Frostbite

Laiken

Upon finishing my solo, I stand there on the ice, staring at my mom and Vaida in the wings while I catch my breath. They appear to be so proud of me. I've never skated so well in my entire life. Hopefully the judges agree with me. The judges gather all the results once the last girl in my division skates. Mom, Vaida and I follow the judges to the awards room. A few of the girls in my division are already standing there, waiting for the competition results. We wait for them to move, then I take my turn to look at the piece of paper stapled to the bulletin board that's mounted on the wall. It doesn't take long to find my name. It's right there in black and white at the top of the page. 'Laiken Collins- first place' the paper reads. My eyes beam of excitement. I've worked so hard to perfect this routine and it finally paid off. Vaida takes a look at the results after me. "Good job, Laiken. You qualify for sectionals now. Those are in January. We have four months to work on a new routine" she boasts. Mom gives me a hug and tells me she loves me before leaving the awards room to call my dad and share the big news.

The announcer calls my name to step up to the podium. I accept my first place medal. There's eight others in my division. Half of them start crying when they hear the announcer call their names for fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth place. They won't qualify for sectionals this year. The season is pretty much over for them. I was in their shoes last season. I made it through to sectionals, but I only placed fourth in my long program due to a fall on my triple toe, bumping me out of the running for nationals. Mom drives me home as soon as she comes back from calling my dad. I don't hear from Cole the rest of the evening.

The following morning at around ten thirty, I attempt to call Cole. It goes right to voicemail. I think nothing of it. Maybe he's still sleeping. He's heading home today and won't be back until later this afternoon, sometime before dinner. Since he won't answer me, I take this opportunity to work on the school assignments I missed on Friday. It only took me an hour to complete them. Mom knocks on my bedroom door just as I put my school work back in my backpack. "Honey, can I come in?" mom asks. I allow her to enter. She opens the door and walks over to my bed. Mom plops herself onto it. "I was thinking, maybe we can go out for lunch today. Then I can treat you to a trip to the mall with the extra money I have leftover from working overtime this week" mom suggests. "sure mom! It's been a while since we've had a girls day. Let me take a quick shower and I'll be down". Mom nods. She exits my room, closing the door behind her.

After mom leaves, I head into my bathroom to get ready for a shower. My hair is still done up in my competition bun. I let my hair down and attempt to brush out all of the hair spray. While waiting for the water to heat up, I strip down into nothing. Standing in front of the mirror, I can see my belly just slightly bloated. This is the first time I took a good look at myself since finding out that I'm carrying Cole's baby. My hands naturally want to caress my abdomen, imagining what I'm going to look like when I'm enormous. After my shower, I get myself dolled up. My hair is in its natural state today to give it a break from being up in that tight bun for over twenty four hours. I throw on a pair of jeans, a white tank top and my black and white flannel cover top. Mom's waiting for me downstairs. "You look nice" she notes. "Thank you. Want to take the Mazda? I need to stop at the gas station and fill it up" I ask her.

I drive us to the nearest gas station to fill up my tank, then we make our way to the mall. The mall is packed. We find parking near the back of the parking lot. Walking up towards the building's entrance, I see a row of expectant mothers parking spaces, feeling tempted to go back and park in one but remembering my mom is with me and she doesn't know I'm pregnant yet. I'm not big enough for those spaces anyways but eventually I will be. Mom and I do some light shopping. As we pass by Bath and Body Works, my mouth starts watering. Oh no. Not again. I turn to my mom. "Mom, we need to hurry". I start weaving through the traffic of people, trying to find a washroom nearby. Mom's speed walking after me trying to catch up. "Sweetie wait for me! Slow down!" she shouts. The second I get into a washroom stall I vomit into the toilet. Mom calls my name. She sees my shoes sticking out of the very last stall. "Laiken? Are you okay? If you're sick we should probably go home" mom implies. "No mom, its okay. I'm fine. The smell of that store was bugging me." I flush the toilet before leaving the stall. Mom looks concerned. "Maybe you should bring this up to your doctor tomorrow. He can give you some medicine."

Mom and I have lunch in the food court, then make our way home. At this point, its almost three in the afternoon. I still haven't heard from Cole. As soon as I drop mom off, I speed off again. This time, heading to Cole's house. His mom greets me at the door. She looks surprised to see me. "Laiken welcome. I wasn't expecting you. Come on in. Cole isn't home yet but you're welcome to stay." His mom holds the door open for me, prompting me to come inside. I see Madison in the living room reading another one of her comic books. "Hey Maddie. How are you?" I ask, sitting down beside her on the couch. "Fine. Abby's coming to get me. She's taking me to McDonalds for dinner soon. Why are you at my house? My brother's not home yet" she huffs. "I came to hang out with you guys. I love your family" I add. She goes back to reading her book.

Cole's mom comes back to the living room with two drinks in her hands. She hands me one of the cups. "its just lemonade" his mom assures me. After taking a sip, I put it on the coaster sitting on the coffee table. Madison sees Abby pull into the driveway. She says bye to us and heads out the door. "I'm glad you're here, Laiken. I've been meaning to talk to you" Cole's mom says in a calm tone. I listen attentively. "Cole told us the big news the other night. How are you feeling about all of this?" "I'm fine I guess. It was pretty unexpected. We didn't mean for it to happen. Cole and I had sex one time. We waited two years to do it. I guess this is our punishment for not waiting longer". "I wouldn't necessarily say that, honey. It happens more often than you'd think. I was a teen mom too. I was actually sixteen when I had Cole. As soon as I found out we were conceiving, Cole's dad started his own business to try and make ends meet. Now look at us. His business is still going strong and my two kids are well off. You two will figure things out. Its not the end of the world" she says. I pick my drink up and take another sip. "Its not that I'm upset about it. Its that I just qualified for sectionals and all I had going for me was skating. My parents are going to be so mad when they find out". Cole's mom looks at me with a worried look on her face. "You're still skating? Aren't you afraid you're going to hurt my son's baby? I think that's quite selfish. What if you fall or get hit in the stomach by another skater?"

I think about getting up to leave to avoid anymore confrontation. Just as I go to do so, in walks Cole. His mom stands up and rushes over to him. "My baby! How was the game? Tell me all about it." Cole's mom gives him a big hug. "Hey mom. I'll talk about it during dinner. Why's Laiken here?" His question slightly offends me. "Hi Cole" I say, sounding unimpressed. "Hi Laiken. Want to hang out in my room?" he asks. I get up off the couch and head for the stairs. Cole follows me to his bedroom. Just as he closes the door and drops his bag on the floor, I break down in tears. "Your mom told me I shouldn't skate anymore. Do you think I should quit? I just qualified for sectionals." Cole gives me a hug. He holds me tight. Tighter than he's ever held me before. "Its going to be okay, babe. Talk to Vaida about it. She's going to find out sooner or later. Speaking of sectionals, tell me all about your competition" Cole pipes up. I can tell he's trying his best to cheer me up. We let go of each other. I have a seat on his desk chair. "I placed first. My parents are really proud of me. Mom took me out celebrate just before I came here". "Why did you decide to come here?" Cole wonders. "You haven't texted me all day. I wanted to see if you were okay but your mom and I didn't get that far into our conversation to ask" I explain. "I'm sorry. I left my fucking phone charger at home. It died as soon as I hung up on my dad this morning. I should've texted you off Brian's phone but I wasn't thinking at the time. Do you forgive me?" Cole asks. "Of course I do. I'm glad you're okay. We need to start communicating better if we're going to have this baby".