Chapter 7

Giselle

Jordan got the last laugh, because Primrose showed up.

I’d just finished a routine when Jordan skated up next to me, and she nudged me in the side. “Hey, Giselle,” she said, and I gave her a sidelong look.

“What’s up?”

“Your new girlfriend—”

“I don’t have one—”

“Your new secret little crush. What’s she look like?”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not even dignifying that with a response.”

“There’s no chance she might be a blue-eyed redhead with an oversized jacket, is there?”

I tightened, shooting her a look. “What?”

She fluttered her eyelashes, giving me doe-eyes. My heart beat faster than I wanted it to, and I couldn’t say it was the exertion from practice.

“Did you see her somewhere?”

“Oh, so you admit she’s your crush?”

“Jordan.”

She beamed. “She’s at the side. Watching you.”

My stomach dropped out, and I turned back to where I caught a glimpse of her through the glass, inside the waiting area, and our eyes met. My mouth felt dry when our gazes locked, a lightness fluttering through me, and for one split second, nothing else existed but the two of us—and I pulled myself back when I noticed Jordan’s smug smile out of the corner of my eye. I tried to look casual, raising a hand in a wave, and through the glass, Primrose beamed and waved back.

“She’s really cute,” Jordan said. “How’d you meet?”

I sighed, hard, turning back to the ice. “Jordan. There’s nothing there.”

“She’s showing up to watch you practice, dude. That’s more than Andrea ever did. You don’t do that with some friend you just met.”

“She’s probably waiting to skate.” It was a mistake—Jordan’s eyes lit up.

“She skates too?”

“She’s just… started learning… together with her boyfriend,” I added in, my voice pointed. She pouted.

“Boyfriend? I do not see one.”

“Well, he exists.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“Jordan—”

“Giselle, Jordan, focus,” Coach Bailey’s voice called, ringing across the ice. “Stop gossiping and come back to practice, please.”

Jordan elbowed me before I could get away. “Don’t worry. Primrose is watching now.”

That wouldn’t have been so embarrassing if I hadn’t just been thinking the same thing. Or for the fact that it turned out to be right.

I felt her gaze on me the whole rest of the practice session, and just like when she’d been on the ice with me before, I felt like I could relax. I caught glimpses of her in between movements, and the way she watched me, her eyes sparkling, that look of wonder on her face…

It made me feel like I could do anything.

Embarrassing as it was.

Bailey laughed hard, clapping her hands slowly, as she glided over to me at the end of the session. “You’re seriously pulling it together, Giselle,” she said. “You looked like an Olympian out there. What kind of practice you been doing?”

“Ah, you know. Visualizing. Manifesting.”

“Well, you’d better start sleeping with that vision board in your arms.” She clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Good work today. Go get some rest.”

“I will. Thanks, Coach.”

I managed to dodge Jordan on my way out, and I felt a little too excited going out to where Primrose stood up, eyes sparkling at the sight of me.

“Hey, Giselle,” she said, a smile playing over the corners of her lips. “You were gorgeous out there.”

“It was nothing special…” Which was a blatant lie, but I didn’t need to get into the details. The details being that I skated much better when there was a beautiful woman watching from the sidelines like I was doing the best thing she’d ever seen. “What are you doing here? It’s not free skating until noon today.”

She tucked her hair back, looking away. “I wanted to watch… is that weird?”

Neither Jordan nor Ava would have let me live down the thick, nervous feeling I got at that comment, my heart in my throat, the way I had to swallow before I could speak. “Don’t think so,” I said, trying to sound casual. “Watching people do it is pretty normal if you’re trying to learn.”

“Good,” she laughed. “I was a little worried I was being a creeper.”

She was not the only one. I turned back to my bag, reaching inside, moving just on instinct looking for something to do, and I handed her the crumpled-up piece of paper. “You dropped this last night,” I said. “I imagine C is waiting for your number.”

“Oh!” She took it with wide eyes, looking down over it, tilting her head down so the light caught her cheeks and made her freckles stand out more. I didn’t think there was a person alive who wasn’t a sucker for a redheaded girl with freckles… she gave me a shy look. “That’s conscientious of you. I already got my number to her.”

“Oh.” I’d kind of expected C to be a boy. I’d wondered what was going on with her boyfriend, but that probably didn’t mean—

“We were forming a study group. That was a week ago now. I forgot I had that in my pocket… hadn’t worn those jeans in a minute.”

I was a dumbass. I scratched my head, looking away. “Well… honored to go across campus to deliver your trash back to you. Consider me the head of the anti-littering campaign.”

She broke out into a big, bright laugh, and she seemed to catch herself, like she didn’t mean to laugh like that. Her eyes sparkled, looking me over for a second, before she fumbled in her bag and took a pen out, writing something on the note before she handed it back to me. “Keep it,” she said. “Now it’s not trash anymore. Treasure instead.”

