A Slippery Slope Ch. 02

May 22, 2012.

Tuesday 2:55pm

A low pitched mechanical screech filled my ears as the time was printed faintly on my manila punch card. I took a deep breath and wondered how tonight was going to go. As I walked to the front desk I went through the probable routine of this particular Tuesday. I would start with the usual conversations with our Skating Director, Melinda. Followed by talking with Charley and Evan, our Operations Manager and Assistant GM respectively. I'd get the schedule which I assumed was first Freestyle (figure skating) followed by a Stick n' Puck. After that we open up our other two rinks and begin our busy day with 6 of our youth club practice times, 2 AAA practices for the 2012-2013 season teams, a public session and last but not least, the Men's pick-up group that lets me skate with them every Tuesday to close out the night.

Figuring it was to be a regular night, I was thrown off when I didn't see Melinda anywhere. Entering the office and found neither Charles or Evan at their desks. Odd. I snagged the clipboard and was baffled by the schedule as well. 6 of our ice slots cancelled and the other two AAA teams moved practice up to 5:30pm. This left nothing but Public Session at 7:30 and my group at 9:00.

This was anything but a regular night. I texted 2 of the guys that were supposed to work that night and let them know they could have the night off. They both seemed ever-so heartbroken about not having to come in.

I grabbed one of the old, yet comfortable office swivel chairs and took a seat behind the old wooden counter. I noted to myself the times the ice needed to be resurfaced on my phone and began devising a plan to ensure I wouldn't have to stay late after I got off the ice.

A resurface at 5:10 and 6:50 on our Olympic Rink and 5:20 and 7:00 on our NHL Rink.

I stood up from my chair and began noting my routine for the night. Public session would begin as the 2 teams and parents made their way home to enjoy the rest of their night. I wouldn't expect it to be that crowded this evening since it was a Tuesday in May. Probably 10-20 guests total. I would use this time to go through the lobby, locker rooms, bathrooms etc. periodically as the night progressed. By 8:30 most of it would be done and no one else would be showing up which would allow me to get ready for hockey.

As I was finishing that thought, a distinct faint squeal of a worn metal hinge attached to a door I had remembered as the left one entering the Olympic Rink. Filling the quiet and muggy air in the lobby with his voice, Evan was in the middle of his "new employee tour" and "preliminary training session" with a new employee. Evan had a mildly deep gravely voice and sounded like he was talking through a cone, both acoustically and with loudness.

"Now if there's ever any issues that arise on the ice that you simply cannot handle, like little Timmy and his buddies won't listen or someone gets hurt - you're more than welcome to come get the manager on duty."

From 40 feet away, it sounded like he was right next to me, even around the wall blocking my vision.

As they rounded the wall, I saw who he was giving his speech to. Standing about 5'6" was this figure skater I recognized from random Freestyle sessions. She was usually on the ice before I arrived at work so conversations with her were very rare. "What was her name?" I asked myself.

"Speaking of Managers, Chris is here. I'll hand you off to him" Evan said directing their attention my way.

I watched as they began the trek across the lobby. Each step simply and slowly in front of the other. She had an elegant stride, each step quiet as it contacted the rubber floor. From her white tennis shoe clad feet sprouted these slender, toned legs wrapped in black leggings. About halfway up her thighs, the black leggings were met by the hem of an over sized white Chicago Blackhawks sweatshirt. Each arm swaying back and forth in sync with her rhythmic steps. As she got closer to the front desk and into the light coming through the front doors, I noticed her lightly wavy strawberry blonde hair bouncing to both sides of her face. I noticed her pale complexion which is not uncommon in the skating community. Her face was slightly rounded, her lips were pale burgundy color, her bottom just a little bigger than her upper. She had a cute little nose, her nostrils flared out just a bit. Set atop her nose was a pair of boxy black glasses outlining her eyes. She wore a moderate amount of eye liner which really made her eyes "pop" as she got closer. I found myself needing to know what color eyes she had. But I digress. For being a high school girl and all of 100 pounds, she looked like a pretty darn cute bookworm. She gave off the essence of private school girl, but one of the actually catholic ones.

"Hi, I'm Chris" I extended my right hand across the counter. Her hand slid out of the sleeve it was hiding in as it raised up to meet mine. Her hand was soft and noticeably smaller than mine. Delicately shaking my hand, I got a good glimpse at her eyes. Hazel. Hazel eyes contrasting with the white sclera of her eye. The dark eye-liner only made the eyes more vibrant. What a cute color.

"...ifer, nice to meet you." She said, quickly snapping me out of my trance. Trance probably isn't the best word to describe it. I wasn't as distracted as a puppy is to the world when you're holding its ball. But her eyes were something for sure.

