Best Friends Don't Kiss

“I thought you were good at ice-skating, Ace!” I shout toward Ava as I round the corner of the rink and come to a stop in front of her.

She grips the waist-high wall’s edge and glares at me. “I never said I was good at it. I just said it’s a tradition we do every year.”

Her dad, her mom, and her sisters and their significant others are here. And everyone appears to be completely competent in the skill of ice-skating.

Everyone besides Ava.

“She’s horrible!” Guy yells across the rink. “Never managed to get it down!”

“Mind your business, Dad!”

Guy just chuckles, and I take mercy on Ava, holding out both of my hands toward her.

“I got you.”

“No.” She shakes her head. “I’m fine right here. Promise. I’ll just stand here and watch you guys have fun.”

“Ace, don’t you trust me?” I question, and she rolls her eyes.

“It’s not about trust, Luke. It’s about the fact that I am incapable of doing anything else but holding on to the wall and slowly skating around the rink. That’s it. That’s all I can do without falling on my ass.”

“C’mon,” I say, voice gentle. “I promise I won’t let you fall.”

She snorts at that. “I don’t think you realize how big of a promise that actually is.”

“I do,” I retort and smile at her. “Just come on and let me help you get more comfortable on the ice. I swear, I’m a fantastic teacher.”

She quirks a brow.

But I don’t let up, keeping both of my hands stretched out toward her.

Eventually, on a sigh, she releases her death grip from the wall and puts her hands in mine. And slowly, very slowly, I ease us out into the middle of the rink, carefully weaving in and out of the other skaters.

“Oh no!” she whisper-yells as she falters a little, her left skate nearly slipping out from under her. But I steady her by quickly wrapping one arm around her waist and pulling her close to my chest.

“See? I got you, Ace.”

She stares up at me with those big blue eyes of hers, and for the briefest of moments, it feels like everything just…stops. The world. Time. The people skating around us.

And all I’m capable of doing is searching her eyes, my gaze occasionally flitting down to her lips.

I take in the way the cold air has tinted her cheeks pink and the way her lips look full and lush and the way the sun bounces off the ice and makes her eyes appear even bluer.

Could she be any more beautiful?

My gaze flits from her eyes to her lips again, but this time, it just stays there, fixated on that perfect mouth of hers. Fuck me. That mouth.

“You okay?”

“Huh?” I question, blinking several times to try to make sense of her words.

“Are you okay?”

Fuck. What in the hell was I just doing?

Was I going to kiss her? Right here? In the middle of the fucking skating rink?

Yeah, dude. That’s exactly what you were going to do.

I push out my thoughts and force a smile to my lips. “I’m good. Ready to keep going?”

“Only if you still promise not to let go.”

“That’s an easy promise to make, Ace.”

As we skate around the rink, Ava’s hands still intertwined with mine, I can’t shake the feeling that something has shifted…changed.

No, buddy. Nothing has changed. You’re just finally starting to realize how you really feel about her…December 23rd

Luke“Okay, what on earth did you get delivered to my parents’ house this morning?” Ava asks as I pull into a parking spot in front of Lakewood’s biggest indoor mall.

At a little before nine this morning, we snuck out of her parents’ house, promptly avoiding the planned Santa-themed breakfast on her dad’s itinerary, so we could finish up some last-minute Christmas shopping.

“There was a delivery this morning?” I cut the engine and shrug. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play coy with me.” With her small hand to my bicep, she gives me a shove. “I saw the package. The big package. I also saw you sign for it and ask my mom if you could store it in the basement.”

“You know what?” I question and tap my chin. “You’re right. A package did arrive this morning, and guess what?”

Her eyes light up, and she rubs her palms together in anticipation. “What?”

“You’ll get to find out what’s inside on Christmas morning.”

“Luke.” Her shoulders sag. “You are so annoying right now.” A deep sigh escapes her lungs, and she crosses her arms over her chest, acting like a petulant child. A really fucking cute child, but a child, nonetheless.

“And you are so impatient,” I tease her, mimicking her voice. “Anyway, do you want to sit in the car and bicker with me, or do you want to go inside that big giant mall and do some Christmas shopping?”