Banking On My Bodyguard

chapter 28

Naila, Paul and I sat on one of the cushioned seats, tying up our roller skates as Kingsley paid the person behind the desk for an hour of rink time.

"This is going to be so fun! I miss roller skating in Dubai." Naila spoke as she tightened her laces into pretty bows.

"You're so lucky you know how, I'm going to be useless." I eyed the ring where some people were whizzing around whilst others teetered nervously.

"Practice makes perfect young padawan."

I grinned at her as Kingsley returned to our group, quickly changing into his skates. Once we were all ready we departed towards the rink.

It was fairly large and only lit by the neon lights swivelling across the room, occasionally catching the disco ball in the centre and sending a scatter of sporadic glimmers across the floor. Upbeat music pulsed through the speakers on the ceiling as some people danced along on their wheels.

Naila slid quickly onto the surface, zooming off before we could call her name. Paul laughed and skated after her, almost as good as she was.

I glanced at the shiny surface in trepidation, I'd never done any kind of roller skating or ice skating, but I was sure that it couldn't be as easy as it looked.

"Do you want to hold onto me?" Kingsley held out his hand and I took it appreciatively.

We stepped onto the rink together and I immediately began to wobble, regretting my decision.

Kingsley laughed at me and took my other hand, standing in front and pulling me along slowly. His thumbs traced themselves along my knuckles, trying to soothe me as I worked hard not to fall on my ass.

"Bend your legs a little, it'll help."

I nodded in response and attempted to relax my limbs, willing them to cooperate despite my anxiety. It seemed to help somewhat and he spent the next ten minutes trying to teach me how to skate.

"How did you get so good?" I took my eyes off my feet for a moment to glance at him.

He shrugged, "they made us learn a bunch of stuff in the institution, we have to be prepared for any scenario."

"But roller skating? What use could that even have?" I furrowed my eyebrows. We hadn't spoken much about his training in the Institution and I made a mental note to ask him more about it another time.

He smirked and rolled me towards him with ease, tucking a hand under my chin to lift my face.

"This for starters." He kissed me softly, and just like every-time, I relished the sensation.

It had been a week since our reunion and although we were careful about not getting caught at the Academy, we'd spent frequent hours in my room making out, getting lost in one another's presence.

He stopped the embrace too soon and winked before skating away, joining Naila and Paul as they all raced around the ring. I tried my best to catch up but it was useless, each time I went too fast I panicked and had to grip onto the railing for support.

People sped past me as I clung desperately to the edge. I'd never been coordinated or good at sports and apparently roller skating wasn't going to be any different.

Naila seemed to notice my struggle because she skated over to me and linked our arms, pulling us over to the benches at the edge. I sat down with a huff, already exhausted from my efforts.

"I knew this was harder than it seemed."

She laughed at my expression, "it's fun though right?"

I looked at her like she was crazy which only made her laugh more. We glanced out over the rink, my attention was drawn automatically to Kingsley and I admired how effortlessly coordinated he was.

Naila followed my gaze and nudged me with her elbow, "so... what's the deal with you guys?"

I turned my attention back to her. It had been a busy week and we hadn't talked properly since I'd told her about the moment we'd had in the corridor. The girls knew that we were spending nearly every evening with one another, but we'd been so distracted by class that our lunch conversations mainly revolved around helping one another with our work as we ate.

"What do you mean?" I quirked an eyebrow up in confusion.

"Are you like officially together or...?"

I paused, contemplating her question. Kingsley and I hadn't technically labelled anything, but we spent everyday together and we'd already known one another for months.

I had little experience in dating to fall back on, just a disappointing kiss with Peter Wills at 12 years old and a crush when I was 15. I'd never had to worry about my relationship status with a guy before.

"I mean we haven't defined anything... but we're together all the time and I know neither of us want to get with anyone else so I guess we're a thing." I concluded, hoping it was a satisfactory answer for Naila's curiosity.

She nodded and smiled, indicating it was, "it's about time."

"You can say that again." I laughed and looked back towards the boys as they attempted to shove one another over.

A thought suddenly occurred to me and I looked back at my best friend.

"What about you and Jasper? Any developments?" I raised my eyebrows a fraction as a deep blush spread across her skin.

"Don't be ridiculous. We're just friends." She tried to convince me with her words but her embarrassed expression spoke volumes.

I smirked knowingly, "yeah... that's what I used to say about Kingsley."

She swatted my arm in exasperation before standing up and zooming back onto the rink. I laughed loudly to myself and attempted to follow her.