“As ready as I’m going to get,” I said. “I haven’t decided what outfit I’m going to grab, though, so I’ll let you focus on what you’re doing.”
I made my way to my old childhood bedroom. It was the smallest bedroom of the four in the house, but I was home less than either of my brothers, so that was probably fair. I pulled open the door to the closet, where I stared at a row of brightly coloured skating dresses covered in rhinestones, glitter, and sequins. They were nothing like the outfits I usually wore. The stark differences helped put me into the mindset of my on-ice persona. Keeping what I was like on the ice and the moves I did with Dom there helped compartmentalize everything. It was probably one reason my parents had never seemed bothered by what we were doing on the ice.
I pushed the dresses aside, looking at each of them in turn. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I knew that a lot of them wouldn’t work. My mother insisted on keeping the dresses hanging up, which meant an entire side was filled with ones that didn’t fit any longer. Now that I’d moved out, I let her do what she wanted with them. Lord knew she and Dad had spent a small fortune on them over the years. If she wanted to look at them and reminisce or just keep them in good condition, she might as well leave them hanging in an otherwise empty closet.
I grabbed a dress from two seasons prior. It was mostly navy blue, with cap sleeves, and it fully covered my stomach and back. There were tons of rhinestones around the waist, hem, and illusion neckline, which had cost a pretty penny and made it very delicate. Anything that added to the intricacies of a dress and needed to be added drove the price up. They also made the dresses utter pains in the ass to wash. Now that I didn’t need to worry about it accidentally getting destroyed, I might as well enjoy it. The fact that there was no chance of a wardrobe malfunction while wearing it was a plus.
There was one of my old skating bags on the floor of the closet. It was scuffed and showing its age, but I didn’t need to put much in it. All of my everyday essentials were in the bag I used now, so I only needed to put the dress in it. I probably could have even packed the dress in my usual bag, but by keeping it separated, it would be easier for my parents to bring it back at the end of the night. Then I wouldn’t need to remember to drop it off later.
I then started the painstaking process of getting ready. I didn’t need to put as much effort in as I would before a show, but if I didn’t put on my makeup, it would be weird. Dom had jokingly called it war paint, but he wasn’t that far off the mark. When I had my face done up, it was another step to becoming Hazel the performer instead of just me. Making sure my hair was completely slicked and pinned was just good sense. There wasn’t much more annoying than having hair in your face. On the ice, getting distracted pushing it away from my eyes or mouth meant I ran the risk of ruining my next steps.
My mother used to help me get ready. I would sit on a stool in my room while she reached for an assortment of bottles and brushes on my dresser. When I started travelling more for competitions, it had become important that I be able to do it on my own. My mother wasn’t able to drop everything and come on all my trips, especially at this level. She had accrued plenty of vacation days over the years, but even they wouldn’t cover all the days she would need to take to follow me around.
Even so, my mother pushed my half-open door open the rest of the way and watched as I pinned my hair back. She didn’t say anything as she walked over to my desk and pulled out the battered chair I’d used throughout high school. I sat on it obediently. She took over, slicking the stray strands down against my scalp. Her touch was gentle and brought back so many memories of my childhood.
After finishing, she rested her hands on my shoulders. “You look lovely.”
“Thanks, Mom.” I had taken the time to do a full face of makeup, layering on foundation and concealer and using several shades of eye shadow. I wanted to walk the line between being performance-ready and not going too over-the-top before heading out to a restaurant. If I put on as much makeup as I did for competitions, I would look like I had used my entire makeup bag.
I followed her downstairs, where we found my father sitting on the couch and watching an action movie he must have seen a million times. Isaac was sitting in the armchair opposite him, half paying attention to the TV and half focused on the videos he was scrolling through on his phone. He looked up and asked, “Hey. Are we going soon?” He didn’t react to my skating getup, having seen it all so many times before.
“Whenever you guys are ready,” my mother said. To my father, she said, “Turn that off. I don’t know why you need to watch it every time it’s on.”
My father clicked the TV off. “I was just killing time until you were ready.”
“Where are we going to eat tonight?” my brother asked.
I rolled my eyes. He was eighteen and supposedly out of his never-ending growth spurt, but he was still always wondering where his next meal was going to come from. When I told him we were heading to a local Italian place, owned by somebody Dom’s parents knew, he seemed satisfied. “Cool. I’m going to grab another snack before we go.”
He was off to the kitchen before any of us could protest and came back with several fig bars in hand. I watched as he slipped his shoes on, not bothering to untie the laces, and shook my head. “What?” he said. “It’s going to take a while for you to finish, then to get there, then order.”
“I just don’t get how you’re still so skinny.” He may technically be an adult and a university student, but he was still lanky. Somehow, I was the only short one of my siblings. I had found it deeply upsetting as a child, but at least I’d found something I loved where being short was a benefit.
We piled into the car, my parents taking the front seat while Isaac and I sat in the back like when we were children. My father lifted all my things into the trunk, insisting that he do it even though I spent most of my days carrying them around myself.
The parking lot at the arena was much emptier than it had been when I left. Most of the other skaters had called it not only a night but a week, heading home to relax. Of the cars that were still around, I could place most of them as belonging to people I knew. Brandon’s car wasn’t there yet, so I sent him a text asking where he was.
My parents followed me in, walking closely on my heels. Dom’s parents were already inside, waiting. All four parents greeted each other with questions of how they had been and exclamations that it was nice to see each other again. They used to spend hours together every week, watching as Dom and I fumbled our way through pretty basic moves. They had long since moved to a more relaxed form of support, only coming for special events.
“Hi Richard, hi Debbie,” I said. His mother pulled me into a tight hug, being careful not to mess up my hair. “Where’s Dom?”
“He went to get dressed and to get warmed up,” she said affectionately.
“I should, too,” I replied. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I waved as I walked off to the locker room, checking the text as I walked.
Brandon had responded, saying he was just leaving work. His work was pretty close, but that didn’t mean there weren’t severalplaces traffic was known to slow to a crawl. He should still have plenty of time, though.
I described where everybody would be and told him to introduce himself. Once I was preparing to go on the ice, I couldn’t pay attention to my phone. I shoved it into the pocket of my old team jacket before hurrying through getting ready. I stripped out of my regular clothes and pulled on my thick skating tights first. Once they were on, I pulled my dress overtop, the stretchy fabric slipping on easily. I pulled my jacket back on and slung my skates over my shoulder. The rest of my things could stay in the locker room.
Dom was where his parents said he would be, stretching and getting limbered up. “Hey.” His grin lit up his face. Mid-stretch, he asked, “Are you ready?”
“As ready as you are,” I said as I placed my skates on the floor gently. “I saw your parents.”
“They were excited to see you tonight,” he said. He stretched out one of his arms, muscles flexing under the thin fabric of his shirt. “Frankly, I think they’re more excited to see you than they were to see me. It was Hazel this and Hazel that. I’d be offended if they didn’t see me so often.”
“Is your sister coming?” I asked, facing the other way as I leaned over towards my toes.
“She can’t. My nephew has something on tonight. How about your brothers?”