"Nice to meet you too." I said as Evan rounded the counter. I released her hand and sat back down in my chair. "Are you going to be working the Public Session tonight?"

"Yes, this will be my first time on the employed side of a Public Session. Normally I'm one of the "unruly" skaters causing a scene."

"Well luckily we have you on our side now. You'll see how fun it is to yell at kids." I chuckled. "Are you hanging our around here until your shift?"

"I suppose so, I've got nothing better to do than hang around this enticing facility. There's - "

"I'm gonna stop you right there, there's nothing enticing about it."

"I actually have a lesson at 3:00 and some homework to get done so it's more a matter of convenience. But I'll be here until Public Session, to answer your question."

"Gotcha, well I'll let you get to it since the session started already."

"Oh crud, I have a lesson that started at 3, my coach is going to kill me!" she began to turn and speed walk to the table on the far right of the lobby "it was nice to formally meet you!" she said as she plopped down next to the white and blue skating bag, pulled her skates out and began to lace them up.

5:35pm

Walking through the double doors across the lobby from the front, I noticed quite a few people had come in since I had stepped away to resurface both sheets of ice. I quickly made my way up to the front desk to see if anyone was waiting. I noticed Jennifer sitting at one of the round blue tables in the lobby with a couple books out and some homework.

I reached the front desk and greeted a young teenager asking for a locker room key. Knowing his dad, I handed him a key and told him to make sure it stayed clean. I stood behind the counter for a few minutes to make sure no one else needed anything. It looked like the coast was clear.

I walked across the lobby toward the concession stand, I made eye contact with Jennifer and asked how her lesson went.

"Ugh, I got yelled at for being late. So that was fun. But it went well."

"See, when I talk with Jamie, she's one of the nicest people ever. I don't know why you're all afraid of her. She's a good coach and is nothing but nice to us up here."

"You should see her on the ice. She's tenacious. You're 3 minutes late and she won't let you hear the end of it. Uggghhh. It stresses me out. But, she is a great coach."

"I think I'm fine having my normal conversations with her out here, thank you. I'm not the one trying to figure skate and I've had my fill of coaches yelling." I laughed" Anyways, what are you working on?"

"Just some English homework. I must read through this chapter, develop a thesis statement based on a topic in a different book, and use sources of my own choosing to write an essay. It's probably the most exhilarating thing to be doing on a Tuesday evening."

"I can't even begin to express how excited I am for you. I can tell that you're so motivated that I'm not even going to offer to help."

"I don't blame you."

"But I will offer you something to drink, I'm running back in the concession's, you want anything to drink?"

"I'll take a Dr. Pepper!"

I strode away and headed toward the side door of the concession stand. I opened the metal blue door and walked into the dark kitchen. On a night like tonight where we weren't having much going on, we left the stand closed because we'd pay our employees more than we'd make on it. If someone absolutely needed something, I would help them out. I walked through the door way to get to the front area of our stand.

The lights were off, but the glow from the beverage cooler and assorted vendor dispensers illuminated it plenty enough to see where I was going. I grabbed a small Coke-a-Cola cup and scooped some ice in it. Pushing it against the lever, the soda began to dispense. I was having the same as her, so I fixed myself a cup and poured mine as well. I was thinking about her for a moment. She seems smart, comical, sassy, sarcastic and a cute young lady. I snapped the tops on the cups and grabbed a couple straws and made my way back out the dark kitchen toward the hallway.

As I walked through the door way I noticed someone at the front desk, I made a quick pit-stop by Jennifer and handed her the Dr. Pepper. "Here you go."

"Thank you!" she said politely

"I'll be back in a bit" I said as I scurried up to the front desk.

7:15pm

I found myself standing next to the skate rental counter where Jennifer was beginning to start her shift. We talked for a little bit. I found out she goes to a public school nearby, she's a senior, she is to go to college in Wisconsin in the fall so she's saving up some money for that. She hasn't had time or the interested in dating, her focus was on skating, friends and school. I'm a fan of solid priorities and having a plan and sticking to it.

She learned I'm 23 and only interested in my career. I had begun to go back to school, worked every day and kept trying to take on more responsibility. I was working toward running my own rink one day. We began a long running joke that night on overthrowing management and running the rink just the two of us. It got pretty detailed over the years. As I told her about some of the employees; who's okay to talk to, who's not, who can help with this, and who can't, she began to open up and ask about a few of the people she had seen that worked there. Most people would just label them and avoid meeting some, but she was interested in seeing what the buzz was all about.

Normally I wouldn't expose a girl like her to some of the guys that work there, but I was confident that she would easily hold her ground. She seemed like a cool gal and someone I would definitely get along with professionally.

