“My butt is a little sore, honestly.”
I burst out laughing.
He shrugs. “Just keeping it real. I fell on it twice.”
“Your poor butt.”
“I know, right?”
We get up and continue gliding across the ice. Kylen doesn’t give up, and it’s not long before he’s really getting the hang of it. He doesn’t fall down again.
“Nice!” I tell him. “Awesome job.”
“Why thank you, my sweet Juliet. One must never lose hope.”
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Caleb. He doesn’t seem to find the right balance and crashes one too many times. Addie feels bad and offers for them to leave the rink and do something else. But of course Caleb refuses because he wants Addie to continue enjoying herself.
They decide to skate for another fifteen minutes before calling it quits. I wrap my arms around her and say, “I’ll see you back at the lodge?”
“Yep. Have fun with Kylen. And remember, don’t be scared to make the first move.”
She skates away before I can say anything.
Kylen holds out his hand to me again with a smile. “Ready?”
Now that Kylen is more stable on his skates, we’re not afraid to try some tricks. We cross our arms and spin around on the ice, faster and faster until we grow too dizzy. Kylen tries to lift me, but we both lose our balance and almost tumble down.
“Perhaps we shouldn’t try that,” I say with a laugh.
“Yeah, perhaps not.”
“Break time?” I ask. “I saw some snacks at the vending machine.”
“Let’s see if they have ketchup potato chips,” he says as he skates ahead of me to reach the exit. Once he’s through, he makes his way to the machine, which is very difficult to do on skates. Luckily, the machine isn’t so far.
“Monsters,” he says when I join him.
“What? No ketchup potato chips?”
“Nope. I guess they know what’s good and what’s not.”
I playfully slap his arm.
I end up choosing honey barbecue potato chips. Kylen and I sit down on a bench and munch on our snacks. He has pretzels filled with peanut butter.
“Too bad we’re leaving tomorrow afternoon,” I say with a frown. “I’m going to miss this place.”
“Yeah. It feels kind of magical, doesn’t it?”
I nod, knowing exactly what he means. Spending all this time together has brought us even closer, like we’ve fallen into a fairytale. Will it all disappear when we get back to school? What if the magic will be gone?
“What are you thinking?” he asks as he searches my eyes.
I shake my head. “Nothing. Want to continue skating?”
There’s a couple on the rink that isn’t from our school. I think they’re a professional pair because of how they’re dancing together. Ice dancing is a sport that is more dancing than jumps or twirls, like pair figure skating. The way the two of them are so graceful on the ice is very beautiful.
“Check them out,” I tell Kylen. “Aren’t they so majestic?”
