“Jake and Tyler really hate me, eh?” Chad asked once we pulled out of my driveway for our second date. Jake and Tyler had given him a less than warm welcome and had turned even frostier when they heard we were going out.
“Just a tad,” I shrugged. “They’re just watching out for me. Tyler’s my brother after all, it’s his job to be overprotective and hate my boyfriends.”
“He didn’t hate Jake,” Chad pointed out, turning the car around towards the restaurant we were headed to for dinner.
“Yeah, but they were best friends for years, we all were. But even then he still punched Jake in the face once when he thought we had sex,” I chuckled at the memory.
“Okay then, note to self; keep away from Tyler,” he shot me a wide eyed look.
“And Jake. Best not to do anything with him around either or else you’ll end up like Liam,” I shuddered, remembering him touching me and my nightmare.
“True. But do they just hate me because I’m dating you or because they just don’t like me?” he frowned, fingers drumming along the steering wheel.
“Relax, would you? You’ll grow on them…eventually,” I laughed. We stopped at a red light and I kissed his cheek, “I don’t need their permission to date someone anyways.”
“Still. I rather not step on any toes,” he pursed his lips, “Jo and Leena don’t hate me, do they?”
“Jo?” I snorted, “She worships the ground you walk on. Leena likes you well enough.”
“Hmmm,” he moved forward as the light switched to green.
“Hmmm?” I questioned, “What are you planning?”
“Well…maybe if we all went out, your friends, Jake, Tyler and us they'd see I’m not a bad guy?”
“This really bothers you, doesn’t it?” I arched an eyebrow, slightly amused that the cocky Chad is peeved that a few people didn’t like him.
“No, but I was just thinking that it’d be easier if they didn’t hate my guts,” he blushed a bit.
“You’re a dork, but I guess that doesn’t sound too bad,” I grinned, “How about skating? The ring just opened up and they have free skating on Saturdays. And I’ve been dying to go. I haven’t been in forever."
“I thought you had dance?” he raised an eyebrow.
“Anthony won’t mind if I miss one day.”
“So skating it is,” he confirmed.
********
“Ivy…do you even know how to skate?” Tyler asked me as we all sat down on benches, tying up our rented skates.
“Of course I do. I just need to practice."
“Oh I wish I brought my camera,” Jo laughed.
I whipped her arm with my glove, “Shut up, Jo or I’ll push you.”
“Ha! Push me or not I will not fall. I’m the skating master,” she smirked at me, adjusting her long blonde ponytail.
“Yeah, yeah we’ll see about that. I played hockey for five years straight,” Chad shot her a victorious look.
“I’ve been a figure skater since I was five,” she countered.
“Oh great, competition. I thought this was supposed to be fun skating,” Leena groaned.
“Hey, I’m just trying to make sure Chad keeps his ego in check. He clearly doesn’t realize his skating will only be second rate,” Jo sniffed, doing the final adjustments on her skates before she stood up. “Who else is ready?”
Everyone chorused a ‘yes’ so we all stood up and walked awkwardly down the short hall to the rink.
Jo was in the lead with Chad right behind her, both of them walking with skates as if they’d been walking like that all their life. I, on the other hand had to hold the walls or else I’d fall. Even then I almost hit the ground a few times. Tyler had to catch me.
By the time I got ont the ice I was severely regretting my suggestion. Sure I could skate…just not do well. I skated so slow that even little kids were passing me. Jo and Chad were doing speedy laps, racing each other to see who was better. Tyler was skating calmly with Leena and Jake was skating by me, laughing as I slipped, slid and squeaked every time I almost fell.
“Would you be useful and stop laughing?” I growled, arms out wide to hold my balance, legs moving in short and choppy movements.
“But this is so much more fun,” he said, skating backwards in front of me easily.
I moved my feet faster, trying to catch up and grab him, but he easily skated out of reach, now going backwards in a lazy zigzagged line.
“Show off,” I muttered, still trying to catch him as one foot hit a nick in the ice and my whole body jolted, my other leg flying out from underneath me as I fell and hit the ice flat on my back.
There was a stunned silence before Jake burst out laughing. I moaned in pain, deciding just to lie there. Nothing else embarrassing could happen when I was already down for the count.
“Ivy…you should have seen your face…” he sputtered in between laughs, “Oh God!”
“Jake,” I groaned, “You’re so mean.”
“Sorry,” he said but continued laughing. When he was finally done I was sitting up and glaring at him. I didn’t even bother trying to stand up; I’d just fall down again.
“Are you done?” I asked icily.
