The day I wrote a song about you

Chapter 8: Laugh

She took long strokes, one foot after the other, her face focused on some point in the rink. After she gained momentum, she lifted her right leg for a second using it right after to turn, as she took off with her other foot, jumping and spinning three times in the air, landing on just one foot, her other leg extended forward as she glided backwards.

My jaw was on the floor.

Cara's coach clapped. She had been trying it since I arrived and she had finally done it. I'd seen her fall so many times now that it had started to hurt me. "Cara's back!" The man cheered. "She has risen from the ashes!"

Cara laughed as she skated towards him, covering her mouth with both of her gloved hands. "Don't be silly, I was always here."

"Well, keep doing what you're doing and you'll be killing it at nationals. Ten minutes break, I need to make a call." Cara nodded and went to grab her water bottle.

The figure skater hadn't seen me yet. I had been here since 9 am. That was as early as she could get from me. I couldn't make myself get up from bed before 8. It was already 10.30 am and she hadn't stopped skating. She'd probably train for another hour as she said yesterday. My decision not to tell her I was gonna come was made earlier that night. It was worth it. Seeing her in her habitat, so concentrated but her movements looking so effortless at the same time.

People had started leaving around 10. Some of them even earlier, since there were super humans out there who managed to synchronize this sport with school.

Cara sat down outside the rink in a bench for a moment. I took that as my time to say hello. Walking down the stairs slowly, I sat down beside her. I didn't wanna scare her this time.

"Bonjour, bébé."

She turned her head around and almost spit all the water in her mouth. "Hi!" She exclaimed more surprised than I expected. "What are you doing here?"

"You said that I could see you skate." I smirked.

"Yeah." She gave me a confused smile. "I didn't know it would be this soon."

"I've been here for about an hour and a half." I announced proudly.

Resting a hand on her chest, she pursed her lips and blinked. "I'm touched."

I laughed. "You're good." I nodded towards the rink.

"You know anything about figure skating?"

"No. But what you do is really cool." I smiled boyishly.

She chuckled and shook her head, adjusting her left skate. "Yeah, I'm good. I'm one of the best, actually. Let's hope the judges next month say the same-"

"Hello, Tinker Bell." A masculine voice came from the hallway that lead to the changing rooms. A tall, black haired guy appeared behind the bleachers. He was wearing a tight long sleeve shirt that made his shoulders and back look broader that they probably were. He had nice legs, too. Just like Cara and everyone else in this arena. They weren't sticks like mine. They were strong and defined.

"Hi, Mushu." Cara rolled her eyes at the guy, what only made his smile wider. I thought that was slightly offensive, but hey, he had smiled.

"Did you do it?"

"Yeah."

"Fuck off, you didn't." He scoffed.

"I did!" She retorted like a little kid, kicking her skate hard against the floor. "Nico, you saw it. Tell him I did the triple axel!"

I frowned confused and nodded quickly. She did. Whatever that was, she did it.

The guy narrowed his eyes at her as if he didn't believe it but then landed them on me. He put one of his best professional smiles on, and brought his hand forward. "Oh, hi. Didn't see you there. I'm Jeong-wu. You can call me J."