Fake dating the Ice-Cold Hockey Captain

ARABELLA

“Ziven Callahan—!”

The entire arena exploded before the announcer even finished saying his name, and I was already halfway out of my seat with everybody else.

The girl beside me grabbed my arm so hard I almost lost balance. “Oh my God, did you see that pass?”

“I saw it,” I laughed, trying not to yank my arm away while everyone around us screamed loud enough to shake the seats.

Ziven was already moving on the ice again and honestly, watching him play never felt fair to anybody else. Everybody around him looked slower somehow, like they were trying too hard while everything came naturally to him.

The girl beside me kept talking without breathing. “He’s left-footed, right? That’s why his turns are always so sharp—”

“He’s not left-footed.”

The words slipped out before I could stop them.

She blinked at me. “What?”

“He just likes making people think he is.” I kept my eyes on the game while Ziven stole the puck again like it belonged to him personally. “Defenders hesitate longer that way.”

The girl stared at me for a second. “Okay… how do you even know that?”

“I guess I notice things.” I replied with a shrug.

Which sounded way less insane than saying I’d spent an embarrassing amount of time watching videos of him online at two in the morning.

Because honestly, I noticed everything about Ziven Callahan.

I noticed when he got irritated because he started skating more aggressively. I noticed the little shift in his shoulders before he stole the puck. I even noticed the way he shoved his hair back when they were losing.

Okay, maybe that sounded creepy now that I thought about it.

“He’s about to score,” the girl suddenly yelled.

“Yeah,” I said at the same time Ziven cut sharply across the ice.

The goalie moved too early and that honestly it was a bad decision.

The puck slammed straight into the net, and the arena lost its mind.

The girl beside me screamed directly into my ear while shaking my arm again. “HE DID IT AGAIN!” and by now I was smiling so hard my cheeks hurt.

Which was kind of embarrassing.

I blamed the goal, It definitely wasn’t because of him.

The game continued until my phone buzzed inside my bag, but I ignored it because Ziven was still on the ice and I had priorities. When it buzzed again, I finally pulled it out.

NRU Transfer Approved — Dorm Placement Confirmed.

For a second, I genuinely forgot how to think.

Then I shot up so fast the girl beside me flinched.

“Jesus— what happened?”

“I got in.”

My voice came out way too excited and a few people who sat around me sent me dirty looks, so I sat back down immediately like that would somehow fix it.

“I transferred here.”

Her face lit up instantly. “Wait, seriously? That’s amazing.”

I nodded, but honestly, I barely heard the rest of what she said after that.

I was finally here. I was no longer visiting for games or stalking the campus website like a psychopath.

And the worst part was that the first thing my brain went to was the fact that I can finally get closer to him.

I should’ve been alarmed by that thought but I smiled instead.

The second the final buzzer sounded, everybody rushed toward the exits at once like the building was on fire.

I got shoved sideways almost immediately.

Somebody slammed into my shoulder hard enough to tilt my glasses halfway down my face, and I barely caught them before they fell.

“Sorry— excuse me—” I spluttered as I kept pushing through the crowd until I finally made it near the tunnel entrance where people were already packed together trying to get pictures of the players.

It was louder there somehow.

People kept yelling over each other while cameras flashed nonstop, and I stood near the edge of the crowd trying not to get trampled while secretly hoping I’d get to see Ziven properly up close for once.

Then he walked out.

And wow, seeing him on the ice was one thing but seeing him this close was—different .

His helmet was gone, his dark hair was damp from sweat, and everybody immediately started calling his name from every direction. But he barely reacted, like he was already used to all this attention.

Meanwhile, I forgot how to function.

I was staring so hard I didn’t even notice somebody trying to move past me until they slammed into my shoulder.

“Move, weirdo.”

“Sorry,” I muttered automatically while fixing my glasses again and by the time I looked back up, Ziven was gone.

The crowd had swallowed him completely.

“Oh, come on,” I sighed under my breath. “I didn’t even get to see him properly.”

The cold air outside hit my face the second I stepped out of the arena, and I pulled my jacket tighter around myself while checking my phone again.

Room 302.

I stared at the dorm assignment for another second before a tiny, humiliating burst of excitement escaped me and I actually bounced a little on the sidewalk.

I was so glad nobody from the school could see me.

“I’m really here,” I whispered, grinning like an idiot.

The dorm building looked older up close, with dim hallway lights and brick walls that probably hadn’t been renovated since the invention of electricity, but I barely paid attention while searching for my room.

Room 302.

Music blasted through the door the second I stopped in front of it and I frowned immediately.

Fantastic. My roommate was probably an annoying noisemaker.

I knocked once and then again but there was no answer and by the third knock, irritation had already started creeping in, so I grabbed the handle and pushed the door open myself.

The room was chaos.

Music blasted through giant speakers while bottles covered almost every surface. Girls danced near the couch, somebody was laughing so hard near the kitchen they nearly fell over, and the entire place smelled like alcohol and bad decisions.

Then my eyes landed on him.

Ziven sat right in the middle of the mess like he belonged there naturally, one arm stretched across the back of the couch while people talked around him.

His eyes lifted the second the door opened and it landed directly on me.

Everything else faded weirdly after that.

The music, the people and even my own thoughts disappeared for a second.

Then he looked at me properly, like he finally recognized who I was, and his expression shifted into something halfway between confusion and disbelief.

“What are you doing here, Belle?”