Gracious

Chapter 12

"Do I look like I can go to the middle?", I raised an eyebrow at him and he laughed, looking up at me.

"Come on", he pried my hands from the side and began to guide me away from it- skating backwards might I add, as he led the way to the middle of the rink. Having my nine year old brother guide me was nothing short of both embarrassing and amazing to watch; it'd been a while since I'd seen him on the ice and to witness the progress he'd made only made me prouder than I was before.

"How'd you get so good?", I asked, clinging onto his forearms as if he was my size; he only laughed again and held onto me tighter.

"Practice", he shrugged, "it's my favourite thing ever".

"And you concentrate more on the ice", I commented and he nodded rapidly.

"I wish school was on the ice, maybe I'd concentrate there too", he replied and I chuckled, "do you know what I want? More than anything?".

"Enlighten me", I told him, glancing down at my feet as he moved us further, him gliding perfectly and me practically walking.

"My own rink, all to myself", his eyes lit up the second he mentioned it, "a big rink where I can skate all on my own, bring my friends, you guys, practice- especially if I have too much energy".

"That would take a while Xavier", I warned him, already making a mental note of his request for later.

"I know", he nodded more to himself, "does that mean it's impossible?". Nothing was impossible when it came to them.

"Of course not", I shook my head, glancing down at him, "tell you what- I'll surprise you".

"Surprise me?", he repeated, full attention on me now.

"When I think you've made me as proud as I can possibly be- even prouder than I am of you now, I'm gonna surprise you with a key", I smiled at the thought, whenever the day may come, "and that key will unlock one and only one building".

"My own rink?", he grinned and I nodded with a hum, "deal".

~

Xavier and I stayed at the rink for another forty-five minutes or so, until he was near to exhaustion and claimed he was ready to go back home. I was ready to leave from whenever, my ice skating skills nothing but an embarrassment, at least the others weren't there to witness it too.

"I had fun today Zane", Xavier hugged me tightly the second we got out of the car, "I like hanging out without the others".

"I'm glad you had fun", I ruffled his hair with a smile, "you all like different things, it's hard to keep up".

"Oh. Sorry", he frowned, following me towards the front door.

"Not a bad thing", I assured him, "it makes you all unique".

"That's what my teacher said about my ADHD, that it makes me unique", he beamed proudly, stepping inside when I opened the door, "is that true?".

"One hundred and ten percent", I smiled down at him, kicking off my shoes, "go drink some water, I'll be in there in a sec".

He nodded, rushing towards the kitchen while I headed to Prescott's room to let him know we were back home. I found my brother sitting on his bed, head bowed and fingers strumming the guitar that was in his arms; he was definitely the musical child.

"Hey", I slid the chair from his desk over so I was opposite him and straddled it, "they been okay while I was gone?".

"Yeah, all good", he raised his head and stopped strumming, "haven't seen much of Xan".