Lock down on Ice

Chapter 4

Perri woke up full of aches and pains in places he had never felt them in before. He groaned as he stood up and stretched. He had gone to bed thinking of Vanessa, he dreamt of her and now his eyes were open, thoughts of her flooded into his head again. The way she felt, her scent, how light she was when he lifted her, how she pursed her lips and flared her nostrils when she was annoyed, and the way she squealed when he did something right, he smiled at that thought. He shook his head as if to shake the thoughts away and made his way to his bathroom to get ready. He had a full day with her at the rink again, he couldn't distract himself catching feelings.

He was early to his surprise, so he grabbed a coffee and sat outside the rink. His head was still swimming with thoughts of Vanessa but he was trying his best to ignore them by letting his phone distract him. He didn't have long to wait as Vanessa's car pulled up next to his. He smiled as he watched her take the space next to his car even though the carpark was practically empty. "Oi, watch the paintwork!" he shouted as she opened her car door. Vanessa huffed in mock indignation.

"I beg your pardon! I'll have you know I am an excellent parker." she shot back but she was smiling. She got her things out of the boot and skipped over to give him a hug. Perri breathed in deeply as he caught the scent from her freshly washed hair and couldn't stop himself from hugging her back tightly. "Perri!" Vanessa wheezed as she struggled for air. He had lifted her up to inhale more of her and her feet dangled helplessly in the air.

"Sorry!" he squeaked guiltily as he dropped her back to the ground smiling sheepishly. He really must stop doing that he chastised himself mentally.

"I'm not sure I'm going to survive this competition if you keep crushing me!" she laughed. Her cheeks were flushed as she fixed invisible strands of hair.

They composed themselves and entered the stadium. Vanessa had tried to stop him carrying her gym bag but he was having none of it. They got ready quickly and were rinkside in less than 10 minutes.

Vanessa had warmed them up thoroughly and now they were on the ice. "Pel shall we try part of the week 1 routine again?" They ran through the whole routine, Perri had learnt the whole choreography yesterday another thing that surprised Vanessa, "I know you're a dancer, but even professionals take more than one day to get the moves in their bones!" She told him, "It's only been a few hours and you've got it!!! I even put a back handspring in for goodness sake." She was laughing by the end of sentence, not even believing it as she said the words.

Perri felt good that he had pleased his coach but he wasn't sure what she was seeing as from his point of view he was very slow picking up the moves as he had to make sure his balance was right as well as protecting his joints. He didn't want to pop his knee putting it in a position it shouldn't be in. "You really think I'm doing ok?" he asked.

"Perri you're doing more than ok!" Vanessa exclaimed, she looked shocked. Perri watched as she took one of his hands in both of hers, she squeezed as hard as she could, he felt it but it wasn't especially painful. He wrapped his hand around one of her hands and wrist but didn't squeeze back, remembering the time he nearly put his little sister in hospital when he squeezed her hand too hard. Girls were much too fragile for his liking. He could feel her pulling his arm but the naughty schoolboy in him planted himself and enjoyed her failing completely to move him an inch. He smirked as he manipulated his skates to move them both backwards. He chuckled at her panic when she couldn't stop herself being dragged along by him. Butterflies appeared in his belly as she half squealed half laughed his name still trying to free herself.

"I think we should practice it some more." He said, pulling her back to the starting position.

He was always being told he was too much of a perfectionist, he felt that criticism to be odd since in his mind wanting to get something as perfect as it could be was a good thing, he certainly didn't think he should stop being a perfectionist now when he would be performing live on tv in front of millions of viewers. He was beginning to enjoy the session and the sensation of gliding now that he was balanced. He was also getting addicted to any praise he got when he did the moves right. But he thought he might have overdone it as after several hours of skating hard he looked down at Vanessa who was breathing heavily, her face was red and beaded with sweat. "Are you OK?" he asked nervously.

"Fine" Vanessa wheezed. "I guess dancers have as much stamina as pro skaters" she laughed holding her ribs.

"Well maybe we have a little more." He teased pulling a snobbish face. Vanessa gasped at his insolence.

"Right for being cheeky, I will be giving you the hardest choreo possible!" She chided with her hands on her hips.

Perri threw his hands behind his back and gripped them tightly to stop himself from reaching out and grabbing her and turning her upside down. It's what he would do if his little sister tried to tell him off. He had to remember that he was still pretty much a stranger to her and the last thing he wanted is for her to be scared of him. He decided to call it a day. Vanessa looked relieved but she tried to get her own back for his earlier slight.

"Look who is flaking out now?" She sang, it sounded cheeky but her eyes begged him not to call her bluff. Ever the gentleman, Perri put his hands up in surrender and skated towards the edge of the rink. Vanessa followed and all but collapsed on one of the spectator chairs so she could remove her skates. Perri watched her struggle with the laces for a moment as her legs looked stiff and sore. He decided to risk being berated and grabbed her boot to unlace them. He watched her from his peripheral vision ready to duck any swipe she might take but she slumped back in the seat and just watched him work on her boots.

"Thank you." She said, earnestly.

"You're welcome" he said, looking straight into her eyes. They stared at each other for longer than was comfortable. Perri suddenly tugged on her ankle pulling her halfway off the chair."Ooops" he said chuckling. Vanessa laughed, grateful for the chance to break the tension.

They got showered and changed in separate changing rooms and walked out into the hallway at almost the same time. They both looked at each other sheepishly, wondering if the other had been thinking of them in the shower.

"See you tomorrow," he said tightly as he headed out the door like the building was on fire.