Dare You to Catfish the Hockey Player (Rock Valley High Book 6)

by Lacy Andersen

  And not a sign that I was totally losing my mind?

  “Definitely.” He grabbed his skates and then led me toward a booth on the far end where they kept the rental skates. With an effortless jump, he scaled the countertop and bent down to look at the skates neatly ordered by size on the wall. “What size shoe are you?”

  My cheeks warmed and I shifted nervously. My large shoe size was one of my most embarrassing traits. Lexi was a dainty seven and Charlotte an average size eight. Heck, even Michael had once accused me of having clown feet. A girl didn’t forget a thing like that. It made me feel like a giant to say it aloud, but I could see no other option here. Not unless I wanted to embarrass myself even further by trying to stuff my feet into skates three sizes too small. It was time to woman up.

  “Size...eleven.”

  I’d pretty much mumbled it, like it was a dirty secret, but Gabriel didn’t bat an eye. He bent down and pulled out a white pair of lace-up skates and set them on the counter. Jumping back over the counter, he sat on a nearby bench and began to pull his skates on. I gingerly grabbed my own pair and sat down beside him.

  What had I gotten myself into?

  “You’ll want to get those laces extra tight,” he said, pointing to my skates as I pulled them on. The laces were all messed up and tangled from the previous renter. I struggled for a few seconds with my left foot, before Gabriel knelt on the floor in front of me and took the laces from my hands. “Here, let me help. It’s always easier for someone else to do it.”

  My entire face was on fire as I watched him gently untangle the strings and then pull them so tight that my foot tingled a bit. He finished them off with a neat bow and then moved to my other foot, carefully sliding my giant sneaker off and replacing it with the remaining skate.

  Lexi would’ve had a fit, if she’d been here. She would’ve made some ridiculous reference to Cinderella and a glass slipper. She would’ve made mortifying comments about the fine line between love and hate becoming even finer. I blushed harder just to think about them. And by the time Gabriel finished tying them and looked up at me, I was about ready to die.

  “There, done.” His smile faltered as he took in my expression. “Are they too tight?”

  “No, they’re fine.” I needed to get out of there, before he guessed what was really on my mind. I stood up too quickly on the blades and nearly fell on my face.

  Gabriel caught me, his hands clasping my arms tightly as he steadied me against his broad chest. “Careful. Take your time.”

  My skin totally broke out in goosebumps beneath my sweatshirt as the scent of him filled my senses. He smelled like a mixture of coconut shampoo and an earthy, dark body spray. It was nice. Too nice. My heart pattered a nervous beat as I swiftly moved away from him, using the plexiglass wall for support.

  “Those little kids were so good. The only thing I’m good at is video games and pointless online arguments with strangers. I don’t think ice skating falls in there.” I laughed a little too loudly and then clamped my lips shut.

  He chuckled and rubbed a hand along his jawline, right beneath that jagged scar. “Well, as amazing as you are, I doubt you were an expert at video games on day one. We’ll just take it slow, okay?”

  Again he was complimenting me. And again, my gut was ablaze with heat. I nodded mutely at him and let him lead me toward the ice. He stepped smoothly onto the slippery surface as I hesitated at the entrance. The good news was that if I broke a leg, I’d still be able to compete in the tournament. An arm wasn’t as expendable.

  “Come on, Beth.” Gabriel skidded back to the door with a shower of ice flakes flying from his blades. His eyes locked on mine with a teasing glint. “I’ve seen you stand up to my brother. Compared to that, this is a piece of cake. You can do it. You’re the toughest girl I know.”

  He was right. I was tough. Tougher than this pond of solid water. I took a careful step onto the ice and felt Gabriel’s fingers firmly clasp my right hand in his. It was hard not to let myself go all bonkers at having his skin on mine, but somehow I managed to stay on my feet. With both skates on the ice, I made a tentative move forward. Gabriel’s support kept me vertical as I waved my other arm for balance. All the while, he gently instructed me how to skate with short helpful tips. Within a few minutes, I was pretty sure I was starting to get the hang of it.

