I take her hand again, as it appears I am unable to not be touching her, and lead her down the small path where the lake is. When we get there, I grab a shovel from the storage shed and head to the ice to start scraping off the layer of fresh snow to create a big enough square for us to skate. Kelly watches from the bank, where she waits and laces up her skates.
“Think this is good?” I ask, surveying my work.
“Looks big enough to me,” Kelly replies, while gliding over to where I’m standing.
She starts moving in circles, spinning and turning to glide backwards, a huge smile on her face. I chase her around then she tries to get me. Each time I make sure she ends up in my arms. We race from end to end and even go as far to land in the snowbank. She asks how my dad is doing after his last stay in the hospital. I fill her in on the diagnosis of his liver condition. He needs to eat better and cut alcohol completely out of his diet.
“How about your mom?” Kelly asks quietly. She knows it’s a delicate subject - one I don’t usually like talking about it. Only Matt and Kelly know the truth about my mom’s condition.
I shrug. “She can’t stop drinking. Even with the doctors telling her my dad can’t drink or he’ll die doesn’t stop her. It makes him want to drink because she is. It’s so twisted.” In the past year and a half, my mom has become a functioning alcoholic after she volunteered to help do a run and the team was too late. The children that should have been saved had died. She never recovered after seeing the gruesome scene. She refuses to get treatment or to see a professional about her PTSD symptoms. My parents have always been social drinkers. With my mom refusing to stop, it’s as if my dad can’t help himself either.
“Do one of those sit-spin things,” I call to her, circling her and hoping she can sense that I need a break from the current topic. Besides, I like watching how gracefully she moves.
“One of these?” she asks, before jumping, then dropping down on one skate, her other foot out, while she spins in circles.
“Whoo!” I call between my gloved hands, clapping when she steps out of it and pretends to take a bow.
“Your turn!” She shouts while laughing.
“Okay, what do you want?” I throw over my shoulder, skating away from her. I already know what she’s going to say.
“This high,” she replies, raising her arm up as far as she can reach. “You have to get the spray to touch my fingertip.”
I smirk, knowing it’s going to be easy. “You’re such a dork.”
She shrugs, matching my smile. “I’m your dork though.”
My step falters for a moment as I process what she just said. Then I’m gliding as fast I can toward her. Not once does she blink, trusting me not to crash into her. I slam my skates to the side, sending a spray of ice into the air, it goes over her hand then rains down on her hair and face. The ice crystals glisten before melting against the heat of her skin.
“Jason!” She squeals, then flings herself at me. I catch her easily, lifting her body in my arms while she starts rubbing her icy cold, and now damp, skin against mine.
“How are you always this cold?” I joke, skating us both over to the snow bank.
“I’m not.” Kelly looks down at me and smiles, her arms circling my neck tighter. “We’ve been out here for an hour already.”
“Seriously?” I ask, setting her back down and looking at my watch. “We better get going before it gets too dark.”
“I’ll help you pack up.” She volunteers, while we sit down and put our boots back on.
I’m not ready to head back; I’m not ready to share her or her time just yet. It feels like we’ve been waiting forever to get to this moment and be together and now that it’s here, I want her to myself. We pack quickly and I triple check that the stove is off and the place is locked back up.
Our ride home is just as smooth as when we left and we get back without any issues. I swing past Matt’s house and see him shoveling their driveway. We wave at him and he pretends to flip us off. I can feel Kelly’s chest vibrate with her laughter against my back and fuck, if that’s not the best feeling. I love making her laugh and smile that I start to plan how I can do it each and every day.
When we pull up to her house, the lights are on inside, and the sun is almost completely gone. The sky is already purple and fading into a light pink.
“You better get home before it’s pitch black out,” Kelly warns me, sliding off the back of my sled and pulling her helmet off.
“I’ll be fine,” I reassure her, while swinging my leg over the sled and moving toward her. Her eyes flick briefly to the house, before snapping back to mine. I grip her chin between my fingers and tilt her head back. “No hiding, right?” She bites her lip before shaking her head no, in agreement. Her eyes close, and her body relaxes. Smirking, I kiss her cheek and pull back quickly.
Her hazel orbs fly open. “You!” I laugh at her while she flushes.
“I’ll see you tomorrow!” I call, climbing back on the sled, and revving up the engine before speeding off down the road. I’ll never forget the surprise and flash of disappointment on her face for as long as I live. I knew she wouldn’t be comfortable with her parents seeing us kiss yet and I didn’t want to push her. Not about her parents. I respect her and her decision to tell them about us when she’s ready. Knowing I have to survive twelve hours before I can see her again is already giving me an anxious feeling in my chest. I really hope over the next thirty years this panic of not being next to her goes away or at least lessens. She’ll probably want to kill me if I insist on being everywhere she is. It can’t be helped now. In my eyes, she’s the perfect girl for me, and I’ll do anything I can to keep her.
Kelly
“Kelly, is the guest room made up?” My mom calls from downstairs. I literally just finished making the bed after spending my whole Friday night scrubbing the walls, vacuuming the floor and dusting every wood surface in the place. I even went above and beyond to remember to wash the sheets before putting them on the bed.
“Yes!” I shout back at her, trying my hardest not to let my frustration weave its way into my words. It wasn’t her fault we got a call at the last minute. These things happen all the time. Another glance at my watch, though, has me hustling extra fast. I was supposed to meet the guys fifteen minutes ago at Matt’s, before we all headed to the football game as a group. I knew I only had about two more minutes before Jason would be calling my house looking for me. We’ve been dating for nine months, and while my parents took the news well, they still take every opportunity to tell me they think were too serious and that we spend too much time together. I’m constantly reminding them that half of the time we’re together Matt is with us or we’re doing business for Matt’s family. Tonight, for example, Jason and I will be together but with a group who is running surveillance at the football game.
Nevertheless, Jason is a protective asshole, who is also sometimes borderline possessive. I secretly love it, even though I play it cool when we’re in front of others. After we officially got together, I went through a couple weeks of being ‘mean girled.’ Some poor soul was even stupid enough to ask me if Matt and Jason shared me. I didn’t tell the guys. I handled it on my own like the leader I would be one day. That flock of girls learned quickly how much power I had on my own, and all it took for a few of them to be scared straight was reminding them that I knew absolutely every single detail about them.