The Rink

chapter four: keep the change

George showed up at the rink first thing Friday afternoon, dressed in the best outfit he could put together, trying to fake interest in a conversation with Rob.

"And her vocab is getting better. Her preschool teacher says she's advanced a lot." Rob said, sipping a Redbull as he flipped through a stack of papers at work.

"That's good." George responded, his eyes lazer-focused on the front door of the rink.

George was impatiently waiting for Dream to walk into the building, eager to get to know him more. There was just something about Dream: maybe his style, his elusiveness, the fact that George could never tell what he was thinking. But there was something about him that interested George beyond belief.

"Are you even listening to me?" Rob asked, staring at George.

George pulled himself away from his inner thoughts, bringing his full attention to Rob now.

"Yes, I'm listening." George lied, flashing an apologetic smile at Rob.

Rob sighed, bringing his eyes back to his paperwork.

"Go skate. I know you didn't come here to just sit and listen to me blab on all day." Rob said.

"No, that's exactly what I came here for. Every day I'm at the rink the first thing that comes to my mind is 'Where is Rob? I want to talk to him all day long because he is my very best buddy. " George joked.

Rob rolled his eyes at George, then with his hand motioned for George to go away. Yet George stayed put, staring down at Rob sat at his desk.

"Anything else I can help you with...?" Rob asked slowly, slightly nervous to hear the answer.

George cleared his throat. "Yeah, um...I was wondering when your nephew's gonna be in today?"

Rob looked up at George with wide eyes, then got up from his desk, walking out of the office. George followed behind Rob, struggling to keep up with him.

"I just wanna talk to him." George added.

"I told you: Dream won't be having any more shifts here for a while." Rob said, speed-walking around different parts of the rink.

"I know you told me that, but that was last week. I figured...I dunno, I figured whatever was going on with Dream would be over by now." George said, his skates gliding across the carpeted floor quickly to match Rob's pace.

Rob scoffed, shaking his head. "Sometimes it's not that simple, George. You can't always have a huge problem one day and then it automatically disappears the next day."

George was offended that Rob thought George was that naïve, that innocent, that sheltered. Obviously George knew that problems didn't solve themselves overnight, but George didn't even know what Dream's problem was in the first place.