It was so sweet, I just had to hug him. And that is exactly what I did. He automatically raised one hand to my back before I handed his hockey stick back to him, and skated off to get mine from Ricky. I almost laughed, he looked so confused at my peculiar behavior. Oh well, I thought, he’ll get used to me... They all do! I giggled, grabbed my (hockey) stick out of Ricky’s hands, and rejoined my buds. (Author’s note: to those who know me well, please don’t take that out of context! )

“You guys are playing our side, right?” Sandy asked Heidi, Lucy, and me as we skated up beside him.

“Of course!” I cried.

“Duh!” Lucy chided.

“Why would we want to play chicks side?!” Heidi added. We all stared at them in complete dismay.

All the guys were humored by our adamance at the very suggestion that we might possibly consider playing girls side. Normally we wouldn’t have been so apalled at the idea, but we hadn’t seen any of those chicks there, even once, in all the time we’d been playing there. We didn’t have much desire to play on a team with ten or fifteen chickies that were only playing hockey to get close to three guys on the other team.

“Alrighty, let’s go then!” Robbie said. He took the face-off against some prep on the other team. He, of course, took it easily, passed it to Tay, who passed it to Sandy, who passed it to Paul, who passed it to Lucy, who passed it to Heidi, who passed it back to Lucy, who passed it to Ike, who passed it to me, who passed it to Zac, who passed it back to me, who scored. It was fun.

Tay skated past me, giving me a high-five on the way. “That wasn’t even a challenge,” he said.

“Tell me about it,” I said in reply.

“I did,” he teased.

“You’re so bad!” I laughed.

His eyes got big. “Who me?”

I nodded with a giggle. “Yeah you, babe!”

He seemed like he was adjusting somewhat to the way I was. Strong emphasis on somewhat.

Suddenly a little boy came running up the hill and attached himself to Taylor's leg. "Hi Taylor!" he squealed with joy.

Tay looked down at him and grinned. "Hey Mackie," he replied, lifting him up awkwardly (I'm sure you'd find it awkward too if you were on rollerblades).

"You're pretty," Mackie bluntly informed me.

I burst into laughter. "And you," I returned, brushing his hair out of his face, "are very cute."

For a moment he looked like he was weighing my comment, not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. He apparently decided it was good, because he soon giggled extended his arms for me to take him.

I handed my hockey stick to Heidi, who obviously thought he was the most adorable child in the world (not that I would be the one to argue with her), and removed him from Taylor's arms.

"Oh no!" Sandy cried. "We've lost one of our best players to a two-year-old!"

"Thwee!" Mackie retorted indignantly.

The guys laughed.

"Ooh, he told you, didn't he Sandy!" Paul joked.

Sandy was practically dying of laughter. "That's right!" he exclaimed. "I'll never mess with a three-year-old again, that's for sure!"

"You rejects leave him alone," I defended the small child, kissing him lightly on the forehead.

He looked at me gravely. "You didn't get lipstick on me, did you?" he demanded.

I laughed softly. "I'm not wearing lipstick, honey," I answered. 

Chapter 4
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