Skating

The crisp air brought fresh life into my lungs, each breath a shot of a pleasant cool to my body. The barren trees had donned crystalline sashes across their outstretched arms, and the streets were freshly paved in a luminous white. Even now snow lazily drifted through the air as if confirming that winter was, in fact, here. Immersed in my music, I looked at the scene around me; cars cautiously wading their way through the narrow roads, men and women scurrying between stores trying to get some shopping done before Christmas, and a group of kids having a snowball fight in the nearby park. In spite of all this action surrounding me, I felt a tepid lonesome, wracked with nerves for the night to come. Shifting my shoulder to readjust the skates I was carrying I began to think.

There was no doubt about it; we were going on a date, a date I wanted to go as well as possible. Over the past couple of months, Yuri and I had been talking relentlessly; at the club, over messaging, or after school at my place. Despite her initial shyness, Yuri had begun to open up to me; and the more she shared about herself, the more I liked her. Intelligent, passionate and surprisingly curious, Yuri was a fantastic person to spend time with. For most of my life I dreamed of meeting a girl like her, and there she was in front of me, just as real as I was. I was still amazed that a person so incredible, could feel a similar way towards me. Eventually, I grew to know that Yuri’s favourite season was Winter, and when she told me she had never learned how to skate, I knew it would be a perfect opportunity to strengthen our relationship. We had gone to dinner a couple of times since I asked her out a month ago but never something like this. Paradoxically, I was more nervous now than when I first asked her out.

My heartbeat hastened as I could see her house around the corner. An intimidating structure of considerable size, surrounded by fence and trees. The whole neighbourhood had homes like this, something I wasn’t quite used to seeing yet. Yuri came from a well-off family, and I was happy that they were away on business this weekend as meeting Yuri’s parents would be a whole ordeal in its own right; one I was not ready for right now. I checked my watch and my pulse at the same time, 5 minutes early and far too fast. I decided against taking the extra time to calm myself and walked up the stone path to her veranda. Using a nearby window to check my reflection, I quickly smoothed out my jacket, put my hair back in place, and adjust my grip on the skates once more before knocking on the large door. My knuckles rasped against the dark stained wood and to my surprise the door was opened almost immediately. Was Yuri waiting for me at the door?

We looked at each other for a moment with equally confused expressions. Yuri blushed and looked away, hiding her body slightly behind the door, realising I figured out she had been waiting for me.

“Uh, hi Anon, you’re a bit early.”

“Hey Yuri, I guess I was a little quick on my way over.” I give her a quick smile that seems to lighten up her mood, “You ready to go?”
Yuri nods before walking back to a mahogany chest and grabbing a pair of pearl white figure skates off the top. The skates were pristine and suited Yuri well. Grabbing a cream duffel coat to complete her outfit, Yuri joins me on the veranda closing and locking her door behind her. Yuri looks to the skates slung over my shoulder and examines the pitiful state they were in. Years of skating and hockey had left them torn and decrepit, but the blades themselves were as well kept as ever. Yuri understanding the utilitarian approach I had taken to my own skates smiles and presents hers to me.

“I just bought them earlier in the week for today, the man at the store said that they would be a good fit.”

We began the short walk to the outdoor rink, the sun slowly drifting to the horizon.

“They certainly look good, and I think they compliment you well.”

I was not exaggerating, the complete outfit of her skates, black leggings, and jacket would look incredibly striking.

“T-thanks anon,”

As we made our way closer to the bustle of the main streets, we passed a number of couples walking, each holding hands, and some even listening to music together. I stop and pull out my phone.

“Hey Yuri, do you want to listen to some music on the way over?”

“That would be nice, Anon,” Yuri says taking an earbud from my outstretched hand. She places it into her left ear over her skates, and I do the same in my right. This brings our heads close together, our shoulders touching just like when we sat reading in the club. I was still playing some Dean Martin that I was listening to on the way over and went to change it.

“You can leave this on, Anon, I think this older style of music is interesting.”

As we continue our stroll, the soulful sounds of ole Deano serenaded us and set a noticeably romantic mood. Waiting for the crosswalk light to change I reach down and slyly intertwine my hand with hers. She turns to me surprised, her hands tensing, before melting into mine. I hold her tight as we cross the road and make our way into the park.

“Anon, I’ve been looking a lot into skating over the course of this week. Video tutorials, write-ups, everything. I think you might be impressed when I first take the ice.”

That was so like Yuri, trying to learn as much as she could about something before doing it herself.

“I hope I am, Yuri.”

Looking content, Yuri pressed herself closer to me, and we return to listening to the music. We reach the rink quickly, both of us wishing the walk was just a bit longer so we could share in each other’s warmth that extra tad more.
I take off my jacket and lay it on the bench for Yuri to sit on as she put on her skates. Holding her hands close to her chest, she smiles and thanks me before sitting down. I do the same next to her. Thanks to years of repetition my skates were on in no time. I look to my left and notice Yuri having considerable difficulty with her laces. My first instinct was to help her, but, tying skates is integral to skating, and if she wanted to learn, I could not be doing everything for her. At the same time, I had to at least offer to so I did not look like I failed to notice her struggle.

“You need some help, Yuri?”

“N-no,” she said with a huff as she pulled both ends of her lace tight. “I had been practicing tying them since I bought them.” To make her point clear she finishes her work with an elegant bow.

I give her my hand as she stands up, making sure to grab my jacket and lead her towards the ice.

There was hardly anyone out here, just an older couple at the far side of the ice. As I take the ice, I skate in a quick circle before returning to the gate with a smile. Yuri blushes and lets out a small laugh at my transparent attempt to impress her and takes my hand as I let her on to the ice. I look back to her face and notice that her shy blush was gone, replaced with the intense determination she had when reading poems out loud at the club. I lazily skate backwards giving her a bit of space to take her first strides but close enough to catch her if she should fall.

