You Teach?

The following weekend on Saturday was when I had skating lessons. I arrived at the Harley Mall ice skating rink half an hour before classes start as always. And that’s when I see something that completely surprises me.

Wren McCarty, skating gracefully on the ice like a music box ballerina. He twists and jumps into the air, sending himself totally flying onto another side. He lands gracefully and twists gracefully to a stop and bows down at the rows of empty seats as if an audience were witnessing his ever so graceful performance.

He wasn’t dressed up as a skater but he was dressed up normally. No one would’ve suspected that he was going to be skating today. I clap my hands loudly and he jumps. He sees me and waves a hand, smiling my way. I smile back and get into the rink, putting on my skates.

“Hey!” He says. He helps me up and we both just stand there, looking at each other.

“Hey.” I say back cheerfully, breaking the awkwardness between us.

“Didn’t expect you to be here,” I say, skating circles beside him. He circles around me slowly and smiles. “Neither did I.”

“I teach kids how to skate here now,” I tell him and he looks surprised.

“Really?” He asks in amazement. “Wow, that’s great!”

I nod in agreement and skate faster, skating away from him. He chases me from behind and lifts me up in the air, skating as if we were in a skating competition. I shriek excitedly as Wren holds on to me tightly and skates faster.

He sets me down gracefully and we skate hand in hand, skating in synch. We twist with our hands in each other’s and focus on each other’s eyes.

That’s when I fall in love with him again.

We stop twisting and he puts a hand behind my back and catches me before I fall, making us look like we were dancing. We stare into each other’s eyes and smile as if we were going to burst out laughing. Suddenly, we hear claps and we see parents with their children who’re my students.

I look back at Wren and say, “My students!”

I get back up on my feet and skate to the skating rink’s entrance where the children come running to me. Skylar and her cousin, Ava, come running in excitement.

“Is that your fiancé, Miss Turner?” Ava asks coyly. I squint my eyes and smile at her.

“No, I’m her friend.” I hear Wren say behind me. He puts a hand on my shoulder.

I just got friend-zoned. Wow.

“Who are you, sir?” Skylar asks Wren coyly. Wren flashes a smile at her and she and Ava blushes.

“Wren, Wren McCarty. Mr McCarty though.” Wren says, bowing down. Ava and Skylar giggle and I just roll my eyes. Wren laughs his head off and Ava asks, “Is he going to be with us today, Miss Turner?”

Wren looks at me and I look back at him. “Absolutely. In fact, he’s your new coach!” I say, looking back at Wren to see if he was okay with this spontaneous statement. Wren looked honoured and said, “Yep. Going to be teaching you kids with Miss Turner here.”

Skylar and Ava give each other these naughty looks and I wave them off. There were a few kids behind them. “Alright, all of you get your gear on. Class A skaters with me and Class B skaters with Mr McCarty.” I announce.

“Miss Turner, what class am I in again?” Ava pretends to forget. I squint my eyes at her and say, “Class A, love.”

“I’m in Class B!” Skylar says excitedly, looking at Wren. “See you, Mr McCarty!”

“You too, kid.” Wren says as he pets her head. Ava and Skylar scamper off to the changing room, and I can here Ava grunting to her cousin, “Lucky kid.”

Wren hears this and laughs.

…

Skating class lasted from 9 in the morning to 11 in the morning. All the kids (especially the girls), kept asking me about Wren until one point, I got jealous myself.

“Keep on skating, people.” I say when they ask me about Wren. They give me their pouting look and skate off. I glance at Wren and see him with Skylar. Skylar pretends to fall on the ice which made Wren hold her hand as she skated.

Smart kid.

As soon as class ended, Wren skated over to me and whispers into my ear, “I think Skylar has a thing for me.”

I grin and push him away. He laughs and falls to the ground and rolls on the floor, laughing still. I join him on the floor and laugh together with him. We lie on the skating floor, hands on our chests, next to each other.

“Do you want to teach skating with me?” Wren asks me. I look at him and he’s already looking at me. I stare back to the ceiling and say, “Yeah. Of course. Why the question?”

“Just because.” He says softly, staring to the ceiling as well.

“Naomi,” Wren says my name. I love how he says it. I look at him and yet again, he’s already looking at me. “Yeah?” I say, almost in a whisper.

“Do you still like me?”

My heart skips a beat. I want to stare back to the ceiling but at the same time I don’t want to. Wren is locking his eyes on mine now and I can feel myself blush.

“Yeah, totally,” I say, trying to sound cool. “As my friend, my friend’s fiancé, my new teaching partner…”

“Naomi,” He says, sighing. “You know what I mean.”

I pretend not to and ask, “No, I don’t. What do you mean?”

He’s quiet. I can’t even hear him breathe. I turn to see if he’s still there and he is. “Wren?” I whisper his name.

He gets up and says, “Forget it. It-It’s nothing.” He skates over to the skating rink’s entrance, takes off his skates and walks away, saying, “See you next Saturday.”

And it was that moment where I realized: I messed up.

I sit up on the skating floor, hugging my knees to my chest. I dig my face into my knees, and cry.

…

“You messed up bigtime there, Naomi.” Violet says over the phone. I groan and say, “I know. Ugh, I should’ve just said ‘yes, I love you so much it hurts please don’t marry Imogen and marry me instead, PLEASE.’”

“Sounds too desperate,” Violet tells me. I feel like throwing my phone over a cliff and screaming. But instead I take a deep breath and ask, “What am I supposed to do?”

“Let’s see how this story goes,” Violet tells me professionally. “If it gets worst then I’ll come up with a suggestion. But I’m pretty sure everything’ll be alright.”

I feel quite assured but at the same time, sceptical whether Violet was right. “Alright,” I say anyway, trying to sound assured. “Thanks, Vi. See yah.”

“Bye dear.” She hangs up. I lie down on my bed and rest my phone on my chest, sighing. I take my pillow and throw it across the room. I take another pillow and dig my head in it.

“I hate my life,” I mumble into my pillow. Yet again, I cry.

…

Brule’s Café always served the best coffee in town. I was writing my newest story for my blog when somebody pulled out a chair and sat in front of me. I looked up and my heart almost stopped beating completely.

Wren was there, his bright green startling eyes fixed on me. I looked back at my computer and started typing again before saying, “What?”

“Do you still like me?” He brought up the question once more. I looked at him for a second and back to my computer before saying, “Haven’t I answered that question?”

“Naomi, please.”

“You’re getting married, Wren.” I say through gritted teeth. “And so am I.”

“Do you really love Luke, though?”

“That’s like me asking you whether you love your Mogi.”

“What has gotten into you?”

I slam my computer shut and look at him this time. On one hand, I felt utterly annoyed by his presence this time but on the other hand, we really needed to talk. I didn’t say anything to him, though. He just sat in front of me, his hands on the table and his bright green eyes looking like they were craving for an answer.

“Fine,” He says after a long moment of silence between us. He stands up and walks towards the exit/entrance of Brule’s Café. He stops at the door, turns back to me and says, “You don’t want to talk to me now? Fine, I get it. Meet me at the skating rink tonight by 7 PM. We seriously need to talk.”

And with that, he leaves the café and I’m torn between whether to go after him and tell him I loved him or sit where I was and play hard.

Yet again, I feel as if the entire world has stopped, and I feel…

Broken.

To be continued in: The First Time in Years.