  “This isn’t so hard,” I said, lengthening my stride as we headed toward the middle. The risky side of me was ready to be let loose. I grinned over at Gabriel. “Am I good enough for your hockey team, yet?”

  “Sure.” He wagged his eyebrows. “The pee-wee team, that is.”

  I hit him playfully on the shoulder. This had been a good idea. Seeing the entire rink from down here was so much different than watching from the stands. Everything seemed so much bigger. The effort it took to move a puck from one side of the rink to the other must’ve been monstrous. It was no wonder the Corrigan brothers were both built like trucks. Staying up on my skates was requiring the use of a whole new set of muscles I didn’t realize I had.

  “I’m ready, coach, put me in.” I moved a little faster now, getting daring. Grinning over at Gabriel, I squeezed his hand. “Olympics, here I come.”

  He laughed. “Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves—”

  But before he could finish that sentence, my skates flew out from under me. I grappled for stability, but all I managed to do was yank hard on Gabriel’s hand, pulling him down with me. We both fell flat on our backs, gazing up at the lighting overhead for several seconds as stars danced in front of my eyes.

  Ouch.

  I wasn’t sure what hurt worse—my head or my pride.

  “Are you okay?” Gabriel sat up and leaned over me, worry in his eyes.

  Groaning, I allowed him to pull me up into a sitting position. My back felt a little out of whack and there was going to be a bruise on the rear of my noggin. Apparently, I’d gotten a little too excited about this whole skating thing.

  So much for those Olympics.

  I should probably have stuck to gaming.

  Suddenly, I was overcome with an overwhelming sensation. It bubbled up from my stomach and out of my mouth in the form of giggles. My muscles turned into useless noodles as I attempted to seal the laughter in my mouth with the palm of my hand. And when Gabriel’s concerned gaze met my own, I only laughed harder.

  “I think we’d better check for a head injury,” he said gravely.

  I snorted then, which not only horrified me, but made me laugh even more. That drew a small chuckle from Gabriel. And soon, he was laughing with me.

  It felt cleansing to laugh like that. All the teenaged angst and anxiety I’d been carrying washed away, if only for a moment. And it was especially cool to hear Gabriel laugh. He had a nice, mellow laughter that made my every nerve buzz with pleasure. I liked the way his eyes crinkled with warmth. And the touch of pink on his cheeks.

  He was even hotter when he laughed.

  “That might be enough of a lesson for one day,” Gabriel said as the laughter finally died away. He offered me a hand and helped me to my wobbly feet. “Hold onto me and I’ll get us to the edge.”

  We made it to the exit without falling. And as we sat and put our sneakers back on, I couldn’t help but glance at him several more times out of the corner of my eye. There was something going on inside my head. An impulse to ask one of the questions that had been bouncing around my mind for the past couple days. That fall on the ice might have just knocked down the last of my inhibitions. I needed to ask it.

  “Did you really mean what you said the other day?”

  Gabriel stopped tying his shoe and straightened up to look at me. “What?”

  “Did you mean it when you said you wish you could’ve seen me beat your brother in the tournament?”

  I wasn’t sure what I was doing. Was this the start of a confession? Was I really ready to spill the details of my master plan to Gabriel? My head was telling me to retreat. My heart was telling me Gabriel mi
ght be different.

  More different than I’d ever considered. Or given him credit for.

  “Yeah, I totally would’ve cheered you on.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from smirking. Sassy Beth hadn’t been knocked out by that fall. “Yeah, right.”

  “I mean it.” He drummed his long fingers aggressively on the bench beside him. “You deserve to put him in his place. Michael’s been a complete jerk to you. He just can’t get over a stupid old grudge.”

  I stared at him for a long moment, trying to understand what he’d just said. “A grudge? What grudge?”

  He blew a puff of air out of his lips and rolled his eyes. “Remember our birthday party back in eighth grade?”

  I did remember it. Barely. It had been one of my first boy girl parties. The twins had turned thirteen in the fall and somehow I’d gotten an invitation. The girls they’d invited had spent a lot of time playing truth or dare games in the corner of the basement while the boys played video games. It didn’t take much of an effort to guess exactly where I’d spent most of my time.

