The Ideal Deal

28

Dominic's POV

I tightened my grip on the pole as I took a slow slide. Though music was blasting, I could hear Summer's hideous laughter as clear as filtered water. I sent her a deadly glare, which only encouraged her to laugh even more at my failure. I hated roller skating because it was one of the things I sucked at. I knew that Summer had the impression that I was great at everything, so it was quite embarrassing now that she was watching me miserably fail at something. I tried to skate again, but my fear caused me to gasp while reaching for the pole for balance. Unfortunately, I fell, which gave Summer much more amusement. She was crouching a bit as she held her stomach, and sounds of disharmony escaped her mouth as she stared at me.

I grunted and struggled to stand up. Once I was up, I reached for the pole once more and fell, causing her to laugh at me even more. I sucked my teeth and crossed my arms while hoping that another skater wouldn't topple me.

Summer skated over to me and smiled while stretching her hands out. I slapped them away and carefully crawled to the pole. I then grabbed the railing and made slow steps to the exit of the rink. As soon as I was about to exit the rink, however, I felt a hand grab mine. I turned around to meet her mesmerizing eyes that always seemed to captivate me.

"Don't be a sore loser, Dominic. Let me teach you," she kindly offered while staring warmly into my eyes. I had been refusing her help because I wanted to prove to her and myself that I was capable of figuring things out on my own. I had always been an independent person, so it seemed foreign to me to ask for help.

I frowned, "So you can laugh at me again. No, thanks," while pulling my hand out of hers.

"Well, maybe if you'd actually let me help you, you wouldn't be falling so much," she smiled teasingly. "Besides, my friends are watching us, and I'm pretty sure they're enjoying seeing you fall way more than I am. Let's let them bite their tongues."

I didn't like the idea of being in the rink and trying again, but I enjoyed proving others wrong whenever they felt that I couldn't rise to the challenge.

"Fine," I gave in, and we laced our fingers together.

She promised, "We'll go slowly." I nodded and used my other hand to grip the pole for security. "Glide left, glide right, and slightly bend your knees when you're doing it." I did as she instructed and noticed that I was actually going somewhere. "See, not so bad, right?" I looked over to her and gave a soft nod before focusing on my feet once more. "We're gonna go a little bit faster now, so you'll have to let go of the pole. We can stay close to it if it'll make you feel better, though."

"Do I look like a kid to you?" I asked, causing her eyebrows to raise. She shook her head with surprise laced in her eyes. "Quit talking to me like I'm one then. And know that if I fall, I'm going to kill you."

Summer burst into laughter at my sour attitude and skated in front of me. She then stretched out both of her hands, and I hesitantly connected mine with hers. Timely, her friends skated by us and mocked us for holding hands, which caused Summer to blush. She sure was good at acting, being that she sometimes gave off expressions that would only make sense if she actually did like me. I wasn't one to overthink things, however, so I always brushed moments like those off.

Summer looked at our hands before looking into my eyes. "Now, if you fall, I do too," she smiled. I began to question why she'd want to embarrass herself to try to help me, but I didn't want to overthink the situation. For that reason, I simply nodded. "Because I'm skating backwards, I'm going to need a lot of help from you. You're going to have to glide while gently pushing me, and I'll also be gliding but pulling you."

I slowly glided, but when she gently tugged me, I wasn't expecting it, so I ended up tripping and accidentally tackling her onto the ground. I expected her to be upset, but she only laughed with full enjoyment in her eyes. For some reason, I found myself laughing as well.

"I'm sorry," I apologized as we sat up. She got up and then helped me up.

She smiled, "It's no problem, really. The fun thing about roller skating is that you get to have fun. If you take the fun out of it or even out of learning, fulfilling the task becomes difficult, tiresome, and annoying."

I nodded in agreement while smiling and tucking a few strands of her hair behind her ear. She was truly beautiful- internally and externally. "You're right," I smiled, "but I was apologizing mainly for my sour attitude earlier. I know you think I'm perfect at everything, but as you can see, I have my weaknesses. I also snapped at you because I'm not really open to accepting help. I always do things by myself, and when I figure things out, I perfect them. I was being a sore loser, and I'm thankful that my attitude didn't make yours sour."

She smiled while releasing one of my hands, and we slowly glided. I wasn't holding the pole anymore because I was no longer afraid of falling.

"I get it," she related. "I like to be independent myself, and I used to be very stubborn towards accepting help. However, my freshman and sophomore year in high school taught me that I didn't know everything and that it's not always going to be easy combating something new. Sometimes you have to ask for help, but that doesn't make you weak. It makes you open to learning and growth."

I smiled as I thought about what she was saying. I then looked at her, and she looked at me. I smiled, "You'd make a great mom."