“Jonah, are you skipping school?” Mom chastises him.
“No.” Jonah refuses to look Mom in the eye. “Okay, yes. But only seventh period. I wanted to see Olivia skate before it was my turn on the ice.”
Mom tuts, but immediately gives in because she’s a giant marshmallow. “Okay, but no talking during filming.”
“You’re one to talk, Mom. You’ve ruined several takes today with your enthusiastic squealing.”
“Oh, hush. You know I love watching my babies skate. Even if you aren’t babies anymore.” Mom’s eyes glisten. She clears her throat. “Annabelle’s right. We should film one last time from a different angle to showcase the platter lift. Drink your tea first, though.”
I take my tea back to Table #1. Since we are officially out as a couple now, when Jonah sits down across from Mack, I sit on his lap. Jonah wraps his arms around me.
“I had to escape,” Jonah says as I sip my tea. “Had to get back to my normal. If Dad asks, though, we rollerbladed here together.”
“Got it. So you wanna see my normal?”
“You know it.”
I lean in and give Jonah a quick kiss even though everybody is looking at us. “This is what you inspired in me. Ignited in me.”
“I’m gonna hurl.” Egg puts his skate guards on the wall and takes the ice.
“You drop her, and I kill you. Got it, tough guy?” Jonah says. Egg skates away while making a rude hand gesture. “Seriously, Liv, be careful. You want to borrow my helmet?”
“I’m fine, Jonah.”
“Are you sure?” Jonah follows behind me.
“Yes, I’ve been doing this since I was two years old.” I put my fist out, and we do our hand sign. “Enjoy.”
“Outta the way, Choi.” Mack, video camera in hand, steps out on the ice. She shuffles gingerly toward the middle of the rink.
I skate out to the middle of the ice with Egg to take our original opening position, the only thing we kept from Alexei’s choreography. It’s still ridiculous, but it’s part of our history. Part of our new story. Egg lunges and throws a jazz hand to the ceiling. I hear a snort, undoubtedly from Jonah. I drape my left arm over Egg’s shoulders and weave my legs around his back leg. Egg reaches his lower hand down to make a perfect diagonal, which still, unfortunately, requires him to clasp my butt cheek.
“Make za heat. Make za passion,” Egg says in the worst Russian accent ever, mimicking Alexei.
I close my eyes and remember back to the shadows last night. Jonah’s warm fingers traveling over my skin. His mouth on mine. The tingling in the pit of my belly. I don’t need to fake a passionate expression. I call up an authentic one instead.
“And … cue music,” Mack says from where she’s reclined on the ice. “Cue music. Music. Midori!”
“Sorry!” Mom says.
“And … action.”
We skate my new choreography, pulled out of the ashes of the old phoenix one. I turn off my brain and let my body craft this moving, twirling, jumping piece of art. Everything clicks. I’ve skated cleanly all morning, but having Jonah in the audience takes the performance to the next level. I link my hands with Egg’s, and he pushes me above his head into a platter lift. I catch Jonah’s eyes as I rotate effortlessly in the air. His jaw rests on the wall, and I don’t think it’s because of my costume. This is gold-medal-level Olivia Kennedy, the phoenix coming out of the ashes of her previous skating life. The music swells. I close my eyes and envision Jonah’s face on Egg’s body. Egg and I circle each other, spiraling closer and closer together for our climax. Jonah’s gasp echoes around the rink when Egg dips me down into a death spiral so low that I can hear the spikes of my hair scrape the ice. When I come back up, Egg and I press together for our final spin combo. I remember the heat flowing from Jonah’s skin. The way his body pressed into mine. The sparks shooting up my spine as his lips traveled over my skin. Egg and I pull in tighter together so we can spin even faster. The music crescendos. Blood pulses through my veins and the tingling in my belly travels to every nerve fiber in my body.
Three … two … one.
Egg jams his toe pick into the ice to slow our rotation. We unravel and Egg dips me back for our final pose. I reach up and caress Egg’s face. We stare into each other’s eyes knowing that something has changed between us. This is what we never had. This was the missing element. This is chemistry. Egg’s warm breath washes across my face as the music fades. Egg leans in for our non-kiss. Except this time, our lips connect.
Egg rights us with a jerk.
“And … cut!” Mack yells from the side. “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about! Except for the herky-jerky ending. I can edit that out, though.”
“What the hell, Egg?” I whisper.
“What?” Egg says under his breath. “You kissed me.”
“I did not.”
“Do you want to watch the footage?”
“No.” Because a tiny part of me is afraid that I did kiss Egg. On purpose even. Just to see what it was like. Chemistry is dangerous like that. It only takes one careless spark to burn down an entire forest.
I’m burning now, and it’s not from exertion. Egg takes off to do a couple of cooldown laps. Jonah’s jaw is still on the wall when I come off the ice and unlace my skates.
“Wow … that was … wow. Just … wow.”
“I told you I could skate.” I beam because sometimes you need to put up or shut up. “I’m glad you finally believe me.”
“That was some ending,” Jonah says as Egg skates by.
My stomach clenches.
“Acting. It’s all about the acting.” Egg’s laugh is unnatural. “Gotta sell it to the cheap seats, right, Livy?”
“Yeah. Acting.”
“So are you guys done now?” Jonah says.
Right as Egg and I say “yes,” Mack says, “Weeeelll, we could go one more time.”
“No!” Egg and I say.
“In that case.” Jonah unzips his backpack. He pulls out an eight-by-ten framed photograph of himself with two gold medals around his neck. He shows it to everybody.
“Wow, Jonah! Congratulations! I get to put this up on the Wall of Fame, right?” Mom inches toward Jonah.
Now it’s Jonah’s turn to beam. “I’d like that.”
“I’ll hang it up, Mom. You rest a bit.”
I wipe down my blades and put my soakers on before slipping my Chucks back on.
“That costume is something,” Jonah says, following me to the skate counter.
I hold his picture over my butt to block his view. “Let me go change first.”
“Do you have to?”
I remove the picture. I am a phoenix. This is the new Olivia. I earned these new sparkly feathers and the stronger, womanly body that comes with it. Jonah comes behind the counter with me. I squat down to look for a hammer, but it’s not in its usual spot. When I stand again, Jonah steps into me, wrapping his arms around my waist. Since I can hear Mom giving Egg and Mack unsolicited video editing advice, I step into Jonah’s embrace.
“I can’t find the hammer,” I say as Jonah kisses the skin below my ear. “I don’t think we have any more nails anyway.”