She’d turned the C into a G. I forgot how to breathe for a second, awkward and fumbling with a fuzzy feeling in my chest. So I did have a crush on her. How embarrassing was that?

“That’s smooth,” I laughed, managing to pull myself together, tucking the paper into my pocket.

“I’ll get you some food as a thank-you for all your trouble,” she said, standing up straighter. “My treat. I know a place you might like, if you’re an adventurous eater.”

“Oh—you really don’t need to do that. I already helped you back to your place to say sorry for knocking you down.”

She caught herself, a nervous hesitation flickering over her features. “Of course, if you don’t want to, then that’s fine, too. I’m not trying to force you.”

Inwardly, I winced. There was no way of explaining my hesitation without getting into things I didn’t need to tell her. I forced my body to relax, putting on a smile. “Well… if you really want to, then I’d love to. Thanks, Primrose.”

She lit up, eyes practically sparkling. “Thank you. For the show, too. I’m still trying to convince Matthew that this is worth pursuing. He, uh—” She faltered, looking down. “He doesn’t think I can commit to it, so…”

My chest ached, a pronged weight hanging there as I went back and forth—I knew it was crossing the line, going a step too far, but I couldn’t help it. I’d always been a sucker for helping other people whenever they asked.

I put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up, a shimmer in her eyes as she met mine.

“Do you really want to?” I said, my voice low. “Learn how to skate.”

She swallowed, staring at me for a long time before she faltered. “I don’t… I don’t really know.” She dropped her gaze. “I love it so much. I’ve been watching so many things about it—tutorials, skating videos, everything. And when I was on the ice yesterday, it felt so… magical. But I’ve felt like that about all kinds of things before, and I’m always just a couple of weeks in when the magic dies and I just… lose focus. I love this. But what if this is the same way?”

There was something so remarkable about how… open she was. She wore who she was right there on her sleeve, and I wished I could do the same. I squeezed her shoulder, giving her a gentle smile. “There’s no reason the future has to be like the past. What makes us the people we are is our circumstances—nothing more, nothing less. This time can be different, just because your environment can be different.”

She blinked fast. “How do you mean?”

“Well, for one… I imagine it’s hard to maintain that passion for something when the person closest to you has no interest in it. Doesn’t support it at all. Forgets about it every time you don’t mention it.”

She winced, hard. “I don’t know…”

“I do. The biggest reason I’ve come as far as I have is because I’ve had people around who can cultivate that interest, that passion.” I smiled warmly at her. “And you’ve got one friend already who lives and breathes figure skating. So I’m sure that will help.”

She went wide-eyed, looking up at me with her head tilted. “Does that mean we’re friends now?”

I laughed, pushing down the nervous feeling in my gut. “If I’m carrying someone who’s not a friend, they’re getting the sack-of-potatoes treatment. You should be honored.”

She touched her fingers lightly to the back of her neck, looking away. “It was kind of fun, if I’m being honest…”

I’d happily have carried her like that all over campus, but… I didn’t need to get into that right now. “Besides, what does it matter if you do drift away again?” I said. “If you have fun along the way, that’s what counts, right?”

“It is. But it’s also not.” She didn’t get a chance to explain before the door squeaked, and we both glanced over to where—my heart fell at the sight of the rest of the team came in through the doors, chatting and laughing together, except for Jordan, who was giving me one hell of a loaded look.

God, I’d forgotten she was there.

Primrose looked back at me with a quick smile, and she said, “Text me, okay? We’ll work out dinner.”

“Oh—uh—sounds good. I will.” I raised my hand in a wave as she left, and I winced preemptively as Jordan came up to me, leaning against a pillar and giving me a smug smile. I looked away. “Hello, Jordan. Heading home?”

“Getting back on the ice for practice on my own time. Want to come with me, or are you, uh… texting Primrose about dinner?”

I looked away. “Look, it’s not what you think.”

“Mm. I’m sure it isn’t.”

“I mean it. She’s just saying thank you for getting her home safe last night—”

“You walked her to her place?”

“No—forget it.”

She laughed, swatting my arm. “Oh my god, did you see the way she was looking at you? Girl has got a C-R-U—”

“Jordan.”

“Just saying, you could do worse.”

I looked away. “She has a boyfriend.”

“And that’s the only problem?”

“No, but it’s a pretty big one.” I sighed, heading back towards the rink. “I’m putting in a little more time, too. Just… need to forget some stuff.”

“I am sure you do,” she laughed. And I guess I could have worded it better, but it wasn’t even Primrose I was trying to forget when I was on the ice. I’d been on the ice trying to forget something for a lot longer than I’d known Primrose.

And honestly, maybe remembering Primrose on the ice was the key.