Blue

Chapter 9

As to my expectance, the alarm went off exactly five minutes later than when I set it. But that's fine, I had preset it five minutes early anyways. Damn, I should've bought one when I went to Target with Nate. Speaking of Nate, he texted me Saturday night asking me if I wanted to go ice skating with him the next day. Which happened to be today. Well, actually in forty five minutes from now.

"Oh really now?" I had typed.

"Precisely, yes," he had responded seconds later. I pictured him smiling on the other side from his witty response.

I texted him the address in which he would pick me up at, which then led to me having to explain my living conditions. That's another person checked off the list.

I did my usual routine in the bathroom, accompanied by giving my hair a few spritz of dry shampoo. I picked out a hoodie with a pocket to hold my phone, and a pair of skinny jeans. I dragged the eyeliner pen across my eyelid to form a small wing, finishing off my minimal look with a slightly tinted lip balm and a dab of mascara.

I'm outside.

Nate's text read.

I scurried down the stairs, getting stopped by Cameron sitting in the living room with a bowl of potato chips.

"Hey, where are you going?" He crunched.

"Ice skating with Nate." I sat down on the ottoman to tie my laces.

"You're dating Tanger?"

"I'm not dating anyone, we're just going ice skating!" I grab the keys above me and reached for the door.

"Alright, alright," I heard him laugh behind me.

Nate's silver Volkswagen sat in front of the house. I walked up to it and opened the door, greeted by a sharp smell of pine from the typical little tree air freshener hanging from his rear view mirror.

"You look nice," he said, reaching out to fix my braid in place.

I buckled in my seatbelt and looked back at him. "Thanks?"

I made everything too awkward, great. We drove in silence the whole way, the only sound being the purr of the engine. He took me downtown, a place I have yet to explore.

"What is this place?" I asked him, putting my hands in my pocket.

"It's called Christmas in the Park. There are small houses and little shops everywhere, and a big ice rink in the center of it. If you want we can maybe look around for some restaurants and get something to eat for dinner?"

"That sounds nice."

We walk through the front gates, getting free admission for showing our school I.D.'s. The place is heavily decorated with Christmas trees and trinkets, which is funny because the first day of December isn't until tomorrow. I catch sight of carts selling gingerbread and candy canes, and Nate promises we can buy some later.

The ice rink is ginormous. There are only a few people skating on it right now, and there are barely any skate marks on the ice. Nate and I pay for our own rental skates and sit down on a bench to change out of our sneakers. I laughed when Nate couldn't figure out how to tie up the laces, so he lifted the boot up for me to help him.

I got up before Nate, turning around to see him holding onto a lamp post to support himself. His long legs wobbled beneath him, his skates sticking out in different directions.

"You don't know how to skate, do you?" I laughed.

His face reddened. "I do... Just a little rusty, that's all."