Moment of Truth

Chapter 17: Dance

I make up my mind as I march up to Yuzuru. I tap him on his shoulder. As he turns to look at who just tapped him, I throw my arms around him. Yuzuru feels surprised, but wraps his arms around me hugging me back. I pull away quickly and hold him at arms length away.

"You better kick butt out there, Yuzuru, or I'll never bring you Filipino food again," I try to threaten the skater with a glare on my face. "I mean it."

Yuzuru laughs and shakes his head. He pats my head. "You are too cute trying to motivate me," he says smiling at me. "I'll do my best for you."

Yuzuru hugs me before leaving to the ice as his name is being called for him to skate. I stay by the side of the rink as Yuzuru skates on to the ice. He looks over at me and nods his head, affirming that he will do his best for me. I nod my head back at him, letting him know I'm with him. I hold my breath as the music starts.

After his free skate, I practically ran over to him and gave him a big hug. I know he is disappointed in missing some of his quads but it can't be helped sometimes. But it looked like he put his heart into that program. He gave me a hug back before going to the kiss and cry area with Coach Brian. After he got his score, I was able to release the breath I was holding. It's just a relief for it to be all over. I was relieved to see him pick himself up from his first fall and keep going. He scares me so much when he falls. But that's what comes with him being a figure skater. Everyone falls eventually. Even Yuzuru.

And Yuzuru got silver. I know Yuzuru is not happy about this. But it's only the beginning of the season. At least he was first in the free skate. But the scores added up to a silver as he was fourth in the short program. I don't care what Yuzuru gets. I'm proud of him regardless. He's still the best in my eyes. He'll have more competitions to come and beat everyone.

I didn't think I'd get through these last two days, but that's just what it's going to be like at every competition he heads to. I really need to start preparing myself for all of this. For however long I do this. Which I do hope will be a long time.

At the gala dinner I'm seated at Yuzuru's side with the rest of team Japan. Coach Brian is sitting with the other coaches. Yuzuru practically begged me to sit with him. I complied since he looked like a puppy begging. So here I am conversing with Satoko Miyahara while we are eating dinner while Yuzuru is to my right talking to Takahito Mura. Suddenly music starts to play and an announcement comes on that everyone is welcome to the dance floor to dance the rest of the night away. I quickly turn to Yuzuru with a grin on my face.

"Yuzu~," I say in a sing-songy voice.

Yuzuru looks at me with a confused expression. "What, Mai?" he asks.

"Let's dance!"

He deadpans at me. "I don't dance."

I make a noise of irritation. "Your step sequences are practically dances. You have dance-like choreography in your skating. You can't tell me you don't dance."

"I don't dance off the ice."

I shoot him a glare as he gives me an irritatingly happy smile. The people around us smile and laugh as they are used to Yuzuru's childish behavior. I'm still getting used to it. And let me tell you, it's a surprise every day. I cross my arms in front of my chest and pout at the silly Japanese boy.

"Go dance with the poor girl, Yuzu," Takahito says to Yuzuru in a teasing tone.

"Yeah, Yuzu," Satoko chimes in giggling. "There's no hurting doing one dance. After all, you should owe this girl for dealing with you day in and day out."

"Fine," Yuzuru agrees feigning defeat.

Yuzuru stands up and offers me his hand. I take it as he leads me to the makeshift dance floor. There are already people on the dance floor. Right when we get there, the upbeat song playing before ends and a slow song begins. I didn't think that a slow song would come so soon. Yuzuru lets go of my hand and scratches the back of his neck, feeling awkward. I'm standing in front of Yuzuru looking at the floor, not being able to meet his eyes. I can feel the tension arising between us as we are suddenly at a loss for words and actions. Then Yuzuru offers his hand to me again.

"We came out here to dance, right?" Yuzuru asks me shyly. "We need to dance."

I take his hand wordlessly. Yuzuru pulls my body to him as he positions us into a slow dance. I see other people either in the same position as us or have their bodies pressed up against one another in a romantic way. I make sure Yuzuru and I keep our distance as to not confuse ourselves with the more romantic dancers.

Yuzuru moves us around in a circle, swaying to the soft melodic music. We still can't look each other in the eyes. I never thought we would be in this position, in this circumstance. I just wanted to jump around and pull out some crazy dance moves to upbeat music. Suddenly someone pushes against my back and I collide with Yuzuru. Thankfully Yuzuru is more grounded than me so he is able to hold us up. I look over my shoulder to see Satoko giggling with Takahito dancing behind us. I look up at Yuzuru and a blush is spread across his face. I realize our bodies are still pressed up against each other and I quickly pull my body away from his. We go back to spinning around in circles till upbeat music plays and we finally let go of each other. But I can't help missing the feeling of warmth present at the touch of Yuzuru's hands against mine.