all for us.

lyrical cadence echoes through the otherwise empty rink ––– drawing him to a sharp halt on the ice, skates cutting against the ice. lifts helmet to rest atop his head, clearing his view as he turns toward the woman over on the steps. pauses a beat before gliding toward her ––– pace much slower than how had been carving up the frozen surface a moment ago. “ yes, ” comes his honest response. “ he did. ” considering his no relationships mantra, it seemed like a good rule to follow. an order. comes to a stop, leaning against the boards. “ sorry, princess. ” lips curve in a smile, pulling his gloves off. “ 's a nice view, though. ”

eyes roll as male admits what she already knew: that her father had warned the team about getting close with her. couldn't actually blame him considering her last relationship with a hockey player in college turned toxic fast but that was a couple years ago, she wouldn't allow her father to stop her from getting what she wanted. and what ashanti wanted, was blaise. 〝 you're scared of my dad? that's crazy. 〞her eyes remain fixed on his ––– heart beats within her chest much quicker than usual at the nickname but facial expressions remain neutral, it was much too soon to have blaise know he had any kind of affect on her. 〝 so, you're just not gonna talk to me ––– ever? 〞she asks, slight pout upon lips as she stands up, walking slowly toward him, the only object between them now being the dividers.

second the specifics pass his lips, blaise is wincing internally. not the right thing to say, at all. though nose scrunches in distaste. “ when the fuck was i holdin' her hand? ” that wasn't his thing ––– it sent the wrong message, while he was trying to refrain from romance as a whole. nevermind that he held shanti's hand all the god damn time. gaze never straying from her face, blaise reaches forward slowly, hooking a finger into a belt loop and drawing her toward him. “ what's really going on here, hmm? ” other hand finds her hip, sliding around to the small of her back once she's close enough. “ if someone was off-limits, you could have just told me from the get-go. ”

eyes roll as he pulls her toward him but she doesn't fight it, fingers twitch at her sides, wanted to touch him –– to wrap her arms around him too but ashanti was still mad, refused to give in to displays of affection. 〝 well, i didn't think i'd have anything to worry about because she's a desperate whore. but apparently that's your type now. 〞ashanti rarely spoke about people, especially women in such a way but callie really, really, irritated fem to the max she didn't care how she might have sounded. 〝 i don't wanna say why, okay? it's embarrassing. it just sucks that i have to share you with her, of all people. 〞

gaze slowly flicks away from him and over to the screen, and–– yup, there he is on screen : the love of her life. looks over to theo again. “ let me get this straight, ” nora points over at the screen. “ i have been trying to convince you to watch the trilogy with me for as long as we've been dating, and now you get into it? ” hands rest on her hips ; unsure if she's unimpressed or relieved. “ what was it : fall in love with aragorn? ” smile quickly falls, glaring over at him. “ only one of us is allowed to be in love with aragorn in this relationship and that's already me. so why don't you turn off fellowship of the ring–– ” words she never thought she would say, “ ––and come out to fight men staring at my tits all night, yeah? ”

〝 right but you like a lot of nerdy things, i thought this was one of them. 〞he chuckles, hues tracing the length of her figure before being forced back to staring at the screen, the camera moving from nora's infatuation to his. 〝 actually, no . . 〞he laughs again, arms reaching out to pull fem onto his lap, thumb caressing her thigh. 〝 aragorn isn't the hot one it's legolas, babe. but i was not looking at him. i was looking at arwen. 〞presses a kiss against red lips before she can argue over their movie crushes, nodding at her suggestion. 〝 i do like fighting men who look at you, to be fair. 〞

expression momentarily blank as he stares at her ––– partly in disbelief, partly trying to remember who the fuck she's talking about. that was a bad look and deeply uncharacteristic. “ shanti, ” he starts, shaking his head slowly. “ are you serious? ” eyebrows raise, rubbing a hand over his face. “ miss me with this high school bullshit, please. ” bitter laughter falls from his lips as he takes a step back. “ you're pissed over a shitty handjob and her demanding — demanding — i go down on her for-fucking-ever for a one-night-stand? be serious, shanti. ”

the one night stand not being particularly good for him makes her feel a little better ––– okay, a lot better but still, callie evans was ashanti's mortal enemy since the tenth grade, how did he expect her to react? 〝 well, now i'm pissed that you're giving me graphic details. i don't want to know what you did with her! holding her hand is bad enough. 〞lips form a pout as brown eyes look up at him, arms crossing over her chest. 〝 be serious? does it look like i'm joking? you're not coming anywhere near me now i know you went down on her for - fucking - ever. 〞timbre mocks his as she shakes her head, maybe . . just maybe, she was a little jealous.

“ oh, come on ––– i turned off lord of the rings — on a saturday night — and put on a top that best accentuates my boobs because you wanted to go out. what's the big deal? ”

〝 nah, i'm still coming ––– obviously. you look good, can't let that go to waste. i just ––– i maybe put lord of the rings back on while i was waiting for you and i'm kinda into it. i didn't know it was this good, i can't lie. 〞

“ you–– … you said you were fine with this. ” arms cross over his broad chest, clearing his throat. “ i'm on the road all the time. i have to train. i told you this wasn't going to be anything serious. that you were welcome to see other people because i would be. the fuck you suddenly pissed about it for? ”

〝 okay, woah ––– calm down. i'm not pissed about that. 〞shakes her head, offended scoff leaves her lips, as if shanti would ever care that homme was sleeping with other people. 〝 i'm pissed because out of anyone you could've chosen, you decided to fuck callie when you know how much i hate her. 〞

SAMANTHA LOGAN Via TikTok

MAX MITCHELL 3.01 Rack 'Em Up