S C O T T

"Remind me why we're doing this," Edi said, holding his skates tightly in one hand. He frowned and looked at me, blue eyes narrowed.

I shrugged and threw an arm around Connor's shoulder, "Con was in need of help."

Edi stared at me blankly, and then turned to Connor, whose brown eyes were wide in hope, "Still doesn't answer my question."

Connor glared at Edi and I broke out in laughter, only to be promptly shushed by Jay, who was practically shaking. I sobered up quickly and slouched back against the wall, tapping my foot against the concrete. The silence only lasted a few seconds before Connor turned back to me, brown eyes wide.

"Are we going in or not?" Connor whispered, pointing to the door behind me. He frowned and looked around, tugging his jacket tighter around himself, "I feel like Monroe's going to, like, pop out of nowhere and kill us."

I snorted and Connor just glared at me. Truthfully, he did have a point. Jay, Edi, Connor, and I were all standing out front of the Marlies stadium at midnight. Kelly had said she wanted to go skating again, and Connor had begged all of us to give him a few skating lessons. The only problem was, Connor didn't want anyone to see him getting lessons, so I promised him we could teach him in private.

I frowned and checked my phone, seeing that Elle hadn't texted me back. She promised she'd be able to sneak a key into the stadium off her dad and get us in, but Connor didn't know that. I knew he would've said Elle couldn't watch him get his lesson, so I just left out that small bit.

I turned and saw someone walking over to us. Connor yelped loudly, and Jay shouted, pushing Connor away from him. I turned and told them both to shut the fuck up, at the same time Edi elbowed Jay in the ribs to shut up. Everyone shut up and relaxed (though Con was half-crouching behind me), and I just grinned and waved at Elle when she got closer.

Con practically shot out from behind my back and stared at Elle with wide eyes, "Elle?" Con spun to me and waved his hands frantically, "Scott! What did you do?"

I grinned, "Got us a way into the stadium."

"No, no, no," Connor rambled, reluctantly stepping aside when Elle walked forwards with the keys, "Elle's going to see how badly I skate, and then she's going to tell Kelly. And then Kelly's going to want to break up - "

"To be fair," Jay said, grinning and ruffling Connor's already messy hair, "She's had a lot of opportunities to break up with you already."

"Jay, I swear to God I will kill you," Connor said, pushing past him and into the stadium. Jay snickered and I laughed, following behind my best friend, who was still rambling about how badly this could turn out.

"Calm down," Elle told Con, flicking out the light switch. I dropped down onto the bench and wrapped my arm around Elle's waist, pulling her towards me, "I'm not going to tell Kelly. Plus, it's not like she doesn't already know you can't skate."

Connor mumbled something that sounded like, 'real helpful', but dropped down onto the bench anyway. Edi and Jay sat down behind me, and I just pushed my skates further down the bench so Elle could sit. She smiled up at me, green eyes wide, and I grinned widely down at her, before giving her a quick kiss.

Things with Elle had been better than they ever had been. It had been a quick after I told her that I loved her, and we never really stopped saying it to each other. Connor had high-fived me and said how proud he was that I finally said it, and Coach Monroe reminded me of his gun collection in the baasement. Things was still pretty amazing, though.

"Are you gonna stay?" I asked, one hand holding Elle's, the other awkwardly tying up my laces.

Elle laughed and nodded, "Do you really think I would miss the chance to see Connor flailing around on the ice?"

"I heard that!" Connor shouted, turning to us and chucking his jacket our way. I laughed and Connor flushed when his jacket fell a few rows below us.

Jay and Edi were already skating on the ice, and Connor was hesitantly standing by the door. I gave Elle another quick and walked down the bleachers, before throwing one arm around Connor's shoulder. He yelped and jumped, and it took all of my strength to keep the both of us from totally toppling over.

"Ready?" I asked, stepping around to Connor's other side so I could hold the door open for the two of us.

"Definitely."

I frowned and pushed Connor forward, and he just gripped the wall tighter, knuckles going white. Con nodded to himself, and I stepped forward, only to be stopped because Connor wasn't moving. I sighed and tried to give him a little push, and Connor just gripped onto the walls even tighter, not moving an inch.

"Buddy," I said slowly, letting go of Con's shoulder for a second to wave Edi and Jay over, "You have to actually move to get on the ice."

Connor laughed and leaned back, "You know, I don't really need to learn - "

Jay and Edi skated over, and that's when things went into motion. I pushed Connor forward at the same time Jay and Edi grabbed his arms and pulled him out onto the ice. Connor shouted and I slammed the door shut behind him, biting back a laugh when I saw Connor struggling to get out of Jay and Edi's grip.

"All right," I called, clapping loudly. I saw Elle standing against the wall, and I grinned and waved at her, "You ready to learn how to skate like the pro's?"

