Far From Home

I laughed at that, taking her hand in mine before she could run off. “Don’t make me wait too long.”

“I won’t.”

With that, I let her go and wondered if the sweat on my palm was mine or hers. It was probably mine, though there was no mistaking the excitement in her voice. Her words were full of energy and went up an octave as she spoke.

I’d never seen her so excited before. She was thrilled when she got a new book and even more excited when I asked her what it was about. She was very passionate about the worlds she lived in and could talk about the lore and adventures for hours.

But now that she was making her way over to the ice, she was on an entirely different level.

Smiling, I almost forgot why we were here and what I’d promised to do before we headed back to the dorms.

I’m still supposed to skate.

She was simply going out there by herself to get it out of her system and then she’d be back.

My heart skipped and my stomach churned a little more.

You have to do this. If she enjoyed skating this much, I wanted to share it with her. Besides, it had to be easier than reading those epic novels, right?

Reading her doorstops made me feel dumb, and I was pretty sure as soon as I got out on the ice, I’d make a fool of myself. But we were already here, and there was no rule on how long I had to skate. I just had to try.

Leaving my skates where they were, I approached the wall, smiling at Sam when she waved in my direction. “Well, show me what you’ve got.”

She released a soft chuckle. “I’m a tad rusty,” she warned,

“but I’ll see what I can do.”

She skated off, doing laps around the rink as she slowly built up her momentum. I wasn’t expecting much, so when she leaped into the air, did a twist, then came down on one skate, my jaw nearly hit the floor. The hell? We’d joked—or at least I did—about her being a figure skater, and she had mentioned breaking an arm by doing something like that, but seeing her fly through the air, I couldn’t help wondering how deep her love of skating actually went.

I stood there for what felt like hours, the cool air from the ice barely noticeable compared to the heat on my skin. I wanted to join her, to skate with Sam and hold her hand in mine, but my feet were firmly planted on the ground.

When she finally came over to me again, I was leaning against the wall as I couldn’t trust my own two legs to hold me up.

“Dude, that was freaking amazing,” I said, unable to keep the excitement out of my voice.

“I effed up the double, but it is what it is,” she said with a shrug.

“The double?” I’d been watching her for so long, I wasn’t sure what each of her twists were called.

“Two rotations, basically. Like I said, I’m a bit rusty.”

“Didn’t look like it to me.”

She skated along the wall, then stepped out of the nearby gate before joining me again. “Then you don’t watch much figure skating.” When she finally sat down, she said, “It’s how I got started. I learned through observation. We couldn’t afford a teacher, so I learned what I could from what I saw on tv.

Most of the time, I keep to the usual jumps such as Loop, Axel, Flip, and Waltz, but I do like to shake it up sometimes.

So how do you feel now? Do you think you’re ready for your first time on the ice?”

I didn’t know what any of those terms meant, but as long as I didn’t have to do any of them, I’d be fine. “No tricks?”

“Oh god, no. That would take forever to learn in the little time we have before we go back to class. That said, I can teach you to skate. However, before I do, have you ever skated at all?”

“Roller skates, yes. I tried roller blades as well, but I couldn’t keep the skates straight.” Along with going out on the ice once. And that still wasn’t something I wanted to share with anyone. Not only was it scary as hell, but what happened after the fact was my own damned fault. Who the hell goes out on the ice when they’re drunk? Aside from me, anyway.

“You were probably wearing the wrong size,” Sam said, referring to my roller blades. “If they’re the right size and you’ve laced them up tight, you shouldn’t have a problem.

Some folks say they’re easier to learn on, actually.”