library hearts

6 | hot chocolate

"Next time, I'll practice before" she says, finally breaking the silence.

"I hope there'll be a next time" I reply, taking a sip of my chocolate. "Shit. This is warm."

"It's in a thermos for a purpose" London says, rolling her eyes.

I ignore her, my gaze skimming over the ice rink.

"God! Look at that guy!" I exclaim, pointing at a tall boy with curly, jet black hair making circles on the ice.

London follows my gaze and says "ah, him" just as the boy jumps up in the air, making a pirouette in the air and landing gracefully on one leg, stretching the other out behind him. He glides backwards a couple of meters before braking and instead charging forward over the ice. When he's picked up speed, he folds the leg in and starts spinning, first holding his hands over his knee – but then squatting down and at the same time putting out the leg out straight in the air, just a couple of feet above the ice. His dark hair flies out in a halo around his head, and the only thing I can think about is how tousled it's going to get. Long hair problems, I guess.

He slows down, stopping spinning. Gracefully, he continues his gliding over the ice by putting one leg over another in an insanely trim diagonal-skating, disappearing from sight.

"Oh my god. That was marvelous" says London, still staring at the spot where he'd disappeared. "We're really... really bad in comparison."

"I know" is the only thing I can manage to say.

London rocks her head, sending the curls flying in the air. "Let's forget that. That tore massively on my confidence."

I laugh, swallowing down the last crumb of gingerbread.

London shakes the thermos, listening for sounds. Giving in, she opens the lid and looks down. "There's about one full cup left. Shall we share?"

I chortle. "You literally said shall?"

The earphone girl puts her hands up in the air. "I'm a true Pride and Prejudice fan. And every other old book –" she makes bunny ears, "–fan. Like, the language is so... I don't know – solemn?"

"I understand that. I love it when people speak like that in movies and so... it just sounded funny when you said it."

I poke at her arm, and she laughs. "Fine! I'll never do it again."

"No, I'm taking it back!" I throw back at her. "It sounds funny!"

London sighs, like I'm absolutely hopeless, but her eyes are glittering.

After drinking up our last cups of chocolate, I begin to freeze. The chilly climate of the ice hall has finally taken out its ire, causing goosebumps to appear all over my body.

"Can we go out?" I ask London, and she nods encouragingly.

"Yeah, sure! I was beginning to freeze a little too, now."

She turns around and begins packing her things, and I stuff the gloves, helmet and socks back into the backpack.

We pick up our skates and walk down the bleacher, my steps feeling weirdly controlled and balanced in comparison to when I was skating.

Leaving the ice skates at the hiring station, I nod to the elder lady behind. She smiles slightly and waves, calling a "goodbye" after us as we leave the building.

Fresh air from outside greets us as we step out, a warm summery breeze ruffling my hair.

"Oh my god! It feels like June!" exclaims London, swirling around in circles on the asphalt area outside the hall with her arms stretched towards the sky.