ice cream with Lacey as a date or Thea making me dinner every night. I know we’re in college, and dating is what we make of it, but I want her to feel like she means something to me. With Coach’s permission and the help of her brother, I hopefully planned the night well.
“Okay, I’m going to head out. Are you sure she’s waiting?”
“Yes, she’ll be there.” Jude gives me a high-five and takes a box I handed him out to Thea. I get cleaned up, put my skates back on and head toward the ice. It’s dark in the arena, but the emergency lights give off enough glow we won’t need anything else. I set my phone on the bench and turn on one of the playlists I created for Thea and me. After skating out to the center of the ice, I wait. I’m not the most patient man ever, so the seconds that tick by seem like an eternity, and I start to wonder, what if Thea wasn’t waiting for me?
Every insecure thought I had goes away when she steps into view. Even though it’s dark and I can’t see her clearly, I imagine she’s smiling.
“Hey,” I say as she skates onto the ice. I haven’t gotten around to asking her why she doesn’t play hockey or figure skates, since usually once one member of the family turns to some sort of skating, the others follow. Ally wanted to train for the Olympics, but my mom could never afford a coach or the ice time.
When Thea gets closer to me, the smile I imagined is definitely there. She’s wearing my away jersey over the top of my sweatshirt, which I know is three times too big for her, but she doesn’t seem to mind, and her knit hat, along with her matching mittens, has the NU logo on them.
To me, she’s perfectly dressed.
“Hey,” I say back, clearly lacking an eloquent train of thought. I could thank her for coming to the game or for cheering me on, but I’m tongue-tied.
Thea launches into my arms, and I catch her effortlessly. I bury my face in her hair and inhale the aroma from her shampoo. I learned early on Thea likes everything to match. If her shampoo of choice smells like flowers, so will her perfume and lotion. I’d like to say one smell, in particular, drives me crazy, but it doesn’t. Every ounce of my attraction for Thea is because of her. She could be sweaty and covered in dirt, and I’d still want her.
“Amazing game,” she says as I gently let her down. “And before you disagree, I know you had to come from behind, but I like to chalk it up to you just giving the other team a chance to play.”
I laugh and lean down to kiss her. I pull away before she can deepen it because I know if we start something here, nothing can stop me from taking her back to the locker room. Even the threat of expulsion from school. It’d be hot-as-fuck to fuck her on a bench in there. Maybe when I get to the NHL.
“So, what’s all this?”
“A date.” I look around and realize it’s not the most romantic thing in the world, but it’s all I have at the moment. “You know how to skate, right?”
Thea nods. “This is a cute date, Ky.”
“It hasn’t started yet.”
Thea shrugs. “The fact I’m with you is enough.”
I don’t know what to say, so I take her hand and push off with my blade. We glide next to each other until she’s in front of me and wraps her arms around my waist. “Are you avoiding the elephant in the room?”
“Maybe.”
“Why?”
“You make me nervous,” I tell her honestly.
“I’m nervous too, but I want this for us.”
“Me too.”
Thea moves her arms from my waist and wraps them around my neck. She pulls me forward for a kiss, and this time I let her deepen it. It’s a good thing I have the rink memorized and can guide us around. Otherwise, we’d be crashing into the boards and on the ice from falling.
When the song ends, we part. We’re both flushed and wanting more. I motion toward the bench, and she nods. We both sit there, in silence, taking our skates off. After I drop them off in my locker, we’re walking hand-in-hand back to the house.
I thought anxiety would creep in when we arrived home, but I feel an odd sense of calm or relief. I follow Thea upstairs and into my room. She doesn’t turn on the overhead light and opts for the one on the table beside my bed. For a moment, while I watch her undress, I feel like this is something I could do every day for the rest of my life. Like, I see her in my future, greeting me when I come home from a road trip and joining me in the bath after a brutal practice. These thoughts scare me, mainly because we’re so damn young, and with the baggage I carry, I could never ask anyone to take it on.
I mimic Thea and undress; thankful I took a shower after the game. She comes toward me, and I hold my hand out for her, only for her to reach around me and lock my door. I chuckle, and she winks.
“No one is going to come in,” I tell her. “They know better.”
“I don’t care. If I scream, I don’t want anyone rushing up here, thinking I’m injured when I’m likely enjoying whatever it is you’re doing to me.”
There’s no arguing with her or her logic. Thea takes my hand and leads us to the bed. The second she turns around, I have her in my arms with my mouth on hers. She moans and hangs onto my wrists until the back of her legs touches the bed. Before I can ease her onto my mattress, she pulls away and sits. My cock jumps, knowing she’s at the perfect height to take him into her mouth.
Thea does just that, and I groan when her warm lips and wet mouth encase my shaft. “Fuck, I need to sit down.” But she doesn’t listen and continues to move me in and out of her mouth. I can’t help it when my hips buck, and I hear her gag. What she’s doing is so fucking hot my balls start to tighten, and I have no choice but to pull away from her. Thea looks at me with a wanton need I haven’t ever seen before. She slides back onto the bed and beckons me forward. I kneel onto the mattress and place kisses on each ankle, moving my way up to her thighs. Her hand goes into my hair, her fingers tugging on the strands as her body starts to quiver.