You & The Ice: A One Direction Story

Chapter One: @niazkilam has commented on your photo

I take a quick snap of my two ice skates resting up against each other as I try to control my cold, bouncing feet. Hastily, I grasp my skates and shove them on, I welcome the warmth as each of my feet slip in. Training for the Olympics is hard, sure, but keeping up an aesthetic feed on social media is much harder. Throwing on a "vintage" filter, I press post.

I tuck my phone into my jacket beside me and make my way toward the rink entrance. The ice welcomes me, I glide easily as I begin warmups. The noises of my skates shaving the ice at my feet echoes throughout the empty ice rink. Usually there's some pop-radio music playing but it's not even 6 am yet, the only person awake in this entire building is me.

I do a few laps, upping up my speed each time around. I'm sweating and dying for a break by the time the speakers buzz on. There's a few moments of silence before music begins to play. Using this as a signal for my break, I return to my seat outside of the ice. Scooping up my jacket, I hobble over in my skates to the lobby. The worker, who looks maybe 16, that let me in is resting his head on his arms next to the radio. I try not to make noise when I plop down. I wiggle out of my tight skates and stretch my legs across the creaky bench, using my coat as a blanket. I dig out my phone from the pocket and I'm not shocked when I find a bunch of notifications.

Saying I'm "Instagram Famous" seems a bit pretentious but, it's hard to word it any other way. Since I'm not technically an official Olympian just yet, many average, non competitive skating people wouldn't know my name yet to find my social media. Which is why my collection of 50,000 followers that I have made over the years, came as a bit of a shock to me. Sure, a lot of them are from those who watch major and minor competitions, most of them comment about how good my performance was at this time, or how they really think I'm talented because they once saw a clip of me doing that trick. I used to be able to like and interact with each one but over the years they all got drowned together, I can barely catch one before it disappears forever. In more recent years, due to me posting more of my social life on social media, than my sport, I've got some "normal people" following me as well.

I breeze through the spam of likes, comments and such on my most recent post. Luckily since it's early, not many people will be up to see it, I can enjoy at least a few hours of only occasional buzzing. I'm just about to leave the app, to go on maybe Tumblr or something, before I receive a notification on one of my older posts. It's only a few months old, but it's one of the posts that got the most reach of those outside of the ice skating community. It's my most liked one.

The post itself isn't significant, not like my others that include me holding up ribbons or trophies. It's just a picture of me wearing my sister's old skeleton tee, after a concert I went to with some friends. The flash is on and I'm not even looking at the camera, my dark brown hair is almost all the way in my face but I look like I'm having fun. My caption reads: "What concert should I go to next??"

The comment that gets my attention is from some dude, or at least their profile picture looks like a guy. All it says is: "Ours" with a little music note emoji. I almost laugh, but I'm intrigued. Tapping on his profile, I'm greeted with a bunch of pictures of the guy, with friends or holding fishes, basic Instagram stuff. But occasionally he's got a picture of a guitar or of him on stage, with thousands of people holding illegible signs and grinning in the crowd. I press follow so I can find him later, I'll have some free time to go out now that I'm not getting into any comps this year. But then again, I've got to stay focused on training. I push those thoughts away as I hop on my feet and prepare to go back on the ice. A song comes on the radio as I lace up my skates, it goes something like "Not even the Gods can separate us" I think I like it.

I'm greeted by a big, fluffy, white yipping dog as I unlock my sister and I's apartment. It looks at me like I'm its entire world and it makes me want to cry. I crouch and let Snowbell lick my face and sniff my jacket. After she's satisfied, she scampers off to her bed inside my room. As I make my way through our living room and kitchen, I keep an ear out for my sister's usual stomping or loud music but the house is as silent as the skating rink.

I step into my room and press the button next to my door to turn on my fairy lights, illuminating Snowbell quietly chewing on a toy in her bed. I quickly put my skates away in their proper place and change into something more comfortable and throw my aching body into the depths of my bed.

It doesn't take long before Snowbell joins me at the foot of my bed. She rests her head on my legs as I pick up my phone from my nightstand. Finding the guy, who's name might or may not be named Niaz Kilam, is easy since I normally only follow family and friends. He's made a new post since I've last checked and it's gotten more likes and comments than I think I've ever seen on this app. "Who even is this guy?" I ask Snowbell and she turns her head to the side in confusion.