Chapter 20: Chapter 20
I get home so early from the dance that mom and dad hear the front door open and instinctively come running. Mom arrives in the foyer first hardly able to contain her curiosity, “Your home early, what happened?” Nothing like mom and the way she cuts to the chase. Tact isn’t her forte. I kick my shoes off and hang Scott’s sweater in the closet, “I don’t really want to talk about it right now,” I say hoping this will put an end to their questions.
“Give us a hint Honey, I don’t want to hear your mother speculate in bed all night. You know how she drones on with her imaginary ‘scenarios’!” Mom slices dad an evil eye before turning to me, “I can’t believe your hair,” she says awe-stricken.
“Do you like it?”
“It looks lovely Honey,” dad says without waiting for mom’s input. He would say the same thing if I had come home with a Mohawk, he is just a good old supportive dad. The easiest person in the world to get along with and love. Why isn’t that enough for me?
“Thanks, dad! I love it too!”
“It’s ridiculous!” mom disagrees. “The cut is nice, but you can’t maintain that color! We’ll dye it back before the competitions start.”
“I’m keeping it,” I say stubbornly.
“What happened at the dance?” dad redirects.
“We arrived fashionably late, and I bumped into Michael with whom I was more than happy to spend a little bit of time with. If you want to know why I was seeking closure and I thought Michael was too.”
“Anyway, Scott saw us talking and he got all in our faces, grabbing me and pulling me out of the dance against my will. Michael came running out to protect me from him.” Mom starts giggling, “Like Scott would ever treat you like that,” she continues. “That boy doesn’t have a rude bone in his body.”
“Little do you know,” I say dismissively. “Eventually Scott let me talk to Michael, and I found out that I was just a notch on his dating pole, I was so upset. Scott noticed and forced me to go home.”
“I told you to stay away from that boy,” mom warns. “You’re going to upset Scott.”
“And we can’t have that,” I say sarcastically.
“She doesn’t need to hear that tonight,” dad tells mom. “Can I go upstairs now? I’ve got skating in the morning.” “Sure, Honey,” dad says dismissing me. I don’t have my phone with me. I can’t text Anna and Lara about what happened. Forlorn, I have no choice but to dress in my nightgown and go to bed. I lay awake thinking about how easily Michael sought comfort with another girl, while I still mourn our nonexistent relationship. The next morning Scott picks me up to take me skating and we drive in silence the entire way to the arena. I don’t dare look at him. I feel his eyes land on me from time to time, but I don’t acknowledge it. His perfume fills the air the way it always does, but I refuse to swoon over him like all the other girls at school or pay him a compliment. When we arrive at the arena, everybody says we look amazing together. Shying away, I say I better hurry to get ready for practice, leaving Scott with the regular onlookers in the lounge. I quickly depart to change.
Scott and Coach Tammy are talking rink side. Coach Tammy motions for me to come over and join them. He is staring at me speechless for a second before he forces himself to go on, “As you are well aware competition season is well underway and I’m sure you’ve noticed we haven’t entered you in any this season. I’ve chosen to present you to the public in the new competition year which will give us enough time to work on lifts and throws.”
“We will focus on our throws until the club pool is open and then you can work on your lifts. I intend to have you ready for the competition beginning November of this year. Any questions?” We both shake our heads no and wait for further instruction. “Go warm-up,” he orders.
I don’t take Scott’s hand. I stretch both legs and then begin stroking around on my own. I start with an axel and then begin working my way through my double rotation jumps. As I progress, I go on to my triple rotation jumps excluding the one I injured myself on, the triple axel.
Scott’s arm slides around my waist after I stop to take a drink from the fountain, “Are you ready?” he asks me. He doesn’t know I’m in the zone, but Coach Tammy does.
