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maitaiwiththecorpses · 2 months

Text

Begin Agian.

inspired by Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

__________

The singing skates on the ice.

The scrape and sting.

It all comes back to one thing: Hockey.

__________

When his heart beats too fast, Aiden always knew exactly what to do. Go to the rink, lace up, and force his skates to move in parallel lines. Each skate would face straight ahead, an even distance from each other, and never touch.

Aiden would do this for hours and hours and it always worked.

Until her.

__________

Aru is a hockey player. She doesn't look like one, or even act like one. In fact, you could even say she doesn't skate like one.

She is, though.

Where every other player on the ice is all straight lines and sharp edges, Aru skates in cursive- delicate turns and moves that are so small but have an attitude bigger than the rink.

She is not a figure skater. At least, not anymore.

Her style has enough nuance that, matched with her lithe body, makes her nearly invisible on the ice-

Until she has the puck.

__________

His mom's a coach. It's pure coincidence that she ends up being his coach, though.

"Boys, huddle up!" Aiden skates over to her, taking his helmet of as he goes. He's not calculated, though, how fast he's going, and ends up having to turn at the last minute into the boards. "Aiden," she reprimands, and he knows that he's in for it on the car ride home.

She clasps her hands. "Listen. You all know the girl's team coach, yes? Shakhuni? Well, he and I have noticed some... animosity between the two teams."

"I don't understand, coach," one of the guys- Blythe, I later realize- says. "We don't even talk to the girl's team-"

"Don't! Don't give me that bullshit, Mr. Fahey. Or do I have to pull up video from last week's party that you all attended? Don't think I didn't hear everything." Aiden winces, recalling the events of the party. Blythe and Rudy, his cousin, had poured a keg of beer on a few members of the girl's team while they celebrated their win against a rival team.

Shit. He was at that party. He could get totally screwed over for this.

"Their coach has talked his team down from going absolutely batshit on your asses, but you know what? I was about to let them beat the shit out of you all- you deserve it. Davey College is a tough team to beat, and last I checked, you all couldn't do it. The least you could do is celebrate them. And for the record, Mr. Fahey-" Blythe immediately recoiled. Aiden couldn't tell if he should laugh or feel sorry for his teammate. "It isn't better that you don't speak to the girl's team. You're part of the same department, you should be like a family."

"So what are we doing about it?" Aiden asked, pushing off the boards to join the group.

His mom gave him a stink eye before continuing. "You will have to share the rink." Sounds of shock and dismay bubbled up from the team. "Meet with their team- discuss a time, discuss scheduling. I don't care how you do it, just know that you are now in charge of how much you are allowed to practice."

Up till then, Aiden's day had been going pretty well.

Until now.

__________

"What the fuck do you mean we have to share a rink?" Her coach walked away flippantly, not responding. "Boo?!"

"Ms. Shah, I don't get paid enough for this, go complain to the dean if you're really upset."

She stumbled off the ice, not even bothering to take her skates off before trying to catch up to her coach. Her skates felt clunky on the carpet floor, but she reached him eventually, and when he felt her jerk his shoulder back, he finally relented.

"Malini is really trying to imbibe these boys with good values, Aru."

"At the cost of our training? Huh? Is that how it is?"

He pushed a crumpled post-it note into her hand. "You have a meeting with their team captain at two. You're to discuss and lay out the groundwork for a future schedule. Stay strong, don't let him walk all over you."

"That is so bullshit, Boo, you know I wouldn't let him-"

"Aru. Cool it. You're not on the ice anymore. Just- do what's best for your team, you hear?"

She sighed and let him walk off- this argument wasn't worth either of their time, and she needed to get dressed. Aru undid her skates and took off her gear, leaving on the white long sleeve and pulling her high-waisted jeans out of her bag. If there was one thing good about gear bags, it was that they were like voids- they never ran out of space.

"Hey, Aru?" Hira skated over with both their sticks. She'd left it on the ice after storming to Boo. Hira handed it to Aru, a frown on her face. "What's the verdict? Are we actually doing this?"

"I have to meet their captain in thirty minutes, so, yeah, I guess we are."

Hira crumpled her face in disgust. "Don't they get that this is so insensitive after last week?"

"It's not my place to argue. Apparently the dean and director of the sports department are in on it too." She finished putting on her sneakers before locking up her gear bag and grabbing her regular backpack. "I'll tell you how it goes, ok? You can fill Brynne in, too, just don't let it get too big." The dean wanted to keep the incident on the down-low, so in theory, only Aru, the coaches, and the boy's team captain were supposed to know about this meeting, but Hira had watched everything go down, and Aru wasn't about to stop her teammates from getting in on all the bullshit.

Until the bullshit got too much.

