Let it Snow!

❄Ten❄

Martin was already on the ice, waiting for her-- an inviting smile playing on his lips, his arms ready to grab her before she could fall, should she need his support-- when she finished lacing her skates. Nora quickly adjusted her chignon and pushed a few stray strands behind her ears, then put her gloves back on.

"You used to wear your hair always loose," he said, observing her, making her wish to have prepared better for this meeting-- worn something nicer, put a little make-up on, done her hair properly... But that would have made this afternoon feel like a date, which it wasn't.

Nora took a deep breath and slid off the low stone wall, towards him, the blades of her skates sending what was one of her favourite sounds of winter, and a flurry of snowflakes, into the freezing air. She accepted his outstretched arm gladly as she reached him. Nora had never been a good skater and now, after all the years she had not stood on ice in her skates, she was rusty, and perfectly unsure of what she was supposed to do, feeling clumsy, and silly...

Why am I even doing this? she asked herself. But... being here and now, with him... felt right. She didn't want to think about the reasons. Or consequences. She would live this unexpected friendship as she would live her new life, from one day to another, and see where it would take her.

"How can you remember that? About my hair?" she asked a little breathlessly the moment she fell into his rhythm at his side, feeling strangely safe and sure on the ice with his right arm wrapped around her waist from behind, her hand fisted around a handful of his coat, as they glided over the frozen lake as one. It was so strange that he remembered so much about her... and flattering. It was usually her place, staying in the shadows, noticing, and falling for men who never really paid her any attention. How did she miss Martin in the past? You had eyes only for his brother back then, silly, she reminded herself, blushing, keeping her eyes low, on the expanse of ice under her feet.

Martin chuckled softly. "I remember many things about you."

Nora did not respond; she didn't know what to say. Or better... despite being extremely curious about what he remembered, and more importantly, why, something inside of her was telling her that she wasn't ready to ask.

She raised her head and smiled as they passed a group of boys playing ice hockey, a couple of girls watching them intently from above, leaning against the iron gate of the closed bridge as they giggled and whispered, making her remember how it felt, being their age.

But she wouldn't go back, live again through those years when she had felt too awkward and shy to speak about her feelings, to ask for what she had wished for. If she had been different then... everything would be different now. Not that anything was wrong right now, she mused, stealing a sideways glance at Martin, catching him looking at her.

"What are you thinking about? You seem so... distant," he said.

"The boys and their admirers," she told him a part of what was on her mind. "I wonder which of them is the lucky one."

Martin laughed. "Being their age again..."

"Would you want that? To be like them again?"

Martin stopped suddenly, making her squeal as he took her by her hand and spun her around, as if they were dancing, then steadied her in front of him, his hands on her hips, his eyes boring into hers as he said, "Only if I could keep all the life experience I gathered until now. That would be fun."

Without waiting for her to say anything, he wrapped his arm around her waist again, and they slid under the arched bridge, and kept moving along the perimeter of the lake gracefully for a long while, as if they had not stopped at all.