“Ooh, you’re gonna be out of commission for a bit,” she said, cringing at the sight of his ankle. “Tony, will you help me bring Matt to the infirmary? Nina, I’ll be back soon so we can do physicals.”
I felt sick when Tiffany told me that not only would she be leaving me alone here, but that we would also be spending more time with the hockey team. Was this a plan of hers to get me to face my fears? I felt almost betrayed.
Tiffany and the other two hockey players left the arena, leaving me alone with the rest of the team.
“Alright,” Enzo said nonchalantly, clearly not wanting to draw attention, “let’s get back to practice.”
The team went to get back on the ice, with Enzo leading, but Justin stayed. His eyes were fixed on me as he clenched and unclenched his fists.
“Justin, c’mon,” Enzo called, stepping out onto the ice and skating in a backwards circle. “What’re you doing?”
“You know, Nina,” Justin said loudly enough for the whole team to hear, “I tried apologizing to you. I know what I did was fucked up, but you have to understand that it was a mistake.”
I felt my heart catch in my throat as the entire team stopped and gathered near us.
“Justin, now is not the time,” I said. “And I told you, I’m not interested.”
“I loved you, Nina,” Justin said. He was still raising his voice. It almost felt like he wanted to make a scene. “I’m sorry I messed up. Please take me back.”
I bit my lip as I felt the entire team’s eyes on me, waiting for my response.
“You guys are dating?” one teammate said.
“We broke up,” I replied, but no one seemed to be listening as the team erupted into a chorus of gossip. I heard snippets of “I told you so” and “She should feel lucky” coming from the din.
I looked away from Justin and over to the group. At the back stood Enzo. He looked at me sternly, his eyebrows knit. I could see the pain on his face, but he hid it from the other players.
“That’s enough!” Enzo said loudly. The entire group went silent and turned to look at their captain, but he was only glaring at me. Without breaking eye contact, he said: “Let’s train.”
The day went by far too slowly. While the team practiced, Tiffany and I pulled out the players one by one for their physicals in the locker rooms. Justin gave me puppy dog eyes throughout his whole physical, practically begging for me to forgive him.
Finally, the last person to examine was none other than Enzo.
He sat down on the bench in front of me, removing his shirt for the examination. His muscles were tight and pronounced from how hard he was practicing, and as I stood nearby while Tiffany examined him, I could smell the sweet odors of his sweat emanating from his body. It felt a lot like the night we hooked up — like his scent was a pheromone.
Enzo avoided eye contact the whole time. I could tell he was upset by what Justin said.
Halfway through the examination, while the team was practicing, there was the sound of people colliding on the ice and someone yelling out in pain out in the arena.
Tiffany groaned and handed me her stethoscope. “Finish this,” she said. “I’ll go make sure no one is dying. These boys have a death wish, I swear.”
Enzo and I were completely alone in the locker room.
I sheepishly put the stethoscope in my ears and walked up to Enzo. I put it on his chest and started listening to his heartbeat, which was strong and steady.
“So he’s the reason why you rejected me, huh?” Enzo said quietly.
I pulled the stethoscope away and looked at Enzo. I was speechless.
“We broke up Friday night and I have no intention of getting back together,” I replied finally.
Enzo scoffed. “So I was just a tool for you to piss him off, is that it? Is that why you went to the bar on Friday night?
To find some meat to make your ex jealous?”
I sighed and stood, crossing over to the row of lockers as I exasperatedly rubbed my forehead with my hand. “When will we stop talking about that night?” I said, turning to face him. “It’s not like one night stands are anything new to you.”
Just then, Enzo’s eyes flashed red like the night we slept together. He suddenly stood and stormed over to me, blocking me against the wall with his huge body and placing his hand on the wall above me as he leaned over me. I was afraid at first, but the smell of his sweat and the feeling of his warmth emanating out to me made me feel unintentionally aroused.
My heart was racing, but not from fear.
Enzo leaned down to kiss me…
The lights went out and cast us in complete darkness.
Nina
The locker room was pitch black. Had we lost power?
I didn’t dare to move in case I would accidentally bump into Enzo and give him the wrong idea. He was still hovering over me, his hand on the locker above me and his muscular body shielding me. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t fantasize about taking advantage of the dark and kiss him, letting him run his calloused hands all over my body and fuck me up against the locker…
But before any of that could happen, a light flicked on at the end of the row of lockers. Just a single light, beaming down like a spotlight from the ceiling. Enzo quickly moved away from me.
There was the sound of shuffling in the darkness, then someone stepped into the light.
It was Justin.
He was holding his guitar.
Everything in my whole body cringed when he started playing his guitar and singing. It was a song that we had listened to the first night we hung out, and it was the song that we had our first kiss to.
Under any other circumstance, I would have found this gesture sweet. But now, it just made me even more embarrassed.
When he finished singing, the lights turned on and the rest of the team flooded in while Justin gazed at me with sorrow in his eyes.
“Please take me back,” Justin said. “I’m so sorry, Nina. I’ll make it up to you.”
I stood there biting my lip, unsure of what to say. My face felt hot, and grew even hotter when the rest of the team — excluding Enzo, who was sitting on the bench next to the medical tools as if he had never gotten up from his seat — started chanting.
“Forgive him!” they chanted. “Forgive him!”
I squirmed uncomfortably in my spot, avoiding Justin’s gaze. The chanting grew louder as the team closed in on us, urging us to get back together.
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