Six days until Christmas.
I laced up my skates and went to stand up, but wobbled slightly, holding onto the railings to support myself.
Today our daily Aspen activity was ice skating! I was super excited because I know tons of people who love ice skating and it does seem like a lot of fun. It's been on my bucket list ever since Jess's 8th birthday party.
We were in 3rd grade and it was at a roller rink. Before that I had never ice skated nor roller bladed so it was a completely new thing to me. But Jess and her family had done it forever which is why that was her birthday. I was pretty scared because of that since everyone seemed to know how to rollerblade already and I was so scared I wasn't even sure if I would go out onto the rink.
But when we were in class one day Ezra convinced me to go by saying he was going and he'd never skated before so we could hang out — this was the first party Ezra Thorton actually accepted Jess's invitation as well so she was naturally ecstatic. Yes, this was also the same time Jess had a crush on Ez, and yes she harassed him the entire party.
When it came party time Ezra stayed true to his word and helped me to roller skate without falling on my butt a million times. But he also lied — Ezra had skated before and was just naturally decent. I was fine once I had practiced a little bit, maybe around average?
Overall, I had a ton of fun and put ice skating on my bucket list as well because they were similar. I think I also just told myself that I loved roller skating but in reality I loved the party. It was the first birthday party I ever went to in California and everyone was super kind and nice.
Jess and I went roller skating a couple times after her party since I was convinced I loved it and it was fun. But definitely not how I remember it. Maybe it's just because Ezra wasn't there?
"Ready?" Caleb clamped to hands on my shoulders and pulled me away from the railing that I was holding on.
I pulled a tight grin. "Yeah. But if I can't even walk on the ground how am I supposed to skate on ice without falling on my ass?"
"First of all, watch the language." Cal pointed out, disappointedly, but the smirk tugging his lip and the amusement in his eyes paired with the little wink he sent me says otherwise.
Ace hit him upside the head for his obvious lack of scolding me for my language.
"Second of all," Caleb pouted, rubbing the back of his head while fixing Ace with a glare out of the corner of his eye. "You're going to be fine, skating is easy."
"You're good at it?" I questioned, skeptically, one of my eyebrows going up in confusion.
"I played a couple seasons of hockey back in my day." He responded, casually, fiddling with something on his jacket.
"Did you?" I turned to my brother. "Are you good at ice skating?"
This is not happening to me again!
I am not going to be the only one who isn't good at something or doesn't know how to do something. First the sledding and now this! Plus, I was the only one who hadn't gone roller skating before at Jess's party.
This is my luck. I groaned in my head.
Ace nodded his head to my first question. "M'okay." He responded to my second question.
The problem with Ace though is that he is literally amazing and has a very distorted view of reality. If he says that he's good at something he is insane, if he says he's okay at something he's good, and if he says he's terrible at something he's average.
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.
"Excuse me!" A voice called from behind me.
I turned around in terror to see that there was this super short woman standing right behind me. She was bundled to the fullest with a sour look on her face. She gestured to me and the railing and I widened my eyes in surprise. Does she really want me to get off the railing so she can use it?
"C'here, Jo." Ace called to me, grabbing my waist and tugging me right into his body so I didn't even have to think about the possibility of me falling because he already had me.
"Why would she do that?" I asked him, my face having annoyance written all over it.
Ace shrugged. "People."
"It's not all people that are bad, Acey." I grinned, blushing a little at his comment, and shaking my head.
My brother nodded to my statement, agreeing silently. "There's you."
"And Cal!" I argued for his best friend and my honorary brother, even though he was annoying.
"Sometimes." Ace wagered with a pointed look towards me.
It was a part of being in Caleb's life and being as close as my brother and I are. We know what we mean when we talk silently — especially if it's about the third addition to our little family.
I rolled my eyes, nonetheless, at the comment and pushed off Ace a little to attempt to get back to my spot on the railing before he tugged me right back in.
"I have to hold onto the railing." I said, confused on what he was doing.
"You don't." He assured me. "I got you." I must have looked at him with an uneasy expression on my face because he just grinned and pulled me a little along the ice. "Trust me."
Ace grabbed one of my hands like before and pushed away from me so we were side-by-side. I wobbled almost immediately, my hands pushed out to somehow fix my center of gravity and a look of sheer terror on my face.
When my body went forward I quickly threw my hands backward to stabilize myself but that had the opposite effect. Instead, my feet flew out from under me and my lands stayed back.
"Woah!" I yelped, squeaking my eyes tight.
My brother was quick in grabbing my elbow to pull me practically up off my feet and save me from my impending doom. I blinked away the surprise that came with such a fast array of moments.
