Fire on Ice

Part 4

The next evening I enter the locker room at the gym and find Gigi and a couple other girls getting changed.

"Hey!" She greets me with a surprising amount of energy

I smile, "Hey"

"So, I was thinking since you're new, you and I should hang out, you know, get to know each other."

I cringe a little, knowing that what I'm about to say is going to make it seem like I'm a real jerk, "Oh uh, I don't know."

She frowns, "Why?"

"I am just really busy with my day job and training here."

"Oh please, you can't fit in half an hour to get coffee or something?" She starts pouting and I already know that she uses this face to get whatever she wants.

I sigh feeling really guilty, "Sure. Just lemme know when."

She beams and we exchange numbers to plan.

"Great! Have fun with your session!" I thank her and quickly change. When I am walking to the rink I overhear Nikolas and Coach having an argument in his office.

"I don't need a goddamn partner!"

"Nikolas, think about this rationally. Nora is one of the most talented skaters I've ever seen."

"That's all well and fine, but she hasn't trained properly in two years. Two years Coach. She might as well be an amateur."

"That's not true. Look, I get that she will have to put in more work, but she is capable of doing so and she will put in the work. She really needs this Nikolas."

Nikolas pauses, "Why?" I hold my breath, hoping that Coach won't tell him about my mom.

"That's not for me to tell. But believe me, you won't regret partnering with her."

Nikolas sighs, "I can't put my fate in someone's hands. Look at how it turned out with Jessica. It's a no Coach." A few moments pass by before he adds, "Sorry." I stand there wondering who Jessica is for too long and don't move quick enough from the door, so Nikolas throws it open and sees me standing right there. He glares at me, knowing I heard the whole thing. He stalks off without acknowledging me and Coach walks out. We make eye contact and we don't say anything. There isn't much to say.

"Sorry." He says quietly after a few moments.

I just shrug, "Not your fault." We walk to the rink and we start.

"Today I want to work on your Biellman spins and Euler jumps. Start stretching and do 10 laps." Although Coach and I are very close, once practice starts he is all business. He pushes his students to their breaking point, but always knows when he's doing too much. Halfway through my laps Nikolas storms out of the locker room, slamming the door and walks out of the rink. Coach doesn't even acknowledge him and the only sign that he knows it happened is a slight wince when the door slams. I finish my laps and skate to the middle of the rink.

"Biellman spins." Coach says.

I nod and skate to gather momentum. I lift my leg up but on the first try I miss grabbing my left skate. I try again but I can't seem to get my leg up high enough. I keep practicing and finally after what seems like the hundredth one I get it down, but the spin is still messy. I knew this was going to be hard because no skater comes back after two years in perfect shape. But Biellman spins is a move I've known how to do since I was 12 years old. Coach sees my frustration and vocalizes what I was thinking, "It's going to take time Nora. But we have seven months. We'll get there. Let's break down the move into parts. Start with just getting your leg up to a point where you can catch with your hands."

I simply nod and try again. I get my leg up 10 times in a row and breathe a sigh of relief.

"Good, now try the spin on its own." Since a majority of the difficulty of the move comes from lifting your leg, I do the spins easily.

"Put them together." Coach says after I get the spins perfect. I put them together and it takes me almost 8 tries for me to get it decent. Coach knows it's best not to talk to me when I get this frustrated so he just sits down and waits for me to get it to a point I'm satisfied with. Half an hour later, I have it down as good as I had it when I was at my peak. Coach stands up and walks back over to the rink.

"Great. Euler jumps". Euler jumps are one of the easier moves in skating so I know I can get it down easily. I start skating backwards and go for the jump but my landing is wobbly. I try a couple more times but the landing doesn't get much better.

"You need to get to the gym. You lost a lot of your muscle mass." I know Coach doesn't mean it in a degrading way and it is true, but I still feel embarrassed.

"Yeah I will." Since it is already 10 o'clock and the gym closes at 11, Coach suggests "Why don't you do that now. It'll make the rest of the process a lot easier." I agree and take my skates off. I head back to the locker room and grab my sneakers. I get up to the gym and head to the weights. The main thing I need to work is my leg muscles, since those have suffered the most. I grab the weights and start doing lunges. After what seems like only 5 minutes Coach calls up, "I'm closing up now Nora! Come on down!" I put everything away and head back downstairs. Coach is turning off all the lights and locking his office when he sees me, "How was it?"

"Annoying." He chuckles because he knows that my least favorite part of skating was always the weight training.

"Grab your stuff so I can lock this place up." I head to the locker room again and grab my stuff without changing. We walk out together and he asks, "You want a ride?"

Deciding to avoid taking the bus whenever I can, I say yes. We can get in and start driving to my place. After a few minutes of silence, I finally ask, "Who's Jessica?"

He pauses before saying, "Nikolas' old partner."

"What did he mean when he said, 'look how it turned out with Jessica'". Coach doesn't even question why I know that, since it was very obvious I overheard them.

"They just didn't connect. Jessica was very high maintenance and didn't put in enough work. I told Nikolas to put trust into her and he did. When it came time for States last year, she didn't know the choreography and completely messed up their routine. Both their rankings fell heavily, but Jessica didn't care. Skating was never super important to her, but for Nikolas it's everything. That's why I know you two partnering will be different, but for him it's hard to see that." This slight tidbit about Nikolas makes me see him in a much more clear light. I understand where he is coming from, but his lack of faith in me is still a little offensive, and he doesn't have to be such an asshole about it.

"Oh, well I have Sebastian anyway."

Coach just nods his head and we continue the drive talking about random things. When we reach my apartment, I open the door and Coach says, "You just gotta give him time." 

Author's Note:

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