We talked for about 30 minutes before she got a little busy and I had to worry about my own duties for the evening. I noticed as she began to assist some customers, she was stepping over her backpack and skating bag. "hey, do you want me to throw that stuff in the office? I'm headed over there and that way you aren't tripping over it."

"Sure!" she grabbed both bags and set them on the counter.

I grabbed both and threw them over my shoulder. "I'm gonna set them right inside the door. I'll probably be either getting ready to play hockey in one of the locker rooms or on the ice when you get done, just swing in the office and grab your stuff and clock out, I'll handle anything you don't get done when I'm off the ice."

"The office won't be locked will it?"

"No, I'll leave it unlocked. If you need anything, look for me on the ice and flag me down."

"Perfect, sounds good. Thank you!"

"Good luck, you got this!"

8:55pm

"Finally" I sighed out loud as I sat down on the bench in the office, my hockey bag laid out in front of me. I had been running around like crazy for a little over an hour trying to get everything cleaned, closed, organized and finished so I wouldn't have to do it later. I didn't have much time to get ready to play. I leaned over and unzipped my bag. My nose was met with the familiar, yet quite pungent stench associated with hockey. I grabbed my skates, set them on the ground next to me, pulled out my helmet, gloves, elbow-pads and set them neatly on the bench next to me. Pulling out my hockey pants, shoulder-pads and shin-pads, I stood up and pushed the office door shut. I unzipped my jacket and threw it on the desk next to me. My phone dinged, I rolled my eyes and checked it. It was nothing important. I set it down and continued to get ready. I pulled my shirt over my head, folded it and set it on the bench. Kicked off my shoes and left them where they landed. Unbuckled my belt and unbuttoned my jeans and pulled them down. I folded them and set them neatly next to my shirt. I slid my thumbs inside the waste band of both sides of my boxers and bent over as I pulled them down toward my ankles. When they met the tops of my feet, I stood up and stepped out of them.

At this moment, I was as naked as can be. The cold air enveloping my body and giving me goosebumps as I was attempting to get dressed. The bench sits directly in front of the office door so the cool muggy air from the lobby settles there when the door is open.

Also, at this moment, the door knob turned to the office and the door quickly popped open. Before she even realized what was going on, Jennifer took two steps inside the office and froze. She was like a deer in headlights for a brief 2 seconds before she took a breath, turned her head and shielded her eyes with her hand and let out an embarrassed giggle.

She got the whole show. The opening act of my moderately muscular arms as they met my toned shoulders. The pecks as they flexed when I quickly moved my hands up from my side. My toned stomach flexing because of the cold air and trying to cover myself. The main show, as I scrambled to cover myself, she got an eye full of what I had. In it's given state an average size penis surrounded by a well-maintained head of hair. She stared for a couple seconds as I stuttered and didn't know what to do.

"I - I didn't think... I thought you were getting changed in the locker room."

That's when I remembered what I had said earlier. She could keep her bag in the office and go ahead and leave once the skates were put away and that I'd be getting ready in one of the locker rooms. I also remembered I had shorts in my bag.

"My bad, sorry! I forgot!" I quickly grabbed my shorts and slid them up, covering my naked midsection. I proceeded to put my pads on. "I'm covered now" I said blushing more than I think I ever have in my life. "Sorry again."

She lowered her hand revealing her rosy red cheeks, kept looking away and giggled "No need to apologize, I should have knocked no matter what. You learn something new every day, right?"

"I suppose you're right. Anyways, Public Session go okay?" I slid my hockey pants up and slapped on my shin-pads.

"Yes, of course. It was pretty easy, we had 8 skaters." She said reaching down next to the door, grabbing her skating bag and back pack.

"Skates all put away and area cleaned up? How'd you like your first night of Public Session?" I asked as I tied my skates and taped my pads in position.

"Yes sir, done and done. It was easy. I like it so far, but it was slow and uneventful, well, was uneventful." She chuckled "I was just going to grab my stuff and head on home to study some more"

"Gotcha, I'm sure you put everything away fine and such. But studying is studying, I'm sure home is way more productive than this lovely place." I continued to slap on my shoulder-pads and elbow pads and covered them with my blue jersey.

"Actually, I got more done here in 2 hours than I did at home all of last night."

"Well, study where you wish! I'm getting on the ice here in a couple minutes. I'll see you when I see you. And sorry again." I snapped the cage on my helmet, grabbed my gloves, stick and walked around the counter.

"I'll see you later, and again, no worries" she said as I waved goodnight to her.

"Eh, I'm only 5 minutes late" I said to myself. "and holy shit was that embarrassing."

To be continued...