As He Held My Hand

17. Ice Is Not My Thing

17. Ice Is Not My Thing

Gemma’s POV

Exam week goes by quickly. After we finished our last set of midterms for North Bay High, people wanted to celebrate. A small group of people were planning on going to our local ice rink to go ice skating. January was already half over, and the ice rink would be closed in a few weeks. I somehow got invited through Grant or Alex, but I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to go.

Grant and Alex bombard me with the question a day after exams finished. They both sit in front of me like an interrogation and slide my lunch away from me. “Hey!” I cry out, reaching for my sandwich. “Not until you answer.” Alex warns, pointing a finger in my direction. “What was the question again?” I ask, folding my arms and resting them on the table. Grant is smiling at me from the other side of the table, and I feel my cheeks warm. “A group of us are going to the ice rink to go ice skating. Do you want to come?” she asks me again, sounding slightly exasperated. “Who’s going?” I ask, not wanting to encounter a few specific people, a.k.a. Greg and/or Rick.

“Aaron and his girlfriend Hazel, Shaun, Alex, Jordan and his girlfriend, Rick, and me. Oh, and hopefully you too.” Grant tells me. Greg wasn’t going, and I suppose that’s good for Alex, but Rick would be there. “I don’t know. Ice isn’t really my thing.” I mumble, looking at Grant. It takes him a second before he remembers the event that led to our eventual relationship: I nearly fell on my ass because of ice.

“I’ll be there to catch you.” Grant tells me, and I smile. Alex rolls her eyes but then laughs. “You too are adorably annoying.” she says. “Fine. I guess I’ll go.” I say. They finally hand me my sandwich back and the three of us eat lunch together. “I’ll pick you up at around 6.” Grant tells me on our way out of the cafeteria. I nod my head and peck him on the cheek before going to my next class.

This trip ought to be interesting.

_______________

At exactly six o’clock, I see Grant’s car pull into the driveway. I jump up from my seat, eager to see him but not so eager to go ice skating. I’ve only been a few times, and I was OK at it, but I hadn’t been to the ice rink in years.

Grant saunters up to the side door and triple knocks before I open it. “You ready to go?” he asks. I nod my head, and he takes my hand in his and leads me out to his car.

 “You know, I don’t actually need any help until we get on the ice, right?” I ask sarcastically, and he chuckles. “Right, right, because you have never slipped on ice in, I don’t know, a parking lot maybe?” He replies with the same tone of sarcasm.

We don’t go straight to the ice rink. First, we pick up Alex and then Shaun. Aaron and Hazel promised to meet us there while Rick, Jordan, and Jordan’s girlfriend who I’ve never met before, are driving there themselves. Alex pats my shoulder as she climbs into the car and assures me that I’ll be fine. I nod my head to reassure myself. It was just ice skating. Who knows? Maybe I’d be better at it than I thought.

The ice rink is outside, which is why they close it around mid-February. It has already begun to get dark out when we arrive, and the rink is decorated beautifully. White lights are wrapped around the trees, twisted around their trunks and weaved into their branches. Music plays from a set of speakers outside of the shack where you can buy food, drink, and rent a pair of ice skates. Since I don’t go ice skating that much, Alex agreed to rent a pair with me.