Requested on Tumblr
Word count: 2 372
Reader: female
You took a deep breath, looking up in the mirror. Was the makeup too much? It was only a bit of powder, mascara and lip gloss, so it surely was not too much. But then again, he had never seen you wearing makeup. Carefully you ran your fingers through your hair and turned away from your reflection, scanning the room. You were wearing jeans and a soft, dark blue sweater that made the cold weather outside seem a bit less terrible. You really wished, Ryan would have told you where he was planning on taking you. It had been weeks since you two had first met. You worked as a sound technician at a recording studio where the band he was playing in recorded for their new album. Ryan had started talking to you on the first day and you always discussed different sounds and he even asked you about your opinion on music and lyrics he had written. You had liked Ryan immediately. He was quiet but talked a lot if it was a topic he was interested in. And just today during lunch he had asked you whether you wanted to go out with him this evening. To be honest, you had not even thought about it twice, you had just told him you would love to, so he had decided to pick you up around six pm, which was in five minutes.
You checked your bag one last time. Money, handkerchiefs, lip balm, ID, house keys, everything was there. Impatiently you decided to already put on your shoes and your coat, so you were ready to go when Ryan would ring at the door.
When finally the doorbell rang, you jumped up from the bottom of the stairs where you had been sitting, and opened up. In front of you stood Ryan, dressed in a warm winter coat, smiling down on you nervously.
"You're ready," he asked.
You nodded and pulled the door closed behind you. Ryan led you to his car and opened the passenger door for you.
"Where are we going?" Ryan had refused to answer this question earlier when you had asked him in the studio, and again he shook his head.
"It's a surprise," he told you, while starting the motor.
"Oh come on," you whined, tucking at his coat sleeve playfully, "give me a hint at least."
For a moment he seemed to consider it, but then he smiled slyly. "No."
You pretended to pout for a moment before striking up a conversation with him. It was surprisingly easy to talk to Ryan; he always seemed to find the right words to express something and listened carefully when you were talking. The next time you concentrated on the area around you, you did not recognize the part of the city anymore.
"For real now, Ryan, where are we going?" It was strange, you always believed you knew every corner of the town, but you had never been here before.
"We're almost there," he held you up.
You sighed, realizing that he really was stubborn on that topic.
A few minutes later he pulled into an empty parking lot next to a great hall that looked like a stadium. The sign over the main entrance announced "Ice Skating Rink" in big, red, glowing letters, illuminating the place in front of the building.
"Are we gonna see an ice hockey game," you asked confused. You never really had seen ice hockey, but it would definitely be an experience.
"Way better," Ryan grinned, taking your hand and leading you to the entrance. His warm skin on your hand was a welcome difference to the stinging cold air of the beginning night.
Inside was an information desk at which an elderly lady with bright red locks was seated.
"Two tickets, please," he told the lady, who just nodded and handed him two small pieces of paper while he paid.
Still holding your hand, he led you down a corridor to a window, where a man was waiting. Behind him, in long shelves, stood hundreds of pairs of skates. Finally you understood what Ryan was up to.
"Oh no," you whispered, almost wanting to run away.
"What's wrong," Ryan asked concerned. "Don't you like ice skating?"
"I... I don't know," you admitted. Fact was you had never tried it before and now trying it in front of the guy, who you were falling for, for the first time seemed like a terrible idea.
"Well," Ryan hesitated. He had hoped you would like it, something different from the standard dinner or movie date. "Maybe we can try it out and if you don't like it, we'll find something else to do?"
You just nodded shyly, feeling the eyes of the man behind he now opened window on you.
Both Ryan and you told him your shoe sizes and he handed you fitting skates. Together you walked to the changing room, where Ryan locked your bag and shoes in one of the many lockers. The whole time you were worrying how to get out of this situation. You really, really liked Ryan, but this date was not what you had in mind. It already started to get difficult when you tried to put on the skates. For some reason you were too clumsy to get in properly.
"Ryan," you winced, looking down on your two halfway put on skates, "I think I'm stuck."
Ryan knelt down in front of you. He started to fumble around on your skates and a few moments later he looked up to you.
"Now try to stand up and heavily stump with each foot. That should work." He stood up to help you keep balance while you tried slipping into the skates. To your great surprise it actually worked.
"Thanks, Ryan," you mumbled embarrassed. "Oh, I can do that myself!"
He had knelt back down to tie your laces.
"I insist," he smiled and you felt like the biggest fool in the whole world.
After that he helped you stand up and keep your balance while you walked down another corridor towards the rink. Walking on skates was really easier than you had thought.
The hall was empty apart from the two of you. Gentle music was playing in the background and disco lights danced over the ice.
Ryan walked straight to the door, through which the ice was accessible. You watched him step on the shiny white surface, where he skated a few small rounds before he turned to you.
"Come on, (y/n), the ice is newly done, it's really smooth, no bumps!" Excitedly he extended his hands for you, but you just stood at the door, watching him move on the ice.
Once he realized that you were not gonna step over the door step by yourself he skated over to you, slightly bumping into the barricade. He stared at you for a moment, his eyes sad as they wandered over your face. Just a minute ago he had been so excited and now this excitement was replaced with disappointment. It broke your heart, seeing him like this.
