Heart of a Mustang

Hockey fan fiction I started around 2013 after I did some volunteer related work for the local ice hockey team. Enjoy the first chapter.

Chapter 1

            ‘This is like the fifth time this week Sonja,’

            ‘So?’

            ‘So? Haven’t you even talked to him yet?’

            ‘No of course not. I want to play hard to get.’

            ‘Why?’

            ‘It’s more fun. If you let the guy know you straight off and play his way it just takes all the mystery and fun out of it.’

Jasmine the strawberry-blonde girl rolled her eyes she sighed in exasperation beside her Sonja the blonde girl had a wicked grin spread across her face.

            ‘Come on Jazz you got to admit it makes things so much more intriguing. Guys like the thrill of the chase, it’s like some kind of hunter and the prey thing that gets them all hot and bothered or whatever. I used to think it was stupid but now it is actually really good,’ she added.

            ‘Whatever you say.’ Jasmine replied she finished tying up the laces of her ice skates and stood up she wobbled a bit on her skates the thick floor mats helped her to keep her balance and she stepped forwards before turning around to face her friend.

            ‘So is Vick coming?’

            ‘Yeah said she’ll catch up with us when she’s finished.’ Sonja replied.

            ‘Even though she works just upstairs.’ Jasmine answered the two girls laughed together they waddled unsteadily towards the rink to join the general public skating session.

Upstairs on the second floor of the Ice House in the bar area a big group of young men accompanied by friends and some other important people and a few girls sat together, they chatted and laughed enjoying this private time with food and drinks. Vickie along with three of her work mates; Miranda, Casey and Rochelle were doing their usual duties ensuring the group were well-looked after and comfortable and had service just as they needed. These weren’t some big name celebrities or anything but the girls’ jobs required them to treat everybody who came to use the bar as VIP.

            ‘God I so can’t stand those petty girls here.’ Rochelle seethed quietly walking behind the bar counter with a tray of empty glasses.

            ‘Oh I know. So bitchy and whiny and all they do is agree with everything the guys are saying. It is like they have no brains cells of their own or even know how to start a conversation,’ Miranda agreed she wiped down the bar area while Casey dried off a new set of clean glasses and Vickie was cleaning one of the now abandoned tables.

            ‘Hey he’s pretty hot.’ Casey said in a whisper she elbowed Miranda whom raised her eyebrows curiously and seeing where Casey pointed. One of the guys had drowned out of the conversations going around him and aimlessly looked around the room before settling his attention on someone. The girls standing at the bar exchanged knowing looks with one another. Vickie finished with her task walked back to the bar to join her co-workers she frowned noticing the smiles.

            ‘What?’

            ‘Nothing.’ They chorused in reply she gave them a sceptical glare.

            ‘Then why do you all have the exact same look on your face like you know something is going on?’ she asked.

            ‘Vick don’t think so much. You’re always reading into things.’ Miranda said Vickie laughed.

            ‘That’s true.’

            ‘Anyway you think you girls can handle everything on your own? I’m supposed to be off in ten minutes away.’ She added the three nodded their heads.

            ‘Sure we’ll be fine once this mob is all done and out of here we’ll finish up.’ Casey said.

            ‘Ok great then I’ll see you guys next week.’ Vickie added she left them to continue their work and headed to the toilets to change.

            ‘Is he still…?’ Rochelle asked keeping her voice down just in case Vickie wasn’t out of ear shot Miranda nodded her head.

            ‘He is.’ She replied.

Vickie came back from the toilets several minutes later dressed down in a pair of jeans sneakers and a grey hooded sweater.

            ‘Hey Vick are you going home straight away?’ Rochelle asked Vickie looked up from looking at her phone.

            ‘Nah Sonja and Jazz are down stairs ice skating I’d agreed to join then.’

            ‘Sonja is back again?’ Miranda asked they all laughed.

            ‘Yeah its like the fifth time this week everyone knows her name already.’

            ‘She usually hates ice skating.’

            ‘Well apparently it has to do with some guy she met randomly on Monday. He’s not from around here.’ Vickie explained.

            ‘Oh yeah I remember she got talking to him and found out he does come here a bit or at least has been lately so she’s made it a point to be here as often as possible.’ Casey said.

            ‘Yeah.’

            ‘Ok well have fun.’

