Chapter 11
Amelia
A couple of weeks later, Amelia stood by the gates to Cardiff Winter Wonderland, hopping from foot to foot, partly to keep warm, and partly to do something with her anxious energy.
She hadn’t had many opportunities to speak to Keira since their away game in Durham.
Because of her shifts, she’d either missed training or been rushing to or from the hospital.
She wondered if she was subconsciously avoiding her.
The morning of their game, she’d woken up on her back, with Keira’s arm draped across her stomach.
It had simultaneously seemed too familiar and like finally coming home; finally finding somewhere warm to rest. She could barely remember the game, other than they’d lost, again, as if her entire consciousness had been taken up by that moment.
The Winter Wonderland had become a bit of a team tradition after their first social event there many years ago.
It was hard to worry about how the season was going when surrounded by music, pretty lights, and delicious scents of food.
Despite that, Amelia still hesitated about agreeing to go this year, despite having never missed a Blizzards Wonderland trip since they started.
Keira’s presence will force her to face her growing feelings.
The thought reignited the butterflies in Amelia’s stomach.
The team had planned to meet outside the entrance to the Winter Wonderland, and Amelia had been the first to arrive. She paced as she continued to sort her thoughts.
The sound of shoes on the pavement lifted her gaze. Keira walked towards her, and her heart started to flutter.
“Hi.” Keira stopped a few feet away.
“Hi.” Amelia smiled nervously.
“So… how’re you?”
Scared. Overwhelmed. Ridiculously attracted to you.
“I’m good, thanks. Tired from work.”
“Yeah, you’ve been working a lot recently, right?”
Evie and Sienna’s arrival saved Amelia from answering. Evie made eye contact with Amelia and then looked pointedly between her and Keira. Amelia blushed and looked away. Lucy and Asha arrived next, rounding the corner, traces of laughter on their faces.
“What’s up, Party People!” Lucy announced as she got closer. She bounded towards them, with Asha a few steps behind.
Keira caught Amelia’s attention and playfully rolled her eyes; Amelia chuckled.
The small group chatted about their various plans for Christmas while they waited for the others to arrive, before heading inside.
There were only ten of them this year, since two players had made other plans.
Amelia, walking next to Evie, noticed that Keira trailed behind as the team’s long-standing friendships naturally grouped them together, leaving her on her own.
Even Sienna, who was as new to the team as Keira, was Lucy’s one-man entourage.
Evie looked sideways at Amelia, and Amelia expected her to say something, but she pressed her lips tightly together instead, as if she didn’t trust herself to speak.
Their first activity was the only pre-booked activity; ice skating.
Amelia hadn’t been ice-skating since the same trip last year and was a little nervous.
But if she was nervous, Keira, who stood in front of her in line, looked positively terrified.
They were waiting, shoes in hand, to trade them in for ice skates, and Keira was almost compulsively fiddling with her shoelaces while rocking onto the balls of her feet and back.
Amelia leant forward and spoke quietly, so no one else would hear.
“Are you okay?”
Keira jumped so severely she nearly head-butted Amelia.
“Sorry,” she said, half turning to Amelia. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, but the twitchiness of her fingers gave her away.
“It’s okay to be anxious. And I’m speaking from experience there, as you know,” Amelia said quietly, adding what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
Keira smiled and opened her mouth to speak.
Her body language suggested she was about to deny it.
Then she met Amelia’s gaze and sighed. Her shoulders sagged, and the smile disappeared from her face.
“I’ve never been ice skating before,” she admitted.
“So?”
“I’m going to be terrible and make a fool of myself in front of everyone.” Keira’s words rushed out in a whisper, and she glanced around at the others. Amelia’s heart ached for her.
“You might do better than you think, and if you don’t, that’s okay, too.
Someone once told me that you don’t have to be perfect at everything, you know,” Amelia repeated Keira’s words back to her and made her tone light and joking.
The effort earned her a smile, but Keira did not seem to quell Keira’s obvious anxiety.
“But—”
One of the teenagers behind the counter loudly shouted, “Next!”
Keira took one last look at Amelia, some kind of plea written across her face, then weaved through, around other people already exchanging their shoes for skates, to the free attendant.
