“Well, that would’ve hurt my mom,” I joke, but I can see I’m losing them, so I set my eyes on Malcolm. “Give me ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes for what?” he grumbles.
“In ten minutes, you’ll be able to skate around the rink. Maybe nothing fancy, but you’ll be able to skate.”
He waves me off. “Whatever.”
“Are you afraid?” I pin him with a stare.
Dru’s eyes widen. But I know that a kid who acts like Malcolm will back down when someone says he might be afraid.
“No. I just think this whole thing is stupid,” Malcolm says.
“Fair enough. Feel free to sit out. How about you, Dru? Ten minutes?”
Dru looks at his friend and bites his lip. “Nah, man, I’m here.” He sits down next to Malcolm.
“I’m game!” Lark raises her hand.
“What the hell?” Dru says.
Lark looks at Dru and Dru eyes Malcolm. “If he wants to sit there and act tough, I don’t care, but we’re here and will probably never have the chance to learn from someone like him again.” She comes out to the ice, holding on to the side.
“Okay, Lark. Hold my hands.”
She puts hers in mine. She wobbles a bit, but she doesn’t let go, instead getting a look of determination on her face.
“You skate forward, I skate backward, and I’ll help you balance.” I start skating and she follows me. “One foot and then the other.” At first, she’s trying to walk. “Glide. Push off with one foot.”
Ten minutes later, we’re all watching Lark skate on her own. Sure, she loses her balance once in a while and looks like she might fall backward, but she’s doing it and I’m damn proud of her.
“Anyone else?” Paisley asks.
“Me.” Marin comes out with me and picks it up quicker than her friend did. Five minutes later, she joins Lark, the two of them skating side by side.
After that, most of the kids come out and ask to learn. Our time is about to end and only Dru and Malcolm are still on the bench, pretending they’re bored. I decide to give it another shot, leaving Paisley and Jana to manage the group on the ice.
“When I was little, I was afraid to skate. Sure, I was a lot younger than you, but I’d go on the weekends and watch my dad skate in a men’s league. Some of the guys would leave with blood gushing out of their mouths and broken noses. The game was much rougher then than how it’s played now. Maybe that’s because it was Russia.” I shrug. “But my friend Armen told me he wouldn’t do it if I didn’t do it. He picked it up immediately, while I didn’t. I just couldn’t get the hang of gliding and would always end up face-first on the ice or in a snow pile because I couldn’t stop.”
“And?” Malcolm asks with an attitude and bravado only a kid his age can have without getting beat up.
“And one day he took me to a pond and taught me everything he knew without anyone watching.”
“So?” Malcolm says.
“So I’m willing to do that for you.”
“Who said we want to?” Dru asks.
“I’m not an idiot. We both know you guys want to get out there, but you’re saving face. I’m only offering this once. Next time you guys are here, I’ll make sure it’s just you two and me on the ice for a bit. None of your friends here to see anything. What do you say?”
I can’t tell if they’re thinking it over. Dru looks at Malcolm. It’s clear he’s going to be the decision-maker on this.
“Last chance…” I cross my arms.
Malcolm nods and shrugs. “Okay.”
“And you?” I ask Dru.
He nods and smiles widely. “Hell yeah.”
“Okay then. But there’s no giving up, got it? When you leave here, you’ll know how to skate.”
They both agree, then the bus driver and chaperone come in to get the kids. We say goodbye, and after they’re gone, Jana says she’s going to change. I want to say she should’ve done that a long time ago, but I’m smart enough to keep my mouth shut.
Paisley and I sit beside each other on the bench. She bends over and struggles to untie her skates. “I guess I owe you a thank you for showing up anyway.”
I grab her leg and put it over my lap, then work the laces loose. “You just had to let me be a part of it in the first place.”
I slowly slide the skate off her foot and set it down before doing the same thing with the other one.
“I was embarrassed, Maksim. I offered myself to you only to be turned down.”
I sigh. “I didn’t turn you down.”
“Yes, you did.”
I shake my head. “I only turned down a one-night stand.”
“What?” She wiggles her toes.
I take her right foot in my hands and massage it. “I don’t want only one night with you, kotik, and I’m going to prove I’m not that type of guy. I don’t take relationships lightly. I’m drawn to you like no one before you, and yeah, I want to sleep with you so bad my dick is throwing tantrums every day, but I’ll beat off to my imagination until I convince you I’m not the guy you’ve typecast me as.”
She sighs and slides her legs off my lap. “It’s not that easy. I was hurt by the first man I ever loved, and I know all men aren’t like that. I know there are good men out there and I have no doubt you’re one of them. But it’s still here.” She presses her hand to her heart. “Some scars refuse to heal.”
I place my hand over hers. “Give me one shot. Dinner. Tonight?”
She takes so long to answer, I fear maybe she won’t, but then it’s there, so small and so soft I almost miss it. “Okay.”
I exhale a sigh of relief. Now I just have to pull out the red carpet and plan one helluva date with hardly any notice. I’ve done harder things.
“Did he say where he wants to take you?” Jana asks on speaker as I search my closet for something to wear. I should have gone over to Jana’s place. She has endless options.
“Nope. Best guess, restaurant and a movie. Or maybe just dinner, no movie? Italian restaurant maybe. Then I’ll want to order the spaghetti, but a first date and spaghetti… you might as well say you don’t want a second date.”
Jana laughs. “Something tells me Maksim isn’t going to care how you eat spaghetti.”
“Then I’ll end up getting some kind of salad, and I’ll come home and eat cereal after because I’m starving.”
She laughs again. “You think too much.”
“Because I’m not the gorgeous blonde across the table from them like you.”
She’s silent for a moment. “I hate it when you do that to yourself.”
“I’m not down on myself. These are facts. You’re gorgeous and I’m the girl next door. And there’s nothing wrong with the girl next door. I’ll probably marry some good-looking insurance guy who will take me for Italian dinners and always remember our anniversary.” What I don’t say to Jana is that he’ll probably let me run the house and make corny jokes like, “happy wife, happy life.”
“You don’t sound like that’s what you want.”