“Maybe,” he grinned at me, stopping in front of me with a hand out. I took it and with a sharp tug that made me feel like he almost yanked my arm out of its socket, he pulled me to my feet. I slipped again, my legs sliding backwards while my face flew forward. He caught me and straightened me so I was standing properly.
“Want me to help you out?” he asked, still grinning like an idiot.
“Yes. And wipe that grin off your face,” I grumbled, dusting my back off. He skated around me and helped to wipe off all the white stuff off my back before he slapped my ass. It surprised me so much I nearly fell again, which set him off laughing again.
“Don’t touch my ass!” I cried, hands over my ass.
“Pfft, I’ve touched it before and I can certainly touch it whenever I want too,” he snorted, skating to my front before he took my hands.
I saw a father and his young son skate past, the father glaring at us while the son just grinned.
Ooh, awkward. Pedo kid.
“Look at me Ivy or you’re going to fall again,” Jake sang at me, tugging on my hands to get my attention.
I made a face at him. He started skating backwards and I did the awkward, choppy foot movement to skate forward, looking at my feet.
“Remember when you were teaching me how to dance?” He asked suddenly.
“Yeah, what about it?” I frowned, still watching my feet.
“Eyes up,” he chuckled.
“Oh yeah,” I smiled sheepishly, looking at his green eyes.
“Next thing; relax. Stop being so scared to fall. If you keep skating like this then you will keep falling. Take longer, smoother ‘steps’,” he advised. “Trust me. You won’t fall. And if you almost do I’ll catch you.”
His words made me feel a bit better, and I did trust him to catch me. So I tried…and nearly went sprawling again, but true to his word he caught me.
He came around to skate beside me, “Watch my feet,” he told me, holding my hand as we went skating around. I watched his feet and tried to copy his graceful movements, after a while I started getting the hang of it.
“Hey! This is fun,” I announced, grinning as we skated easily around the rink, hand in hand.
“Want to go faster?” he asked, grinning as he sped up.
I sped up as well, trying to keep up even though I felt slightly off balance.
“Hey Ivy! You’re skating!” Tyler said as he passed by with Leena. “It’s a miracle!”
“Shut up Tyler,” I rolled my eyes, searching the rink for Jo and Chad. They were still skating like mad; Jo doing tricks and spins while Chad did a bunch of weird things I didn't even know how to describe.
“You know…you’d think that Chad would be helping you skate,” Jake frowned at Chad and Jo.
I shrugged, “Doesn’t matter to me. I’m having fun.”
“Don’t you want that romantic movie moment when you go skating, the guy teaches you how to skate and then you fall in love and kiss all passionately and live happily ever after?” Tyler asked, skating backwards to shoot me a look.
“Um…no?” I gave him a weird look now, “You’ve been watching too many movies, Tyler. Not every girl wants the perfect movie romance.” Not to mention not every girl wants romance stuff brought up while they were with their ex-boyfriend and current boyfriend, while also holding their ex’s hand.
“Yeah sure,” he rolled his eyes, “I believe that.”
“It’s true,” Leena added, “Sure having a ‘perfect’ relationship is nice, but all couples and stuff have fights. And they don’t always have to be together. The relationship doesn’t always have to work out. They could end up with the person everyone least expected them too.”
Tyler pouted, “Come on, Leena. You couldn’t have backed me up this one time?”
“Why would I?” she asked in disbelief.
“Well…you’re my friend. Friends have friend’s backs,” he frowned at her.
“I was her friend first,” she pointed at me.
“She has a point, Tyler. Chicks before dicks.” I grinned.
“Are you seriously calling me a dick?” Tyler asked doubtfully, “Great sister you are.”
“I know I’m just awesome,” I smirked.
“And I thought Chad was arrogant,” Jake chuckled, pushing me lightly with his shoulder, his hand still in mine.
“He’s not that bad,” I said defensively.
“Maybe not, but he’s not exactly being the best boyfriend, is he?” Jake countered.
I tugged on a black curl for a second, “How is he a bad boyfriend?”
“With Liam he didn’t seem to notice how freaked you were, he did nothing to help. The guy was clueless. Instead of helping you skate and helping you up when you fell he’s over there showing off. Need I go on?” Jake grimaced, running his fingers through his brown hair.
“Okay the Liam thing is different, I didn’t tell him about it,” I protested.
“Maybe not, but he should have realized how uncomfortable you were.”
“And he’s not showing off, he’s just hanging with Jo. There’s no crime for that,” I ignored his comment, since well…it was kind of true.
“I agree. He’s not exactly boyfriend material,” Tyler folded his arms over his chest, “And I don’t like the guy. He just doesn’t seem your type.”
“Not my type? How would you know what my type is?” I sputtered.
