Chapter 14 #4
Jeremy laughs out loud, then stops himself quickly when Sergio looks at him. He bites his lip, looking guilty.
“No. Please do laugh,” Sergio says. “It’s the only way that makes my wake-up call easy to deal with.
” He squeezes Jeremy’s hand. “After that, my day has varying degrees of success. Fifty percent chance you kiss me while we’re downstairs on the ice.
Fifty percent chance I fall flat on my face or ass, depending on which direction I’m facing when Henry interrupts us.
One-hundred percent chance I get lectured by Rose for pursuing you. ”
“That sounds about right. Is that all that happens?”
“No. Adrien will quit on me every day on the slopes. Though lately, I’ve been firing him instead. It’s easier that way. And Holden will continually praise the lodge's turkey burger.”
“It’s a good burger.”
“Not after you’ve eaten one every day for months.”
“Try the Cobb salad next time.”
“Yeah, that’s been my alternative.”
“That’s it then? Nothing else I need to know?”
“I’m pretty sure Gus is in cahoots with Rose and tries to kill me every day by being underfoot.”
Jeremy looks at him and shakes his head. “There’s no way. Gus is such a sweet cat. Besides, he’s usually hiding.”
“Hiding, hissing, and plotting my death,” Sergio says, exhaustion laced throughout his words.
“Okay, so potentially murderous cat aside, is there anyone else out to get you?”
Sergio takes a sip of his tea, then dips his head as he swallows. When he looks up, he’s wearing a devilish grin. “No. But the first few times I lived this day, I punched Chadwick Levinson in the face in your defense.”
Jeremy explodes into laughter, and Sergio wishes he could freeze time right here to preserve this moment of Jeremy’s unfettered amusement forever.
“Alright,” he says, once he catches his breath.
“I don’t condone violence in any way, but damn it if I don’t know that he deserved it with complete surety. ”
“You’re not mad?” Sergio’s forehead wrinkles.
“Why would I be mad?”
“You’re always mad when I do it.”
“I guess if you make a spectacle of it, I’m probably more embarrassed.”
“Considering it always happens at the New Year’s Eve party, moments before the clock strikes twelve, it’s fair to say there’s an audience.”
“Yeah. That explains it.” Jeremy nods his head quickly. “Let’s avoid doing that tonight, please.”
“You have my word. I will not lay a hand on him.”
“Good,” Jeremy says and places his tea down on the coffee table. With his eyes back on Sergio, he uses his now free hand to run his fingers through his own hair, pausing when he reaches the nape of his neck. “Now, how about that kiss you say happens when we're on the ice?”
Using his grip on Jeremy’s hand, Sergio pulls himself out of the corner of the couch he had nestled himself into and leans in closer to Jeremy. “The tale of my woes hasn’t scared you off yet?”
“Sergio.” Jeremy adjusts himself to face Sergio head-on. “I have never been afraid of you.”
Sergio turns and takes one last sip of his tea before he reaches and places it on the coffee table beside Jeremy’s mug. He swallows. “Our history suggests otherwise.”
“Did this conversation not go well before?” Jeremy asks.
With his chin dipped slightly down, Sergio looks back at Jeremy guiltily. “I meant … before.”
“Oh.” Now Jeremy swallows, and Sergio watches his throat bob. “You meant four years ago.”
Sergio nods.
Jeremy lets go of his hand. The sudden loss of contact causes Sergio’s stomach to sink. “That was different.” He places both feet on the floor and faces towards the center of the room. “It wasn’t you I was afraid of. It was—”
“Everything else.”
“Yeah,” he says, tugging at the corner of his eye.
“And what about now?”
Jeremy drops his ear to his shoulder and turns to face Sergio again. “You still don’t scare me.”
“You don’t scare me either.”
Jeremy wets his lips with a quick roll of his tongue over them, then smiles. “Maybe I should.”
“You could take lessons from Rose.”
“She’s not that scary,” he says, shaking his head.
“To you.” Sergio laughs. “I’m pretty sure she hasn’t threatened your balls.”
“To be honest, I’d prefer it if she’d keep yours intact.”
Sergio’s cheeks warm and lift as he feels genuine hope for something more for the first time in ages. “Are you saying you have use for them?”
Jeremy gives him a non-committal shrug and rises to his feet.
“We can worry about their usefulness tomorrow.” He holds his hand out to Sergio, and Sergio immediately takes it and lets himself be pulled to his feet.
“As for now, I’m more curious about that kiss.
It better be good if you keep living your days for it. ”
Sergio drops his head and laughs. “You have no idea.”
“Then show me.”
