Caged

6

The whole arena was almost empty and I enjoyed the calming cold of the ice rink. I considered it another home, like a safe place.

The white skates I wore glided easily across the smooth surface, and I only stopped to skid to a stop when I reached the opposite end of the rink. I shivered, zipping up the sweater I wore to cover my chest, and wished I had brought more to cover up. I slid to a slow stop, my skates stopping parallel to each other, and gripped the wall with one hand. With my free hand, I grabbed my phone to check the time.

It was nine in the morning, and I had gotten up a few hours ago to come to the rink. It was Monday morning, so that explained the little to no people here; a rarity. We had a day off from school because of something the staff had going on, so I had nothing to do for the rest of the day.

I was in the middle of answering a text from Elijah asking where I was when my phone died, and I was left staring at my reflection in the black screen. Putting my phone aside on the bench outside the rink, I pressed my hands to my face, the warmth pressing against my slightly red cheeks. My head was beginning to hurt and I knew I was probably going to get sick again. I suddenly regretted not bringing a jacket or hat with me.

"Still haven't learned your lesson, huh?" I startled, spinning around on the ice and I barely managed to keep my balance as I came face to face with Sebastian.

He stood off the ice, a few feet away from where I stood. Instinctively, my eyes drank him in.

A small grin shaped his full mouth, a twinge of amusement dancing in his dark green eyes as he watched me scramble to stay up. Under the dim lights of the arena, his hair looked more silver than ever—similar to the color of moonlight. I took in the sharp, prominent features I wished I didn't like so much: a structured jaw paired with a set of dark eyebrows and eyelashes that brushed his high, angled cheekbones softly as he blinked.

"W—what?" I watched him, confused, my skates digging into the ice to stay in place. Sebastian's lips quirked up in a small smirk as he took a step closer to the gap from which you entered the rink.

"I said," he began teasingly. "Haven't you learned your lesson yet?" He asked.

"What lesson?"

He didn't answer for a few moments, holding my stare and I shifted uncomfortably from the intensity of the same eyes that had become engraved into my mind, even after the years. Sebastian shook his head and chuckled softly, "I mean you still refuse to wear a jacket, Iz, even though you get sick every time. I used to have to force you to take mine."

I smiled at the fact that he remembered before shaking my head as I slipped my hands in my pockets, shivering. I hoped he didn't notice. "I'm wearing a sweater, it's not that cold."

He cocked an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. "What are you doing here?" I asked, changing the subject.

At that, Sebastian averted his eyes and they traveled through the rest of the empty arena, stopping to study the signs near the ceiling. "Emily has lessons on the other rink today, I had to drop her off," he told me.

I perked up at that, my eyes shifted past him to the glass doors. I had a view of the west rink through them and more people practiced on that side today. This one was usually left for spare practice time for visitors or the ice hockey teams.

"She's learning how to skate?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes at that and leaned his weight on the wall next to him. "I guess you could call it that. She's shit."

I let out a small laugh at that, "Don't be mean. She's six and she just started, what do you expect?"

"Trust me, if you saw the little brat on the ice you'd stop making excuses, " he joked and I shook my head, gliding the short distance to step off the ice.