Of Ice and Hopitals

Chapter 9

Sunday evening marked the end of the 2018 edition of the Fire and Ice competition in Brooklyn and the Park-Kim-Blake-Bowman crew decided to go out and eat at the restaurant in order to celebrate Rey's great tournament, the little girl having won the fifth place overall in her division's finals. As soon as Lincoln's niece's name had been announced in the silver microphone of the competition's host, a ridiculously tall man with lustrous salt and pepper hair and a moustache which would make many envious, the whole crew had erratically jumped out of their seats and erupted in wild cheers and hollers for the elated six-year-old. Roseanne and her friends had watched with unmatched pride as Rey excitedly strutted her way to the announcer on the purple carpet spread out on the ice, the tiny figure skater accepting her shiny blue ribbon with eagerness before she very seriously offered her hand to the towering host, whose wide shoulders shook without restrain at the comically formal gesture, the slight lines at the corner of his mouth and eyes deepening as a booming laugh reverberated and made his apple of Adam bounce in his throat before he joyously took the young girl's three times smaller hand in his large one.

Once the girl in the violet tutu came out of the locker room with her little sweats and candy pink Uggs, her black mane an absolute mess of tangled Jisoo curls carelessly piled on top of her head with her favorite fluffy white hair band, Rey barreled into her uncle's awaiting arms just as Lincoln effortlessly spun her around and then sat her on his shoulders.

Octavia looked at the two of them with the most smitten gaze Roseanne and Jisoo had ever seen coming from their fiery jet-black haired friend as the Blake woman returned Rey's dorky little wave with her own small one, the grin on the PE teacher's face one of pure adoration.

Roseanne, still high on the exhilarant feeling of having been pressed so close and so intimately to Lisa even just for a fleeting moment, but oh how those two short minutes had undeniably been the most ground-breaking of her young life, watched the adorable scene unfolding right in front of her with a blinding pearly white smile and, not wanting this wonderful day to end yet, invited all of her crew to go out to dinner.

"I don't want any of you guys to even think of touching their wallet; tonight's on me! Congratulation again, my very own little Tessa Virtue," was what the blonde had happily exclaimed before she blew a kiss to Rey, ignoring what she knew would be a protesting purse of Lincoln's lips, and a shrug followed immediately by a satisfied high-five by Jisoo and Octavia, who even though both made more than enough money to provide for themselves, would never turn the nose up at free food.

A cab ride and a pointless argument with Lincoln later, the gang was now seated at a long wooden table on a warmly fairy light illuminated terrace, at a classy little bistro in the heart of Brooklyn owned by the mother of one of Rey's friends. Florence, it was named. The small café-bistro restaurant was conceived to offer a flavor of Italy to its customers; from the large flag sporting the colors of the Italian peninsula hanging by the threshold, to the lyrical melody of violins and accordions lively flowing in the background, and the red brick wood oven filled with heavenly smelling pizzas, Florence felt like being out in the streets of the Italian city on a Saturday night, lazily strolling around to the slow rhythm of live folk songs played by casual street musicians, looking for a place to eat. It was charmingly authentic, and even the waiters looked like they were all from Italian origins, Roseanne noticed. She was impressed by the extreme care Rey's friend's mom most have put in her restaurant, to go as far as hiring all Italian employees. Seeing the awed look in his best friend's blue gaze, Lincoln explained to her that Valentina's mother, Angelica, was herself descendant from an Italian family, and that Florence had been her pet-project upon moving from her native country to New York City. It had taken a lot of time, money and effort to get the restaurant on the map, but after over seven years since her move to America, Angelica Fallaci's Florence was now one of Brooklyn's most popular bistros and the go-to place of many New Yorkers and tourists alike. All the while during her uncle's talking, Rey nodded solemnly thinking about her friend Valentina and her super cool and pretty mommy Angelica, who often made amazingly delicious pastries which she put in Valentina's lunchbox for her to share with her friends, though more often than not it ended up being Valentina and Rey eating all the baked goods by themselves.