Page 25 of Switching Skates
“I could do it with my eyes closed. Like that.” I snap my fingers in his face.
He lashes out and grabs my wrist, firm but warm and tender.
“I love it when you flirt with me,” he mutters effortlessly, catching me off guard, his thumb stroking my wrist back and forth.
God, I can’t breathe when he’s this close to me. I can’t think. I needspace.
My glare returns as I flatten my hand against his chest and push away from him, heading to the bench. “It wasn’t flirting, Mason. Don’t flatter yourself.”
“Oh, stop fighting it. You know you like me.” He skates after me.
I wish I had something to throw at him right now. “I don’t actually. I prefer to use words likedespise,loathe,hate.”
I reach the board, and he cages me in, his hands on either side of me. Turning around in the small space between us, I look up at him and try to even my breathing, not letting him know how much he’s affecting me right now.
“Funny.” He cocks his head to the side. “I know you, Daph. I’ve known you for a majority of my life. Come on, just talk to me. For real this time. No bickering or jokes.”
“I’m always real. And honest. Andcommunicative.” I huff out a heavy breath. “You’rethe one who’s not.You’rethe one who disappeared and went on with your life without a word to me about what happened between us.”
My eyes well with tears, and frustration overtakes me. I hate that I’m crying in front of him right now, hating that he’s seeing my vulnerability. I push that sensation as deep as it will go, and my eyes dry out with a few quick blinks.
But the words continue to flow from me uncontrollably. “You were off, living your college life, playing hockey, and living out yourperfectdreams. But me?” I pause, sucking in a sharp gasp. “I was shattered, in more ways than one.” I hesitate, catching my breath at the unintentional double meaning. “So, stop pretending like you know anything about me. We haven’t had a real conversation in four fucking years. You need a reality check.”
“Daph …” His voice is pained. “I’m sorry. I’m so sor?—”
“I don’t want your apologies. I want you to leave me the hell alone. If you knew anything about my life now, you’d know I’d giveanythingto skate freely without pain or fear. Yet you asked me to do a trick for you as if that wasn’t the one thing in this world I want for myself.
“You …” My head shakes side to side ever so slightly as I gather myself before continuing, “Youhave no idea what it’s like to be inmyskates.”
“You’re right. I have no idea what it’s like to be in your skates,” he mutters, almost in time with me, somehow and someway, as if in that moment, our minds are connected through a single tether.
We hold each other’s eyes, neither of us budging from our stubborn ground.
For a brief moment, I want to pretend that this isn’t our fate. That we didn’t ever split apart. We aren’t standing in an empty rink, facing off as foes. That maybe we’re still soulmates and deeply in love.
Part of me wants to accept a simple apology and see if maybe we could work, but the other part of me—the part my mom raised, to not take anyone’s shit and to know my worth—understands that words can be empty and actions are what matter the most.
This isn’t some imaginary fantasy or one of my movies. The reality is, we aren’t meant to be. We aren’t in love. We aren’t anything.
He remains quiet, letting me make the next move. But my thoughts are all over the place as I contemplate what to say and do.
And then something happens.
In the depths of Mason’s pupils, there’s a glimmer, a burst of light, like a star falling across a dark sky. Something unnatural andfreaky.
My voice is a breathy whisper. “What the …”
My hair blows back from my face, falling down my back from a gust of wind that shouldn’t exist in this enclosed room.
The same happens to Mason. A whoosh of air lifts strands of his hair off his forehead. He glides backward from the mere force as I’m pushed against the board.
Our eyes lock, unshielded and raw, as the world seems to tilt on its axis around us.
A moment later, it’s gone, as if we imagined it altogether, and we’re left staring into each other’s eyes with confusion and shock at what just happened.
Taking a moment to catch my breath, I drag my hand down my face as a shiver works its way down my back.
Regardless of whatever the hell just happened, it was a grounding moment that I desperately needed because Mason had me levitating off the ground, being this close to him, my head cloudy and heart racing.
