All Roses Have Thorns

Erin XVII

Out of ten, she would give the breakfast a six. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't outstanding. She had eaten a bagel and three containers of yogurt. The hotel didn't have a very diverse selection, so her options were limited. Now they were all going outside to the van, which wasn't as suspicious as it sounded. Sebastian had shotgun, since he was giving Jake the directions; while Zach, Erin, and Reese were in the front row; Matt and Ryan were in the middle row; and Sierra, Safiya, and Maggie were in the back.

Erin's legs were draped across Zach, and she was playing a card game with him and Reese. Go fish, to be exact. "Have any eights?"

Reese groaned and handed over the card. "How are you so good at this?"

"I've got a sixth sense," she smiled. "Hey Zach."

"Yeah?"

"Do you have any eights?"

"Yes," he grumbled and handed her the eight of hearts.

Erin laughed and put the set down next to the others. She already had all of the eights, sevens, threes, queens, and kings. Reese had the twos and Zach had the jacks, as well as the nines. "Okay, do you," she pointed at Zach, "have any-"

"We're here!" Jake stopped the car.

"Yay!" Erin forgot all about her cards and swept them aside to put them in her bag. "C'mon, c'mon, let's go!"

"Where are we?" Reese asked.

She could practically see the sparkles in Erin's eyes. "A skating rink!"

»» — ⋆❀⋆ — ««

After renting skates, they were all set. It was surprisingly empty. There was no one else there, except for the bored man running the rental booth.

Erin didn't even wait for the rest of them to get their skates on. She pushed open the gate and started to skate, speeding around the outer edge. She skated into the middle and spun around.

"Step aside, Erin!" Reese stepped onto the ice, a smirk growing on her face.

She put her hands up. "Fine." She skated over to the edge.

Reese stopped at the edge of the rink before she started skating... backwards. She did a complicated step sequence around the rink before swinging her right leg up, jumping into the air while spinning, before landing on one leg and going into spiral, her smile even brighter than before. She struck a pose with both hands. "Ta-dah."

"WOAHHHHH!" They all started yelling in mixed combinations of shock and delight.

Erin gasped. "How in the world?! Was that a double axel?"

"Yep," Reese smiled. "I'm a competitive figure skater! I'm surprised I hadn't told you already, but then again, I'm not. I don't talk about it much."

"That's so cool! Why didn't you tell me?!"

She shrugged. "Didn't occur to me."

"Rude!" Erin shook her head. "You didn't think to tell me that you're probably going to be an olympic figure skater?"

"W-What? Olympics? Who said I'm going to the Olympics?!"

"Me!"

"That was the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Safiya yelled.

Maggie nodded, "That was wicked! You were just like... phwitcha!"

"Hey, I've got an idea." Zach stepped onto the ice. He held out a hand for Erin, who took it, and they started skating around the rink. He whispered something in her ear, and she nodded.

Erin stretched out her left arm lifted her right leg, holding onto her ankle. Zach held her hand and knee, preventing her from falling.

He whispered, "Ready?"

She nodded, and he let go of her. Erin swung her leg around, executing an a hundred eighty degree turn, and landed smoothly on one foot. Then the moment was broken when she tripped and fell backwards.

Zach caught her under her arms and continued skating while Erin moved her skates to be flat again. Then they kept skating. The others held up their fingers with scores.

Safiya, being the generous friend held up her score first. "Ten!"

Maggie gave them four points. She shrugged. "It wasn't horrible."

"Seven," Matt held up his hands. Ryan gave them a five.

Sierra held up a six. "Not bad for non-figure skaters."

Erin laughed at their reactions and skated away. The rest of them got on the ice, and they all messed around for a while with races and competitions.

Eventually, they broke for lunch and headed to the local Panera. They spent the afternoon watching random episodes of Supernatural before they went out for dinner at a sushi place. Jake and Reese went to get frozen yogurt by themselves afterwards.

Zach and Erin were sitting on the roof again in silence. Erin asked, "Are you enjoying your time here?"

"Yes. I am." He turned to look at her. "Why the sudden question?"

"No reason," she replied, but there was always a reason. She just didn't feel like sharing it.

He sighed. "Alright."