forum Apaixonar: The act of falling in love.//OxO//Romance//CLOSED

Started March 29, 2019 by @croccin-champagne

tune

Babe passed close enough for him to see her wink, before she was off after the puck. She twisted past him, skating off as she dribbled. The cold bit through her armor and a thrill raced through her.

He kept pace, angling himself so he stayed between her and his goal. He grinned through the mask, keeping himself in constant motion to parallel hers. He loved this, and it was evident she was enjoying herself as well.

"Hey Jacobs!" Babe called, somehow not sounding out of breath. She circled back around with the puck, carefully keeping it away from him. "Need some ice?"

"Always!" He called, staying between her and his goal. He was not letting her through, and he knew if she tried to hit it past him, he'd catch it. He wasn't tired yet, but he was starting to focus harder and get himself deeper into it.

"Good!" Babe grinned behind her helmet, and turned around to skate back to her goal. Just gotta pull this one off right.. She was banking on him following, for the opportunity to get closer to her goal,

He twisted, confused, and skated after her. Not too far- he wasn't going to risk losing his goal. He slowed down slightly, watching her closely and trying to anticipate where she would go with this.

She waited until he was a few feet away from her before turning suddenly. As she tried to skate past, she checked him hard enough to send him to the ground, quite the feat. She flew across the ice, and with a flick of her wrist sent the puck into his goal. "Glad you like ice, pretty boy."

Henry's grin disappeared behind his mask. He hadn't realized she would play dirty, but if that's what she wanted, that's what she'd get. He got back up onto his skates and made it back into position. He stayed there, opting to go for defensive first. Once the puck was in motion, he intercepted Nova and started to try to push her away from it. As soon as he was close, he stuck his stick in front of hers and pulled the puck away. He shoved off of the ice and away from her, flying across the ice until he flicked the puck into her goal.

"Oh, now we're playin'!" Babe's accent got thicker, and she perked up, even at her loss. In fact, it seemed to make her excited. She caught the puck as it bounced back, skating backwards across the ice to flip him off before turning around. Instead of a straight line, she put to work some impressive footwork her dad had taught her, before he left. This wasn't high school level stuff, it was the foot work you'd see at pro games, from someone who did it for a living.

He kept close to his goal. She was good, very good, and he was going defense until she got close. He wasn't falling for any more tricks, and he definitely wasn't going to play cat and mouse with someone who might be better than he was. He knew the ice, and he knew how to skate, but he couldn't skate like that with the puck and a stick. He kept himself in front of the goal, sticking close to his goalie specialty. If he didn't chase her for it, she'd have to come to him. He was quite confident he could block anything she tried to hit through, no matter how fancy her footwork may be.

Babe's brain worked quick on the ice, and as she neared Henry's goal, she calculated just the shot she'd have to take. He was good at this, that's for sure, and he looked like he knew how to goalkeep. But two could play great, and she wasn't the daughter of one of the most famous pro players just to lose at tryouts, one on one. She feinted a shot to the right, figuring he'd call it for what it was, and still went for the left. She twisted last minute though, and the puck flew up, towards the top left hand corner of the goal, a move that she knew for a fact nobody ever tried because of how likely it was to miss.

She played dirty; He'd play dirty. He jumped up and blocked the puck with the side of his helmet, letting it fall down in front of the goal as he fell back slightly. He pushed it away with the stick chasing it now and counting on her speed to keep her from following him at first. He took advantage of his small lead, pushing himself as fast as he could across the ice and towards her goal, heading straight at it and knowing she couldn't get to it in time.

Anything goes. She repeated Hawk's words in her head as she followed. She let him get close, dangerously close, before throwing her stick, letting it slide across the ice and knock the puck away from him, all the way to the wall of the rink. She skated after it, using the momentary 'wtf' moment to her advantage and grabbed her stick as she did, hitting the puck and sending it flying across the ice, straight into his goal from all the way on their side.

He kept sliding as he tried to change his momentum, but he'd already missed his chance. She got the puck in, and there was nothing he could do. As soon as the puck was in range, he decided to do his best to really play dirty, and he charged the puck as soon as he could. He got close to her, getting into her space and blocking her stick with his own. As soon as he could, he slid down and hit the puck away from her with his foot, while blocking her stick with his own. He dodged up and away from her, pushing off from her to send her away from the puck and him towards it. Once he had it, he slammed it into her goal, aiming well and hitting it hard enough to send it sliding in.

((I think they're tied, or Henry won. I lost track))
"Whoo!" Babe shouted at she hit the glass, pumping her stick in the air. An alarm rang out, signaling the end of their match, and she skated up beside Henry, smacking his helmet with her stick in a show of congratulations. She pulled her helmet off, shaking out her hair as she tucked it under her arm, but her eyes widened as she spotted someone in the stands, and a string of curses flew from her mouth.

Henry looked up to the stands, turning back to Nova to shake hands. "You're good." He already knew the coach's reaction, and was pretty eager himself to start practicing with her. He turned again, following her gaze to a figure in the stands. Still watching her, he took off his helmet.

"Oh god, what is he doing here?" The person in the stands, a boy their age who looked like a genderbend of Babe, looked absolutely shocked. She waved halfheartedly at Henry, and skated towards the exit from the ice. Hawk looked like he wanted to intercept her, but after following her gaze, seemed to understand something.

Babe was absolutely freaking out as she pushed open the gate, stepping off the ice and making her way towards Rico. They began talking in harsh whispers, both of them gesturing wildly with their hands, a shared trait.

Henry pulled of his skates, moving over to the coach. "She's on the team, right?" He got a quick nod in response, then stuffed his skates into a duffel bag and placed his bag in his locker. Henry proceeded to head out to the last place he'd seen Nova, wondering if he should try to help.

"Babe, you know mom said-"

"Yeah, I know what she said." Babe cut her brother off, sitting down and removing her skates. "I was there, remember? I was the one in the hospital, and I was the one told I had to stop playing." She looked up at Rico, raising an eyebrow. He opened his mouth, trying and failing to come up with a response.

At that, Henry decided it was none of his business. He'd let Babe know when he saw her tomorrow, in class. Henry turned and walked as quietly as he could back through the halls to the parking lot, and went home. He had a huge pile of school to do, and wanted a decent amount of sleep that night.

Through some miracle, Babe managed to convince Rico to keep it a secret, promising that she'd be careful. When she'd asked him what he was doing there in the first place, his eyes had flickered towards one of the guys on the team, and they'd both muttered 'the heart wants what it wants' at the same time.

(Sounds good!)
Today, Henry decided to brave the lunch area and try to sit with his hockey team. They all hated the noise of the busy room, but they weren't supposed to eat in their lounge area. He pushed his way through the crowds of other hungry teens, heading for the old corner table the hockey team usually claimed for each other. He hadn't had time to talk to Nova yet, and he was hoping she'd come sit with the team.

Babe was sitting at a table right next to an older one in the corner, because Rico had said that one was claimed. Kai was fiddling with some new invention of his, and Zach and Adrain were intently discussing the business opportunities a new school brought, leaving her the only one to listen to Rico go on about the hockey player he had met yesterday. Kevin Tripson, more commonly known as Trip, was now her brother's big crush.