Crossfire

On Thin Ice (Crossfire & 1Hawkeyes)

Cole blinked a few times, uncertain of what to say or do next as they pulled apart. He was flooded with questions again, but tried to play it cool.

"Uh, don't.. don't be." he said, half-laughing nervously "Thank you... Uhh, another drink maybe? I certainly need one."
He led her back over to the drink table, his pants undeniably, uncomfortably tighter now. Around them, the party carried on, seemingly completely unaware of the incredible event that just happened.

On Thin Ice (Crossfire & 1Hawkeyes)

Alex took him completely by surprise by kissing him and pulling him in closer. He was completely overwhelmed and suddenly flooded with questions, but he pushed all that aside and just went with it. No way was he passing up this chance to kiss her. He leaned down a little further to make sure she had full access then kissed her back, opening his mouth slightly as he gave into it.

The song faded and another started but they didn't separate. They were locked in an embrace, making out passionately. Her hands were still holding his face. Meanwhile, his had landed on her hips again, and slowly roamed a little, exploring her body, which was tightly pressed against his own.

On Thin Ice (Crossfire & 1Hawkeyes)

He had fun dancing with her. In any normal situation, he would have moved in for a kiss, but given that she wasn't into him, he settled for just dancing close and started to sing the lyrics during the last couple rounds of the chorus, as awful as it sounded coming from him, the alcohol had shed all inhibitions.

"You made a wish at 11:11.. I held your hips at 12:34.."

He could swear he saw her sigh for a split second. Something seemed to be bugging her, but he wasn't sure what.

"There was a kiss just waiting to happen" he sang along, just going with the flow and raising their hands up above their heads to spin her.

On Thin Ice (Crossfire & 1Hawkeyes)

He couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic or not but he just chuckled and went along with her anyway. This next song was a little faster and Alex started singing. Cole didn’t understand a word of the Spanish lyrics but the way they rolled out of her mouth, even though they were slightly slurred, sounded great to him.

He did his best to keep up with her, the beer definitely stoking his confidence and comfort with the situation. Eventually his hand ended up on her hip, and she didn’t seem to mind, so he kept it there.

When the song ended, they chuckled nervously as they walked off for another drink. A few minutes later Sam made his way across to where they were standing.
“Hey man” he said “I told the guys to put on something you’ll probably recognize, hope you like it.”

Not long after the Arkells “11:11” started playing. They were a Canadian band from the Toronto area, so yeah, Cole knew it pretty well.
“Hey” he said, turning to Alex “now this is something a little more my speed, you wanna dance?”

On Thin Ice (Crossfire & 1Hawkeyes)

"Pretty sure yeah" he chuckled "Like I said, I had a great teacher!"

It wasn't entirely truthful, his ex-girlfriend once promised to take him dancing and he'd done a little bit of practice in preparation, but they were having a good time, no need to bring up the past now. Cole was going crazy inside, he wanted to kiss her, or at least tell her how he felt about her, but he knew it was a losing battle, so he'd settle for another dance. A new song started up. He grinned and nudged his head a bit "care for another? I could use a bit more practice"

On Thin Ice (Crossfire & 1Hawkeyes)

He started to catch on to how it worked and smiled as she encouraged him.

"I've got a great teacher" he said with a grin. Slowly he eased into leading the dance. He didn't really know what to do with his hands, he moved his hips just as she was doing and moved a little closer.

On Thin Ice (Crossfire & 1Hawkeyes)

The drinks flowed fast and heavy, but it was nothing Cole couldn't handle, though he still tried to keep pace with Alex. In between chatting with her and the various members of the team and other people around who wanted to talk to him, it was all a little overwhelming to be honest. He was almost relived when Alex started tugging him out to dance, he handed both of their almost-empty cups off to one of the others and followed along with her. The bravado of the alcohol faded hard as he realized he had no clue how to dance to this kind of music.

"You, uhh, you're gonna have to show me the steps I'm afraid" he chuckled, shaking his shoulders slightly to the beat, hoping he didn't look like a complete moron.

On Thin Ice (Crossfire & 1Hawkeyes)

He was awestruck when he saw her. She looked amazing. Almost like she was going on a date..... but that was impossible.... right?
"You look great too!"

They chatted a little bit as they made their way over to the arena. The members of the team had (basically) full access to the place 24/7, so it was pretty easy for them to use a few of the lounges as the site for a party. The minute they walked in, Cole's heart nervously pounding the whole way there, the room exploded with cheers as members of the team raced over to welcome them. Immediately drinks were placed in both of their hands, Greg stood on a chair and declared to the gathered assembly.

"The guest of honor has arrived! You all make sure that he and his lovely lady friend here have a drink on them at all times, this party wouldn't have happened without him!"

He clapped Cross on the back and congratulated him again. Not wanting to disappoint the audience, he took a healthy chug from the drink. Everyone cheered again, then music kicked in, people started to disperse, while some others started closing in to greet Cole and Alex. He quickly turned to her and leaned in to speak.
"You don't have to drink if you don't want to. I'm not sure how you feel about it or if you've ever done anything like this, but, just stay close and we can keep each other out of trouble, alright?"

On Thin Ice (Crossfire & 1Hawkeyes)

"Yeah same" he scratched the side of his head an laughed nervously. When she asked about the puck he held it up to show the tape around the edge "Yeah, its sort of a tradition in hockey for a team to keep pucks from games or goals where certain milestones are reached. This one's for me though, I guess, so yeah, I'm gonna keep it on the desk in my dorm I think"

They hashed out a plan for Cole to pick her up once he got the details of the party. He gave her a pretty generic quote about how amazing it was to redeem himself after his big mistake and how happy he was to score his first goal.

After that, they split up. Cole went back to his dorm to shower and get ready. He placed the puck in it's spot on his desk, smiled at it one more time and proceeded to get ready.

A few hours later, now sporting a team t-shirt, jeans, and a little bit of hair gel, he knocked on Alex's door.
"Hey, it's me, ready to go?"

On Thin Ice (Crossfire & 1Hawkeyes)

Cole chuckled.

"Look at you, breaking the rules. I will give a quote though, I guess just ask a question and I'll figure out a good comment for the paper" he grinned again as he took in and appreciated the sweater on her form. Why did he have to be attracted to this girl that he had no chance with?

"It looks really nice on you! Super cute! Oh and off the record, the guys are planning an after party. I'm not usually one for stuff like that, but well, because of this" he flipped the game-winning puck in his hand "I'm kinda expected to make an appearance, wanna go?"