Page 18 of You Had Me at Hockey

We finish our lunch. She insists on paying, since it was her idea, and I let her. Outside the restaurant, we pause.

“Where are you headed?” I ask.

“Subway station, I guess. Just going home to do more work.” She gestures.

“I’ll walk with you there, then.”

We’re right near Bryant Park and as we get closer, Sara says, “Oh, they’re doing the bumper cars on ice!”

“What? Bumper cars?”

She takes my arm, urging me forward so we can see. There’s an ice rink in the park and sure enough, brightly colored bumper cars occupy one part of it. “Let’s see if we can do it!”

“Wait, what?”

She’s bouncing toward the entrance. “I think you have to buy tickets ahead, but sometimes they have spots open. Come on!”

With my mouth hanging open, I follow along, my gut tightening, I don’t have any plans for the rest of the day, so I can do this, but all this socializing is a lot and I kind of don’t like having things sprung on me like this.

People are skating around on another part of the rink. The city buildings tower around us, a few flakes of snow drifting down from the pale sky.

Sara has already paid our admission fee by the time I catch up to her, and we’re soon led out onto the ice and given instructions and rules to follow. I can’t believe this is happening. I cross my arms as I listen, my neck and jaw stiff and tight.

Sara is practically jumping up and down, nodding along to the guy giving us the talk, and then she glances at me. Her smile dims and her eyes widen. She moves closer to me and whispers, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” I can barely unclench my jaw.

“You don’t want to do this?” She sets a hand on my arm.

“No, it’s fine.” I exhale and try to relax. “It looks fun.”

She eyes me curiously, returning her attention to the guy saying, “When the ride is over, the cars will start to beep. Drive your car back to the rink wall or ask an attendant for help returning the car.”

He finishes up and we all climb into the little cars, which are kind of like brightly colored inner tubes with seats. My knees are up against my chest—okay, slight exaggeration—but I manage to cram myself in and operate the joysticks.

Bumper cars. Jesus.

Chapter 6

Sara

I am such an idiot.

I got all excited about the bumper cars and dragged Josh to them without even asking if he wanted to, or waiting to see if he was willing. The look on his face is grim annoyance. Shit.

So much for my newest friend.

I’m too much for a lot of people. But I can’t be something I’m not.

Bam!

Someone bumps my car from behind, jolting me out of my moment of self-rebuke. I immediately grab the joysticks and back up and go after them. I manage to nudge them, but we’re all sliding all over the ice. People are laughing, and my woes disappear as I try to head toward Josh.

He’s cruising around, evading people with all the ease and confidence of a Formula One driver. When I try to bump him, he jerks the wheel and I instead bounce off the wall. And he laughs.

Well, good. At least I’ve got him laughing again, even if it’s at me and not with me. Well, maybe itiswith me, because I’m laughing too, chasing him and trying to bump him, hitting other cars while he expertly slides around. Then when I’m bumped into the wall, the tables turn and he comes at me.

He’s grinning, and I try to get out of the way but I can’t move fast enough, and wham, he bumps me. It’s not that hard, not like he’s trying to injure me, and I laugh more, the kind of helpless laughter that you can’t stop, that makes me weak and keeps me from being able to drive this damn little car. He bumps me, then pushes me along the ice, and I give up, giggling away.

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