Stick To The Stuff You Know || Thayne Jasperson x Reader

13

Thayne and I sit in Starbucks now. He has to head to the theatre in half an hour, but expects some other cast members to show up here before meeting deadline, so he told me it's okay if he takes his time.

My fingers are wrapped tightly around my cup of hot chocolate. My eyes fixed onto the table. I watch Thayne as he taps his fingers against his cup. The only sign of the cookie we had shared were the crumbs.

We've been silent ever since I left the rink like that. I honestly don't know what to say, so I guess we'll stay silent for a while longer.

My leg is stretched out slightly underneath the table, half leaned against Thayne's. He doesn't mind, I believe he would've said so if it were otherwise.

"Is your...are you okay?", Thayne carefully asks and the tapping of his fingers stopped.

"Are you talking about my knee or about me?", I ask and glance up at him. The worry on his face kills me slowly inwardly.

"I'm talking about you. You left rather abrupt and then you and Megan yelled at each other," Thayne replies and glanced down at his cup, before looking back at me and saying "I'm worried."

I crack a small, pitiful smile "I guess I've been better. I just feel like Megan will betray me any second and will tell Sarah..."

"Your coach doesn't know?", Thayne's eyes widen and I nod "She would take me off the ice in an instant. I can't have that. For the first time in my entire life, I have a chance at winning gold in the Grand Prix Final. For that, I have to get there. And for that, I need to practice and I need to compete. After the Cup of China I will take a small break and start skating again a little before the final. After that, Sarah can do whatever she wants and Megan can tell anyone. I won't care then. But for now, I just need to stay on the ice."

Thayne frowns a little and the corners of his mouth tug down slightly.

"I don't want you to hurt yourself."

The worry kills me but at the same time warms my heart. My god, Thayne, who made you so adorable?

"I won't. I promise."

Thayne looks little convinced, but he drops it when a certain couple jump into our booth. Anthony takes the seat beside Thayne and Jasmine pushes me further into the booth by sitting beside me.

"Why hello to you two," I can't help the smile as Jasmine hugs me in greeting and Anthony nods at me.

"We didn't want to disturb your couple time," Anthony says "But we really need to kidnap Thayne now and take him with us to the theatre before he forgets the time."

I giggle and as Thayne blushes slightly, I think a slight tint of color fills my face as well.

"I don't mind. Go ahead and take him with you. Also, how many times till you know that-" "You are not a couple, we know, we know," Jasmine finishes the sentence and waves me off, nearly swatting her hand in my face as she does.

I look at her mildly offended and she laughs "Sorry, we'll be taking our leave."

Jasmine and Anthony get up and Thayne looks at me with slight concern in his eyes "You gon' be okay?"

The couple pause slightly and look from Thayne to me a little confused.

I smile slightly and nod "Yeah, don't worry. Go to work."

Thayne's eyes tell me he doesn't believe me, but he smiles and gets up and leaves Starbucks with Jasmine and Anthony.

My smile slowly drops after they left the building and I glance back down at my cup. I sigh lowly and take another sip. Finally cool enough to drink but still warm enough that it's perfectly enjoyable.

I wander off in my thoughts, the worry in Thayne's eyes not letting me go. No matter what I think of, my thoughts always go back to him and how he's so worried about me. I admire that about him. His sense of caring for others, caring for me, just warms my heart.

The only people who've ever cared for me in my life are my family and fellow skaters across the continent. But there lies the problem. Everyone who cares about me is scattered across the whole world, while the only people I have here are my coach and choreographer. Everyone understands skating. Nobody understands my struggle.

But Thayne does. Thayne is the first person outside of skating who learned to like me for myself and not because I am famous in a sport that not a lot of people tend to acknowledge. And Thayne is here. He's here where I live and he can express his concerns to my face, unlike my family and other skater friends.

Thayne understands me. He understands my struggle of wanting to achieve something I've always dreamed of. He understands how I just can't stop practicing just yet, when I need everything to be perfect.

Fellow skaters would just wave it off and drag me off the ice by force if they had to, just so they could get me to rest.

Thayne doesn't.

And that's what I admire him for.