The day I wrote a song about you

Chapter 7: Deal

The day started with a stain of black coffee in my jeans. I really hoped it wouldn't start a chain of catastrophes, nobody has time for that.

After I achieved to change my outfit, I finished my coffee and got out of my apartment. I took the elevator and went down to the garage.

"Okay, let's see where this is..."

I tapped on the location Cara had sent me the day before and a picture of a big building appeared in the screen. Harrington Palace Ice Arena. Oh. So she wanted me to go and see her skate? I was in. Before I started the engine, I texted Cara telling her I was on my way. I should've looked it up before I got out. It was almost an hour away and I had decided to leave just 40 minutes before.

After a while in the car, I discovered that it wasn't that far away from the city center, where we lived, but the traffic was horrible. I was a really patient person, but traffic jam made me unease. If only my car had wings.

52 minutes later, I arrived to the ice arena. It was a huge grey building, silver letters spelling its name. People were getting out, lots of girls, wearing tight clothes. My eyes wandered around, drooling a bit, not gonna lie. They all looked so intimidatingly fit and so delicate at the same time. I parked in the big parking lot behind the arena and waited for a moment for the song I was listening to to end.

Yeah, I was that kind of a person. As you can see, I didn't mind arriving late. If Cara had been waiting for me since 10.30 just as she said, she had been waiting now for 15 minutes more already. One more minute wouldn't hurt her.

I got out and walked towards the entry. There was a middle aged woman behind a counter in the hall. Since I didn't see Cara around, I decided to ask her.

"Hello. I was looking for Cara Belinsky?" I asked taking off my sunglasses.

The woman glanced up at me under her thin glasses. She simply extended her arm and pointed towards a big double door with a little window in the middle.

I nodded and gave her a tight smile before I tapped the counter twice. "Thank you."

People that walked by were looking at me. Maybe it was because I was slightly limping, but for some reason, I knew it was because they weren't used to see new faces around. I pushed the doors open and let out a big breath. Where was I even going? These hallway lead to the changing rooms. I felt it, I could smell the slight scent of shampoo.

Just at the end of the hallway, right next to the emergency exit, I saw her. She was talking to a tall and lean, but really fit man. He had a tracksuit on, a whistle and a notepad, so I was guessing he was the coach. Cara had her head down as she rummaged through her things in the bag. She nodded absentmindedly. I could totally see she was ignoring him.

With a sigh, the coach ran a hand along his face and laughed. "Come on, you can go. I'll see you later."

Only then did she glance up at him and smiled big. She waved him goodbye and turned around quickly, achieving to take out her phone. Cara stopped in her tracks when she saw me at the other end. Her big smile turned into a toothless one as she approached me. "I was just gonna call you. Have you been waiting for long?" She asked with a frown. "There was this thing that I couldn't get right."

"No, no. I just arrived." I smiled.

"Are you hungry? I'm starving. Did you have lunch already?"

"Lunch?" I asked confused. "I just woke up, I haven't even had breakfast." I chuckled.

"You're not serious." She opened the double doors and I walked past them behind her. "I've been awake for like five hours already."

I opened my eyes wide. "You wake up at 5.30?"