【A L V I N】
"Your skates fit perfectly, right?" Lucien questioned, tightening the laces of his own. "Check once again, we don't want you cracking your skull open."
"That doesn't make me nervous or scared at all, thank you," I let out sarcastically whilst checking my shoes one last time. "They're perfect."
"Good, I spent a while searching for those because they were the smallest pair I had," he confessed.
We did a few warm-up exercises before he spoke up again, "Now, can you get onto the rink by yourself or do you want to hold my hand?"
"I think I can do it myself, let me try," I said before attempting to make my way onto the rink. So far, so good. I didn't slip, I didn't trip, and most importantly; I didn't crack my skull open.
"You did better than I was expecting, I thought this would be the last time I'd ever hear from you," he chuckled. "But you've still got a lot to learn, because you're a beginner you should probably try holding onto the edges to get control over your balance."
I watched in awe as he proceeded to skate around in small circles, making it look so effortless yet graceful at the same time. Then, I snapped out of my trance and held onto the edge like I'd been instructed to and thanked God for not receiving any judgemental stares from the other skaters - there were only around four or five of them, but that was enough to make me feel insecure as fuck.
"I'm right behind you, try gliding now," he instructed. "Just walk forward and glide onto the ice, then you can lift your feet a little and try."
I attempted to do just that and let out a triumphant grin when I managed to do it without making a fool out of myself, "I think I'm getting the hang of it."
"Good, now try stroking. It's the same as gliding but you need to sustain the motion for a little longer," he spoke before demonstrating. "Like this, see?"
"You make it look so easy," I sighed before following his lead. "Woah, I think I've got this in the bag."
"Good, now let go of the edges and try."
"Fuck," I cursed under my breath before hesitantly letting go of the edges. I did stumble around clumsily for a whilst flailing my arms around like a madman - but when I finally managed to get a hold of my balance, I repeated the actions I'd been taught.
Again, so far, so good. Only, there was one problem. I didn't know how to stop.
"Lucien, how do I stop?" I questioned nervously.
"Just tilt one of your feet to the side a little, the blade will help you stop," he advised.
I did just that and let out a sigh of relief, "Hey. This is actually pretty e-"
And then what I was dreading happened. I fell. I fell and I hurt my ass so bad I was pretty sure it would be bruised the next morning. That's not even the worst part. After having embarrassed myself by falling onto the ice, I went sliding away in circles whilst still sitting down, and Lucien simply watched in amusement.
"Wow," I said to myself after having come to a complete stop. "What an adventure."
He made his way over to me and I could tell he was holding back a laugh, and he proceeded to extend his arm out towards me, "I think you should take my hand."
I let out a laugh to ease how embarrassed I was feeling before taking his hand and standing back up, "My ass hurts."
"Oh?"
"Not in that way perv," I insisted with a snort.
"I didn't say anything so you're the perv here," he fired back with a victorious grin. He didn't give me a chance to answer and proceeded to take a hold of my other hand as well - now we were facing each other.
"Won't you fall if you skate backwards?" I questioned curiously.
"No, I've gotten enough practice," he said before gliding backwards onto the ice at a slow and calm pace.
"Did the other skaters leave already?" I questioned, looking around curiously.
"They left a few seconds before you fell and broke your ass," he informed with a chuckle. "Hey, lean forward a little, if you lean backwards like that you might end up falling and taking me down with you."
"My bad," I responded apologetically before leaning forward just a little.
"Don't look down either," he ordered before letting go of my hands and placing them onto my hips instead. "Easy, easy."
I let out a sigh and placed my hands onto his shoulders instinctively before looking back over at him and nearly jumping six feet into the air when I noticed how close we were, however he didn't seem to be the least bit bothered by it.
"That's right, look at me. Don't look down," he praised, his gaze threatening yet calming at the same time.
If the amount of tension generated in the rink at that moment was converted into thermal energy, the heat obtained from that would be enough to light the entire world on fire.
"What happens when I look down?" I questioned out of curiosity, my voice barely above a whisper.
Fuck, why were his eyes so dreamy?
"I think you know," he said with a teasing grin.
And then I did what I shouldn't have.
I looked down.
And then I fell.