CHAPTER 3- PUBLIC BATHROOMS!
1597 Words
"Jesus! What the hell!"
The blast of a whistle startled me awake.
"What the hell was that!" I grumbled to no one in particular.
The shrill sound of the whistle continued like an annoying alarm.
I opened my eyes, my sight trying its hardest to adjust to the dim light room.
Where am I? And who the hell keeps blowing that whistle?
I tried searching for my bedside lamp but it was nowhere to be found.
Recognition dawned on me pretty quickly. I wasn't in between the silk sheets of my queen sized bed in my apartment in Nashville. I was in the orthopedic stiff bed of Northbrook University dorms, a dorm I was currently sharing with the captain of the ice hockey team, a team I was impersonating my twin brother to be in.
"Miller, practice in 10, get your groggy ass out of bed."
Right, I live with the captain, I'm f****d.
Wait, what did he just say? "Practice?" I squeaked out in fear, that sounded torturous.
"No, it's a field day trip" Kade Milton snorted. I could make out his silhouette lacing his shoes in the dark, a duffel bag to the side of his feet.
"But we just got here" I whispered in silent frustration.
"What did you say?" Milton asked.
"Nothing."
"Right", he stood, slinging his bag over his shoulders like a man with purpose.
"If you're late, you're running two extra laps Miller"
"s**t" I scrambled out of the stiff bed in the dark, scrambling for my bed or my clothes in no order.
"Yo Cap!!! I'm your roommate! can I have a free pass?" I pleaded.
"Make that three extra laps, I'm not having a tardy roommate on my hands and in my team"
"Well s**t" and I searched for a random hoodie or a shirt, I'd still have to get into the hockey gear anyway.
Milton stormed out of the room, giving me a much needed privacy he probably wasn't aware of. I finally found my phone snuggled under my pillow. "6:15 it was 6:15 in the morning and they expect us to be ready and pumped to play hockey?
The hockey training facility looked like it belonged in a professional league, not a college campus. It screamed money!
Everything glittered and it was scary, like one mistake from me would ruin the grandeur of the cold shiny walls.
My nerves sharpened with every step.
By the time I finally reached the locker room, I'd successfully made myself more nervous than I'd been when I just got here.
I took a reassuring breath, just to assure myself that my respiratory organs were still functioning.
I was about to enter the locker room if the ice hockey team filled with boys.
Ashley! You are Ashton Miller! Be Ashton Miller!
I pushed the wide metal doors open. My eyes bugged out at the scene in front of me.
I'd never seen this amount of naked men at a time in my entire 21 years of existence.
Men everywhere, half dressed, not dressed at all.
Men laughing, shouting, flinging hockey gear across each other.
Well,
This was going to be a problem.
“Yo, Miller!”
A towel smacked into my chest, I flinched barely catching it.
A blond guy grinned at me from across the room.
He looked quite familiar.
Right! I'd seen him on Ash's snap recently. Josh? George?
“Thought you bailed."
“Nah,” I said, forcing a smirk. “Miss me?”
“Yes baby, missed you so bad I jerked to your pictures".
Laughter rippled around us.
Ewwwww! That's disgusting, why did they think that was funny?
I forced a laugh, trying my hardest to blend in. Guys are disgusting.
I stepped further inside, trying not to look at anyone too long. Trying not to look like I didn’t belong.
Trying not to panic.
I found Kade Milton at his locker, his back to me.
God! His body was ripped. My brain short circuited.
He was half dressed, his hockey pants doing it's best to hide his sculptured ass and toned legs.
Nope.
Absolutely nope Ashley.
This is not the time to be having creepy thoughts.
I stayed by my locker, gripping the edge like it might anchor me.
“Five minutes,” Kade called out.
The room shifted instantly.
Movement sharpened. Conversations cut short. Everyone started getting ready faster.
Captain effect.
I swallowed.
Okay. Think.
Think fast.
Change, but not fully. Enough to look normal. Not enough to expose anything.
I turned slightly away from the room, moving quickly, carefully.
Jersey on. Shorts adjusted. Keep your back turned.
Don’t rush too much. Don’t be too slow.
Act like you’ve done this your whole life.
A shadow fell beside me.
“You good?”
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
It was Kade. Way too close to me.
“Yeah,” I said quickly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
His eyes flicked over me, it was sharp and assessing.
