Ice Lovers (boyxboy)

CHAPTER 18

The next few weeks went by easy, just a bunch of planning for my routines and hanging out with Diego. I have both routines fully planned out now and the outfits for them are almost here. For now, we're just practicing. Today specifically, anyone with a single has to do their full performance. I'm a little excited but also kinda nervous. Not that the coach won't approve, she always loves my routines, I'm nervous about Diego seeing my routine.

I know he'll be there to watch but I kinda dedicated the routine to him. I made the routine based on how I feel about the people close to me right now and Diego was the first that came to mind. I don't really know how he'll react if he sees it and I wanted to wait till the actual competitions to show him.

There's only one other thing I'm nervous for, the quadruple axel I put in the routine. I've only seen it landed once in competition, that doesn't mean I can't, but the person that landed it was older than me and probably had been skating for a lot longer.

What's even scarier is how much I care about whether or not my routine is liked by anyone. I'll probably cry or get angry if I don't land the quad axel, but if anyone shuns my program then I'll be crying all day. I definitely won't cry if it's one of the hockey boys though. The only people that I really care if they like it are Sofia, the coach, and Diego.

Yet here I am, sitting on the bleachers, not paying any attention to the person performing, bouncing my leg up and down anxiously. I'm going after the next two people. I still have a lot of time to get myself together, but I'm nervous anyway. Maybe I can just ask Diego not to watch mine? I know he'd listen and not watch if I asked, but what if he really wants to see it? I bet he does, it's almost all I can talk about lately. I've been so excited for these competitions lately.

The pairs programs come first, the singles will be the day after. So that means two days in a row I'll have to perform as best I possibly can. Although, I don't have to place first, or be on the podium for that matter, but it may help if I want to do this as a future career if I do place. Or it may at least feed into my ego.

Once I got tired of sitting and waiting, and had gathered up enough courage, I decided to go and talk with Diego. He was sitting a bit away from the other hockey players so I could safely get to him without any rude comments being heard. I scooped up my skates that were sitting next to me, I told the coach that I was gonna sit next to Diego, then made my way towards him.

“Hey, Diego.” I greet him as I sit down on the bleachers next to him, placing my skates in my lap. “Oh, hi.” He greets me back and scoots a bit closer to me. “When are you going?” He asks and reaches out his hand for one of my skates, I let him take it for a moment. “After the next person. I have time to talk to you, don't worry.” He nods his head. “Are you nervous?” He lifts his face to look me in the eyes as he asks and I slowly nod my head. “A little. Mostly because of the quadruple axel.”

Our conversation continued, mostly about the routine I was about to do. I've already told him about most of it but I don't think he actually knows how it will look all together. Except I haven't told him about the parts where he's somehow incorporated into the routine.

“Hey, let me lace up your skates for you.” Diego says with a hand held out for me to place my foot in, he knows it is almost my turn. I place my ankle into his hand and he helps me get my skate on then starts tying it up. “I'm glad you don't let the opinions of others stop you from being affectionate towards me.” I tell him and he nods his head to let me know he's listening while his eyes are focused on lacing my skates.

Then he gets to the other foot and helps me with the skate for that one too. “You tie them up differently than me.” I point out to him as I examine his handy work. “Is that a good thing or bad?” He asks me, lifting his head up for just a second to catch the expression on my face. “I guess it's neither. We both are kind of professionals at lacing skates so it doesn't really matter anyway.” And he nods, agreeing with my answer.

Once he's done I put my feet back onto the floor, this time with my skates on and fully laced up. I sat a little closer to Diego and fidgeted just a little. He seemed to notice, glancing down at my hands where I was picking at my nails a bit. “Don't worry, I've seen your skating tons of times, you're absolutely amazing at it. I'm sure you'll do great.” He reassured me and I looked up at him, grateful for his flattering words.

“Can I have a kiss for good luck?” I asked, batting my eyelashes at him. He chuckled slightly before he leaned in and left a small kiss on my lips. This kiss didn't last too long, neither of us were really willing to listen to the hooting and hollering that would come from the hockey guys if they saw us kissing for long. I smiled at him and he smiled back. But then my coach called me over, letting me know that I was about to start.

I sighed and patted Diego's thigh just a bit. “I gotta go now, wish me luck.” And I got up and walked over to the coach as normal as I could with my skates on. I got over there once the person before me was getting off the ice and the coach was setting up the music for my performance. Then I looked over to Sofia, a normal thing I do every time before a routine. She looked back at me and nodded her head before handing me a hair tie, just another part of our usual routine when I'm about to go out on the ice.

I tied my shoulder-length hair up into a high ponytail and waited for the coach to let me know I could go on out. She nodded her head and I went out to the middle of the rink and waited for my music to start. And once it began, I took a deep breath, trying to focus as much as possible for this. And then I started the first movements for the routine.