Melt (Harry Styles Hockey AU)

Chapter 2

I sit like a child while Kristen ties my laces, harassing me because I forgot how to do it myself. I wince when she yanks the strings and pinches my skin. She looks up at me with a devious smile.

"You bitch." I joke.

She stands up and offers me her hand, pulling me to my feet.

"Do you think you still have what it takes?" She asks me, walking away with a sway in her hips as if she weren't wearing razor thin blades as shoes.

"If I can't even remember how to lace up I doubt I'm going to be able to skate like I did when I was ten, Kris." She chuckles at my sarcastic tone..

I make sure to walk behind her so she can't she my wobbly steps as we head to the ice. Her transition from the padded floor to the freshly smoothed ice is seamless; walking one second and gliding the next. She joins Mariah and Ronnie in the center of the rink where they talk to an employee around our age.

I'm thankful that none of them are paying attention as I stumble onto the ice and immediately reach for the wall. I sniffle and wipe at my nose, the cold air in the building already starting to numb my extremities. I turn myself around by pulling the wall with one of my hands, keeping my legs stiff and straight. I must look really awkward. There's a ton of little kids skating today, and that eases my nerves little. At least I'll be out of this town by the time these squirts will be in high school. That way I don't have to worry about any of them harassing me for face planting right in front of them. A group of young boys fly past me, pretending to body check each other as they round the corner that I stupidly settled down in.

I finally muster up enough courage to gently push my body away from the wall and I immediately regret it. One of my feet slip out from under me and I jerk forward with flailing arms. I manage to stomp my foot back to the ice and end up in a half-bent position with my arms extended in front of me. I stand up straight again and wipe my hands down my hoodie. I don't understand how I can be sweating when it's so chilly in here.

Another group of kids skate past me quickly and with ease. I feel embarrassed, even though none of them seem to be paying attention to me.

I take a deep breath and hold it as I begin to shuffle my feet over top of the ice without picking them up. I praise myself for actually having covered some distance. I hear shrill laughs behind me and roll my eyes when all three of my friends speed past me on their skates, only to turn around and head towards me. Once in front of me, Ronnie grabs my hands and starts skating backwards, pulling me along with her. My legs buckle and slip and my eyes are wide staring at the ice underneath me.

"Guys I don't want to fall." I tell them with desperation in my voice. I don't dare take my eyes off of my unstable feet.

"That's a part of skating, Brae." Kristen retorts. "You fall on your ass and then you get back up."

I repeat Kristen's lame motivational phrase in a nasally voice, sticking out my tongue to mock her. She laughs at me and rushes to the other side of the rink, leaving fresh grooves in the ice behind her. Just as I let my legs get used to Ronnie pulling me, she lets go to chase after Kristen and I'm left alone with the momentum that Ronnie gave me. I hold my stretched palms in front of my body, ready to fall, but I don't. My knees buckle under me and somehow I regain my balance as I glide to a stop.

I decide to take a risk and raise my left foot from the ice for the first time. I use the tip of my bulky skate to dig into the ice and push off of it, but it gets wedged in a deep groove and I jerk forward. My legs fly out from underneath me and my arms fling out to my sides. My face is a foot from the solid ice when my arm is yanked back, sending a jolt of pain through my shoulder as my body twists to adjust to the hold. I don't hit the ice. Instead, I am laid down gently, by my dully throbbing arm, onto the frictionless surface. I close my eyes in embarrassment.