“You’re taking longer than usual.”
My heart stuttered. Crap!
“I just woke up cap” I said, shrugging one shoulder. “Still stiff.”
He didn’t respond immediately.
Just watched me.
Like he was measuring that answer.
“Hmm.” he finally responded.
Obviously not convinced with my answer.
Great! Ashley Miller f*****g up already.
Before he could say anything else, the blond guy- Josh? Joshua?, slammed his locker shut nearby.
“Yo, Cap,” he said. “You interrogating Miller now?”
Kade didn’t look away from me. “Mind your business.”
George? grinned. “Jealous of us? We do threesomes too”
“Two extra laps.”
Blonde guy groaned. “You’re obsessed with punishing me.”
“Three.”
“Okay, okay! relax!” he turned his back on us, his jersey reading "kelp". Kelp! George Kelp!
Laughter broke the tension.
I exhaled quietly.
Saved. For now. I silently thanked the loose mouthed George Kelp.
The rink scared me. It was massive and intimidating.
My lungs tightened as I stepped onto the ice.
My Skates scraped on the ice. The team spread out in a fluid motion, taking their places.
I adjusted my grip on the stick.
You’ve done this before.
You know this.
Just don’t mess up.
Coach Harris blew the whistle.
“Line up!”
We moved instantly.
His gaze swept over the team… then stopped on me.
“Miller.”
“Coach” I was grateful my voice didn't betray my hammering heart.
"You look too pretty. Let's get you roughed up" He smirked playfully. “Warm-up laps. Everyone! Move!”
Everyone exploded forward.
I pushed off on autopilot.
The First lap was fine. I wasn't a devoted exerciser but I kept in shape.
The Second lap? less fine.
Third lap? My lungs were giving up on me.
Walker, breezed past me. “You dying already?”
“Thriving,” I wheezed.
He laughed and sped off.
Across the rink, Kade moved like he belonged to the ice itself. Smooth. And annoyingly effortless.
Show-off.
Coach blew his whistle, signalling the end of my current trauma. I thought we were done until Coach shouted, “Passing drills!”
Pairs formed quickly.
Before I could even escape Kade was in front of me.
Of course.
“Stick up,” he said.
I obeyed.
After agonizing minutes of aggressively passing the puck between ourselves, the Coach finally gave a five minute water break, a break I eagerly used.
Immediately I got comfortable, Coach shouted, urging us back into the ring.
“ It's fun time boys!" He hollered. "Scrimmage!”
Relief flooded me.
Big mistake. These men had a different understanding of the word 'fun'
Because scrimmage was worse.
Immediately the puck dropped, chaos happened.
Bodies collided. The grating of Skates filled the ring.
Someone passed the puck to me.
Oh no.
I caught it on instinct, a player charged toward me. I blanked out for a second not knowing the first thing about scrimmage.
Wrong move.
He slammed into me.
Hard.
I stumbled, my balance lost in the wind.
Pain shot through my shoulder as I fell on the ice.
Shit!
“Get up, Miller!” Coach barked.
My chest tightened.
Right. I wasn't a damsel in distress, even though I probably needed a medic, in my humble opinion.
Ashton wouldn’t hesitate Ashley
Ashton wouldn’t go down that easily.
I pushed up fast, grabbing my stick.
I got the puck again.
This time, I didn't hesitate.
I cut left—sharp.
The defender followed.
I pivoted right.
He missed. I did an internal dance for joy.
I saw a little window so I just shot.
The puck slammed into the net.
Goal! I freaking scored!
The ring exploded in celebratory chaos.
Back in the locker room, the chaos continued.
Guys laughing. Stripping out of their sweaty gear. Showers turning on.
This part. This was the part I'd dreaded since I first considered my twin's crazy plan.
This was the real danger. Showering in non private bathrooms.
George grabbed my shoulder. “Beer tonight. Don’t bail.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I said.
Lie. I'd find a million reasons to cancel. That was easier than escaping getting out of my now itchy gear in front of these fully grown men and then showering with them.
Kade moved past me, tossing his gear aside.
Then he stopped.
Turned and looked at me in his signature investigative look.
“You coming?” he asked.
"Mmh?" I responded like a dimwit.
“To the showers Miller”
My stomach dropped.
- Writer
