IncuBUST

Patience Moran

I sighed and stared moodily out the car window squinting at the passing headlights. Sissy and Taylor were in the front seats chatting animatedly about some EDM group that was supposed to playing at the convention center downtown this weekend. Sissy was wearing a glittery pink dress and black tights, her dark brown hair tied into two long French braids.

Taylor was unrecognizable...unless of course you had seen the trilogy of movies he had starred in several years ago where he played a high school girl getting sucked into auditioning for a theater on ice troupe when what she really wanted to do was join the U.S. Olympic Figure Skating team. The girl was small, barely brushing five feet, with a messy bob of black hair and deep green eyes. She was slight and willowy with small breasts and narrow hips. She wore black and gold high-waisted leggings and an oversized crop top sweater. Sparkles twinkled on her cheeks in the passing headlights. The character was nowhere near as popular as Parker or Elora Bloodhoof, but the 'Frozen Dreams' trilogy had a cult-like following and Patience Moran could barely step foot into an ice rink without being swarmed by young girls with similar dreams.

I had managed to get away with sweatpants. Not the comfy purple ones with panda bears on them I had changed into when I got back home. They were plain black and not as baggy as I would have liked. Sissy had also forced me into a skintight shirt made out of some strange elastic material that she said was for sports or exercise or something.

We turned into the iceplex parking lot at 8:47pm. I pushed my glasses up on the bridge of my nose and sighed again. Sissy stopped the car and turned to look at me saying, "Stop moping. You're going to have a good time."

"Yeah, and if you need a little help then let me know," Taylor said pulling a flask out of the pocket on the side of her...his...

"What pronouns are you using right now, Taylor?" I asked eyeing the flask. They uncapped the flask and took a drink swishing it thoughtfully around their mouth. They swallowed and replied, "She/her is fine." She grinned and held out the flask saying, "I'm actually really feeling myself tonight. Being Patience gives me so much confidence." I smiled back and gratefully took the flask. I took a long drink feeling whiskey burn down my throat.

"And is it entirely in character for Patience to be drinking?" I inquired handing back the flask. Taylor laughed and said, "About as much in character as her being a lesbian." Sissy turned away from the mirror she was touching up her makeup in and leaned across the center console to press her lips lightly against Taylor's.

"I quite like this one," she whispered reaching out to tuck a strand of Taylor's dark hair behind her pierced ears. Taylor smiled and said, "Yeah?" Sissy nodded and replied, "You're so dainty. Like a ballerina. I'm not used to being the big spoon." Taylor laughed and leaned in to kiss her again. I rolled my eyes and kicked open the back door.

"You're the one who dragged me here, Sissy. Let's get this show on the road," I said before slamming the door shut. I shoved my hands in my pockets and glanced around the parking lot. A minute later Sissy and Taylor got out of the car and we started towards the entrance. There was a bit of a line. I had no idea this DJ skate thing was so popular. A person wearing a blue jacket with the words 'skate guard' on the back was walking down the line shouting, "Anyone with pre-ordered badges can go in."

"Ah!" Sissy exclaimed digging in her purse. "That's us!" She retrieved the badges and handed one to me. Then she looked at Taylor and asked, "Do you want mine? I can wait." Taylor shook her head and was about to reply when the skate guard suddenly stopped several feet away from us.

"You're Patience Moran," she whispered. I saw Taylor's eyes flash silver and she smiled looking up at the skate guard.

"Taylor Golan actually," she said and the skate guard shook her head all a-flustered saying, "Of course. My daughter loves your movies. She always liked to skate what with me working here but after seeing Frozen Dreams she got really serious. She's graduating high school this fall and has already been scouted by several college figure skating teams across the country all because of you."

Taylor smiled in the timid fashion typical of the character she had played and said, "That is extremely flattering, ma'am, but I am only a muse. Your daughter is the poet." Ooh...nice one. The woman gabbled a few disjointed compliments and then took her phone out of her pocket.

"Can I get a pic with you? My daughter won't believe me otherwise." Taylor nodded and Sissy said, "I'll take it for you." The skate guard's eyes drifted to Sissy and she blinked several times as if stunned, then her face broke into a smile and she asked, "Are you famous too?" Sissy put on her most charming smile and said, "No, not yet." She took the phone from the woman and stepped back to get them in frame.

"Say 'Snow White on Ice,'" Sissy trilled and she snapped a couple pics. The woman took the phone from Sissy and looked over the pictures with a look of absolutely bliss on her face. She tucked her phone back into her pocket and proceeded to ask for an autograph addressed to her daughter Micaela. Taylor hastily obliged.

"Thank you so much," the skate guard said and she was about to move on down the line when Sissy said, "Wait. My brother and I have pre-ordered badges." The woman's eyes finally found me. It was interesting how being around people like Sissy and Taylor could render one entirely invisible.

"Oh," she said glancing at our badges and then at Taylor. "Just you two?"

"We have a friend who works here. He could only get us two badges," Sissy said slipping just the right amount of persuasive heat into her words. The skate guard looked at Sissy and I and then at Taylor. She seemed to debate for a moment before she reached into the bag at her hip and pulled out a badge.

"Here you go, Miss Golan. On me, to thank you for the photos and autograph," she said and Taylor gratefully accepted. The three of us then proceeded to bypass the growing line. I heard a few low mutters from the crowd.

"I thought Taylor Golan was a dude."

"No, no she's a chick, but taller and blonde. Haven't you seen that wicked fantasy movie with the deer lady?"

"Taylor Golan is Parker in Perfect Justice and definitely a guy. Really hot guy with a motorcycle."

"No way. My eleven-year-old daughter has made me watch Frozen Dreams a hundred times including all the bonus content. That is Taylor Golan. We should keep an eye out once we get inside. I heard she did all her own skating in the movie. Even the quads."

The air around Taylor crackled with electricityand she hummed cheerfully peeling the back off the bright orange sticker and clappingit onto her chest.