78

Ice skating ? Joey asks when he sees the sign.
I nod my head. Yeah, my parents used to take us a lot. I’m actually pretty good at it, I can teach you.
So can I, I used to go a lot with my friends at my old school, Melissa says, turning in her seat to look at us while Lila finds a place to park since it was surprisingly busy tonight. We all pile out of the car to go inside to get our skates and prepare to hit the ice.
What if I fall ? Joey asks as he sits on the bench next to me.
You fall and you get back up, that’s all you can do. Just stick by me because if you get on the wall, you won’t find the courage to get off, so let me help you, alright ? I explain and he nods, standing up with me. I reach out to grab his hands when he almost loses his balance and starts to fall backward.
He chuckles. I don’t think I’ll be too good at this.
Don’t say that until you’ve tried it, I tell him.
I look at my parents who were sitting with Lila and Conner to help them get their shoes on and I’m immediately hit with a wave of gratitude that they were good friends now. I don’t know what I would’ve done if my parents didn’t like them because these memories we’re all creating together really were the best for me. Emilie comes to stand next to me, taking me out of my trance to pull me towards the ice.
You ready ? I ask Joey, who looks pretty nervous to take his first step.
Yeah, he says and I make sure Cody’s okay with Melissa since he hasn’t ever been skating before either and would need to learn a few things before he got too confident.
I grab hold of the side before taking a step, gliding with ease against the ice. Joey’s next and when his foot hits the ground, his knee buckles and he almost trips, caught by my sister and I. We laugh, helping him up to stand on the ice so he could get used to the feeling. I intertwine my fingers with his in a tight grip as Emilie does the same so he has support on both sides.
Alright, just push yourself off with the side of your blade when you feel yourself slowing down, Emilie instructs him.
When I look down at his feet, I chuckle when I see them spread apart awkwardly. I reach down, grabbing his knee to slide it closer to his other leg to make it easier on him. He gives me a grateful look as we help get him going by holding onto him as we skate as slow as possible to ease him into the experience. I look behind me to see Cody doing surprisingly well next to his girlfriend who was talking to him. My parents still hadn’t made it onto the ice with Lila and Conner for some reason, but I focus more on my fiance that was still struggling a bit next to me.
You’re not doing too bad. You haven’t fallen yet, which is surprising. When I did this for the first time, I immediately fell and everyone in the rink laughed at me, Emilie told him.
I watched him turn his head to lightly glare at her. Well, that makes me feel great.
We got you, we won’t let you fall, she tells him.
Unless we want to laugh because that would be hilarious, I tell him, letting out a small chuckle when he turns his glare to focus on me. I let go of his hand to see how well he would do without much support and he stumbles, surprised that I let go. I immediately grab his shoulders to steady him as I skate backwards in front of him.
After a few minutes, he was doing better without having my support, so I rush over to my parents who were having trouble getting onto the ice with Joey’s parents. I step out of the rink to see two nervous people along with my mom urging them to come out. I reach out to grab Lila’s hands and pull her up. Come on, we got you, alright ?
Lila looks up at me in shock before looking out at the rink to see her son skating away with my sister that was urging him to go a bit faster. When she sees him, I can tell she gains the courage and follows me onto the ice. I help her step on without stumbling and holds her hands as I stand in front of her while my parents help Conner.
I can tell that Lila wasn’t having too much trouble and was getting it down really quickly, making me chuckle that she had so much hesitation at the idea of doing this. You’re a natural.
Really ? She asks, staring down at her feet.
Yeah, just don’t stare at your feet the entire time. People can get pretty fast around here and could easily knock you over if you’re not paying attention, so make sure to always be looking up, alright ? I tell her.
She nods her head as I lightly let go of her hands to see how she would do on her own. I turn around for a second to see that Joey had stumbled to the ground while Emilie was helping him up. I got my mom’s attention to watch over Lila while I skated towards my man, who had a small blush on his face.
You okay ? I ask, grabbing his hand and helping him up.
Yeah, perfectly fine. She just let go, he said, motioning to my sister.
I just wanted to test how you were doing, she says with a giggle as she wipes some ice off of the back of his head before speeding up to loop around to my mom and Lila. I tapped Joey’s shoulder and motioned to his mom that was skating beautifully all by herself.
He groans, running a hand over his freezing face. How come she’s so good ?
She’s a natural, I tell him, gripping his hand before pushing both of us forward at a faster speed than last time. He looks down at me with a smile and I can tell that even though he fell, he’s having a good time.
We stay on the ice for about an hour and a half and the only person that still had some problems was Conner, but that’s probably because he was more focused on talking to my dad than skating. I could tell they were seriously bonding and that made my heart happy at the idea of them being friends.
Joey was doing a lot better and he even figured out how to do it by himself. He wasn’t able to speed up that well, but he still did it without any support and that was pretty good in just an hour and a half. Cody was pretty good as well even though he never let go of Melissa’s hand the entire time, but he never fell, unlike his friend.
Once we step off the ice, Joey and Conner look grateful to be done with the task as they start to take off their skates. We return our shoes before grabbing a cup of hot chocolate that they were handing out for the day. Before we go home, we all play some arcade games and I can tell that that was definitely Joey’s strong suit by how many tickets he wins before getting some candy for the both of us.
Once we’re done, we say bye to my family before making out way home. Joey and I were both tired and as soon as we got home, we went to our bed and passed out, happy that after everything that happened this morning, we were still able to have a good time with the people we loved.