            ‘Thanks,’

Vickie not really taking notice of much else bid farewell to her co-workers; for her work was just work and she didn’t give thought to it much when she was done. It wasn’t the best job she had but it was fun hanging out with the girls and being able to watch people skating and every now again getting to skate made life much more entertaining. She took the stairs back down to the ground floor and passed by the reception area only one Ice House worker was there busy typing on the computer.

            ‘Hey Dom.’ Vickie said to the guy sitting at the desk, he looked up and half smiled.

            ‘Vick hey how was it up there with that lot?’

            ‘Not bad they are pretty well behaved.’ She replied.

            ‘Well-behaved even with those girls with them?’ he asked. She laughed everyone knew about the girls that had accompanied the group of guys, the girls were regular visitors last year; they always seemed to be in the vicinity of soon to be popular people. The girls last year had gotten involved with several players from the city’s local Ice Hockey teams’ in the Melbourne Ice and Melbourne Mustangs, gossip magazines ran stories and the public actually became interested in the relatively unknown sport.

            ‘I don’t get how those girls just turn up like this and nobody questions them not even the people they follow.’ Vickie answered Dom laughed.

            ‘Probably the same reasons you and your friends always seem to stalk the footballers,’ he replied she rolled her eyes though smiled.

            ‘Hey we don’t stalk it’s more…. well admiration.’ She said.

            ‘Sure Vick sure.’

            ‘Like you wouldn’t love to have barely dressed woman fall at your feet,’ she shot back he smirked in reply.

            ‘I wouldn’t say no.’

            ‘Exactly.’

            ‘Oh by the way your friend Sonja was asking about him again.’

Vickie shook her head.

            ‘Did you see him?’

Dom nodded his head.

            ‘I did and he is part of the group upstairs.’

            ‘Really wow, Thankfully you didn’t tell her otherwise she would have gone crazy and demanded to pretend to work my shift or something,’ Vickie said Dom laughed too.

            ‘Do you know him?’

            ‘Not well he is definitely new but from what I saw of your friend’s flirting he doesn’t look that interested in her,’

            ‘I’m not surprised—‘ Vickie was cut off hearing some heavy footsteps coming down the steps in the same direction she had come from and instinctively turned around to look. * Damn he is hot! * She thought, she knew immediately he was from the party group upstairs he hadn’t noticed anyone as he checked something on his phone. Vickie caught herself watching him and he was completely oblivious still focused on his phone and she noticed his strong frame definitely not too dissimilar to a footballer and she definitely liked the look of the baby-blue dress shirt and darker blue tie on him.

            ‘Vick.’ Dom hissed she quickly snapped out of it a little embarrassed and turned back to Dom.

            ‘Sorry.’ She mumbled.

            ‘That is the one.’ He added in a whisper she frowned.

            ‘One what?’

            ‘You know, the one I just mentioned.’

            ‘Oh.’ Vickie answered she understood this was the same guy Sonja had been telling them all about this week and the reason she’s been coming to the Ice House so frequently. * Not that anyone can blame her *

Vickie trying to be as casual as possible sneaked a look back over her shoulder and just as quickly turned away to face the front as he had started to walk over to the desk.

            ‘Can I help you?’ Dom asked being very professional.

            ‘Sorry I’m not interrupting am I?’ the guy asked * He is definitely not an Aussie god what an accent * 

            ‘No you go ahead.’ Dom remarked.

            ‘Ok just wanted to check what time the guys on Henke will be finished?’

            ‘Let me take a look.’

Dom looked to his computer screen typed some keys in.

            ‘It says they have another half hour left and after them nobody else has it booked and it’ll be open to the public.’ Dom explained.

            ‘Can you book it for two hours from 5 under Mustangs.’

            ‘Sure.’ Dom replied Vickie cleared her throat.

            ‘All right Dom I’ll see you later then. She said.

            ‘Sure thing Vick have fun out there,’ he agreed though didn’t look up Vickie decided to take a look at the guy stood next to her, he was half leaning against the reception desk but he still looked tall and much better up close, he too then turned around and glanced her way she found it difficult to swallow. She felt her cheeks redden so with a smile she turned around and quickly made her way through the automatic doors into the rink.

            ‘Gee Vick what were you doing?’ she quietly scolded herself as she walked around the rink to the seated benches to put on her skates. She owned her own skates it was always her preference to have her own rather than hire a pair each time she wanted to skate.