Without speaking, Sergio follows Jeremy down the stairs from his living space. Down by the rink, they both hastily lace up their skates, then step onto the ice. Jeremy takes a few glides, and Sergio presses himself against the half wall and holds his hands out, palms up, in anticipation.
Jeremy loops around and skates back towards Sergio. He gestures at Sergio’s upturned palms. “What are those for?”
“For you to hold,” Sergio says, presenting the answer like it should be obvious.
“And why would I do that?” Jeremy asks as he skates another loop in front of him.
Sergio drops his hands. “So I don’t fall down.”
Jeremy makes an abrupt stop, his blades digging into the ice, making a crisp exclamation. “I’d assume if we’ve kissed multiple times on this ice as you claim, then you should be able to stay on your own two feet without my assistance.”
Sergio shrugs and does a tentative push-off with his left foot, causing him to glide forward on his right.
“There. See? You don’t need me,” Jeremy says, but grabs Sergio’s right hand anyway and begins to skate at a leisurely pace around the rink, keeping the half wall nearby for Sergio to grab onto if he loses his footing.
“I will admit, you are an excellent teacher,” Sergio says as they glide.
“I should hope so.” Jeremy laughs. “Otherwise, this whole figure skating coach endeavor of mine will be a complete bust.”
“It definitely won’t be a bust; you’re a natural,” Sergio assures. After all, he does have first-hand experience of what it’s like to learn under Jeremy’s expert advice. “What’s the plan after the Olympics this year?”
“Well…” Jeremy says, shifting himself so he’s in front of Sergio now.
He changes the hand he’s holding, then guides Sergio to turn around, positioning them to skate backward with some success.
Sergio still struggles a bit with the crossovers, but he’s getting there.
“Allison is still young enough to have another run at the Olympics in four years, regardless of how this one goes. Hopefully, she’ll keep me and Rose on as her coaching team.
Other than that, Rose and I will have to recruit more skaters eventually, I guess.
We haven’t really thought much about it, though, since Allison has been our prime focus. ”
“I’d imagine trying to find Olympians to coach is a competitive market.”
“You’ve punched Chadwick. You know it’s a competitive market.”
“Fair enough,” Sergio says. “He is trying to poach Allison by the way.”
“I figured as much,” Jeremy says and does another twist around, spinning Sergio to skate forward again.
Now that Sergio is facing forward, he’s feeling steadier.
Jeremy must sense it as he lets go of Sergio’s hand and does what looks to Sergio to be a complicated little twirl to position himself to skate backward-facing Sergio.
“You try,” he says, gesturing at Sergio. “Give yourself a little spin.”
Sergio grimaces. “I don’t know about that.”
“Oh, come on,” Jeremy encourages. “It’s a little two-foot spin. You only have to go around once. You can do it.”
To his surprise, Sergio does manage to make himself do an awkward twist to the left, completing a full turn and a half so that he’s backward now. Jeremy grabs his hand again.
“Good job,” he says, and starts to pick up their pace, skating faster than Sergio has ever gone. But he likes it. Or maybe he simply likes any reason to have skin-to-skin contact with Jeremy. It’s more of a rush than the feeling of his skates moving swiftly on the ice.
“What can I say, I have an excellent teacher,” Sergio says, chancing a glance at Jeremy, who, to his surprise, is looking right at him as he skates.
“Hmmm …” Jeremy hums, and a soft smile creeps across his lips. “It’s funny,” he says and spins them again. “As much as I love helping Allison achieve her dream, I’m not sure if that’s for me in the long run.”
“You could coach beginners,” Sergio suggests. “Like I said. You’re an excellent teacher. Look what you’ve done with me. And I’ve seen you with Henry. You’re so good with him.”
“He’s terrible.” Jeremy laughs.
“You’re still good with him.”
“You think?”
“Yes. He adores you.”
Jeremy smiles again. “There is something about showing someone who’s never skated before how much fun this is when competition isn’t the goal. Especially the little ones.”
“It is fun,” Sergio agrees. “More fun than I ever thought it would be … but again, maybe that’s because of you.”
Jeremy grabs both of Sergio’s hands and spins them around again, bringing them to a stop in the center of the rink.
“Smooth,” he says. There’s a little twinkle in his eyes.
“So tell me, was your first coach as handsome as you are?”
“No.” Jeremy laughs, causing his shoulders to bounce. “The opposite. My first coach was a very stern, older German woman named Mrs. B.”
“I guess it’s safe to say she’s not what drew you to the sport.”
“Definitely not.” He shakes his head and looks up towards the ceiling.
“Then what was it?”
“That got me to want to skate?”
“Yeah.”
Jeremy spins them around again and cuts a deep inside edge with his blade to give them a boost of momentum. “I’m not sure I ever necessarily did.”