Hockey Is My Boyfriend: Part One by Melanie Ting Read Free Book Online Page B

did not believe you 100%, so she made us come. We’re seeing the new Katie Holmes movie anyway. Don’t worry, we won’t follow you into the theatre or anything,” said one of them, a d-man named Hilary.
    “You look really nice,” said the other girl, called Sara M. to distinguish her from the two other Saras on the team. “I like your top.”
    I didn’t think anyone had ever liked my top before, so April certainly knew what she was doing. The second sign that I looked different came when Nicklas walked right by me without noticing. To be exact, he checked me out but never got as high as my face, so he didn’t recognize me.
    “Hey Nicklas.”
    “Kelly? Kelly! You clean up nicely.” He seemed surprised, and smiled.
    “Nicklas, this is Sara and Hilary. They’re on my hockey team.”
    “Hello,” both girls said at the same time. They had these goofy expressions on their faces. Nicklas seemed to have this weird effect on women.
    “Ladies,” Nicklas nodded at them. Then he turned his megawatt smile on me. “Shall we get the tickets?”
    I held them up. “Way ahead of you,” I replied. I kept looking at his lips. Seriously, I just wanted to kiss him again. What was wrong with me? This was charity on his part, and I had to be cool.
    “Excuse us then,” he said to the girls, who were apparently struck silent. He put his hand on the small of my back. Electricity again! I took a huge breath in, which caused him to focus on the V of my top.
    “You sure look different, Kelly. You look—hot.”
    “Um, thanks,” I replied with automatic politeness. Another first, no guy had ever called me hot before, unless I was actively sweating.
    We sat down in the theatre. Nicklas started telling me about how his team was doing and who the best teams in his division were. As he was talking, he kept leaning towards me and getting really close. Once, he played with the fringe on my jacket, and his knuckles brushed my breast. I pretended not to notice. Finally he paused and gave me this intense look.
    “You know all the time we played hockey, I never knew you had a body like this underneath the equipment.”
    “Well, I probably didn’t. I mean I was only 13 or 14 when we last played together.” Wow, could I have sounded any dumber if I tried?
    He laughed. The movie was starting, so I was spared from making any more stupid comments. As the previews began, he put his arm over the back of my seat.
    “What are you doing?” I asked. Really, I couldn’t stop my inner eleven-year-old from hijacking the date.
    “I figure if your teammates are watching, we need to make things look good.”
    “I don’t think they’re here. They were going to another movie.”
    “You never know, Kelly.” And he pulled me in a little closer to him.
    The movie was actually pretty good, in a cartoony way. I liked that there was a strong female hero. But honestly, I was distracted by Nicklas the whole time. He was so close, his arm was touching me, and I could smell his masculine scent of cologne, soap, and sweat. He seemed to be able to generate the whole electrical thing without even kissing me. I was feeling a little dazed when we finally got up to leave. It was a good thing that this date was almost over, ’cause I needed time to gather my wits.
    In the lobby, I turned to him and said, “Thanks for going through with this whole thing for me. It was really nice of you.”
    He grinned at me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Whoa. I was thinking we could go for coffee or something. It’s still really early.”
    “I thought you were meeting your friends after.”
    “It’s more fun with you. I’ll call and let them know I’m not showing.”
    He pulled out his cell, and I heard his side of the conversation. “Yeah, I’m not going. Nope, just chillin’ here. Yeah, it’s Kelly. No, you don’t know her.” He looked at me and grinned as he said, “She is. Definitely. Later.”
    “What am I?”
    He laughed and didn’t answer. We walked to