“I don’t know, but it’s definitely not him,” he scowled, “I just don’t like him.”
“Well, I don’t need your permission nor do I care about your opinion,” I glared at him, finally realizing that we weren’t skating anymore. Chad and Jo sped past before they slid to a halt, kicking up a spray of white before they skated back to our group.
They were both panting hard but grinning from ear to ear, which soon faded when they looked around at our little group.
“Something wrong?” Chad asked, frowning as he looked around the group. He shot me a questioning look until his eyes slid down to my hand in Jake’s. He looked pissed.
“Nope, nothing,” I said breezily.
“You sure? You guys all look so gloomy,” Jolene looked confused as she fixed her hair and looked at Tyler, “Why do you look so pissed off?”
“I’m not pissed off,” he said curtly before he skated off.
“Tyler,” I sighed, but he kept on as if he hadn't heard.
“I’ll talk to him,” Leena said, shooting me a sympathetic smile before skating after him, brown hair waving behind her.
“Okay then…what’s up with him?” Jo didn’t look convinced when he said ‘I’m not pissed’ and frankly, who would?
“It’s nothing,” I shook my head, “Let’s just forget about it. He’ll come around eventually.”
“Okay...” she said uncertainly.
“Ivy? Can I talk to you for a second?” Chad asked and I could tell he was still annoyed. He could go suck an egg.
“Fine." I gave Jake a hug, to which he seemed completely surprised about, before I followed Chad further away at a leisurely pace.
We skated in silence for a moment, me just patiently waiting for him to explode until finally he did.
“Do you still have feelings for him?” he blurted.
I tossed him a venomous look. Why did he have to ask that question?
“Because I was holding his hand? Because I hugged him? Chad come on, you can’t be so insecure that you think I’m going to get back with him. Feelings or not, he cheated. We’ve only just gotten back on good terms. I’m not going to take the chance to ruin that again,” I replied, skillfully dodging the question. Truth was I did still like Jake. A lot more than I should considering what happened. But could you really blame me? I’d known him all my life. I couldn't just wipe away all feelings for him in a split second.
“Well you seemed kind of close considering you’re not dating him anymore,” he grumbled, hands in his pockets.
“So what? I can’t be friendly to a guy I’ve known forever? He’s my best friend, Chad. If you don’t like it then you can either deal or leave. I’m not putting my friends second to a boyfriend. Friends will always be there for me while I know from experience boys can just pick up and leave whenever,” I skated ahead, annoyed with Chad. He seriously needed to chill. I could hug my friends no matter their gender and not have it mean that I want to hook up with them. Sheesh. Besides, he was the one who took off with Jo and left me alone with Jake. Did he see me whining and complaining about being forgotten? No. Was I jealous? No.
“I’m sorry Ivy, but can you really blame me for worrying? Like you said, you’ve known him forever. You even dated, but you’re still friends. Of course, I’m gonna be a bit concerned with the fact that maybe you still like him; most people don’t stay friends with ex’s, and certainly not one’s who cheated on them,” he pointed out as he skated fast to catch up.
“Yeah well friendship is more important than that,” I said curtly. It stung to have brought up the cheating thing, but he did have a point. But so did I. I cared far too much about my friendship with Jake to just cut him out completely for that. Sure it hurt like hell but I could deal.
“Okay I get it. Sorry for bringing it up,” he caught my hand, pulling me to a stop. “Look I’m just not good at the whole relationship commitment thing.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” I rolled my eyes before I pulled my hand away, skating off again.
“Are you mad at me?” he caught up again, looking troubled as he shook his blonde hair out of his eyes.
“Not mad, just slightly annoyed. Seriously, I have a strict rule about ex’s…I don’t hook back up with them. So chill out already,” I stuffed my hands into my pocket, shooting him a look.
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly, wrapping an arm around my waist before kissing my cheek.
“Yeah, what ever. If you’re insecure you’ve got no reason so stop bringing it up, got it?” I said firmly, eyebrows raised.
“Yes, yes got it,” he looped his arm through mine and grinned, “So want to learn a trick?”
********
“Dude, my legs hurt,” I groaned, flopping down onto the couch later that night.
“Sucker,” Tyler grinned, poking my side until I swatted his hand away.
“Buzz off,” I mumbled.
“Yeah Tyler, leave the poor slob alone,” Jake fell onto the couch next to me, “You know you can’t let her work too hard. She doesn’t have the physical ability.”
“Bite me. I so have the physical ability, just pardon me for not being a skater,” I punched his stomach.
“Dinner!” Mom yelled.
“Ooh!” Tyler jumped up, “I’m starving!” he exclaimed before he sprinted to the kitchen.
