Off The Ice

Chapter 40

Sutton falls asleep halfway through the beginning of Tangled so I stop the movie and scoop her in my arms to put her to bed. I set her down on the left side before grabbing the small blanket at the end of the bed and lifting her head to place it underneath her. After that I go put away all of the leftovers and throw away the trash before closing down the living room and going back to the bedroom.

She's only going to get about four hours of sleep- ish- and for that I feel bad. Then again she can sleep in on Sunday so it should be fine. 

I text Gemma and ask her when she's leaving again and she says on Tuesday. I want to reply with a 'Thank-Fucking-God,' but instead don't reply at all. 

I care about Gem, I really do. She's my sister and I have to tolerate her, but there is only so much of her attitude I can take. Then you go and add Sutton to the mix and I just can't win. 

I look to the side of the bed and look at her lying next to me, peacfully sleeping. I use my thumb to gently push the hair off her forehead so I can see her face. 

I wish I could love her.

~~~Sutton's POV~~~

Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes and then I'm done. My legs are killing me, I feel like I'm about to fall over and sleep, and Lorelai decided today was the perfect day to drill both of my routines. For the whole. Entire. Day. 

I normally love to skate. I love staying on the ice longer than I need to. But today I am just so tired that someone either needs to pour a vat of coffee down my throat or take me to a room with a really fluffy bed with a million pillows so I can just fall asleep in a white heaven of fluffiness. 

Wow, I really am tired.

I push through the last twenty minutes but before I can leave the ice Lorelai calls out to me. "Hey Sutton, can I see you in my office?" I nod and step off the ice only long enough to get my soft guards before going up the ramp to the upper deck of the rink to knock on the door of the office. "Come in!" she calls through the wood. 

I smile at her as I walk through the threshold and take a seat in front of the desk she's sitting on. "What's up?" I ask.

"It's nothing big it's just... I've noticed you've been coming in very tired lately and you're always antsy to get off the ice and I don't know if it's because your nervous or what. But then I called you parents. And they said that you've been staying somewhere else almost every night with that guy from a few weeks ago and that leads me to believe some bad things."

"Lorelai, it's literally nothing. I fell asleep watching Disney movies last night on a couch, I'm not staying out until all hours partying. Come on, you know me better than that."

"I know, I know, I'm just checking because Sectionals is this coming weekend and I don't want you falling asleep in the middle of your program."

"No, no, I know. This week I'm going to be training longer and sleeping more. Trust me, I've got this under control. I'm pretty sure this is more important to me than anyone else so there is no way I'm jeopardizing it."

"That's what I wanted to hear. Alright, that's all. Go have fun. Sleep in tomorrow. Be prepared for Monday."

I laugh a little at her overbearing concern. "Yes ma'am," I say just to make her mad.

I run out of the office before she can reply but I still hear her shout, "DON'T CALL ME MA'AM!!!" I stifle a giggle and go over to the wall of lockers to switch my shoes and grab my stuff. As I'm slipping on my boots I see another pair walk up to me. 

"Hello, Tom. How are you on this fine day?" I ask, standing up and slinging my bag on my shoulder.

"Very good, Judy, thank you for asking."