            ‘Besides not like he’d be interested in you.’ She muttered it was true too, a lot of the guys she liked over the years never thought the same way about her and it was always just being friends. She had gotten used to it and didn’t really care although she didn’t like admitting it she did feel a tad jealous. She thought for a moment to when the guy had mentioned booking the other rink with the name. Vickie herself followed the Melbourne Mustangs closely and knew the team had gone under some changes with coaching staff and player turnover but the fans didn’t know the complete make-up of the team for this season and it wasn’t going to be announced until next week. She assumed today some of the players who had been in training camp were just out celebrating the end of it before everything would be finalised, but then she wondered why they would have another skating session booked in the rink. Perhaps the players already knew which players had made the team and they wanted to start training proper.

            ‘Forget about it.’ Vickie again scolded herself she pushed the thought to the back of her mind and after leaving her shoes next to her bag she got up, and cautiously moved to the rink’s entry door to get to the ice. Lots of the other patrons were coming off and on the ice and with it being so crowded Vickie was always keen to get away from the beginners and amateur skaters.

            ‘Hey Vick!’ Jasmine yelled on her way past Vickie quickly moved out to join her friend.

            ‘Where’s Sonja gone?’ She asked seeing Jasmine shrug her shoulder and roll her eyes Vickie knew she had the answer.

            ‘Not again,’ she remarked.

            ‘Afraid so.’

Vickie quickly looked around the rink at all the different groups gathered together she saw a group of young men likely to be in their early 20s just standing around talking to a girl Vickie chuckled.

            ‘So who was your friend?’

Dom lifted his head to look at the young man leant against the desk.

            ‘The one here earlier?’

            ‘Yeah.’

            ‘Oh, that’s just Vick. She works upstairs most of the time and occasionally at ice level.’ Dom replied he didn’t really give it much thought although he did raise his eyebrows slightly when he noticed the young man already start to walk in the direction of the public rink. He always loved the smell of the ice at the rink, he’d grown up around it for years and everything about the sport just came naturally to him. The public rink wasn’t overly busy at this time of the day though there was still quite a big group out on the ice. Little kids, teenagers and adults not the best skaters out there but they were doing their best. Taking a quick look at the people leaning over the boards on the non-skating side he soon noticed the girl; Sonja chatting with a group of young guys. He found her nice, extremely talkative and very flirtatious and hasn’t been shy in putting herself forward. He wandered past Sonja and the guys along with other on-lookers finding some space in the corner boards he leaned on it and just continued to watch people skate past his eyes looking around until he saw her again. Jasmine and Vickie happily skated casually around the rink doing their best to keep a good distance between them and the other people whom weren’t quite as agile on the ice.

            ‘So those same girls from last year, hanging around the hockey players are back again?’ Jasmine asked.

            ‘Yep. They can’t get enough of it. See, it doesn’t actually bother me they hang around the guys all the time if they actually knew anything about the sport except they don’t. You can tell they have absolutely no idea. Just preen themselves up and make it look like they know something when clearly they are completely airheads,’ Vickie answered Jasmine laughed.

            ‘I don’t know what guys see in those types of girls.’

            ‘Neither do I.’

Vickie slowed down to a stop in the middle of the ice she surveyed the people around her, smiling as the kids wobbled their way around.

            ‘Oh my god what is he doing here?’ she gasped Jasmine had joined her in the middle.

            ‘Who?’

            ‘Over there directly from us.’ Vickie replied motioning slightly with her head Jasmine glanced in the direction.

            ‘Wow he’s gorgeous. Who is he?’

            ‘I don’t know, he was part of the group partying upstairs at the bar. I saw him come downstairs while I was talking to Dom, and he mentioned something about the Mustangs having booked the other rink for later.’ Vickie answered.

            ‘He plays hockey then.’

            ‘I think so.’ Vickie didn’t want to mention it was the guy Sonja was heavily interested in.

            ‘So…why is he here?’

            ‘I have no idea.’

            ‘And he’s staring.’

            ‘No he’s not.’  

‘Yes he is.’

            ‘Jazz stop it. He’s not.’

            ‘He is. Go and say hello.’

            ‘What? No!’

            ‘Yes.’ Jasmine remarked she skated off in that direction Vickie’s eyes widen. * What the hell is she doing? * She thought.

