The Rink
Nate's POV
My breath puffed in little icy clouds in front of my face. I couldn't feel my nose, or ears, or really anything on my face.
My heart pounded, my lungs burning as I skidded across the ice. Faster - just keep it one skate ahead of the other guy.
And then - there was the puck. It was flying towards me at a frightening speed. I gave one final push, my body screaming at me not too, and caught the small, black disk on my stick. And then I was alone - all others behind me. Just me and the goalie and - and score. One moment the puck was in my possession, the next, it was in the net. I grinned.
Our coach blew the whistle, and I caught my breath as we all made our way to the side. He gave us one of those you-did-good pep talks, especially congratulating those who had scored. I grinned through my helmet before he let us go.
That had been one of our better scrimages - it left me tired and excited. Maybe I'd go unwind in the free skate rink...
At this time, the rink next to our hockey practice one was open for the public to skate in. I waddled through the food court area on my skates, hobbling down the stairs and taking off my helmet on a bench. I stuffed most of the extra padding and unneeded equiptment into my bag before entering the rink, just circling and skating at a more normal pace.
John, a friend of mine on my team, entered the rink a minute later. He had his helmet under his arm, his hair black hair flattened to the top of his head. His face was flushed my the cold and the exercise, but he grinned.
"Up for a race, Nate my boy?"
I looked around. "As enticing as that sounds, we can't in the free skate rink. We'll run somebody over."
"So?"
"True."
We set up and took off, swerving in between many people wobbling around on the ice. I grinned, the rush of cold air familiar on my face. I slammed into the wall, laughing as John got stuck behind a family with young kids. He came slamming into the wall a minute later.
"I would say I won that." I said, running a hand through my hair. John scowled.
"It was only cuz of those people."
"Hey, it was your idea to race in the public skate rink."
John rolled his eyes and laughed with me.
"Listen, bro, I should probably go. My mom insisted on picking me up." he rolled his eyes and groaned. I smirked.
"I'm driving myself - have fun in the mom mobile."
He made a face and skated away. I went back to circling the rink at a slow pace, just enjoying myself.
"Oh, hey Liz." I said. Wait - Liz?
She looked up at me. "Nate? What are you doing here?"
I rolled my eyes. "I happen to practice here, my dear. I'm not banned from the public skate rink."
She gave me a look before skating off. "Trin! Come on!" she called over her shoulder.
Somehow, I should have expected this.
Liz quickly circled back to me. "If I were you, I'd keep away from her. She doesn't know you're here yet, so you should probably keep it-"
"Nate?" Trinity said. She was clutching the wall of the rink, her face filled with terror and annoyance. I raised an eyebrow.
"Trinity..."
"What are you doing here?"
"Seriously?" I said, and groaned. "It's not illegal for me to come to public skate. I just finished a hockey scrimage, if you needed to know."
She widened her eyes. "You play hockey?"
"Yes, I play hockey."
She nodded. "Well I'll be on my way then." she pushed off the wall but - her feet were frozen, not moving at all. She slid a few inches before she got off balance and flailed around to grab the wall. Her eyes were wide, her hands shaking. I turned to ask Liz to help her but - Liz was gone.
I sighed. "Here, let me-"
"No, no! I've... I can do it."
I watched as she attempted again. Her feet slowly slid apart and she eventually slipped. I reached out to grab her arm and pulled her up. I grabbed her other arm and held her. She was shaking.
"You've never skated before, have you?"
"You could tell?" she asked sarcastically. One of her skates slipped, and her grip on my arms tightened.
"Hey, hey calm down. I've got you, you're not going to fall."
"I'm going to ignore your sappy comments."
"I'm going to help you not break a limb."
I skated backwards, pulling Trinity with me. We slowly left the wall, and made our way to the open middle of the rink.
"Ok - make a t shape with your feet." I said, demonstrating. She kept her hands glued to my arms and slowly placed her feet in the same shape as my own.
"Now - push and make a t again." I showed her. She attempted to slide her foot across the ice and pick up her other and slipped backwards. I grabbed her waist, holding her up.
"See? You're not going to fall. Now, t shape..."
I skated with my arm around her waist, letting her get used to the feel of the ice.
"You have to move your feet. If you just stay still, you'll fall." I told her. She hadn't spoken at all since we first saw each other - instead, she just did as I showed her and gripped my shoulder like if she were to let go, she would practically die. I tried to forget about how close we were, the fact that my hand was around her waist, the fact that she was trusting me to not let her fall. I smiled.
"You're getting better. Did you want to try-" I started to let go of her waist.
"No!" She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around my waist. She looked up and me and realized what she was doing.
"No, I'm not - I can't. Not yet."
I nodded and smirked, but decided this would be a bad time to be sarcastic. Trinity let go with one arm, the other latched around my shoulder. I skated forward, letting her copy my movements. Slowly, ever so slowly, I let go of her waist.
"Trinity?"
"Yes?"
"You're skating."
She looked around a moment and noticed I wasn't holding her. So she froze up.
"No! Keep going - you were just doing it!"
She looked at me. "I don't think I can -" her feet stopped moving again. I tried to calm her down as her eyes scanned for a wall.
"No - Trinity look at me. T... push." She lifted her foot and made a t shape. Her legs shook.
"Nate...."
"You're fine. Keep going. I won't let you fall."
She took a deep breath and took another slide. And another. I laughed.
"You, ma'am, are skating." I said. She grinned and pushed again.
"Want to try turning?"
"No!"
I laughed again. Trinity kept skating...
"How do I stop?" she asked.
"Whatever you do, do not freeze up again. Here..." I skated in front of her and took her arms, making her stop. Her face was flushed with the cold air, her hair pulled back into a ponytail of fluff. I grinned at her lopsidedly.
"See now? That wasn't to hard."
Trinity smiled at me for a moment before blushing and letting go of my arms. She instantly started to flail around, trying to stay still. I took her waist, putting my hands on either side of her so she was facing me.
"I - I should probably go." she said. "Thanks. For the, um, skating lesson."
She then lifted my hands from her waist and shakily skated away, grabbing the wall eventually and pulling herself out of the rink. She waddled to a bench and untied her skates, pulling out her phone and calling Liz, no doubt.
I tried to process what just happened.
What had just happened?