The Guard To My Sanctuary

Chapter 16

Elm

"So he really is a pro," I said aloud as Marco left me, holding onto the rink wall and gliding around on the slick wood floors, spinning on one of the curves and skating his way back toward me. It was early Saturday morning, and we were on our first date together. The wait for the day had been prolonged since he had to stay on base all night.

For some reason, he couldn't tell me because it involved classified information. He approached me smugly and held his hands out, which I took quickly so I wouldn't fall. The vibrations from the bass startled me a little, and I found myself leaning all the way onto him.

"Show off," I muttered.

"Come on," he said, rolling in front of me. "Place your feet shoulder-width apart, bend your knees, and squat. Lower your ass toward the ground and lean up a little into a squatting position," he directed, helping me position my body correctly. It felt nice having him touch me so tenderly and treat me gently. He always touched me gently, but this time, it was different; his hands lingered on my sides, and he positioned himself closer. I saw an older couple who looked like they ate food directly out of a can give us odd looks, but I wasn't going to let them ruin my moment.

Once I was in the correct position, he directed me to make my feet perpendicular and then told me to move in a heel-toe pattern, and just like that, I was skating. I still had to hold onto Marco's hand because my balance wasn't the best, but I had the best time of my life. I felt my phone vibrate and knew it was likely my family since I didn't know anyone else.

We skated for ninety minutes until I could feel the lactic acid build up in my almost nonexistent leg muscles. We didn't talk much; we just laughed and tried our best to sing along to some of the songs that played. That didn't go well for us since we both had horrible singing voices. Mine was way too high for the low notes and middle notes. Marco's was too deep, and he was tone-deaf. When we got tired, we both exited the rink, made our way to return the skates and put our shoes on. Then we walked to his car. He opened the passenger side door for me to enter through, and I got in and waited for him to get in and drive away.

He drove us to a beach-themed restaurant called Rubio's, parking in front of a brown building. We were seated in a cozy booth surrounded by people and ordered lemonade, still deciding what to eat.

"Did you like skating?" he asked, sipping his lemonade. His smile was just mesmerizing.

"Yeah, it was fun. My legs hurt, but it was worth it," I responded with a smile. We looked at each other for a moment before we were interrupted by the waiter, a light-skinned guy with curly hair who stared at me a little longer than needed.

"What can I get you?" he said, looking directly at me. I hadn't even looked at the menu, so I quickly looked through it. The waiter kept looking at me, which made me uncomfortable. I hated being stared at since sometimes people recognized who I was and would try to talk to me.

"We'll have two coastal trios," Marco said aggressively. I had a feeling something unspoken was going on between the two men.

"Oh, okay, you sure?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I'm sure," confused as to why he was asking me that.

"Alright," he said, walking away but not before winking. Then it dawned on me.

"Was he flirting with me?" I asked, astounded and flattered.

"Yeah," Marco answered, obviously irritated by the entire situation.

"Are you mad at me? I didn't even know what he was doing; I hadn't ever had someone flirt with me. Every person who wanted me didn't really have to goad me into it," I asked, concerned.