Chapter 14
Nine and a Half Years Ago
The pairs clinics with Martina quickly become Chase’s favorite thing about camp. Skating with Zoe is super fun. And they’re so compatible that Martina has them demonstrate everything. That means touching Zoe. Holding her hand as they circle the ice. And jumping together, too.
His jumps still suck, but they suck a little less when she’s at his side.
Inevitably, after the demonstration, Chase does the rounds in the class, partnering other girls for the same exercises. He learns how to do a litany of holds, tricks, and lifts.
The rest of the girls are basically clamoring to skate with him, too.
It should be fun, except somehow partnering people who aren’t Zoe is exhausting.
He skates with girl after girl until they all blur together, but it’s work to match their strides.
And none of the jumps work right on the first try. Not a single one.
“Okay, class,” Martina says one afternoon, blowing a light tap on her whistle. “Let’s review the waltz hold. Zoe and Chase, I need you facing each other, please. Chase, your right hand is on Zoe’s shoulder blade. Zoe, your left is at his shoulder. Clasp your free hands.”
Every time they join hands, he feels electricity crackle throughout his body. The waltz hold is face-to-face, too. There’s nowhere to look except right into Zoe’s wide brown eyes.
Martina prompts them to move around the ice, with Chase skating forward and Zoe backward. Good thing it’s stupidly easy—with their strides syncing up just as soon as Chase figures out how much pressure to apply to her hand.
He isn’t even listening to Martina’s patter. “Good. Keep it steady. Chase, you must feel Zoe’s balance, don’t overpower. Zoe, trust Chase’s lead, but keep your core strong. This is about harmony. One fluid motion,” Martina is saying in the background. “Note the way their bodies are aligned.”
Aligned. That’s exactly how he feels. Their strides aren’t the only thing that’s matching right now. As his heart thumps, Chase can see the same rhythm in the flutter of Zoe’s pulse at her throat. He wants to kiss her right there. Preferably soon.
Skating with Zoe is so easy that Chase accelerates just a hair. Zoe follows as smoothly as if he’d counted the rhythm aloud. They practically fly around the ice this way. He can’t believe it when they’ve made a full rotation and it’s time to glide to a stop.
Martina regards them for a thoughtful moment, her mouth quirking into something like approval. “Well done. You’re working together, not against each other. Remember that feeling.”
As if he could forget it.
Chase lets go of Zoe’s hand, but the energy lingers, his heart still racing. There’s something about skating with her—about being near her—that feels easy and dangerous at the same time.
A few minutes later, class is dismissed, and Chase still feels a little stunned as he sits down to take off his skates. Zoe sits down right beside him to do the same.
Before they can make their exit, Martina appears in front of them. “Zoe, I had a wild thought. You and Chase have really great chemistry. What if you two did a pairs program for the midsummer showcase?”
“Mmm?” Zoe sounds a little dazed as she looks up at the instructor.
“I know everyone is expecting you to do some ambitious program with fifteen triple jumps. And maybe that is what you want. But a pairs program would be a different kind of challenge for you. It might be very joyful for you and also show the camp that trying new things is fun. Not everything is about technical scores, right? You could do a stylish number to some upbeat piece of music. Have fun with it. Something that people at this camp do not always understand.”
Zoe gazes up at her, and Chase finds himself holding his breath. “Maybe,” she says distractedly.
“Think on it,” Martina says.
Chase ties his shoes, knots his skates together, and manages to rise from the bench at the same time Zoe does. As if they’re still skating in sync.
They trail behind the other campers as the building empties skaters into the blazing sunshine.
Outside, all the bunheads turn to the left, toward the cafeteria for lunch.
But Chase isn’t ready for the chaos of the lunch line.
“Let’s walk this way,” he says, turning in the opposite direction, where the path loops around the building before eventually heading for the dining hall.
Zoe follows him without comment, and they make the first turn in silence. It’s shadier back here, too, and nice and private.
“What did you think?” he asks eventually. “About Martina’s idea?”
Zoe chews her lip. “It was interesting. I’ve never really tried pairs skating.”
“How come? It seems like you’d be great at it. Plus it’s fun,” he says in a massive understatement. Today it’s his favorite thing ever.
“Pairs skating…” She gives him a sideways glance, and then a smile, which somehow fizzes like a firework inside his chest. “I’m going to sound like a total bitch when I say this.”
“Doubt it, beautiful.”
“Okay. Pairs skating is for people who can’t hack it in individual competition. It’s also risky. What if you have the right partner and he gets injured? Or he retires? There goes your career.”
He stops walking and sits down on the grass, patting the spot beside him. “But at least you’d have a teammate. And teammates are awesome. I mean—I’m speaking from experience here. Team Chase is a good time. Ask anyone.”
She sits down, her expression serious. “Would you want to do this, though? Would you skate with me in that stupid showcase? Martina is right, it would take a lot of pressure off me. Nobody would expect us to be any good at it.”
Like she even has to ask. He doesn’t have the first idea what the showcase is, and it doesn’t matter. But he teases her anyway. “I dunno, Zoe. What do I get if I say yes? Something fun.”
“Um, okay…?” Her smile is hesitant. “Another pizza?”
“Like I said, we really gotta work on your concept of a good time.”
“I know,” she sputters. “Believe me, I know. I’m just a little hopeless at…”
He leans in and kisses her before she can try to find an ending for that sentence. He meant it in a suave way—taking control of the moment by throwing her a lifeline before she could say anything else self-disparaging.
But at the first brush of her soft lips, he feels his command of the situation start to slip.
And when she grabs his T-shirt in both hands and pulls him in closer, the kiss takes an abrupt turn, from let me show you how it’s done to an out-of-body experience.
The kiss is suddenly bottomless, and he’s pulling her into his lap.
Her arms slide around his overheated body, and suddenly he has chills.
He’s done this all before, but not really. Not with Zoe. All those prior kisses in his life were like a scrimmage, but this is the big game.
And when he tastes her, he’s done for. All the varsity hot-guy mojo that usually powers him through moments like this suddenly evaporates into the warm summer air. There’s only her soft mouth under his and the thumping of his heart against hers.
He couldn’t say how long the kiss goes on. A minute or an hour. Eventually a crow caws loudly overhead, and they break apart. Startled. Staring at each other with disbelief as well as hunger.
Say something, he thinks. But it takes another long beat before his brain comes back online. “I was wrong.”
“What?” she breathes.
“You do know how to have a good time.”
She blushes deeply, seeming even less capable of speech than he is.
Another breath of oxygen helps put the shattered pieces of himself back together. He gives her a playful pinch on the ass. “Up now, and take me to the caf. I need calories. And you can help me figure out which food to steal for later. On the roof. We have to discuss our performance.”
With a huge dazed smile, she scrambles off his lap and to her feet.
And when they walk off together, they match their strides without even noticing.