CHAPTER 3
REESE
The morning air was almost painfully cold despite the sun streaming through the window of Reese’s car.
The gravel crunched under her tires as she pulled into the empty parking lot.
She glanced at the clock and reached for her keys as the car came to a stop.
Her fingers rifled through the stack of keys and froze when she realized she had forgotten the key to the rink.
Fuck. By now, it was too late to go back home and make it back in time so Reese put the key back in the ignition and decided to wait until the rest of the team showed up.
Hopefully one of them had thought to bring their spare key.
She tilted her head back and rested her eyes as music quietly poured from the speakers.
Several minutes passed as Reese’s mind wandered.
It was so cozy in the warm car that she worried she might fall asleep if no one showed up soon.
Almost as if on cue, she heard tires pull into the lot.
Her eyes jerked open, and she smiled as she watched Lida pull into the spot next to her.
Lida winked through the window and grabbed her bag out of the backseat as more cars began pulling into the parking lot.
“You good?” Lida asked, her voice muffled through the closed window. Reese nodded and opened the car door, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.
“Please tell me you brought your keys,” Reese pleaded.
Lida jingled her keys mockingly as she balanced a coffee cup, water bottle, and duffel bag between her two hands. “Bitch, you always forget,” she sighed.
Reese laughed and followed Lida into the dark rink.
There was something calming about the cavernous empty room.
The morning light was filtering through the sky lights, highlighting every particle of dust in the air of the stale room.
The wooden floor creaked comfortingly as they crossed to the benches on the other side.
Lida turned to watch the other skaters coming through the door.
“I know you’re not walking on the track with outdoor sneakers on…” Lida threatened to a couple newer skaters that panic-shuffled off the track immediately. “That’s what I thought,” she announced before taking a sip of coffee. “Fucking kids,” she muttered under her breath.
Reese chuckled and chided, “Easy, Li. We like our teammates, remember?” She sat on the ground and began rifling through her bag, laying out each piece in front of her before gearing up. She rolled her head from side to side, stretching her stiff neck which fiercely protested.
“Yeah, yeah,” Lida grumbled jokingly. Her long dark curly hair was unruly and streaming down her back.
She looked up and noticed Reese rubbing the back of her neck.
Her golden-brown eyes lit up as she zeroed in.
“You need me to uh—rub one out for you?” she asked suggestively while wiggling her shoulders.
“Hell no,” Reese exclaimed. “Last time you gave me a massage, I had bruises that lasted a week.”
“That’s why they pay me the big bucks,” Lida joked back as she began putting her gear on. “Let’s get moving. C’mon ladies!” she yelled as the last few stragglers came through the door.
“They’re not all ladies,” Reese corrected quietly.
Lida nodded animatedly, realizing her mistake.
“Ah fuck. You’re right,” she said quietly.
She raised her voice louder and added, “I meant, uh, c’mon…
” Lida hesitated before settling on, “Friends?” She looked at Reese for approval with her shoulders shrugged.
Reese chuckled and nodded as she laced her skates.
“Sorry,” Lida apologized, “I gotta get used to that. Please keep correcting me.”
“You got it, babe,” Reese answered warmly.
The group had grown to nearly twenty skaters, all in various stages of dress scattered between the benches and floor.
Even though she hated waking up early on a weekend, Sunday morning practices were always Reese’s favorite.
It was like clockwork; the newer skaters arrived early with water bottles in hand, clean name-brand workout clothes on and full of energy, ready to go.
Veteran skaters arrived at the last second—or late—with a travel mug of coffee in hand, messy bed-head, shredded tank tops covered by oversized hoodies, and were generally just barely starting to function as human beings.
Hopping to her feet, Lida tested her whistle twice before starting on her warm-up laps.
Her long unruly hair was tied into a tight bun at the base of her neck, and her long legs slowly crossed over, stretching with each minute movement.
Lida had been her best friend on the team from the very beginning.
She showed up on the first day with a cocky attitude and the most aggressive skating style Reese had ever seen from a new skater.
She and Reese had been inseparable on the track ever since they both made the charter roster.
