Fire & Ice

seventeen

The next morning Cassie and I were woken up by Sunny jumping onto her bed. Both of us tried to push her off but Sunny wouldn't let up. So Cassie finally got up out of bed and Sunny ran after her as they left the room. Just as I was starting to falling asleep again I felt Cassie climb back into bed with me and she pressed a kiss to my shoulder. I sighed and turned around and cuddled into her neck.

"What time is it?" I asked not wanting to get up.

"It's after 11 already. I was thinking we could go and get some coffee and pastries before we drive back up to campus." Cassie said.

"I veto that plan; I actually have a surprise for you." I said and lifted my head from her neck and looked at Cassie.

"You have a surprise for me?" Cassie asked surprised.

"I do, we should actually get ready and go otherwise we are going to be late. You need to wear something warm but comfortable." I said and slowly pulled myself away from Cassie to get dressed.

Cassie wasn't happy I left the bed and just sat up against her headboard watching me pull a pair of sweatpants over my shorts. I turned around took my t-shirt off so I could put on a sports bra before I pulled on the same t-shirt. When I turned back around Cassie was biting her lip and I flashed her a smile before pulling on my sweatshirt.

"Come on Cass, get up and lets get moving." I said slipped on a pair of socks.

With a few more grunts Cassie got up out of bed and started pulling things out of her draws before walking off to the bathroom to change. While she was getting ready I sent Chad a text message to make sure he was able to get everything together for today. When he responded a yes I thanked him again and packed away everything I brought with me to Cassie's house. I wasn't sure if she would want to come back before going back to campus but I figured I should be prepared if we went straight there.

Cassie came out of the bathroom in an outfit basically matching mine and we were ready to go. When I asked her about going back to campus right after the surprise she said yea we should because she wanted to have some study time. So I grabbed my bag and followed behind Cassie as she said bye to her parents and Sunny before we left her house.

As we got outside I held my hand out and Cassie gave me the keys to the Jeep and I climbed into the driver's seat before we took off. It didn't take long to get to the ice rink and Cassie just raised an eyebrow at me as we got out to go inside.

"So what are we doing here?" Cassie asked as I opened the door.

"I told you, it's a surprise." I said and followed Chad's instructions and found he set everything up.

"What is this stuff?" Cassie asked as we got to the bench that leads to the ice.

"This is a hockey sled. When I was recovering from the concussion I couldn't be on actual skates. I was dizzy all the time and had a lot of balance issues that made walking on two feet a challenge. As it started to get better, my doctors still wouldn't let me on skates but I still went to the rink at home and watch any and every game. That's when I saw a game between veterans who were disabled. They played sled hockey. It's all upper body and I knew that this was my way to ease back into hockey.

"When I talked to my mom about it she was nervous at first. She didn't want to let me back out onto the ice. But I took her to a game and she watched them play and saw how much I wanted to do it. So she let me. Her and Travis got me everything I needed to play and I started practicing.