When she glanced back at Amelia, she gave her a double thumbs up.
When Keira engaged with the young man, Amelia mentally kicked herself. Thumbs up? Really?
Once Amelia got her own skates, she joined the others in the queue to get on the ice rink.
Keira stood a few people in front, frequently looking around, as if searching for an escape route.
It wasn’t long before the gates to the ice rink opened and the queue moved forward.
Many people clung onto the fence before they even got on the ice.
Keira hesitated at the gate, holding up those in line behind her. She was making herself smaller as they squeezed around her. Amelia moved past her and onto the ice, then she turned, offering out a hand.
Keira glanced around again, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She straightened, took Amelia’s gloved hand, and stepped out onto the rink. She almost immediately lost her balance, nearly falling and taking Amelia down with her.
Amelia managed to grab the railing and steady them both, returning them to an upright position.
Keira’s body got pinned between Amelia and the fence, still partially blocking the entrance.
Their icy breath rose as a mist between them, combining in the air.
They were so close Amelia could count Keira’s individual, beautiful eyelashes.
Her pulse quickened, and she increased the space between them.
“Sorry,” Keira said, blushing and looking down.
“Hey,” Amelia responded, but Kiera wouldn’t look at her.
She used the knuckle of her index finger to gently lift up Keira’s chin.
Keira's eyes went wide, but Amelia pressed on, ignoring the familiarity of her own action, and the way it made her pulse quicken. “Nothing to be sorry for, okay?” Keira’s eyes roamed her face, and she wondered if she was thinking about the away game hotel room, too.
Amelia stepped away from the boundary. She held out her hands, looking pointedly at Keira still clinging onto the fence.
Keira rapidly shook her head. Amelia knew what it was like to be that paralysed by anxiety.
She didn’t say anything, but gestured again for Keira to take her hand.
Keira closed her eyes and breathed deeply.
Finally, she let go of the support and grasped Amelia’s hands.
“That’s it,” Amelia said, trying not to think about Keira’s proximity as she clung on for dear life.
“I’m just going to move us out the way a little…
” Amelia slowly skated backwards, dragging Keira along with her like an unstable penguin.
The dark night sky twinkled with stars as laughter rose around them.
Amelia didn’t take her eyes off Keira, guiding them out of the way of the queue of people trying to get on the ice.
Once they returned to the fencing, Keira let go of her hands and latched onto it like a limpet suctioning onto the shore.
After a few more deep breaths, Keira finally looked Amelia in the eye.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.” Amelia moved to stand next to her, leaning her elbows on the fence behind her and surveying the ice rink in front. “Try watching what some of the others are doing, and then we’ll give it a go, okay?”
“Mm-hmm,” Keira said, but it came out as more of a squeak. Amelia had to stifle a laugh; right now, Keira was like a trapped animal that could easily startle, and the last thing she wanted to do was scare her off. But her usual smirk being replaced by almost wild eyes was somehow adorable.
The pair watched the other skaters, focusing on their teammates doing laps around the ice rink.
Lucy, naturally, was attempting to do jumps and spins, regularly falling flat on her backside.
Asha and Evie were the most graceful, skating around the rink deep in conversation.
Sienna and Sofia were too busy laughing at Lucy to do much skating.
“Do you want to give it a go?” Amelia asked gently, pushing off from the fence and doing a slow figure of eight in front of Keira.
“Can’t I just stay here?” Keira said helplessly.
Amelia laughed and stuck out her hand. Keira hesitated, looking between the offered hand and Amelia. Amelia wondered what she was thinking and what other questions were going unasked.
Eventually, Keira smiled nervously, reached out, and grasped Amelia’s hand. She took another deep breath and bravely pushed off the fence.
“That’s it, well done.” Amelia praised. “Set your one foot at forty-five degrees, then push the other one out at ninety degrees from that.”
Keira tried it and took a few faltering steps.
“No, no, without picking up your feet,” Amelia chuckled. “You need to sliiiiiiiide.” She drew out the word as she demonstrated to emphasise her point. Keira nodded and copied Amelia’s movements, successfully propelling herself a few feet forward. Amelia beamed.
“I did it!”
Punching a hand into the air, Keira instantly lost her balance.