Taylor scoffed and crossed her arms. "You are such a dick."

"Oh, fuck off."

Taylor frowned, glaring at him. She didn't give a shit anymore about the fact the team was watching the two of them, the team captain, and the first aider, arguing. Most were staring with wide eyes, stunned at the words coming out of their mouths.

"You can't act all upright and mighty. At least say it to my fucking face."

He spun on her and took two steps so he was a foot in front of her, looking down at her. "Alright, you're a bitch and you're full of yourself," The corner of his mouth twitched slightly downwards as if he didn't quite believe it himself, but he was too far in now to stop. "And you are too dense to understand when you are acting like you're above everyone."

Taylor huffed, and shoved him back, placing both hands on his chest and pushing him away from her, ignoring the taut muscle beneath his shirt that she had just touched without thinking. "That's rich coming from you," She responded. "You act like you have morals just to avoid your problems."

Nasir let out a dark chuckle, and he tilted his head upward, flicking his tongue across lips. "You're digging yourself a hole, and you're doing that thing again."

"What thing?" She demanded.

"The thing where you go too far."

"You started it, asshole!"

He made a face at her, also apparently ignoring the boys that were dead silent. Nolan's mouth was open in surprise, and out of the corner of Taylor's eye, she could see Jacob tap him, making him close it. "Did I? Or are you just avoiding it?"

Taylor scowled at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're a horrible person."

He leaned forwards slightly, a small smirk on his face. "And you're a bitch."

"What is going on?"

The two of them both snapped their gaze to Taylor's uncle, who had just stepped into the change room and had apparently heard enough to anger him, as his face was red. Taylor could vaguely remember Clara doing the same thing when she was angry.

"You two stay," He barked, staring icily at Nasir and Taylor. "The rest of you are free to go. I'll see you tomorrow morning, early."

They filed out of the change room, Jacob giving her one last nervous glance before the door cut off his face. Taylor slumped against the wall, not taking her eyes off Nasir.

Coach walked towards them, a small red poppy pinned onto his chest. "What the fuck was that?"

When neither of them responded, he sat across from them. Taylor clenched her fists, her nails biting into her palm.

"We aren't leaving until one of you tells me what that was about, so you better hurry up." He snapped.

Taylor dropped her gaze to the ground, before looking back up at her Uncle, who had an unimpressed face on. Nasir was still looking at the ground, avoiding the problem as usual. Taylor scoffed and rolled her eyes. Fine, she'd break.

"He called me a bitch."

Her uncle raised an eyebrow and turned to Nasir who had let out a small noise of amusement at her. "Did you call her a bitch?"

Nasir nodded. "Yes I did, but only after she had been making comments about my apparent lack of skills in anything."

Taylor ducked her gaze to the floor, embarrassed. She hadn't realized he had overheard her talking to Isaac and Nolan.

Coach turned back to Taylor. "Did you say that sort of thing about Nasir?"

Taylor nodded quickly and Nasir rolled his eyes.

Coach sighed, and suddenly, all the years appeared on his face. "I don't know what your guys' problem with each other is and I don't frankly care."

Taylor and Nasir exchanged a frustrated glance, before ducking their eyes away.

He leaned forward, bracing his hands on his knees. "I don't give a fuck if you argue on your own time, but if I ever see you arguing like that in front of the team again, I will sit you in here until you agree to get along," He paused as if he were about to give them some long-forgotten knowledge. "One thing I've learned in my many years of coaching hockey is if the first aider and the team captain don't get along, it is going to make it a lot harder for the team to get along. I understand that you two obviously are frustrated with each other, either is be hate, lust, or an honest desire to murder each other, but I don't want to see you ever arguing in here again. Understand?"

Taylor nodded, keeping her gaze on her hands in discomfort. She felt like a child again, being scolded by her parents for something trivial.

"I need you two to get along. It is better for the team, and you guys, if you put aside your differences, and get along. Do you get that?"

Taylor glanced at Nasir out of the corner of her eye. He was watching the floor, leaning back against the wall. He ran a hand through his hair, shoving it out of his eyes. "Yes."

"Good. I will see you two early tomorrow. Get some rest, and be prepared to team bond."

~~~

"What the hell did Coach want to talk to you about?" Isaac leaned across the aisle. His curly hair was tucked under a toque. Nolan leaned in as well, from the seat behind Taylor.

All of them were crammed onto a tiny bus that belonged to the town. They had left around seven and had been travelling for about four hours or so now. The grey light of dawn was spreading across the prairies and setting the snow glimmering.

Taylor shrugged. "He told us he didn't want us to argue anymore and that there would be punishments for arguing in the future."

Nolan nodded. "That makes sense. You two were going at it pretty badly."

Taylor hummed, popping her gum and leaning against the wall of the bus and stretching her legs along the seat. "Yeah, I think we've just silently agreed to not talk to each other at all."

Isaac tilted his head. "That's good, at least you won't argue too much anymore."

Taylor chuckled. "I suppose that's a bonus."

Nolan leaned his head on the back of the seat. "That's too bad. I thought you two were going to get along. Jacob and I had a bet on it."

Taylor raised an eyebrow. "You and Jacob were betting on whether or not Nasir and I would get along?"

Nolan shrugged. "We like to make things interesting. Besides, it lasts until new years anyway. So maybe I still have a chance," He took a look at Taylor's skeptical gaze. "Maybe not."

Taylor shuffled down in her seat, placing her hands in her pockets. "I don't know what his problem is with me. Sure. I can be uptight sometimes, but I didn't do anything to offend him."

Isaac and Nolan exchanged a glance and glanced back down at her. "Let's not talk about this anymore," Nolan suggested and pulled out a deck of cards. "You know how to play cheat?"

"Maybe leave cheat for a bit, Nolan," Coach called from the driver's seat of the bus. "We are almost at our lunch stop, and with how harshly you guys play that game, I don't want to wait three hours to eat because you are being aggressive."

Taylor glanced out the window at the tall buildings of Edmonton had begun to spring up. She had been to West Edmonton Mall a couple of times before when visiting her grandparents (her mother's parents) for Christmas, but it had been a while as she had forgotten just how big the mall was.

The bus pulled to a stop and Coach opened the door. "I want you back here at one. If you aren't we will leave without you, understand?"

There was a series of acknowledgements shouted out and then the boys filled off.

"Come on Taylor," Isaac paused, linking arms with her and Nolan. "I want food."