  “We played Halo for hours,” I said with a shrug. “I don’t remember much else.”

  “Remember beating Michael in a one-on-one?” He turned toward me, his eyebrows cocked. “With everyone watching? And then how he stormed off and refused to play for the rest of the night?”

  “No...” I tapped a finger on my chin. “I remember winning, but I don’t remember him throwing a fit.”

  “That’s because I pulled him away fast enough to avoid any civilian casualties.” Gabriel smiled sadly. “He was so angry, he broke my collector’s edition of the original Assassin’s Creed game I’d spent all year saving up for. That’s when it all started—when Michael decided he had a personal vendetta against you.”

  Recognition dawned on me all at once. That had been the moment when everything changed. The next Monday at school was when Michael started being a creep around me. And a week later was when I got that stupid scrawled note in my backpack. It was all beginning to make sense. Michael couldn’t ever take the competition. Which was why he was being such a thorn in my side ab0ut this tournament. He hated to lose.

  “Are you telling me all this time, he’s been trying to get revenge for a silly little game in middle school?” I sat up straight on the bench, irritation rolling off of me.

  “One hundred percent. Actually, that’s why we’re not partners for the tournament. I couldn’t stand the way he treats you. It wasn’t right. I’ve always hated it. You’re actually pretty amazing, Beth.”

  “What? No.” My cheeks burned hot and I looked away. I couldn’t be sure if I was pleased or mortified by his comments.

  “Yes, you are.” He gently cupped my chin and urged me to turn my head until our gazes met again. “I’m just sorry I never told you that before. You’re the most amazing girl I’ve ever met.”

  I stared wide-eyed at Gabriel, no longer convinced the pounding in my chest was because of this recent revelation. He was giving me a strange look I hadn’t seen on a guy before. It was tender, soft, and made me quiver with the sudden desire to lean closer to him.

  But it wasn’t me who leaned in. It was him. And I was stuck like a deer in the headlights. It wasn’t until his lips brushed gently against mine and a shock went straight to my chest did I finally get sensation back in my limbs. And as he pulled back, my lungs began to work like accordions, pumping in and out like I’d just run a marathon.

  What just happened?

  Had I hit my head harder on that ice than I realized?

  “Um...all right.” I jumped up from the bench, my legs jittery. Part of me wanted to stay there and see if he’d kiss me again. The other side of me needed to get out of there now. “I think we’ve done enough for our project today. I’d better go.”

  “Beth?” His brow wrinkled with confusion. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” I rushed over to my laptop and shoved it unceremoniously into my backpack. Normally, I wouldn’t be so rough with the gaming computer I’d begged my parents for last Christmas, but my mind was as useless as a bowl of my favorite lime Jell-O.

  “Oh...okay.”

  The disappointment in his voice hit me right in the gut. I didn’t make eye contact with him as I pulled my backpack on and tightened the straps unnaturally tight.

  “See you at school.”

  I was out of there before I could hear his response. My pulse beat erratically all the way to my car and the drive home. By the time I got into my room and splayed out on my bed, I’d replayed the whole scene in my head so many times that it was burned in my retinas.

  “What. Just. Happened?”

  I pressed my fingertips to the spot on my lips that still tingled from Gabriel’s kiss. Was this how it was supposed to feel? Like I’d just coded in the ICU and then been zapped back to life? I couldn’t be sure.

  The one thing I could be sure of was that I was totally and completely in over my head.

  Chapter Twelve

  If the bags under my eyes and the beanie pulled down over my rat’s nest of a head was any indication, I hadn’t slept well last night. Or the night before. And as I unloaded my backpack into my locker Monday morning at school, Lexi and Charlotte came springing down the hall toward me, looking light as air. The very sight of them like that gave me a pounding headache behind my eyes. I groaned and put the hood of my sweatshirt up, thankful for the extra bit of privacy.

