Off The Ice

Chapter 17

This morning after I left I changed in the bathrooms in the building and grabbed a quick breakfast sandwich from McDonald's. I know that seems unhealthy but I got one of their egg-white biscuits and an orange juice so it worked. 

Louis, Ellie, and I are sitting in the rink, eating the food we all just bought at the farmer's market down the street. We're making lame small-talk about how we all got into skating. Apparently the two of them met in in kindergarten when Louis and his parents moved here from England. Louis and the American Ellie connected instantly and then they went on a play date to a skating rink where they both excelled in learning. They begged their parents to put them in classes, together of course. In middle school they decided to start being a real couple and it's lasted all the way until now. They're still together, which makes their chemistry that much stronger. 

When Louis found his addiction for tattoos, he begged Ellie to get one and now they have matching tattoos on their breast plates, just low enough for any costume Ellie has to cover it. Louis, however, has complete sleeves and a long quote across his chest that reads: It Is What It Is in large cursive letters. He's a little like Harry in that way, I guess.

We wrap up our meal and throw away our trash. "Hey did you want to go out with us after practice today, Sutton?" Louis offers.

"Yeah, we could go see a movie or something." Ellie suggests.

"Oh, guys I would love to but I have someone meeting me after practice and then I'm going out to dinner with my family. We do it every Wednesday, it's just this kinda thing that we all do. Maybe tomorrow?" I offer. 

"Totally." Ellie replies as we all get on the ice and seperate different ways for training. 

My triples are becoming better and better everyday. I've nailed my double axel and my triple is nearly perfect. Lorelai says I improve my jumps too quick for her to keep up.

"Make sure when you go out tonight that you don't order something fatty. You know how difficult it is to do a Russian on ice, let alone with a few extra pounds." Lorelai says as she dismisses me. "You're not fat, but you have about twenty pounds of pure muscle and fatty foods aren't going to help."

"I know, I'm on top of things."

"Alright. See you tomorrow." She says, stepping off the ice to go to her office where her husband showed up fifteen minutes ago. 

As I slide over to the edge of the ice I see the door to the rink fly open and Harry walk through. The sun reflects against him and his face is covered in shadows. When he steps forward into the light I see his face; it's covered in blood. A huge gash rests above his right eye, just below his hair line. There are several other smaller cuts scattered around his face. I instantly run over to him, skates still on my feet. He catches me before I crash into him. "Easy." He teases.

"Harry what the hell?!"

"Keep it down." He nudges, suddenly serious as he drags me to my things. I sit on the bench and start changing my shoes. 

"What happened? Who did this to you?"

"Relax. He looks worse."

"Was it the guy from last night?"

"The only thing Hastings did was egg me on. I'm the one who threw the first shot glass at his face." Harry says, taking responsibility for what happened to his skin.

"Who is this Hastings guy? He seems to bring out the worst in you."

"He left me alone until a few days ago. I don't know what the fuck screwed with his head and made him find me again, he knows what happened last time." Harry immediately stops talking like he said something he shouldn't have.