The Fall (Camren)

Carve in Cursive

Like a duck to water, that is how well Lauren had picked up the whole ice-skating thing. Yes, when she first got onto the rink there were a few incidents, one involving a crying toddler and an angry parent. But on the whole, Lauren had picked it up pretty fast.

Camila however, did not.

'Just let go of the railing Camz!' Lauren shouted, watching a very unsteady Camila grip onto the side of the ice rink for dear life.

'And die?! No thank you!'

Rolling her eyes, Lauren skated over to her girlfriend, stopping a little precariously next to her, Lauren offered her hand.

'Just take my hand and I'll keep you upright.'

'No offence but you're not exactly a professional at this either.'

Lauren put her hands on her hips, feigning offence, 'What're you talking about? I'm shitting all over those Disney on Ice suckers.'

'There's an image I'm not going to forget.' Camila said, pulling a face.

Lauren moved a little closer, smiling at how unintentionally cute Camila could be. 'Please Camila, hold onto me and I'll keep you safe.'

The sincerity in Lauren's voice must've swayed Camila because she took a deep, calming, breath and detached herself from the railing, immediately latching on to Lauren's arm. Lauren toppled slightly before regaining her balance. She started skating at a very slow pace, Camila still gripping her arm to an almost painful degree.

'See, you're doing great.'

'I feel like Bambi on ice...drunk.' Camila grumbled.

Lauren laughed, picking up their pace a little. Slowly, Camila started to acclimatise and became steadier in her strides, still keeping a steady hold of her girlfriend.

The sun had almost completely set, the orange glow in which they had been bathed in dissipated. The apricot illumination covering the rink faded into a deep blue speckled with twinkling multi-coloured fairy lights. The whole place sparkled and Lauren couldn't contain her grin. It felt magical, the lights and the music and the soft press of Camila's warm body as they skated through a Christmas wonderland.

Camila loosened her death-grip on Lauren's arm until she was only holding her hand. They skated like that for a while, with huge grins and laughter, that was until Lauren's toe edge caught in the ice and she flew forward, stumbling across the ice. Camila yanked her hand away as Lauren tripped and sprawled across the cold ice.

She slid to a stop, flat on her back, 'Ouch.'

'Oh wow,' Camila managed through her laughter, 'Are you okay?' She skated up to Lauren.

'Did you just push me out of the way so I wouldn't bring you down with me?' Lauren asked incredulously.

'Duh, I didn't want to fall down. That looked like it hurt.'

'It did. If this were a movie you would fall down underneath me and it'd be disgustingly romantic.'

'You have knives on your feet; I'm not falling under you!'

Lauren propped herself up on her elbows, the freezing cold seeped through her clothes. She held a hand out and pouted, 'At least help me up, my ass is numb.'

'You aren't going to pull me on top of you, right?' Camila asked, scepticism dripped from her words.

Lauren shook her head and shrugged, 'I was going to but I thought it might look slightly suspicious to that group of teenagers filming us on their phones.' She nodded her head in their direction as Camila grasped her outstretched hand; she turned to see the group of girls pointing at them.