“No,” I say. Coach Tammy instructs Scott, “Leave her.” A lot of skaters clear a pathway for me, some stand rink side watching. Scott is one of them. “She has to do this,” Coach says to Scott with his eyes glued to me. Determined to do this, I stroke the length of the ice, building up the speed and courage I needed to land the jump. I pause gliding backward for a fraction of a second and then I step forward with my left leg while throwing my right leg fearlessly into the air as my body begins rotating on its axis three and a half revolutions before landing backward on my right outside edge. I did it! Adrenaline is pumping through my veins and I feel exhilarated. Everyone in the rink claps for me knowing I just conquered the jump that injured me. Coach Tammy comes running out onto the ice to hug me, but it’s Scott who gets their first. That night, I have something good to tell my parents.
The month of June is the only month of the year that Scott and I have no ice time. We train off ice in the gym and work in the pool on our lifts. Lifts in the pool is a much more anticipated time for me, not so much for Scott who has done this before. The pool at the club is reserved privately for us. When I ask Coach Tammy why it is private, he says, ‘I don’t want you landing on someone’s head while they’re swimming.’ His comment snowballs my cowardice of being carried over Scott’s head on the ice into a complete show of panic.
Anna loans me her brand-new bathing suit for my first day of training in the pool. Scott and I leave school to meet Coach Tammy there. I have one thing going against me and one thing going for me: Going for me is that my monthly friend has already come and gone, so there is no chance of anything like that happening in the pool. Going against me is that I didn’t check the bag to see what Anna loaned me. If I had, I never would have borrowed it.
In the senior lady’s locker room, I pulled out the skimpiest black bikini I’ve ever seen in my life. It makes Victoria's Secret lingerie look conservative. Tammy and Scott are expecting me. My car isn’t here, so there’s no chance of running home and grabbing something different. I’m embarrassed. I tear my clothes off racing to change into the strings Anna loaned me to beat them out to the pool area, so they won’t see me get into the water. With any luck, most of what we are going to be doing today will be submerged. I can only hope anyway.
I dash out onto the club’s deck to find both men are present and waiting for me. Scott is wearing a dark pair of bathing shorts that go down to his knees. His eyes pierce mine as they collide with each other. His perfect jawline tightens when he sees me. My eyes reach his chest and six-pack, and they want to hover there, but I resist temptation, too self-conscious to stay out of the water for another second.
I scurry towards the steps into the shallow end of the pool and walk quickly down them ignoring the frigid temperature. I act calm as my body reacts to the drastic temperature change betraying me. My nipples harden, I glance in Scott’s direction to see if he’s noticed, his eyes are fixed on them. I cover my breasts with my arm and dive deeper into the water submerging my head. Scott follows me in.
The coach distracts both of us with the instructions of our first lift. It takes us multiple attempts before achieving the balance and trust needed for him to bring me up over his head.
When we do, I feel this rush of adrenaline wash over me again, just like when I landed my triple axel, and I glance down at him in all my glory of conquering fear and that’s when I notice, it, the great white lurking beneath the water in those innocent swimming trunks. He saw me, see it. “Put me down!” I shriek kicking and screaming, throwing his balance off, he recovers and slowly slides me down his body until I’m standing on my own feet pressed up against him.
Coach Tammy grins knowingly before turning his back to us saying, “Resolve your issues!” Tammy walks off and I turn to Scott, “What was that?” I insist. He tightens his grip on me and says in a lowered voice, “I think you know.”
“Since when?” I ask.
“Since the day I laid eyes on you,” he admits. “That damned bikini is making it hard for me to ignore.” His hand rests on the back of my neck and he guides my face to his. He kisses my forehead, and then my cheeks, my chin, and then finally my lips. His lips guide mine to open for him and then he fills me with his tongue, kissing me fully. I feel my heart flutter and warmth that doesn’t make sense in cold water.
He pulls my hips into his and I can feel IT pressing hard against me and I want to beg him to take me right there and then, but my pride and most of all my body are continuously betraying me by shivering, forcing us to get out of the pool and end our moment.