On Thin Ice

33

"Watch out!" Austin screamed as he stumbled past me on his skates, falling forward onto the ice. I couldn't help but chuckle at him.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

Austin nodded, trying to push himself up but slipping again.

"I don't know how you do this as a sport," he muttered as I pulled him up to his feet.

"Lots of practice."

It was Holly and Claudia's idea for the group to go ice skating on Saturday night. The rest of the group wasn't too keen on the idea but when we decided there was nothing else for us to do, we went along with it.

After my nap earlier in the day, I was ready to get out of the house.

I looked ahead and saw Lexa and Nadia holding hands while they were skating, shaking their heads at us.

"Can you pull me?" Austin asked, holding out his hand.

I nodded and grabbed him, pulling him along with me around the rink. Even with my guidance he had trouble staying on his feet.

"This is why I hate ice skating," he complained with a scoff.

"Aw, aren't you two so cute," Nadia teased as she skated by us, motioning toward our hands.

"Shut up," Austin shot back. "Since when do you two know how to ice skate?"

"It's not like it's hard," Lexa replied.

"Better watch out, Elijah," Nadia said with a coy smile. "I think having you pull him around the ice is Austin's way of flirting with you."

I couldn't help but laugh a little at that. "I doubt it."

"More like it's my way of not dying out here," Austin muttered.

"Where did Holly and Claudia go?" I asked as I looked around the rink. I saw Johnny and Trevor over on the other side, but the girls were nowhere to be found.

"Probably making out somewhere," Nadia said with a shrug.

I had yet to see if Claudia had gotten any better at skating, but I highly doubted it.

"I'm taking a break," Austin announced, grabbing onto the boards to keep himself up.

"So are we," Lexa said. "We were just about to go get some hot chocolate."

"Do you guys want any?" Nadia asked.

"I'm good," I replied, shaking my head.

The two of them made their way off of the ice while Austin held himself up. I skated away from him, gliding past Trevor and Johnny as the two slowly skated against the boards.

"Hey Elijah!"

I spun around to see Fawn and Ava skating toward me. My stomach immediately dropped, thinking of the possibility that Fox had brought them here.

"What's up?" I asked the girls as they skated next to me.

"What's it look like?" Ava asked, motioning toward her skates.

"Lose the 'tude," I told her.

Her and Fawn just chuckled as they continued following me.

"Who brought you here?" I asked, my voice filled with dread.

"Wren," Fawn answered. "We tried to get Fox to take us but he was being moody."

"When isn't he being moody," I mumbled, not meaning to say that out loud. Fox and I seemed like we should be perfect together; we were both constantly moody.