"I'm sorry, I thought, maybe it was something you'd like to do. Not many adults go ice skating anymore, even though they loved it as kids, so I thought it was a cute idea. Especially because the rink is normally empty on weekdays. But if you want to, we can do something else," he stopped and thought for a moment, "or I can bring you back home if you want."
"No," you answered, slightly louder than you had intended to. You really had to admit his choice for the date was pretty good, and if you were not so afraid of making a fool of yourself, you'd probably enjoy yourself a lot now. "I... I think this is a really good idea," you awkwardly waved around the room, "I just... I've never been ice skating before." There it was, you said it.
Ryan's eyes grew wide. "Really? Then it's about time you learn it!" His sadness was washed away and he seemed slightly more confident again.
"What if I fall," you worried.
"I got you, I'm not gonna let go. Promise." He stretched out both hands to you. Hesitantly you took them and stepped on the white surface. It was really slippery and you already started to regret your decision. But then again, you were holding Ryan's hands and they were soft and warm, making you feel fuzzy inside.
"Okay, now you need to move. Don't move your feet forward, put them in a slight angle, the toes pointing outwards a bit," he started to direct you, showing what he meant, still holding your hands tightly. "Right, just like that. And now you shift your weight to one side, pushing your other foot away from you sideways."
It took you a moment to comprehend what he was saying, but soon enough you understood and tried it out, gliding forward a bit, which almost made you lose your balance.
"Great, that's it!" Ryan's hand helped you to stabilize again. "Now go a bit into the knees and lean forward slightly, that'll help you keep the balance. And most importantly: your weight must never be in front of behind your feet, always between them, otherwise you'll fall. Now try again."
Shyly you looked up at him. It seemed like an awful lot to remember. Encouragingly Ryan smiled at you so you tried again, pushing yourself off the ice, gliding forwards. Once more you wobbled a bit but after a few more steps, you got used to it. Ryan was skating backwards so he still could help you keep your balance but after a few more minutes he carefully let go of you.
"You're doing really well," he cheered, now skating next to you. You would have looked over at him to see the smile that you heard in his voice, but you were too concentrated on not falling. You felt how he took your hand in his again, giving you a bit more stability.
No matter how scared you had been of ice skating, you started to really enjoy it. The soft music in the background gave you a rhythm to skate to and Ryan's thumb gently massaged circles in the back of your hand which made butterflies erupt in your stomach every other minute.
Time passed far too quickly and soon an announcement was made that the rink would close soon.
"I think it's really late, we should get going," Ryan mumbled to you, a blush creeping into his cheeks for the first time this evening.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. There is just one tiny problem. How do I stop?" You looked over at Ryan who laughed quietly.
"That's really easy. You just don't make steps anymore but keep gliding until you get close to a wall and then you bump into the wall," he grinned.
"Really, that doesn't sound right," you argued.
"Well, it's the easiest way. I don't know how to stop properly either," he admitted.
You laughed at his confession and concentrated back on skating, trying to keep gliding until you reached one of the barricades close to the door, you could bump into. You clung to the material so you did not slip away and turned around to see what Ryan was doing. Just when you had turned around, you realized he was about to bump into you. Unable to avoid him, you closed your eyes, waiting for the impact, but it never came. When you opened your eyes again, Ryan stood right in front of you, his hands gripping the barricade to both of your sides, trapping you between him and the hard plastic.
Immediately your heart speed up and your breathing quickened. He was so close, your chests were almost touching. As if deep in thoughts he stared down on you, his brown eyes shining in the dancing lights of the ice rink. Suddenly he blinked a few times and looked at you as if seeing you for the first time in his life.
Before you could comprehend what was happening, Ryan lent forward and pressed his lips against yours. They were hot from moving around the whole time, while yours were cold. He tasted sweet and a bit like raspberries. You could feel his breath fanning over your skin and it sent a shiver down your spine when he pulled himself closer to you, pressing your back against the barricade.
When he separated from the kiss your heart was beating as fast as possible and you knew you were blushing terribly. A look at Ryan made you feel better though; he was blushing as well.
"I think we really need to go," he whispered, glancing at you lovingly.
Wordlessly you nodded and skated the last meters over to the door.
~*~
About half an hour later, Ryan parked in front of your house again to drop you off.
Nervously he fumbled around with one of his sleeves which made you hesitate to get out of the car.
"Everything alright," you asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I was just wondering..." he looked over at you as if trying to read your mind. "I had a really great time today and I was wondering if maybe you'd like to repeat this some time?"
A smile spread across your face at his words. "I'd really love that," you told him, trying not to sound too excited.
Relived he smiled back at you. "Have a good night, (y/n). See you tomorrow."
"Good night," you waved and got out of the car, slamming the door closed and turned to the house. It looked oddly silent and lonely, after the amazing hours you had spent with Ryan at the ice rink.
An idea shot through your head and you turned back around to the car, where Ryan was sitting, waiting for you to get inside the house.
When you opened the door to the car again he looked at you quizzically. "Have you forgotten something?"
"No, I actually just wanted to ask if you'd like to come inside for a cup of hot chocolate," you told him, amazed by your own boldness.
"That sounds fantastic," he smiled.