Jake stood up and watched me as I struggled to get off the couch.
“Good God you’re so out of shape for someone who dances,” he held a hand out and I took it.
“I’m also tired, so stop making fun of me,” I pouted as he pulled me up to my feet. He let go of my hand and I started sluggishly making my way to the kitchen when he hit my ass. That certainly woke me up and I jumped forward about ten feet in surprise.
I whirled around, “What did I say about my ass?”
“I don’t know,” he shrugged, “But I’m still going to slap it. And if you tell me not too I’ll be tempted to do it more often.”
I glared at him, put my hands over my butt and walked towards the kitchen.
“Ivy?”
“Yeah?” I asked, still walking. I felt him come up behind me, his arms going around me. I blinked in surprise. “Something wrong?”
He sighed, leaning his head on the top of my shoulder so we were cheek to cheek. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just…is Chad mad at you?”
“He was, but he can shove it."
He let out a quiet chuckle, “Was it because of me?”
I bit my lip, “Yeah.”
He nodded slowly, cheek brushing mine. I blushed and I was sure he felt the heat in my cheek.
Jake turned me around so we were face to face, holding me tightly. “I’m sorry,” he said softly, green eyes staring into mine.
“What for?” I asked, puzzled.
“For the Shannon thing. I still feel so bad about that,” he pushed my hair behind my ear.
I winced, pulling away a little. “Oh.” I really didn't want to hear about Shannon or what happened anymore.
“Ivy…are you still mad at me for what happened?” he tightened his grip, not wanting to let me go.
“I…” I looked down, to the side, at the walls, at the couch, anywhere but him. “I’m not mad."
“But you still hate me for it,” he said, deadpan.
“I don’t hate you either,” I looked sharply up at his face. Hate Jake? Impossible. “You know how much I love you, Jake. You’re my best friend. You mean a lot to me. I could never hate you. It’d be the things you do that I would hate.”
“IVY! GET YOUR BUTT TO THE TABLE ALREADY!” Mom shouted.
“We should go,” Jake said, forcing a smile.
“Are you okay?” I asked, frowning. I refused to budge from this spot until he looked himself again.
“I’m fine,” he smiled and it looked a little more real this time.
I sighed, slinging my arms around his shoulders in a tight hug before I kissed his cheek and took his hand. He looked a little happier now, so I decided that was good enough and we headed to the table, hand in hand.
Tyler looked at our hands for a long moment before looking at me, nodding his approval with a small smile.
---------------
Hey y'all!!! I'm updating right now cause I know tomorrow starts my working weekend and I'm always pretty frazzled during that time so my updating/editing usually gets screwed over royally. Plus I'm super dance-y and pumped right now cause I'm listening to Bang Bang on repeat by Jessie J, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande. Its so good and perfect for dancing and singing I need to make a CD asap for when I drive to work/school so I can rock out. AAAAAH SCHOOL STARTS NEXT WEDNESDAY WHY IS IT SO FAR AWAY (technically it starts the 19th/Tuesday but now I dont have school Tuesday so I start Wednesday). I'm so EXCITED BECAUSE I GET TO WEAR CUTE CLOTHES AND MEET NEW PEOPLE AND DO ART AND LEARN STUFF AND SEE THIS COOL TEACHER AGAIN AND im kind of even excited about the fact that I *may* be seeing my ex??? last time I talked to him he was like 'yeah im coming back to school in the fall in the languages program' but Idk if he is actually going to follow through on it or not. I know he applied and got accepted, but idk if he's going to do it. I kind of hope he does. We had a horrible relationship, but he was a good friend. I could use more friends considering I have like...one.
Plus its my sisters bday this weekend and yay I get to give her the gift and show her the cake and yay I'm super excited (albeit I'm mad bc I'm missing her legit bday bc of work bc NO ONE WANTED TO TRADE SHIFTS WITH ME which is annoying ugh but its okay we're just gonna celebrate the day later instead). I JUST WANNA GO DO THINGS IM SO TIRED OF BEING ON VACATION (just dont make me work bc bleh) NAD I WANNA SEE PEOPLE AND SOCIALIZE YAY
In writing news tho, I'm a bit happier with how editing for W&V is coming, so hopefully I'll get that up and going soon (and finish S2L soon too). I finished editing BLWL so now I just gotta write a message if I feel like it (I always do bc I'm really a gigantic attention hog and I trick myself into thinking people care and read these rants even though you probs dont but wtv) and hit publish! But oh God W&V and its sequel has such a long way to go before they're ready. I just sit there and cringe because I keep thinking how long its going to take to fix the dumb crap I wrote. Ick. Anyways.
Much love and good vibes,
xxLaura