__________

An unknown number was ringing on his phone and his mother was glaring at him to pick up.

"Ma, you don't have to drive me back to the house."

"I'm not driving you to that frat house, Aiden, I'm driving you to the conference room."

"Already?" He jumped forward in his seat, eyes wide at his mother. "I haven't prepared any pointers, I can't meet her yet."

"She just got off practice, you'll both be on the same level. And that's her calling, if you didn't know, so you better pick it up, or she'll stick a puck up your ass the next time she sees you."

Aiden picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Arundhati Shah speaking. Is this Aiden Acharya?"

"Uh, yeah. This is Aiden. You can- you can just call me Ai-"

"Alright I'm at a Starbucks right now but apparently there's a conference room at Kingdom Quad we were supposed to meet at. It's a little out of my way, so I'm going to be a bit late. Please keep the data from your team ready for access incase we need to analyze team value."

"Excuse me-" Aiden was officially scowling. Team value? Is she for real?

His mom lit up with a bright smile. "What is she saying, what is she saying? Put her on speaker, nah?"

Aiden cleared his throat. "Um, Arundhati, I'm gonna put you on speaker, I'm here with Coach Acharya."

Immediately, Aru's tone changed from cold and unfriendly to warm and inviting. "Nice to meet you ma'am, though not in person. I was just saying I'm going to be a bit late to the meeting seeing as it's quite far away from where I am right now and I didn't get the details until just recently-"

"Oh, no worries, Ms. Shah!" Seriously? Since when did his mom get all chill? "What's the point of me having a car if I don't help out a fellow female athlete. Send Aiden a pin of your location and we should be there soon!"

"Sorry, who's we-?"

"Send the pin, dear!" And then, with no warning, his mother pressed cut on the call.

"Ma!"

"What? Did she send yet?"

"We're not picking her up!"

"Oh yes we are. And you are going to sit in the back seat with her, too. This is team bonding for a reason. The animosity between even the captains is so thick." She sighed heavily. "I have never been so sad to see such unsupportive men and women's hockey teams of each other. Truly. In my time, your father's team and mine- we were best of friends. Half of our teams were dating each other, the other half acted like siblings. You know- in our second year, both hockey teams decided to pool money and buy a house together? We all lived together for the next three years- every member of the teams. It seems, though, that the house has fallen out of favor with the girls and now you boys are the only ones using it."

"The house is a bit big," he relented, putting up Aru's location on the GPS. He saved her number in his phone as he did it - Arundhati Shah Women's Hockey Team Captain (Cranky)- and turned up the NPR on the radio.

"You see? That's what I'm talking about. You're not using it to its full potential, just like your defensive line." And all of a sudden, she was back to Coach and not Mom, lecturing about how weak the defense can get. "Arre, Aiden, go to the back, we're pulling up on Aru's location soon."

"Ma, please, I don't want to sit next to her, it's gonna be so awkward."

"Aiden. Listen to me, beta. In life, you must do the awkward shit first to get to the good shit next. Now get out of the front seat."

Aiden heaved a sigh as he climbed into the back, nearly somersaulting into the seat before he buckled up.

"Arundhati! Hello! In back you go, now." His mom smiled brightly through the window at the crowded Starbucks outside, gesturing to the back seat with more joy than she should have possessed.

"Oh, thank you Coach Acharya-"

"Please, dear, it's Malini Auntie. I knew your mother in college very briefly. Plus, Coach Acharya is my ex husband." Aiden scoffed in disgust at the mention of his father. One hell of a coach he was.

"Oh, well. Thank you, Malini Auntie, I really appreciate-" Arundhati stopped midway as she slid into the backseat, making eye contact with Aiden. "Oh, that's what you meant when you said 'we'. Hello, you must be Aiden Acharya."

Aiden cringed internally at his full name- this girl was so frigid and formal, what was her problem?!

"It's just Aiden, really no need for the Acharya part."

"Ah, Aiden, what are you talking about? You must be proud of who you are. You are the son of two very famous NHL players. You must hold your last name with pride. Arundhati, you'll have to teach my son a little something about pride in yourself- I love your name so much, and you let people call you Arundhati?"

Arundhati looked nearly nauseous next to Aiden, but tittered half-heartedly. "No, ma'am, as proud as I am of my name, I do typically ask people to call me Aru."

His mother went silent in the front seat. The point she'd been trying to make had been upturned. The car went into park outside of a large building surrounded by spring grass. "Ahem. Aiden. Ms. Shah. I will see you both next at the joint team meeting." She turned back to look at Aiden. "Beta, do try to be flexible, haan?"

"Thanks, Ma. Bye."

As they got settled in the conference room, Arundhati seemed to be minding her own business.

Until she slammed a puck on the table.

