Dallas

When we pulled up to TCU I was in my practice outfit and ready to go. I was silent as Shea parked my truck.

“You okay Carrie?”

I snapped out of my thought of the feel of Shea’s bare skin against mine and I looked at him with a half smile, although he had the “Carrie I’m worried about you” look on his face.

“Yeah… Yeah I’m fine. Tired is all I got a big day today.”

“You going to the rink after you’re done here?”

“Yeah I got to before competition. My triple axel just isn’t ready yet…”

I climbed out of my truck, trying my best not to think about last night so I could focus. I walked over to some of my teammates who were already stretching. I looked over my shoulder and saw Shea climb out of the truck. I smiled at the thought of him watching me practice. When I got to my teammates they gave me a odd look.

“Please tell me you’re tapping that hunk of man meat that climbed out of your truck.”

My teammate Ashley had said that while she gave Shea a flirtatious wave and smile.

“No. We’re just old friends Ashley.”

“Good.”

I gave her a “you’re not thinking about sleeping with him are you” look. She put up her hands in defense.

“I meant that in the way so our lovely captain doesn’t get prego! Gosh!”

“Whatever. Come on girls we got a lot of work to do.”

I started heading towards the field where I preferred to practice and felt a tap on my shoulder. It was my alternative captain Jessie.

“What’s up Jess?”

“Are you going to try to make it to the Olympics?”

“Hell yeah.”

“Good luck! You’re the best skater I know in this state.”

I smiled when she said but she wasn’t lying I had constantly beat everyone in the state when it came to competition, even in pairs. During practice I couldn’t help but notice Ashley noticing Shea. She would flirt from afar with him during our practice. A huge swarm of anger and jealousy would swarm over me everytime I saw it, there was something definitely different about me.

“Alright girls good work! That ends this practice great job every single one of you!”

I wiped the sweat off my face and made my way to the bathroom, this was just a warm up for my next practice. When I got back from the bathroom and saw something that made my heart feel like it was broken in a million pieces. There was Ashley making out with Shea, who wasn’t resisting her. I made my way over to them and grabbed Ashleys ponytail yanking her off of Shea.

“WHAT THE HELL!”

It was aimed at both of them but mainly at Shea, I mean we had just slept together and now he was making out with my whore of a teammate. I looked at both of them that didn’t say a word. I felt tears swell up in my eyes, so I grabbed my keys from beside Shea and ran to my truck with tears rolling down my face.

When I was locked in my truck I was crying my eyes out for a reason that I wasn’t even sure of. I looked back and saw my figure skating bag in the back with my stuff in it. “Good. I can go straight to the arena.” I thought to myself. I blasted my radio which was playing Take It Out On Me by Florida Georgia Line. I got out of the parking lot as fast as I could.


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When I got parked I grabbed my stuff and made my way inside. I knew a lot of people who worked at Dr.Pepper Arena so I had access anytime I needed it to practice. Once I was laced up and ready to go I played Burn by Ellie Golding and started my routine. Through out the song I was skating flawlessly and hitting every single jump and even my triple axels. The sound of my skates cutting the fresh ice calmed me down. I kept going until the end of the song where I bowed as if I was in front of a audience, then I heard clapping. I looked up and saw Tyler Seguin sitting in the seats clapping. I rolled my eyes but skated near where he was.

“What are you doing here Tyler?”

“Is that how you treat everyone you makeout with?”

I glared at him obviously not amused, my day was already crap I really didn’t need him bugging me while I was preparing myself to get to the Olympics.

“No that’s not how I treat everyone. You’re a special case.”

I saw him smile which brought a small smile across my lips, god he’s attractive. Tyler made his way out on the ice wearing his hockey skates and he skated over to me.

“So again. What are you doing here Tyler?”

“I would love to say I wanted to see a beautiful girl like you skate, but honestly I just needed to get away from the craziness of the world. What about you? Are you preparing for something?”

“The Olympics.”

Tyler looked honestly surprised at my answer. Wait Tyler Seguin being honest? Weird.

“Nice nice… you going for individual I’m guessing.”

“Yeah it’s better this way.”

“Why’s that?”

“You only have to trust yourself.”

At that moment Tyler and I were very close, close enough I could smell his cologne and feel the warmness of his breathe.

“You can trust me.”

He leaned in and softly kissed me and I kissed back. Something about Tyler seemed wrong but right at the same time, guess that’s why I found him attractive. When we separated I was blushing bright red and Tyler was smiling.

“I got to get back to practicing… You’re free to watch and critique me.”

Tyler laughed and smiled.

“I would love to do that.”

I smiled and skated back to the middle of the ice where I started my routine for the second time that day. Until about noon that was all I was doing, mainly practicing my triple axels. I could tell Tyler was actually enjoying himself while he watched. When I finished again I skated over to Tyler who was grinning.

“Well that’s all the practice I’m going to get in right now. Wanna get lunch?”

“That sounds really good right now I’m starving.”

I laughed as we made our way off the ice and back towards the dressing room.

“I am too.”

When I got back in my normal street clothes that I had with me I made my way out of the dressing room where Tyler was waiting.

“You know normally I don’t do this for a girl I just met.”

“I know Tyler. Normally you sleep with them first.”

Tyler laughed and we left the arena with smiles on both our faces and Tyler had the courage to wrap his arm around my waist. Tyler was helping me forget about what had happened with Shea that day. I put my stuff in my truck and I drove the two of us to an old roadside dinner I loved. While we were there we just talked like normal people, this was a side of Tyler that I had never seen or really ever heard about before and it was nice.

Notes