  “Whoa, Bethy, what happened to you?” Lexi skid to a stop next to me in her dainty ballet flats. Her eyes looked me up and down, surely not missing the stress zits that had popped out along my chin. “You look like you didn’t sleep a wink. Don’t tell me you spent the whole night drinking Mountain Dew and playing video games again. How many times do I have to tell you that’s bad for your complexion?”

  “Negative.” I frowned at her. Spending all night playing video games would’ve been worlds above what I did: tossing and turning in my bed all night worrying about what had happened between Gabriel and me. “I just couldn’t sleep.”

  “Something on your mind?” Charlotte rubbed my back comfortingly.

  “Nope. Absolutely nothing.” The words flew out of my mouth a little too quickly.

  She cocked an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

  “Well, I mean I totally lost the memory chip to my dad’s camera.” I turned toward her and tried to smile. “It’s a good thing I already uploaded all the videos from the game on Friday, but now I owe my dad like fifty bucks for a new chip.”

  I’d searched for that thing everywhere on Sunday, but hadn’t found it. It must’ve fallen to the depths of my backpack or bounced beneath one of my drawers at home. I’d been so distracted by Gabriel’s kiss that I hadn’t noticed until the next day.

  Lexi fixed me with a hard stare, the left side of her mouth lifting into a suspicious smirk. “Is that all?”

  I’d hoped the missing camera chip would throw them off the scent, but it didn’t seem I was that lucky. “Um...yeah. Sure. That’s it. Nothing else to report.”

  The exchange of glances between Charlotte and Lexi told me I’d missed my shot at smoothing things over. Their silent conversation over, they nodded reassuringly at each other and then each looped their arm into mine and turned me around.

  “Wait, where are we going?”

  I glanced nervously around. There was only one way I was going to get through this day and it was by avoiding Gabriel. We didn’t have anatomy today, thank goodness. Until round two of the tournament started tonight, I didn’t have to give him or his lips an extra thought.

  Easier said than done.

  “Emergency meeting before class,” Lexi explained, pulling me with impressive strength toward the door that led to the stage.

  Charlotte nodded. “You’re going to spill, or there will be consequences.”

  It might have sounded like a threat, but coming from Charlotte, the threat was laughable. I drug my feet reluctantly but couldn’t keep them from pul
ling me through the door and onto the darkened back stage area. As Lexi looked around for the light switch, I shifted my feet, wondering just how little I could spill until they were satisfied and released me.

  “Come on guys, I’ve got algebra to get to.” I glanced at the time on my phone. There was still five minutes until class started, but I was going to use any excuse available. “Can’t this wait until...I don’t know...after winter break? Or better yet, after we graduate?”

  “Elizabeth Frye, don’t you test me.” Lexi planted her hands on her hips and glared at me. Just as Charlotte’s threat held no real danger, this petite pixie held no fear for me. I could’ve neutralized that threat just by sitting on her. “I’ve been coordinating decorations all weekend long for the big winter dance this Saturday. I’m feisty and fired up. The faster you give in, the better for all of us. And then we can move forward with finding you a date.”

  I groaned. I’d been so worried about hiding the kiss with Gabriel that I hadn’t considered Lexi would hit me with another dreaded torture device. How she was able to prod at my weak spots, I didn’t know.

  “Listen, I’m just trying to focus on the tournament.” I tried to smile at them both, but it came out more like an awkward grimace. “There are no secrets. I’m just tired.”

  Lexi laughed, shaking out a few curls from her messy bun on the top of her head. “You’re a terrible liar, Beth. Maybe even worse than me. Something’s up.”

  “Something’s definitely up.” Charlotte nodded in agreement. “What happened this weekend? Why didn’t you answer our texts about your time with Gabriel?”

  I gulped hard and it felt like everyone within a five-mile radius could hear it. She’d zeroed in on the topic at hand and I was defenseless as a weaponless orc in the Battlegrounds desert arena. My shoulders crumpled as my will to withhold the truth flattened to nothing.

  “He...kissed me.” I uttered the words in a whisper. It felt like a death sentence.