Yuri takes a deep breath, centres herself, and makes her move- or rather, attempts to make her move. She steps forward but nearly loses her balance, and begins to slowly drift in a half circle towards the boards. Yuri, trying everything to stop herself, continues her glacial glide into the boards. I cannot help but watch the scene unfold before me, Yuri flailing her arms as she inches closer to the boards, at an almost comically slow speed. Finally, mercifully, Yuri makes contact with the boards grabbing on to the edges of it. She stands there for a moment before burying her face in the glass and letting out a muffled noise.

“…help me.”

Stifling a laugh, I coast over to the boards, gently prying her off of them, and allowing her to use me for balance. She does not look up at me, but I can see the beet red of her face peeking through her violet hair.

“I wish I did that my first time skating,”

Yuri looks up to me apparently trying to work out if I was making fun of her or being genuine.

“No honestly, the first time I ever tried skating I took one step and just face planted on to the ice.”

Yuri laughs squeezing me tighter, the embarrassment shifting from her to me now. Taking both of her hands in mine, I slowly drift backwards facing her.

“Try to keep balanced as we move.”

Yuri nods and tries her best, shifting her weight from hand to hand as we draw slow ovals around the rink over and over again. We must have done five laps like this when I suggested she tried to move her feet now. She takes a moment to remember the videos she had watched earlier and pushed off towards me. I match her speed backwards, and we continued our frozen waltz. Initially surprised she dons a proud, satisfied smile and I encourage her performance, telling her she is doing great.

By now, the sun was just setting and the snow still quietly fell around us. We had been there for over an hour when I saw the older couple leave the ice. Before stepping off the woman pointed towards Yuri and me, and the man laughed giving me a nod, a wink, and a wave before they disappeared behind the glass.

I release one of my hands from Yuri’s and skate next to her now, her no longer needing the support.

“You’re learning quickly, Yuri.”

“Th-thanks, Anon.” Yuri’s smile had not left her face since she first started to properly skate, she was really enjoying her time with me. I was ecstatic too. The air steadily got colder as the sunset lit up the descending snow in brilliant sparkles of orange and yellow. Before long the moon was our only company, a comfortable darkness surrounded us as if we were the only two people in the world. Over the course of the night, Yuri steadily got better, picking up some speed and even skating on her own. Sharing an experience like this with someone special to you was magical, and we both felt it. If we could have stayed in that moment forever, we would have, but, our time there drew to a close when the rink operator called us off informing us the ice was closed.

Once more I removed my jacket for Yuri as we undid our skates. I noticed her shivering slightly as we got up to leave, her coat, cute as it may be, did little to insulate her from the increasingly cold night. As Yuri stood up, I grabbed my jacket and draped it around her before putting my hands into my pocket. She turned towards me surprised and was about to protest before I stopped her.

“You’re cold Yuri, I saw you shivering. You live close anyway so don’t worry about it.”

“At least let me try to keep you warm then,” she said as she wrapped her arms around mine and held herself close to my shoulder, nuzzling her face against my jacket.

We walked in silence now, our only companion being the pale moonlight. The streets were devoid of the life they had displayed earlier in the day; falling snowflakes surrounding us being the sole movement one could see. I let out a yawn and, locked in my arm, Yuri did the same. I felt exhausted, skating for so long had taken a lot out of us, and it was getting late regardless. We entered Yuri’s neighbourhood, our peaceful stroll soon to come to its conclusion. I took my arm out of my pocket, Yuri letting go of it for a brief moment, and placed it around her shoulder gently holding her to me. She reciprocated by relaxing into my embrace. Neither of us wanted our time together to end.

We ascended the steps to her veranda, which served as little shelter against the falling snow and stood to face each other.

“I had a great time tonight Yuri,”

“Me too, Anon, you are an exceptional teacher,”  she said with a soft giggle. Yuri grabbed my jacket from her shoulders and reached out to give it to me. Our hands touched causing her to blush as we stared into each other's eyes. Our eyes locked and we stood looking at each other for at least a minute, colour slowly spreading across both of our faces. I grasped her hands in mine and gently lent my head forward. Yuri did the same, slowly leaning forward as well. She was so close I could feel her warm breath on my skin. At last, our lips touched, and shock spread through my body as we continued our passionate embrace. The feeling was overwhelming, to be with her,  it was just felt right. Our lips parted for a moment, and I noticed the intense red painting Yuri’s cheeks. She tilted her head down while looking up at me with a bashful expression.

“A-anon, would you like to come in?”

Taking note of the time, I accepted and followed her into her foyer. The interior was just as grand as the exterior. Fine furnishing and decor adorned the house, to the point of which I was nearly taken aback. We placed our skates down and removed our coats as we made our way further into the house. I yawned once more as Yuri led me to a woven fabric chesterfield across from which was a glass pane sheltering a pile of what looked to be wood. She flicked a switch igniting the gas fireplace, and a gentle warmth began to envelop the room. I sat down sinking into the soft material which seemingly increased my exhaustion tenfold. Yuri sat down next to me, resting her head on my shoulder. We sat there taking comfort in each others’ company as the warmth of the fire slowly washed over us. My eyes slowly drifted closed, and I barely managed to keep them open. We had been sitting there for what felt like hours. Trying not to disturb our positioning too much, I looked over to Yuri. Legs nestled beside on the couch, eyes shut, and her breathing a serene calm.

I chuckled faintly to myself, the girl of my dreams asleep beside me. Funny or not, I was too tired to care. I nestled my head against her’s and let my exhaustion take hold. It was time for me to sleep as well.