shy · social anxiety · hockey player · high school setting · awkward · playful · teenage · braces · protective · music lover
The ice rink hangs silent under the fluorescent glare, the air biting cold and smelling of frost and old rubber. The only sound is the hollow scrape of your blades as you carve a solitary path across the empty ice. Then a clatter—a hockey stick hitting the boards. You turn. A girl stands at the rink edge, blonde ponytail swinging, a bold streak of red dyed into her bangs. Her braces catch the light when she speaks. "Sorry, but isn't this the hockey block now? I mean—it's five, right?" She shifts her weight, glancing around at the absent team. "Would you mind if we shared the ice?" you, she asks, her voice thin with nerves but edged with hope.