XVII

Too much dialogue, but I had to get it out.

Emma's Imagination - This Day

"Did you enjoy the game last night?" Jordan said as we de-iced his car the next morning. I shrugged. I wasn't going to let this go to his head.

"I didn't understand much, but it seemed OK."

"OK?!" He spluttered before flicking a bit of ice off the end of his scraper in my direction. "You're a disgrace Pelino." He continued scraping ice off the windscreen and flicking a little towards me every now and then. "I can't believe it's only OK. Did you not enjoy my three goals?"

"I just thought you were showing off," I snarked back, flicking some ice towards his face. His head was covered in a navy blue toque and his blue eyes glittered against the whiteness of the snow and his navy blue coat.
"No, I wanted to prove myself out there last night," he replied.

"And fighting did that?" I said.

"Yeah well you saw that their number 12 couldn't fight," he said.

"Hardly necessary," I said, now knowing that his fight had been for my purposes.

"You wanted his digits!" Jordan protested. As if that was any excuse for beating the crap out of him. I saw his face on the jumbotron, he had a cut eyebrow and a bloody nose.

"No excuse," I said getting into the car. I'm not five - showing me that he's stronger than the opposition, the big guy in the playground, or in this case, out on the ice, is not going to get him any brownie points.

He got into the car and looked at me before manoeuvring the car out of the driveway and into the icy road. I looked back at him, taking it all in before looking back to the road. I could feel his eyes on me once again.

"Eyes on the road Staal," I said not looking at him.

"What?" he joked.

I remained silent. He was just trying to get under my skin now. And it was ticking me off.

"So you think you'll come to another match then?" he pressed.

I weighed up the possibilities. "Only Kitchener matches, or maybe when you leave the Petes..."

"Funny."
I smirked back at him, knowing that I was getting under his skin. "Honestly, I have no intention of going to a hockey game again."

He shook his head at me and asked if I wanted to wager another bet. Declining, I knew that this could go either way and now that Jordan's maths abilities were improving, I wasn't going to accept another "math bet".

"Well if I can't tempt you with hockey, what can I tempt you with?" he said focusing on the road ahead. Putting on my sunglasses and resting my feet on the dashboard I thought hard. Was this a double entendre? A trap of some kind?

I just slouched there looking out of the window with my sunglasses on, wondering how long would I could avoid giving an answer for. Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced across at Jordan, but his face was unintelligible. "Maybe some chocolate or a coffee?"

"Timmy's?" he suggested. I shrugged, I was in the mood for some chocolate milk or a couple of timbits.

"So when's your next match?" I asked once we had got some chocolate milk and chocolate timbits. Jordan had groaned that he shouldn't be eating so much sugar just after breakfast and that he would need to go to the gym yadda... I quickly told him to lighten up and it was a one off.

"Thought you didn't care about hockey?" he quipped as he started the car on the last little bit towards school.

I don't but it's polite to make conversation. I'm not trying to get his hopes up, I just wondered. And since I have no intention of being there, which is the next thing I'm about to tell him, I just wanted to know. "I don't. Couldn't wait for you to leave," I bantered back as I finished the chocolate milk.

"As if Pelino. You can't get enough of me," he joked as we sat in the car park at school.

"You wish," I said unbuckling my safety belt. "Better get a move on before someone thinks we're up to something out here."

He stopped me, asking if it would be such a bad thing to which I glared at him. What a stupid question. He's still not completely back in my good books yet - so that was pushing it a little.

"Oh come on Alice," he said following me across the car park. I kept on walking, not wanting to argue this out in the middle of the car park.

Suddenly I slipped and fell, snapping my wrist as I landed. "Fuck!" I screamed as I sat on the ice, the cold water dampening my jeans. Jordan was beside me in a flash, scooping me up off the ice and towards the steps.
"You ok?" his voice was full of concern.

I held my wrist up which was definitely wonky. It was painful, nothing excruciating, just a dull throbbing. "Let's get you to the hospital," he said carrying me back towards his car. Gently placing my left hand in my lap, I rang Nat to say I was going to the hospital whilst Jordan put my safety belt on. He kissed my forehead gently before he closed my door whilst I recounted the details of what had happened to my wrist to Nat.

I moved my head away quickly. Too far, I thought, frowning. Too far.

______________________________________________________________________________________


After an hour and a half wait, I was finally seen by a doctor, had some x-rays done and had my wrist put in a cast. "Eight weeks," the doctor had said. I cursed myself for wearing stupid shoes and not decent boots today of all days. Jordan asked me if I wanted to go out for lunch before heading back to school to which I accepted, since time spent away from school is always more fun than time spent in school.

"You going to stop running away from me now?" he said glancing at my wrist.

Grimacing, I shrugged. Running away from what? It was true, every morning for the last week, I had practically bolted like a racehorse out of the gate, from his car as soon as we arrived at school.

It wasn't unexplainable - I was finding it increasingly hard to spend time with him without desire overwhelming me. He removed his toque, leaving his short hair rumpled, making me want to touch the ends which were sticking up all over the place. I pushed my hands further into my lap, wincing at the pain from my left wrist.

He drove us to a small cafe in town - one that I had passed several times but never been into. It was small and served a mixture of mediterranean cuisine: Jordan settled on souvlaki whilst I picked at a duck and orange salad. "How's it feeling?" he asked me across the table.

"Sore," I said, looking at the fuchsia coloured cast. He grimaced and then told me I shouldn't have fled so quickly from his car. Quickly I bit back: no matter how quickly I had left, there was always a distinct possibility that I might have slipped on the ice.

"So now I have to take extra special care of you," Jordan grinned like it was some kind of crazy threat.

"Who says you were taking care of me in the first place?" I answered, finishing my salad.

He raised his eyebrows, revealing small lines on his smooth forehead. "Guess I'll have to try harder."

Was this flirting? It just seemed so natural between us that I hadn't realised that he or I had overstepped the marker I had placed for us in my head. He had taken really good care of me this morning, after I had fallen, and had held my hand at the hospital, laughing about the cast before taking me out for lunch. It almost feels like we are dating - except we aren't.

"Jordan..." I began. "Why are you doing all of this?"

"Because I want to, and I'm trying to make it up to you." Honest, I thought as I fiddled with the edge of the cast. "And because I like you."

"Like me?" I questioned with a hint of a grin. Dangerous territory, my brain warned as I pushed Jordan to go further. His cheeks coloured a little, something he didn't do very often. He gave a little bit of a nod, before tilting his head from side to side. "I guess," he said, looking up at me.

"Hmmm... My dad is going to LOVE that." I was beginning to enjoy this teasing particularly when it was making him squirm.

"Shit! What does he know?" Jordan said, checking the rest of the small restaurant to see if my Dad was actually hiding out in here.

"Relax, nothing. And he's never going to know anything," I replied. Jordan's shoulders visibly slumped a little before he laughed. "Gotcha," I said.

After he had paid and I finished my diet soda, we made our way back across the river to school. "Thanks Jordan for today," I said quietly as he parked up in the car park. He grinned a little at me before jokingly asking me if I wanted a ride across to the door - I didn't want to break the other wrist now did I?