Is it too late to decide that I hate him?
“Uncle Grey, look!”
Both Grey and I look just in time to catch Brooke ace a spin on one fucking foot. I can’t even stand without falling and this little five-year-old can do spins.
“When did you learn that, Brookie?” Grey asks as soon as Brooke comes to a halt right in front of us.
Brooke lifts her shoulders. “Sofia taught me.” And she skates away again like it’s the most effortless thing in the whole wide world. Though I suppose Brooke is growing up with her uncle being a professional hockey player, and whoever Sofia is, so of course she’s learning how to skate from a young age.
Grey looks at me again. “Here, hold my hands,” he says and takes my hands in his, so I don’t have to move all too much.
I try not to scream when suddenly Grey starts to skate backwards while he pulls me after him.
Now he’s just showing off. Nobody would want to skate backwards, right? That’s a useless skill to have. Why would anyone want to be able to skate without seeing where they’re skating toward? What if they end up hitting a wall or something?
“Are you never scared to hit one of the walls when—”
“Boards,” he says.
My eyebrows dip in confusion. “I’m pretty sure there are no boards here.”
“No, thewalls, we call them boards.”
I roll my eyes. “It’s like you hockey players make up a whole new language.”
Grey shrugs. “Like soccer doesn’t have any weird slang nobody but players, coaches, and hardcore fans would understand.”
“Touché.”
Though I don’t have to move much since Grey is pulling me after him, I can already feel my feet throbbing in pain. “Are you sure skates are supposed to be that tight?”
“Yes.”
I doubt it wholeheartedly. He just wants to torture me. “Do you tie up little kids’ skates that tight as well?”
“I don’t know that I have ever tied kids’ skates, but yes, I would.”
I look toward Brooke then back at Grey and raise my eyebrows. “You tightened hers.” She did most of it on her own, which, frankly, I kind of envy.
“Today I did. It’s usually her father, Colin, or Lily who tie the kids’ skates.” I’d love to ask who Colin and Lily are exactly, but even if I did, I doubt I’d receive an answer.
“So you don’t help out at a rink when someone doesn’t know how to tie their skates properly?”
“Considering that I don’t usually go skating in my free time, no, I don’t. My teammates obviously know how to deal with their skates, and the arena is closed during practice, there’s never a reason for me to help strangers. But I would do it, and yes, I’d still tie them like I did yours.”
“And here I thought I was someone special to you.”
Grey lets out a gruff in disagreement and avoids talking by simply picking up the pace. I hold onto him a little tighter, almost squeezing his hands to death with the grip I keep on them. But, hey, at least I don’t let out an embarrassing shriek.
???
That same evening, when Grey drops me off by the Hayesland store from earlier, I only barely make it into my mother’s boutique without dying.
My limbs are hurting, every single muscle in my body is sore and throbbing. I willnever, not even if it would save my life, set a single foot on stupid ice again. My feet are pretty much dead, and the only way I can tell they’re still attached to my body isbecauseof the pain. Grey’s skates were definitely too small for me, I think, but what do I know?
Maybe skates are supposed to make your feet hurt like you’ve been walking on Lego for hours.
“How was your date, honey?” my mother asks when I finally make it over to the register where she stands. Her boutique is closed, but I suppose she still has some things to do.