"Calm." Ace muttered to me, looking at me with a pointed expression on his face.
Seems like Ace thinks this is my fault and not the stupid ice's fault!
I nodded my head, rapidly, gulping. All I had to do was stay calm and focus on the skating, not the falling part. Then I'd be golden!
"One foot forward." Ace told me and I slowly guided my left foot to be slightly in front of me. He nodded in approval. "Push with back." Ace continued his instruction, indicating for me to push with my back foot.
I nodded again, catching my lips in between my two rows of teeth as I normally did when I was concentrating. I put the front part of the skate with the little divots into the ice and pushed forward a little. I went a couple of inches before I brought my foot back down to the ice and was now stuck again.
Ace shook his head, telling me that I did it wrong. "With skate, not toe-pick."
"What's a toe pick?"
To demonstrate Ace picked up his skate and smashed the front down onto the ice, some ice and snow breaking free. I looked down at my own skate to see if I had the same thing before I realized that he was talking about the thing I pushed off with.
"Why, not?" I asked, curiously.
"You'll fall." Ace said simply, he grabbed my hand again, tugging me along. "C'mon."
And then I was thrown in the deep end.
My brother didn't allow me to test the waters any more before he was tugging me along. Ace was effortlessly skating besides me and I looked like a chicken put on ice skates as I limped along.
Taking my older brother's advice, I was now using the skate part of my ice skate instead of the toe pick to push myself along. Instead of pushing directly packard with the toe pick, you push to the side with the skate part. After a go around the ice a couple times I could successfully push off with my right foot three times, then glide for a couple of seconds on repeat.
But I know that was wrong. See everyone skating — especially Cal who looked like a pro out there, sometimes coming to stop and skate with Ace and I for a couple of seconds — I knew pushing with one leg just wasn't going to cut it. I literally looked like I was limping!
My fantasies of being a normal human being without a limp were short lived when I tried to push with my left foot once and almost face planted again. Ace kept a strong grasp on my hand and pulled me through so I wouldn't fall, not even skipping a beat. But that was the end of my brave streak.
"Here we go?" Ace muttered under his breath.
"Here we go, what?" I echoed, confused on what he was talking about. But then I saw it. Caleb was barreling towards us. "Cal!" At the last minute he turned right, spraying some ice up on us but not talking us to the ground. Wins and losses I guess.
"C'mon I know how to teach you how to skate." Caleb said, ignoring what he just did as he held a hand out for me to take.
"She's fine."
Caleb shook his head, making a ticking sound with his mouth as he grabbed my hand from Ace and then picked up the hand I had laying limp at my side. "I don't think so. You look like you have a dead leg, Jodee." Caleb told me.
Ace rolled his eyes, but gestured for Caleb to leave.
"Just follow my lead. Alright, Jo? Try to use both of your feet." Caleb told me and I nodded my head.
I was holding on to both of Cal's hands as he skated backwards with such ease, only looking behind his shoulder to make sure we didn't run into people. But there weren't many on the rink so we were good.
For a little bit I just allowed Caleb to pull me. It was so easy and we were going kinda fast so it was a ton of fun too. But then Caleb had to go and ruin it for me and say that that was cheating and I had to at least attempt to learn how to skate on my own.
So for the next twenty minutes, Cal and I skated around and I really got the hang of it!
"I think I got it, Cal!" I told him once he, me, and Ace reconvened. "I'm gonna try by myself." I declared with a grin on my face.
"Go for it, Ice-Skater." Caleb laughed, shaking his head.
I nodded too, turning around with a breath and pushing off with my right. Although I could now push with my right and my left leg, I was still a little more dominant on my right. I pushed with my right to get me going and then started to get into a rhythm of pushing right, left, right, left, and then gliding for a little bit. Even the turns seemed to be second nature to me.
Finally, I got lost in my rhythm and people watching I didn't really have to focus completely on my skating! And that was a ton of fun.
Pulling myself back into reality I heard a scream of a young kid and a couple shouts from some older adults before I finally turned. This kid wearing his entire red outfit with some sports team beanie was barreling towards me.
In a second we were both on the ground. The ice pricked my hips so that there was a clear ache, but my gloved hands prevented any pain from going into my palms.
The little boy was up in seconds, as if he had never just crashed into me and my brothers were over to me just as soon as he was gone.
"You good?"
"Okay?"
They both said at the same time.
Caleb came around and lifted me up from my armpits so I was now standing up, prushing some of the snow from my pants.
"That was awesome!" I laughed.