"And you're definitely sure you want to go ice skating?" Joey asked Lauren even as he was pulling on his skates, albeit apprehensively.
"Yes!" Lauren exclaimed. "It'll be fun."
Joey heaved a sigh. That was easy for her to say. She was good at ice skating. Joey just flailed around like a newborn deer still finding its feet. He'd only been skating with Lauren once before, and he'd ended up on his backside with her standing over him laughing, an experience he wasn't in a hurry to repeat.
But he couldn't really complain when she slipped her hand into his. She'd begged him for weeks to come with her, and he kept suggesting people she could go with instead, but she shut every suggestion down, and eventually Joey couldn't stand saying no to her anymore.
She stepped onto the ice first, and Joey racked his brain for a last minute excuse, but Lauren was still holding out her hand to him and the last thing he wanted to do was let her down, so he took her hand, gripping it tightly as he inched onto the ice, wobbling for what felt like forever before he managed to balance himself.
Lauren set off immediately, shifting her weight effortlessly from one foot to the other.
"Lo!" Joey called after her desperately, already feeling unsteady again without her to hold onto. But he lost sight of her amid the other skaters, so he made his way over to the edge of the rink, gripping the side.
Somehow, Lauren had already completed a full circuit. "You can't just hold onto the edge the whole time, Joey," she called as she skated past him.
"Not everyone's a fucking Olympic skater," Joey grumbled, and Lauren had to skid to a stop she was laughing so hard. Joey grinned in spite of himself, and Lauren glided back to him, taking both his hands in hers, and they started slowly skating together across the ice.
"Told you it would be fun," she said, beaming, her cheeks flushed red from the cold.
He rolled his eyes at her, concentrating on moving his feet forwards.
"I don't know how you can do this backwards," he said, sending Lauren into another laughing fit.
Joey grinned adoringly at her, and he was so distracted he forgot to focus on his balance and felt himself falling backwards. Lauren futilely tried to compensate, tugging at his hands in an attempt to pull him upright, but he was much heavier than her and ended up pulling her down with him. She gasped as she landed on top of him, the breath slightly knocked out of her.
"You okay?" Joey asked, concerned.
She nodded, laughing again. Joey was suddenly very conscious of Lauren's weight on top of him, her body heat making him forget about the chill ice pressing against his back. Her face was inches away from his, and he watched her eyelids flutter closed as he leaned up to kiss her, his hands pressing her body closer to his. He felt her smile into the kiss and couldn't help grinning too, pulling away to look at her. She pressed another quick kiss to his lips before pushing herself to her feet, hauling him up after her.
"I wasn't finished kissing you!" he shouted after her as she skated off again.
She twisted round. "You can have another kiss when I see you do a triple axel," she said, smirking.
"Fuck."
