Page 40 of Hockey Halloween

Larry

Anything but sexy

Five minutes later we were standing by my Porsche. “We’ll both have to get in the same door.”

She looked through the window. “I do yoga, so should I go first? Through the driver’s door?”

I did some yoga too, but watching Kelli crawl across the front seat sounded appealing. She sat in the driver’s seat, then twisted her legs over to the passenger side. Her dress rucked up, but there were so many petticoats I still had no idea what her figure was like.

My mom would give me a slap on the head if she knew what I was thinking.

I slid in the driver’s seat after her and turned the car on. I put my right hand on the stick, and Kelli tried to levitate her hand to stay close enough to let me shift.

“You ever driven a manual transmission?” I asked.

“Nope.”

“Consider this your first lesson.” I reached for her hand and set it on the shifter, covering it with mine. Then I pressed the clutch and shifted into reverse. With her .

Again, it was intimate, shifting together as we drove through the city. Kelli was stiff in her seat, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the awkwardness of driving or from being together like this. A school crush didn’t mean she wanted to spend time with me now.

When we got to the arena, we had to shimmy out of the car in reverse. Kelli’s wig was a little crooked, so I helped her straighten it out then pulled my nose out of my pocket and headed for the door. I recognized some of the vehicles in the lot as belonging to my teammates.

The arena itself was a little old and not as well maintained as the ones I’d gone to as a kid getting into hockey.

The door was open, so we went in, finding some of my teammates gathered around in the lobby.

There was a pile of hockey sticks, helmets and gloves, as well as hockey skates and figure skates in a variety of sizes.

The guys were dressed in a hodgepodge collection of clown costumes.

“Hanny? Is that you?” Crash asked in surprise. “What the hell?”

“Long story,” I answered.

“Oh no, you’re not getting out of it. What’s with the baggy costume and Raggedy Ann?”

Kelli turned to me and shrugged.

I sighed. “So, the shop had a Chucky costume for me.”

“That’s not Chucky,” said Luke Walker, another defenseman.

“I know that. I specifically asked them not to give me a scary costume. But the only other clown one they had left was this, in a 3XL. I went to my mom’s to get it fixed, since she sews.”

“That’s not your mom you’re cuffed to, is it?”

Kelli covered a snort with her free hand. “No, I’m one of the neighbors.”

“Still got questions.”

I rolled my eyes. “I had to get some sewing stuff from Kelli’s house, and her brother, a moron I used to go to school with, handcuffed me to her for a joke. The key fell down a grate, so Kelli and I are stuck together.”

Crash frowned at me. “For how long?”

“Till we can find a key. Or a hacksaw? ”

Kelli bit her lip. “I’m sorry to mess things up, but I’m happy to help. I work with kids.”

Crash sighed. “I think Oppy knows someone in the police department. I’ll message him. Meantime, can you skate?”

Kelli nodded. “Yeah, don’t worry.”

“How good?”

“I used to figure skate, in competitions, when I was a kid.”

“Ever play hockey?”

She shook her head.

“Then I guess you two are on kid duty on rink two.”

When we’d discussed this beforehand, kid duty had been a rotating responsibility, since we all preferred to play hockey with the older kids rather than babysitting.

But with Kelli, I didn’t really mind. She had to be good with kids, since she chose to work with them.

I wouldn’t want to be in charge of the kids on my own, but with her? It sounded like fun.

Kelli

I kind of wanted to pinch myself, to make sure this wasn’t a dream.

I was spending Halloween with Larry Han!

But between the handcuffs and the costume, I couldn’t find any skin to pinch.

Larry didn’t seem too upset as we put on skates and headed to rink two.

Obviously the hockey players would prefer to be with the older kids, but I got along better with the younger ones and I really didn’t want to play hockey for the first time with Larry attached to me by handcuffs.

Not that I minded being close to the guy I’d had a crush on since elementary school, but I’d rather it be fun, not an encumbrance.

At first, we were the only ones on the ice, so we took a few laps to get used to each other. I hadn’t skated much the last couple of years, but it came back to me quickly. Like riding a bike. He, of course, was a great skater, but I kept up with him .

“I don’t suppose you can show off any of your fancy moves while…” He lifted our hands that were joined together.

I wanted to show off. To make some kind of good impression.

So far, I’d met him in this costume that was anything but sexy, and fought with my brother which ended up with us trapped together.

So I picked up my back foot and leaned my body forward, arms stretched out while I glided along.

Not like I could do a camel spin when we were locked together, even if I wanted to risk it after all these years.

I straightened up and saw him grinning. “Bet that’s more impressive when you’re not in that costume.”

“Anything is more impressive.” I sighed.

“You ever do pairs skating?”

I shook my head. I’d barely started to do jumps and spins. I really hadn’t been that good.

“Too bad. Maybe we could have impressed these kids.”

I wanted to impress him. But there wasn’t much I could do.

Maybe… “Let me in front.” Since my left hand was cuffed to his right, our positions were limited.

Side by side, back-to-back, or front to front.

He slowed enough that I could skate backward in front of him.

His dark eyes were on me, the only thing like him with the makeup all over his face and the crazy wig covering his hair.

“Okay, put your arm around my waist, yeah, the free one.”

I might have had some selfish reasons for trying this. My breath caught as his arm wrapped around me and pulled me in close. For long moments I stared at him, pulse beating hard, before remembering that wasn’t what I was supposed to be doing.

I leaned back, thankful for the yoga that kept me flexible. I extended my free hand toward the ice as I curved down, fingers almost grazing the rink. Old habits kicked in, and I lifted one leg to counterbalance—and almost kneed him in the groin. Next thing, we were sprawled on the ice.

“I’m so, so sorry!” I would have covered my face with my hands, but one was attached to him and he was stretched out over top of me.

For a moment, the weight of his body pressed me to the ice before he rolled off to one side.

That was a lot more unsettling than the fall. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry!”

I finally dared to face him and found him grinning at me.

“I didn’t hurt you?”

He shook his head. “Quick reflexes. I jerked away so we fell. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. This might not be the sexiest costume, but there’s lots of padding.”

“This one too. If I hadn’t moved, the costume would have probably absorbed everything.”

“It was just habit, trying to balance so I wouldn’t fall over.” I didn’t want him to think I’d fight him if he got close to me. Quite the opposite.

A new voice rang across the ice. “What the hell are you two doing? We’ve got people at the door.”