__________

"Listen here, buddy. Here's what's going to happen. The girl's team is exponentially better than yours-"

"Woah there!" Aiden yelled, trying to interject. Aru wasn't having any of it.

"I'm not done speaking. You will speak when I'm done." She bit back the bitch! at the end of her sentence, not wanting to further antagonize him.

"Fine. Fine. Say what you have to say and we'll see- whaaaat is that?" Aru had slid her phone over to Aiden, pulling up the video from last week's party. In it, Rudy and a blond hockey boy poured a keg of beer over her.

"That was me, a week ago, after one of the biggest games of my life. Those were your teammates, a week ago, after one of the biggest games of my life." Aru remembered the rush of heat she had felt in embarrassment- she never threw big college parties, it had been such a bad idea to do it- and the sticky sweet of the beer all over her. The video cut off right after, but she had run to the bathroom and thrown up once the beer stopped pouring out of pure embarrassment.

It was one of the worst days of her life.

And Aiden was quiet, for once.

"Your team has a track record of being total bitches. Y'all minimize our wins and maximize our losses. You harass our players and treat them like shit. This is it. This is the final blow."

"So what do you propose?" Aiden said, nearly sounding remorseful.

"In terms of sharing the rink- there's an uneven amount of hours for the hockey teams to practice. I say the girl's team gets the extra hour. We perform better overall, we should get more ice time."

"If y'all perform so well, why do you need the extra time? Give it to the boys." Aru was starting to get irritated again- this man truly had no sympathy.

"We perform better because we work every chance we get. We should get the extra time."

"Why don't we split it in half? Thirty and thirty?" Aru shook her head. God, this boy was dumb.

"No one's gonna come to practice for thirty minutes, and the skating team practices right after this block, so I'm not willing to risk the wrath of their coach because your team went over." She noticed his fingers tapping on the glass of the table and nearly felt sorry for him. She would have been so much jitterier than him if she was in his position.

Aiden narrowed his eyes at the puck on the table, chewing the inside of his cheek. "Well, we're supposed to plan team bonding, yeah?"

"I mean, I guess," Aru relented, shrugging her shoulders.

"Why don't we have the teams share the rink? And instead of it being more of a focused practice it could be like a play time?"

Aru stared at him incredulously. "You want to give twenty four professional athletes an hour of playtime?"

"Yes."

This man was joking, right? But it was a good idea. It would satisfy the coaches in terms of 'team bonding' and if they planned it right, it could be utilized as an hour of training.

"Fine. Fridays at six is playtime." Aiden cracked a smile just then and Aru thought she would throw up. This was a significantly tighter schedule than she was used to, there was no missing just one practice because you were sick, or running late from another class. She'd have to find a way to make it up for herself- maybe come into the rink before it opened for some solo skating. It wasn't the best idea, but it would keep her conditioned.

"Ok. I look forward to seeing you at the team meeting," Aiden said, before promptly leaving the room.

__________

Eldritch House- College Frat, Or Symbol of Hockey Unity?

Aiden frowned at the article on his phone. This was new. There were pictures in it of the construction of the house he lived in with his teammates, and the first class of hockey players who lived in it. He spotted his own parents in a few of the pictures as he read the article accuse the boy's team of getting rid of the unity that came with their university's hockey teams and how it was a degradation of tradition.

He copied the link and sent it to Arundhati, remembering his mother's words earlier that day. The guilt of it all finally filled him as he sat in bed, he remembered all the shitty things the girl's team had gone through just that semester, and he felt even worse that now that he'd met Aru and seen the pain behind her eyes about the beer incident.

Needless to say, this caused a complete anxious meltdown. It was three am, and then suddenly it wasn't.

4:30 am

might as well get down to the rink for some early practice, he thought. He grabbed his gear bag, leaving all hopes for any chai for the next five hours behind.

He was close friends with the custodians at the rink, so they let him when he shows up at all odd hours of the day. "Mornin, Greg."

"Hope your morning grump gets cheered up in there, Acharya," Greg smiled a knowing smile, and Aiden frowned.

"Sorry?"

"Head on in, son."

Aiden just nodded gratefully, not awake enough to process Greg's cryptic message. When he entered the rink, Chandelier by Sia blasted, and the scrape of skates were already running.

Arundhati.

She had two weights strapped to her torso and calves, and she was doing a freakishly familiar routine on the ice.

2012 Winter Olympics.

Aiden remembered. He'd studied the pair routine for days in secret- he was obsessed. In a leap of faith, he put his bags down and laced up, falling in line right behind the other hockey captain, parallel to her.

She noticed him very suddenly, but before she could say anything, he pushed off hard and turned to face her, skating backwards and to the left- he tilted his head in question- you know the next turns?

