This time?
She didn’t trip.
She didn’t wobble.
She absolutelyowned it.
She ducked under the rope, hopped the low barrier, and turned neatly through the weaves. At the ramp, she bent her knees just right, rolling over it with a small burst of speed that made her ponytail swing.
My jaw actually dropped.
I wasn’t the only one staring. Belle nudged one of the other Reapers and pointed at her like,Watch this one.Mel crossed her arms and nodded approvingly.
Pride swelled in my chest so hard it almost hurt.
She had worked for this.
She had poured hours into drills, practices, bruises, and falling and getting back up.
And it showed.
God, it showed.
I leaned forward, elbows on my knees, unable to tear my eyes away from her. Watching her skate like this felt like witnessing her becoming the person she’d always deserved to be.
When she paused to grab water, she glanced toward the bleachers again, searching.
And when she found me, her face lit up.
Not a shy smile this time.
A real one. Bright. Proud. A little breathless.
I lifted my hand in a small wave again, but my heart was doing something massive, something ridiculous, something that felt dangerously like falling.
Because all I could think was that she’s one of the best out there. And she doesn’t even know it.
But I did. And I couldn’t look away.
The rink slowly emptied as Mel dismissed everyone, and the skaters trickled off the floor, some limping, some laughing, all sweaty and exhausted. I stayed seated, hands clasped between my knees, heart still pounding with leftover adrenaline that wasn’t even mine.
She hadshoneout there.
Every time she hit a clean turn or powered through a drill, something in my chest tightened. I didn’t know a person could swell with pride like that without actually bursting.
She disappeared into the locker room thirty minutes ago, but I could still see her skating backward like she’d been doing it her whole life, navigating the obstacle course with focus etched into her face, cheeks flushed with effort and joy.
Joy. That was what hit me the hardest. She looked happy. Alive.
I hadn’t realized how badly I wanted her to feel that.
I leaned back on the bleacher, staring at the ceiling as the fluorescent lights buzzed above. I tried to sort through the mess in my head, but one truth kept surfacing, steady and undeniable. I was in love with her.
The thought didn’t scare me as much as it should have. It just . . . landed. Like it had been waiting for me to notice.
The locker room door swung open.
And there she was.
