When she did get up, she zoomed around her room quickly getting ready, while I laid in bed texting Duke, who was my ride to practice. The team’s day wouldn’t officially start for a couple hours, but I was asking Duke to drop me off at the rink a bit earlier. I wanted to catch my girl in action...
______
A half hour later, I walked into the rink carrying my hockey bag and a tray of Tim Horton’s coffee. Duke only had a slim timeframe to be able to get me to the rink before his massage appointment, so I left Ellie’s place in a rush and ended up not having enough time to make my usual coffee there. Duke took pity on me and swung by Timmy’s before dropping me off.
The rink’s lobby was desolate besides the young kid manning the concession stand who looked like he was sleeping.
I loved starting the day at the rink. Back at the Ice League, Max would let me open up sometimes, so I’d be in charge of hitting the lights and completing the morning zams, but then I’d get the clean surface to myself. I wondered if Ellie had a similar situation worked out here.
As I neared the east rink, I could see through the lobby windows that only the emergency light was on, making it look almost like a spotlight. I also saw a girl gracefully skating, marking up the ice with deep edges as she moved around the rink. The thing that’s unique about skating versus other sports is that each skater has their own stride that distinguishes them from anyone else. Watching this girl skate, I could tell it was Ellie. She had a way of lengthening each stride, and it seemed that all her motions were circular. She finished her large circle around the rink with smaller fancy footwork loops, and her arms were constantly, gracefully moving.
I was mesmerized by her as I pushed open the rink door. My body was immediately met with the familiar chill of the rink, and I scrunched up my shoulders as she pulled herself into a fast spin.
I watched in amazement as she pretty much bent herself in half and hung her head back as she spun. I had no clue how she could do that without barfing after.
I set the tray of coffee down on the bleacher stairs, and my body, acting on its own accord, started clapping for her.
I kind of surprised myself by how loud my clap was and how well the sound carried in such an emptyrink.
She immediately stopped and scanned around looking for theclapping.
As soon as her eyes landed on me, she shook her head wryly and a small grin played on her face as she skated over to me by the rink door’s opening.
“What was that called?” I asked her, motioning to the spin she justdid.
“A layback. You’re here awfully early.”
“Yeah…about that. I was wondering if I could get some private lessons?” I wagged my eyebrows at her.
She put her hands on her hips and looked me up and down. “Well, you got your skates?”
“Really?” I pumped my fist in triumph. My plan had worked. That was totally an invite to join her little private ice session. “Oh! Before I forget, coffee!” I quickly grabbed up the tray and extended one of the coffees out to her.
She gave a shy smile and skated closer to retrieve one. “What did I ever do to deserve this?” she asked, taking a small sip.
I threw her a wink and then walked with a pep in my step as I made my way around the edge of the rink to the team box so I could lace up my skates there.
27. Ellie
With his hands tucked in his hoodie pocket, and his hood pulled up over his head, TJ jumped onto the ice from the team bench’s opening and skated over to center ice where I was practicing spins.
“How do you do that?” he asked. “Spin so tightly, Imean?”
“For one, having a toe-pickhelps.”
He lifted his eyebrows at me. “Explain?”
“Well, you push hard onto your left outside edge, like this,” I demonstrated in front of him. “And pressure it into a curve so you eventually hit your toe-pick. Then you just start spinning, see?”
“Hate to say this because you’re an Ice Princess Coach Champion and all, but you make that sound and look way easier than it actually is, Brampton,” he said.
“It’s really not that hard. Here, follow me.” I grabbed his hand and directed him to stand on the red line. “So start on the line and put your feet in a T. Then you’re going to push into a half circle and spin at the end of that half circle, yeah?”
He pushed with no abandon…
…and made it around probably two rotations before his body spun out of control and he landed on his ass.
I giggled at the sight of his large frame sprawled out on the ground just from trying a simple scratchspin.
