“Stop yelling at me!” I screamed up at him.
“I’m just trying to help!” he yelled back with wide eyes.
He sat back in his seat then and looked like he started playing with his phone. At least that was better than the yelling. I needed zero pressure. Calm.
I closed my eyes again and tried to focus on stopping my mind from creating intrusive thoughts and my body from shaking. I needed to be zennnnn. I pictured the empty rink- my happy place- with clean, glistening ice waiting to be marked up by edges. Nothing was wrong, no one was touching me, all was completely fine.
I heard Hockey Boy clear his throat, pulling me from my focus.
“Wanna uh… try something?” he asked.
I pushed his voice away. Maybe if I ignored him, he’d leave. Why stay and watch someone have a panic attack?
But what happened next shocked me. He moved down to the ground next to me, and ever so slowly rolled right on top of me. I was hit with a wave of sunscreen, beer, and boy smell.
7. TJ
Panic immediately slid into those green eyes, but I quickly explained myself to her, “I’m giving you compression. Shhh.”
I pressed a lot of my body weight onto her, but not all of it- I didn’t want to completely squish her. I kept myself propped up a bit by placing my forearms on both sides of her head.
She looked at me like I was crazy, but I mean, this made sense- it was like a weighted blanket, right?
“Trust me, okay?” I asked her. “I’m trying to help you… Shit, I don’t even know your name.” Yeesh, I couldn’t help but think that this was probably a bad position to be found in. Hopefully none of my buddies wandered in from the golfcourse.
She looked like a feral cat with her eyes darting everywhere except to meet mine, but seeing her this close up affirmed my judgment of her beauty last night. She had a nice summer tan goin which complemented her honey tinted auburn hair.
“Ellie Brampton,” she finally said.
I cracked a smile. “Pretty.”
“Oh, don’t do that.” She rolled her eyes at me.
“Do what?!” I askeddefensively.
She didn’t answer rightaway.
“I’m waiting,” I pushed.
“Be all fake schmoozey andcharming.”
I squinted down at her. “Are you for real? Am I not genuine? I looked up this little maneuver just for you,” I told her. “And I think you’re feeling better now, seeing as you can make fun of me, huh?”
I felt her take a deep, full breath underneath me, and I knew it had worked, because a couple minutes ago those breaths were so shotty I thought she was going to pass out on me. She didn’t make any move signaling she wanted me to get up just yet though.
“Why are you here?” she demanded in a sassy voice.
“No ‘thank you’?!” I asked with wide eyes. “My name’s TJ by the way. And I lost my wallet here somewhere last night, so I figured I’d come back and look forit.”
“You’reTheodore?” she asked with an amused smile.
“Yeah, so what?” I instantly felt my shacklesrising.
She cackled then. At least I helped her feel better. I moved to roll away from her now.
“I’m sorry, it’s just, I found your wallet under a table and… never would have taken you for a Theodore.”
“Well good thing my name is TJ,” I retorted. The wallet was a hand-me-down from my father, the man I was named after, and it had Theodore printed on the outside in fancy handwriting. “That happen to you often?” I asked curiously, moving up to a sitting position. She was still laying straight as a board with her long, pretty hair fanned out around her.