They prided themselves on being an integral part of the lovingly named ‘Oh Shit Lineup.’ The lineup usually consisted of four blockers who could handle any type of jammer.
The entire goal of this particularly powerful group was to make the other team look up and say, ‘Oh Shit.’ A few other skaters would routinely rotate through the Oh Shit Lineup, but Reese and Lida were always a staple.
That is, unless Lida had already fouled out of the game, which happened more often than not.
The sound of everyone’s wheels whirring on the old wooden floor was deeply comforting and Reese swore she could feel it in the depth of her chest as she started skating.
The cold dusty air stung the back of her throat as she gained speed.
Lida came up on her right and slowed slightly to match their speeds as they skated side by side around the track.
“You missed a hell of a party on Friday,” Lida started, “Was the promotion worth it?” she joked.
Reese inhaled through her mouth guard before answering, “Actually…” her voice trailed off as they juked around other skaters. “Friday night was more eventful than I wanted. I couldn’t get out of going to a random party with Kiran and his friends.”
Lida punched Reese’s arm a little too forcefully to be playful. “Are you fucking kidding me? You blew me off and went out celebrating with Kiran instead?” Reese knew she wasn’t actually mad but Lida naturally had a loud and sharp tone to her voice.
“I know, I know. I was looking forward to a quiet night in but instead Kiran got us invited to this party where he knew a bunch of people and I just ended up hanging out with some random ass girl the whole night until it was acceptable enough to leave. It wasn’t exactly a celebration,” Reese answered as she rubbed the pink mark growing on her upper arm.
Lida eyed the spot on her arm and silently shrugged, which was Lida’s version of an apology. “Did he at least introduce you or hang out at all or did he do that thing—”
“He introduced me to some people! It wasn’t like that,” Reese interjected defensively.
“Did he get too drunk and bail at the end of the night?” Lida countered before reaching for the whistle hanging around her neck.
Reese’s pause was a beat too long and Lida rolled her eyes before blowing the whistle four times, signaling for practice to begin.
“I don’t know why you’re still with that asshole.
I swear, he’s gotta have like a crazy dick or something if you’re—”
“Oh my god, okay, please let it go,” Reese interrupted loudly as Lida cackled.
“Alright, alright, my bad,” she said, effectively dropping it. Her voice echoed through the vaulted room as she commanded, “Let’s go y’all! Line it up for a double paceline!” Skaters around the track hurried to get in line behind them as Lida gave a wink.
. . . .
Hours later, Reese flopped onto the ground next to her open skate bag. “Fuck, I’m gonna be so sore tomorrow,” she groaned as Lida approached.
Lida chuckled and nodded in agreement before finishing off the last of her water. “Are you going out with us after practice or not?”
“I’m fucking exhausted, Li. I’ll do brunch another time,” Reese answered as she unfastened her helmet. Her neck still felt stiff and a bruise on her calf was beginning to swell after falling during an earlier drill.
“Hmph,” Lida answered. Reese rolled her eyes and looked back to Lida who was grinning in her direction. “Kidding,” she added, “I’m holding you to it though. Next week?”
“Next week, I’m in,” Reese accepted.
She hadn’t made it more than ten minutes into the drive home before her phone rang, disrupting the music blaring from her speakers. Instinctively, her jaw clenched the tiniest bit as her mother’s name flashed on the screen.
Reese’s parents had never said or done anything outright rude or harsh, but her mother was an absolute masterclass of toeing the line.
Every comment made or suggestion given was carefully laced with an undertone of condescension.
Innocuous enough to be undetectable to everyone except her children.
Over the years, Reese had become an expert at ignoring and dodging the slighting remarks.
At least outwardly, she had. Internally, the words rang in her ears every time she struggled with decision-making.
Like when she’d decided to forgo getting a masters degree.
Or when she had struggled to reconcile her own identity as a queer woman.
Her identity had never been a big surprise to herself, or her brother for that matter.
But it absolutely leveled her parents. They couldn’t even hear the word “queer” without swallowing a shudder.
In their minds, Reese’s identity as a queer woman had disrupted the painfully straight-laced lifeplan that they’d laid out for her since birth.
Not that Reese had wanted any part of it, even before she came out.