Aspen Holiday

Chapter 6 - Ice Skating

I don't know if it was like this for his entire life but definitely for mine, my big brother has always been capable of anything and everything.

My young mind used to think he was a superhero or something with everything he could do and everything he was good at. No matter what you asked Ace to do he did it with no complaints and great quality of work. Ace could do anything and he could fix everything.

I groaned, throwing my head back. "So I'm gonna suck again, huh?"

Ace chuckled, wrapping an arm around me to kiss the side of my head affectionately. "You don't suck."

"Don't be jealous." Caleb told me, smugly, not hearing his friend's words. "Your two big bros are good at everything. It's only natural to not measure up. Don't feel bad." He reached over to playfully mess up my beanie.

"I don't." I deadpanned to him, acting like this was a casual comeback and not one I had to come up with his entire speech. "There are plenty of things you're bad at."

"Name one."

"Singing, for one. And then there's—"

"Oh, bull— bs" — Caleb quickly corrected after the shooting glare he received from his friend — "I'm brilliant at singing."

"You literally sound like a bird who is running out of oxygen and dying. You sound like—" I was cut off by a huge hand wrapping itself around my mouth.

Ace's hand was wound around my mouth, preventing me from speaking and also pulling me into him at the same time. He also grabbed the back of his friend's neck a lot more rough than mine and pulled him in too so our heads almost smashed against each other.

"Don't forget." Ace spoke calmly but menacing as his gaze moved from me to Caleb and he explained the rules. "We are in public. Act accordingly. Got it?"

"Sorry, Ace." I muttered, looking down. Ace released me immediately, instead settling for loosely hanging his arm around my shoulders.

"Got it?" Ace growled again. I saw Caleb wince as my brother tightened his hold on the slightly shorter boy's neck.

"Yes, boss." Caleb threw out, rolling his eyes but Ace released him with a small shove. Caleb pretending like he was literally whipping something off of him before he turned back around. "Let's go then!"

I scrunched up my face slightly at the difference in moods between Caleb's words only a couple of seconds apart. But I was used to it by now so I nodded my head.

"I'll show you first!" Caleb offered, so generously.

He quickly skated onto the ice without even grabbing onto the railings on the entrance like I'd seen so many people do before. He was almost immediately in the middle of the ice, his moves flawless, as he fell into the crowd and began to skate at a faster pace than the flow of traffic. About to cause accidents there, Caleb!

Ace grabbed my head, squeezing it once to get my attention, before nodding his head in the attention of the rink. I nodded my head too, understanding that Ace was telling me we should try it out too.

Him and I kept interlocked hands as I stepped out onto the ice grabbing the railing with one hand and gripping Ace's with the other. Ace flawlessly stepped out onto the ice just as his friend had done.

I wonder how long he played ice hockey for?

Ace and I went like that for a couple of seconds, me holding onto his hand and the railing as I more or less walked my way along and didn't really skate. Ace slowly skated next to me, watching me with the utmost patience and concentration so he could catch me if I were to fall.