Home for the Summer (BOYXBOY)

40 | Like Safety

The bus ride was long and Nico ended up asleep against my shoulder by the end of it. I watched out the window, rain dropping on the shore and beating against the glass. After an hour, we left the bus.

"Where did you take me?" Nico asked, standing on the platform beside me.

"I already told you; It's a surprise."

"I hate surprises."

"You do not."

"Yes, I do!"

"Okay, then," I said, lacing his fingers through mine as we stepped into the corner store beside the bus stop. "Why was your dream birthday party as a kid a surprise?"

"That's-"

"And, why did you always ask that poor barista at the cafe on Chapman Street to 'surprise you' when you ordered?"

"Oh, that ended terribly," he chuckled, and I slipped him a smile.

Nico pulled an umbrella from one of the isles and insisted on paying the full $14, which was sweet, I guess, if it wasn't one of my worst nightmares having someone pay for my things.

"We're sharing it, after all," he said, sensing my anxiousness. "It's for both of us."

And then, we continued through the rain and gloomy town streets to a giant building at the end of the square.

"Hold on," Nico let out as he stared at it.

"It was literally the only rink open during the summer," I chuckled, and he gave me the world's widest smile. "I thought you could show me your moves."

Suddenly, he let go of the umbrella to grab my shoulders, and the rain bounced across our skin. "You're the greatest boyfriend ever," he said.

I laughed, though not a single part of his voice felt like he was joking. He just held me there, like he didn't want the rain to pull me away.

We went inside and, thankfully, the whole place was practically deserted. Only four other people were on the ice at the same time as us. I was complete shit. In the fifteen minutes it took me to move three feet, I had fallen twice and left Nico laughing harder than I'd ever heard in front of me. He stuck by my side and held onto my arm and told me where and when to move. After a bit, I was able to balance, but I was still pretty terrible.

"I'll sit," I told him as I left the rink. "You do your thing."

And he did. Nico didn't skate on the ice: He flew. He whipped across like someone was shooting him through a catapult. He could spin and go backwards and get so low to the ground, his hand grazed it. But, it wasn't until I moved closer that I saw how happy he looked. His smile was so wide, so familiar and terrific. I wanted to take a photo of him, but it'd ruin it. He was born to do this.

There was a snack vendor in the arena, so we both got soft pretzels and sat outside of the rink for a break.

"You could figure skate," I told him, and he blinked back at me. "Like... You mentioned that you liked the skating part of hockey best, but that you weren't 'artistic enough' to figure skate, and I think you are. You're... Incredible."

He looked back at me with a smile. "Pretty difficult to figure skate in California, no?"

"Well... Who knows? Maybe you go to college here, but don't stick around. Or, you go to college in Vermont and then skate there. I don't know."

His eyes faltered a bit, but he brushed it aside. "I sort of prefer science, if I'm being honest. And skating..." he looked down at his pretzel, or the half that he hadn't finished. "It just probably wouldn't work in the long run."