~~~

"I have to grab a Christmas present for my mom," Taylor said. "I'll meet back up with you guys at the bus?"

Nolan and Isaac both gave her a thumbs up and she turned, darting into a small variety store with various ornate glass vases. She had ten minutes, and she knew that vases reminded her mother of her childhood with her grandmother-Taylor's great-grandmother-who had passed before Taylor was two. Taylor had broken one earlier this year while roughhousing with Jacob, and despite the fact, her mother had hidden her sadness at the shattered vase, she knew that she had loved that vase.

Taylor paused looking amongst the fine glass everywhere. Just being in here made her nervous that she was going to suddenly slip and break a dozen of them. She paused, brushing her fingers over a purple and blue one, that looked marginally like stained glass. Her eyebrows furrowed, trying to picture it in the living room and she shook her head to herself. Her mom wouldn't like it.

Taylor turned and grinned when her eyes landed on a pale turquoise one, soft yellow lines spiderwebbing through it.

It was perfect.

She picked it up and carried it to the counter. The elderly gentleman there smiled at her.

"Hello, how are you doing today?"

Taylor smiled. "Pretty good, how are you?"

"Well, it isn't snowing, so it's wonderful."

Taylor laughed and handed the man a few bills, and watched as he wrapped the vase up and handed it to her.

"Have a great day!"

Taylor nodded and shoved the vase in her bag, and glanced at her watch. "Shit." She mumbled. She had three minutes until she had to be on that bus.

She walked quickly out of the shop and towards the nearest descent to the first floor so she could start running. Taylor paused at the escalator and frowned at the sign that said it was closed. She glanced at her phone and hissed. Two minutes and counting.

Taylor spun her head around rapidly. If she knew her uncle, she knew he wasn't kidding about leaving at one. She was not going to be the one that missed the bus and had to call her mom because her uncle abandoned her at the mall.

Taylor turned, spotting an elevator and walked over, shoving through various people and nearly risking dropping her phone. She pressed the button to go down and the short seconds in which it took the elevator to get to the floor felt like a neverending eternity.

Taylor clenched her fists as the door opened and ducked inside. She pressed the button to go down inside the elevator and groaned as one more person stepped inside. Nasir.

The two of them-the only people in the elevator-stood on opposite sides, completely content to ignore each other. The elevator began to travel downwards before there was a loud clunk and it jolted slightly. Taylor tripped, nearly falling into Nasir, but he caught her, his arms linking under her.

He awkwardly pushed her back up, and Taylor glanced around as the lights flickered. "What the fuck was that?" She whispered, afraid if she raised her voice that something else would happen.

Nasir shook his head. "I don't know." He let out a small chuckle.

"What is funny about this?" Taylor asked, clenching and unclenching her fists to stop herself from descending into panic.

"I'm sorry," He mumbled. "I laugh when I'm nervous."

Taylor pressed the button to open the doors, but nothing happened.

Nasir leaned over her, their chests brushing as he pressed the call button. It buzzed and a bored voice sounded over.

"Hello?"

"Hi," Nasir paused. "We are stuck in the elevator?"

"Oh!" There was a moment of surprise and whoever was on the other end scrambled around for something. "Okay, which one? And how many are in there?"

"The one near the vase shop, and there is two of us," The lights flickered again. "It also looks like the power might go out."

"I'll have a team over there right away, although, it might take an hour or so to get you guys out."

The buzzer turned off and Taylor slouched down, sliding to the floor.

"Shit," Taylor breathed, burying her face in her hands. "What if the bus leaves?"

Nasir rolled his eyes. "Coach has threatened that before. He did leave on Carson once but had only done a lap around the mall. He won't leave if two of us are missing."

Taylor gave him a look as he sat on the floor across from her, his feet just barely brushing hers. "You are underestimating my uncle."

Nasir shrugged. "Then we get to go home and don't have to participate in team bonding weekend. What a loss." His voice was dry.

Taylor scoffed. "You actually hate team bonding that much?"

"This year, yes." Nasir glanced once at her as if she was the issue.

Taylor flipped him off, giving him a sarcastic smile. "Fuck you too."

Nasir let out another laugh and dug his hands into the fabric of his pockets, avoiding continuing the conversation.

Taylor pulled her phone out and cursed when she saw the no service sign. There wasn't even any way to contact them. Only a snap from Lucas, which she left there, not wanting to open it yet.

"You won't get service in here," Nasir commented offhandedly. "It has to do with the waves and the steel of the elevator."

"I figured that out." She loosely waved her phone towards him. "I can't believe I am fucking stuck in an elevator with you."

The lights flickered once more and Taylor and Nasir both looked upward, watching for a few seconds until the light vanished, leaving nothing but darkness pressing in from every angle.