            ‘Jazz! Where do you think you’re going get back here!’ she called out Jasmine weaved her way through the small crowd of skaters to the boards very near to the guy. She wasn’t too brilliant at stopping so she just slowed down, dusting herself off she looked up and smiled, the guy smiled and nodded his head.

            ‘Hi.’

            ‘Hey.’

            ‘So, you not coming out on the ice?’ she asked he shook his head.

            ‘No maybe later.’ He replied.

            ‘Ok then.’ Jasmine glanced back over her shoulder, smirked seeing Vickie had indeed followed after her though she wasn’t looking too pleased about it. After a little navigating around some kids she was able to move towards the boards, and then at the last second a cheeky teenager went zooming past really close.

            ‘Shit!’ She slipped over onto her backside ended up facing the centre of the rink but the added momentum caused her to slid backwards into the boards.

            ‘Oh, Vick you ok?’ Jasmine asked she tried not to laugh. Vickie rolled her eyes glancing sideways at her friend.

            ‘Need a hand?’

Immediately she shifted her attention noticing the guy had leaned further over the boards, and had his hand held out.

            ‘Uh…thanks.’ She answered accepting his offered help and got back on her feet holding steady against the boards.

            ‘You ok there now?’ he asked with a bit of an impish grin on his face and she could feel her face going a little red.

            ‘Yeah fine so long as there’s no more kids to run me over,’ she remarked all three of them were silent just observing the rest of the skaters on the ice.

            ‘I’m guessing the party upstairs got a little boring.’ Vickie said, trying to be casual he shrugged his shoulders.

            ‘A bit although they still look like they are still enjoying what’s left of it.’ He added nodding to the windowpane above the ice. The great thing about the bar area on the second floor was it gave people an un-interrupted view of the two rinks and of course sure enough the little partying group were still sitting there and talking.

            ‘If you don’t mind me asking but who are those girls?’ Jasmine asked.

            ‘I actually don’t know only met them the other day. One of the guys’ said they were friends of someone else and his sister knows them from school.’ He said.

            ‘I reckon they are probably just hanging around so they’re the first to know you all.’ She said he laughed.

            ‘You know what I actually think you might be right. It’s the same impression I got when I met them. They know a little about sport but not as much as I’d expected.’ He agreed Vickie smirked.

            ‘I’m really not surprised. I have seen them here a lot during the hockey season and at post-season and they don’t look like genuine fans.’ She said.

            ‘You know hockey?’ the guy asked.

            ‘Yeah I’ve been following it for years, particularly in America and Canada. Been following the league here for a couple of years now,’ she added.

            ‘And she’s picky only likes the Mustangs and not the Ice,’ Jasmine added.

            ‘Hey, it’s not my fault they didn’t offer me anything,’ Vickie retorted.

            ‘That’s because you were too pushy,’

            ‘Was not plus I had a deadline to get that request in. My lecturer was hounding me so I had to get on it. At least the Mustangs were more open to it.’

            ‘Pfft whatever. So would we if given the chance.’ Jasmine replied.

            ‘Yeah well thanks but no thanks. Never really had a great impression of the Ice no offence.’

            ‘So you prefer the Mustangs then?’ he asked now joining in on their conversation.

            ‘Yeah. Been watching them for a while, it’s a good side and I think they’ll definitely go places in the future. I’m also going to get to see it more closely since I get to spend this year doing volunteer stuff,’ Vickie said.

            ‘Well, well looks like Sonja has finally finished with her flirting with those guys.’ Jasmine remarked.

            ‘My god she might actually get on the ice this could be a record.’ Vickie replied sarcastically Jasmine laughed.

            ‘For once you’re probably right so we’d better get to it.’ She agreed; she could also tell Sonja had realised whom she and Vickie were talking to; and was starting to make her move towards them.

            ‘It was nice meeting you.’ She added he smiled and nodded his head.

            ‘You too.’

            ‘Coming Vick?’

            ‘Yeah.’

Jasmine skated off down the ice leaving the two alone making it just that little bit awkward.

            ‘Well think I better get a move on,’ Vickie answered suddenly catching sight of Sonja walking in their direction though the expression on her face was difficult to read.

            ‘Ok. Guess I might see you around some other time.’ He remarked Vickie nodded her head.

            ‘Yeah.’ She agreed just as she was about to skate off she realised she really hadn’t introduced herself probably aside from failing on her backside.

            ‘I’m Vickie.’ She added.

            ‘I’m Pat’ He replied.