To be honest, Connor was terrible at skating.

Connor didn't really have hand-eye cordination, and he kept tripping over his own two feet when he tried to skate. When he tried to turn, Con ended up knocking into his back skate and sending himself sliding across the ice. Even when Elle and Jay held onto his arms, Connor still managed to knock them all to the ground.

"I give up," Edi stated, sprawling out across the ice. Edi yawned and stretched back, pulling his arms under his head, "This is hopeless. Sorry, dude."

Jay, who was gripping Connor's shoulders and helping him skate, nodded and let go of Con, "Same," he sighed, slowly dropping down to the ice. Jay pulled his hood over his head and stretched out, "I'll be here to emotionally support you in case Kelly does dump you."

"Fuck you," Connor snapped, awkwardly turning to glare at Jay. I couldn't help but snort when Connor lost his balance and slammed into the wall.

I busted out in laughter, and I saw Elle leaning against the wall, laughing, too. Jay and Edi were practically rolling on the ice with laughter, and Connor was struggling to push himself up and off the ice. Every time I thought he was close to actually getting up, his hands or skates slid across the ice again, and he fell right back down.

I rolled my eyes and tugged on the sleeves of my sweater before skating over to Connor and helping him up. Con grimaced and gripped the edge of the wall as he slowly slid himself across the ice. After declaring that he totally had this, Con tried to skate over to the middle, where Edi and Jay were. I just turned away and started skating over towards Elle.

"You're a great teacher," Elle grinned at me, and I turned to see Connor, Edi, ad Jay all sprawled out on the ice. They all pushed themselves, but no one looked close to getting up, "Really, Connor's improved a lot."

"Funny," I mumbled, and Elle just laughed back at me, "Why don't you come on the ice and try to teach him?"

"I don't have skates."

"Like that's ever stopped your before," I hummed, before practically leaning half-way over the wall and attempting to pull Elle over the wall towards me.

Elle was light, and by the time I pulled her onto the wall, she reluctantly dropped down onto the ice, anyway. She stumbled a bit, and when I offered to steady her, Elle just rolled her eyes and started walking forward easily. Con stared at her, and Jay and Edi took that as their cue to push away from him and skate off.

"All right," Elle said, walking over closer to Connor, "Up and we can try again."

"There's a problem," Connor said, awkwardly ruffling up his messy brown hair. Elle quirked an eyebrow and Connor held up his arms helplessly, "I can't get up."

The next ten minutes were spent with Elle desparately trying to get Connor to skate in a straight line, and Jay, Edi, and I laughing every time Con managed to knock the both of them down. Every time Connor fell, though, Elle just tried even harder to get him to get steady and balance a bit. In her defense, Elle really was trying. Connor was just un-teachable.

Jay was gripping the wall to keep from laughing as Connor tried to crawl across the ice to avoid another skating lesson. Elle was telling him he'd be fine and to try one more time, and Connor just dropped down, covered his head, and declared that he was done for the rest of his life.

I laughed and skated over to Elle, quickly wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her towards me. We stumbled a bit, but I regained my balance and spun Elle around, pulling her towards me. Connor, Jay, and Edi were all on the opposite side of the rink now, so I took this as the only free moment I'd get with Elle.

"You tried," I grinned down at Elle, who scoffed and just leaned her head against my chest, "You can only teach Connor so much, to be fair."

Elle smirked up at me, "He's a lot more fun to teach than you."

I snickered and pulled my arms back of Elle. She yelped and stumbled, and I broke out in laughter before grabbing her again and pulling Elle towards me. Elle said something that sounded close to 'fuck you', and I just smiled and gave her a quick kiss.

"Funny," Elle said dryly, and I just grinned back at her, "Too bad I'm still better than you, eh?"

With that, Elle ducked out of my hands and started walk-skating down the ice. I blinked for a second, before taking off after her. Despite not having skates on, and having shorter legs, Elle was really fucking fast. I bit my lip and skated after her, pushing past Edi when I rounded the corner.

When I was only a few inches behind Elle, I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her towards me. There was just one problem: we were both skating on the ice, and neither one of us was close to stopping.

We stumbled, and I pulled Elle in front of me as we fell onto the ground. My back and butt slammed into the ice and I groaned loudly, leaning the back of my head against the ice a bit. Elle rolled off of me and we both stayed like that, groaning quietly and ignoring the guys' laughter. I hissed in pain and rolled over, pulling Elle towards me. I could feel the ice soaking through my clothes, but I didn't have the energy to move.

Elle looked up at me, a lazy smile on her face, "Real graceful for an ice hockey player."

I laughed and laced our fingers together. Looking down at her, a ridiculous smile spread out across my face, "I love you."

Elle smiled up at me, "You're all right, I guess."