Fire on Ice

Part 25

Nora POV

Gigi sits across from me in silence staring at me. I nervously sip my coffee as her eyes burn into my soul for a good minute. Finally, she opens her mouth but closes it a second later.

"Can you please say something?" I get out.

She sits forward and says, "Let me get this straight," she pauses, "you and Nikolas are hooking up?"

"Kind of, but it means more than that."

"What does that mean?"

"We both feel something for each other, but honestly neither of us are ready to be in a relationship, so we're just seeing how it goes." At this Gigi bursts into laughter. Like bending over, clutching her stomach laughter. We get some stares from people in the cafe and I ask, "What--what is happening right now?" She continues laughing and finally takes a breath, only to continue two seconds later.

"Gigi! What are you laughing about?" Eventually I start laughing just because she's laughing and soon enough we're laughing for no apparent reason. Finally she calms down enough to get out, "Sebastian owes me 100 dollars." This makes me stop laughing.

"Huh? What do you mean?" She wipes the tears that fell from her eyes and takes a sip of her coffee before continuing, "He and I made a bet before you guys left for Arizona that you two would hook up on the trip. He didn't believe me and bet me 100 dollars you would hold out. Easiest 100 dollars I've ever made. I also pulled a few strings so that your room would only have one bed." she says with a smirk.

"Oh my god! You are insane."

She laughs some more, "Maybe, but let's talk about you two. How did it happen?" Now the real Gigi comes out, the one that is always down to hear any type of gossip she can.

"Something changed in him after we performed and it's like he flipped a switch. When we got back to the hotel after the competition one thing led to another I guess."

"You're so clueless." Gigi is holding back her laughter.

"What?"

"He didn't 'flip a switch', he always had a thing for you. If anything, a flip switched the moment he saw you at the gym"

I look at Gigi skeptically.

"Even Sebastian could tell. And Sebastian is the most oblivious human being on the planet." Her smirk widens, "Well, that is, after you and Nikolas obviously." I gently nudge her laughing "Okay, okay, I get it." I take another sip of my coffee. "But the main point is, I'm not sure where our relationship is going to go."

"Well, where do you want it to go?" Not wanting to admit that I want more than just a friends with benefits type relationship, I just shrug, "Well Nikolas and I have decided to just keep it chill between us, nothing official. I sort of think it's better this way, less pressure."

Gigi looks at me analytically, "Okay, but if you ever want to give him a little push," she leans in and lowers her voice, "just tease his jealousy a little, not too much."

"Jealousy?" I ask.

"Yea, like, you know.... Talking, dancing, or just hanging around another guy in front of him ought to give him a nice slap in the face. Like a wake up call." I raise my eyebrows and smile knowing Gigi has used this 'technique' on Sebastian before. "What, it works." She shrugs.

**********

It's Friday and I just finished a 4 hour session with Nikolas. I feel like our technique and routine is really being polished and is even better now that me and Nikolas... well, not that we have whatever we have going on between us. When we skate, the tension is so high it's hard to ignore, but it's the good type of tension, passionate tension. Even Coach has picked up on it, and said that we are skating better than ever. It's been almost 2 weeks since me and Nikolas have started hooking up and the amount of sex we've had in that period is off the charts. We've done it just about everywhere. As much as I enjoy it, a part deep within my brain keeps nagging me with the question of what's going to become of me and Nikolas along with the question of what exactly are we. I know he said he wasn't ready for a relationship, but he can't expect to just be hooking up forever, and honestly, taking in certain considerations, we basically already act like a couple. So why is he so scared of that title? I push these worries back into its little box at the bottom of my mind, not wanting to let my overthinking ruin something that has finally settled as I step into the locker room.