Chapter 11 #2
The light in my kitchen wasn’t great at the best of times,s.
This late at night, it left something to be desired.
I leaned closer, examining his face from different angles.
“It doesn’t look too bad,” I said. I grazed his cheekbone with my fingertips.
I hardly dared to touch him and risk hurting him further.
Despite my gentleness, he jerked away from my touch. “Does it hurt?” I asked lamely.
“Not as much as my pride.” His attempt at making a joke to make me feel better pulled at my heartstrings.
I swallowed hard and extended the wrapped ice pack.
Dom grasped it, resting it against his face.
His shoulders dropped, releasing tension, as it made contact.
He looked at me and gave me a small smile.
Suddenly, I let out a sob. I had been standing there, trying to be tough.
One second I thought I was doing a good job and the next I had tears rolling down my cheeks.
The smile and the twinkle in his eyes was the Dom I knew, always trying to make me smile and up for a laugh.
The serious guy who hardly spoke had been unsettling.
I dug the heels of my hands into my eyes and rubbed away the tears as best I could.
Dom's eyebrows furrowed. “Hazel?” He sounded like he thought I’d lost my mind.
“This is ridiculous,” I said. “I know that. But that was the first normal thing you’ve said to me since Brandon hit you.
You were keeping your distance and barely talking to me, and it felt like…
I don’t know. The closest thing was when we didn’t know how to talk to each other when we first met.
But at least back then it was me being awkward because I was intimidated.
Being the reason you’re going to get a giant bruise and why you got yelled at is so much worse. ”
He tilted his head. “You thought I was being weird?” He sounded confused.
“You didn’t seem to know how to interact with me or what to say,” I said, suddenly self-conscious. The kettle had clicked off and without the noise of the water boiling, the apartment was silent.
“I thought you wanted your space. I'd assumed that you didn’t want to talk!” he said. “I was taking my cues from you.”
“That’s not what I wanted,” I said. “You just seemed so closed off that I didn’t know how to talk to you. I thought you were guarding yourself, with the space and hands in your pockets.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Why would I need to guard myself from you?”
I sighed. “Now we’re just talking in circles.” I walked over to make the tea I didn't think either of us really wanted.
“Let’s change the topic then,” Dom said. When I turned around, a mug in each hand, he was smirking. “I intimidated you, did I?”
“Obviously,” I said, putting the bigger mug in front of him. I eased myself into the chair across from him. “We’ve already talked about this.”
He stood up and walked to my fridge, making himself at home. When he came back with the milk, he said, “No, I definitely would remember that. I thought you just didn’t know how to interact with a boy.”
That was part of it, admittedly. “There’s a difference between meeting somebody your age and somebody in high school.
The boys I went to school with hadn't figured out that body spray is not a substitute for deodorant at that point. Meeting a cute high school boy when I was in the throes of middle school and all the shit that goes with it was intimidating.”
“You thought I was a cute, older man,” Dom teased. “I have to say, I never thought I’d hear you admit it.”
My jaw dropped and my eyes widened. I stared at him, unblinking. No, no, no, I thought in horror.
Dom laughed at my panicked expression. “Yes, I knew. You turned red every time I held your hand. You couldn’t look me in the eye for more than a few seconds at a time for weeks. I was fourteen, not stupid. It was pretty obvious what was going on.”
I groaned. “We are not going to have this conversation.” I moved my mug to the side to rest my forehead on the table.
I couldn't look at him right now. The night was turning into a disaster.
I never would have thought that the complicated technical skating elements would be the easiest part of my evening.
“Because of what happened at the pub?”
“No. This is embarrassing, even without that." I forced myself to sit up. I wasn't going to avoid eye contact like a child, no matter how awkward this got. "It’s mortifying that you knew I had a crush on you back then. I thought you didn't know, because you never mentioned anything."
He stayed still for a while, looking at me inquisitively.
The slightest trace of a smirk crossed his lips as he watched me.
I had a sneaking suspicion that he was enjoying the fact that this revelation was causing me some degree of distress.
Despite that, it was a comfortable silence.
Finally, when most of my tea was gone, he asked, “Are you feeling any better?”
I nodded. For the last few minutes, my concerns had been focused entirely on his knowledge that I’d liked him. I hadn't thought about Brandon. “You’re good at distracting me.”
“I aim to please,” he said. He left the ice pack on the table and dumped the rest of his tea in the sink, rinsing out it and the mug.
Following his lead, I walked over to the sink.
Dom didn’t try to create some distance between us, letting me reach past him rather than walking away so I had the area to myself.
It wasn’t very often that I felt happy that somebody was in my space, but this was different. “Are you doing okay?” I asked.
“I think I’m going to have a giant bruise, but that’s okay.
It should be gone before the first competition.
If not, maybe I can finally convince some hockey players that male ice skaters are tough, too.
” He was clearly joking, but the part of him that had been teased for figure skating when he was younger probably would appreciate that.
He looked down at me and said, “Are you okay if I go now?”
“That’s what I tried to tell you the entire time,” I said. Begrudgingly, I admitted, “It was nice that you stuck around for a bit, though. At least now I don’t have to go to bed wondering if you’re going to want to stay away from me.”
We had made it to the entrance, so he leaned over to slip on his shoes. “You never need to worry about that,” he said. “I wouldn’t take a punch for somebody I didn’t want to spend time with.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.
He unlocked the door, sliding the bolts into position, but waited with his hand on the doorknob instead of opening it. “I’ll see you on Monday, okay?”
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll buy you a coffee.”
He grinned. “A big one. And you better not be late, or you are going to have to deal with a cranky partner until the caffeine kicks in.”
“I’ve been warned,” I said. “Now go home and get some sleep.”
He obliged, and I locked the door behind him. Suddenly, I was exhausted. By the time I had showered, removed my makeup, and crawled into bed, I was already half asleep.