She stared at him coldly, reaching her hands out to him, building speed and turning Aiden so he didn't bang into the boards. They crouched in time, and Aiden stood in just the right moment, spraying ice and spinning them giddily. Something flickered behind her eyes and she shook her head, subtly hinting that whatever this was was over.

Aiden let go, and she glided backwards on her skates, still crouching.

"You're a figure skater?"

"No. Not anymore. I just came here to train."

Aiden smirked despite himself. "With a skating routine?"

"It's a lot more intensive than you think. You just saw. Look, your already sweating." She gestured to his forehead, which was indeed beaded with sweat. "Now try doing it with fifty pounds on your body."

"That can't be healthy, Shah."

"It's fine," she snapped. "I don't need you policing my body and my rink."

"Arundhati-"

"Aru, please. It's unnecessary to be this formal at five am."

ok, then.

_________

"Aru," his voice sounded so foreign to her ears, with her name. She couldn't tell if she liked it or not. He was precise. That routine wasn't good, but he knew it. It scared her.

The weights pulled into her ribs- it was starting to hurt a bit. Tough it out, Shah.

"You know boy's practice starts soon, yeah?" Aiden searched her face for something, and she scowled at him. Did she look like she was in pain?

"Of course. Listen, if you're here to practice, that's cool and all, but I need to train, too. I'm gonna put my headphone in." She skated over to the rink side seats, tapping on her phone to get her music started up. She could feel his gaze on her back, and part of Aru wanted to turn around and scream "WHAT" at his face.

She didn't do that, though.

Pity.

_________

An hour went by, then two. Aru didn't stop. Those weights were totally hurting at this point, Aiden could tell from the look on her face. He could also tell that she couldn't hear him. He tried talking to her momentarily while her back was turned, and he found that she couldn't hear a thing with those headphones on. She'd do laps and laps on the ice and not a sound would get through to her. So he talked. He blabbered and blabbered to her while he did drills, not caring if he was heard or not- it was the perfect remedy to his midnight anxiety.

And then the guys started rolling in. Aru still did not notice. She had started doing drills in the middle right about when Aiden had gone off for a water break. He heard Blythe yell from the locker room, "get out on the ice, guys!" And then Aiden saw it. Tommy Glasgow, barreling onto the ice towards Aru at full speed, backwards. She was hitting the boards before he even jumped over them, and at the speed he was going, god knows that he would have hit the boards too had he not stopped.

_________

This is what happened to Malini Auntie, Aru thought dimly. Most people thought the professional hockey player had quit the sport due to her unexpected pregnancy with her son, but Aru knew they were wrong. It was the semi-finals. They were winning- they were supposed to go to finals within the week. Just five more minutes of the half. Malini didn't know she was pregnant yet- it was too early to see the signs, too insignificant. And then the accident happened. She got into a fight with the opposing team- they bashed her into the boards.

Malini Acharya broke three ribs and her femur that day. She also found out that 1. She was pregnant. And 2. Her career as a professional NHL player was over.

This isn't happening. Her career couldn't be over. It would be terrible.

"ARU!" There was a dizzying shout from above her. Or was it to the left?

Someone gripped her face- not too hard, but enough to feel. "Stay conscious, ok?"

Aru felt herself shake her head. She was so tired. She just wanted to go to bed.

"No. Dude. Shah. I need you to stay with me, ok?" Someone shouted 'ambulance' in the background- Aiden's hands were really warm. The rink is so cold- how did she not notice that earlier?

"Cold," she choked out, with a broken smile.

"Shit, she's going into shock. Hey, Shah, who am I?"

"Whaddya talkin bout?" She slurred. What was this man talking about? Stupid, silly, warm-

"I'm Aiden, and I just happen to be a super hot guy who likes you." She was being lifted now. Aiden sounded desperate. Stupid. Super hot? That's not accurate.

"I would say-" her eyelids fluttered. What is happening? "-more cute than hot."

"Ma'am I'm going to need you to stay conscious. Sir, could you continue speaking to her- it's best if she stays awake." Aru heard the crackle of walkie talkies, and suddenly she could hear her heart in her ears and her eyes were awake and wide.

"I loved walkie talkies as a kid, you know?" She said to Aiden. His hand was wrapped around hers tight, and he looked so, so pale.

"Shit, that adrenaline stuff they gave you really worked."

Aru felt herself frown. "Who's they?"

"The- Shah, you're in an ambulance. You're going to the hospital."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you a-"

The end, Aru.

_________

He'd been here for six hours. It was ridiculous.

"She's out now," a nurse came to inform him.

She had passed out in the ambulance. She had a concussion and a singular broken rib.

When he walked into the hospital room, she was there, staring him down. "You have anxiety."