Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
I’m terrible at surprises, and the real reason I called it a surprise was because I had no plan yet.
I spent hours trying to decide what we should do, only to come to the conclusion that I bit off more than I could chew.
I drifted to sleep sometime after midnight without a clue what I was going to do.
When I woke up the next morning, I threw off my covers and darted downstairs as quickly as possible. My only hope is in the kitchen making breakfast—Mom.
She’s humming a song off tune while standing at the sink, washing the large bowl she used for pancakes.
I lean on the counter beside her.
“Hey, you’re up early,” she says.
I shrug. “I guess so.”
She smiles and continues to scrub.
“Uh, Mom?” I force my words out. “I wanted to go do something fun with Caleb, but I don’t know what we should do. Do you have any ideas?”
She immediately turns off the water and points a soapy, bubble-covered finger at herself. “Are you asking me for date ideas?” Her giddy face reminds me of a child that’s been given a bucket of candy.
I inch farther away. “Not necessarily a date. Just something fun.”
She grabs a kitchen towel and pats her hands dry. “Well, you came to the right place because I have a million ideas.” She pinches my cheek. “This is so exciting. My little girl is asking me for dating advice.”
I wave her down. “Calm down. I only need help this one time.”
She doesn’t hear that, or if she did, she chooses to ignore it. “There’s the mall. You guys could go down there and shop.” She clicks her tongue. “Or you could go to the theater and watch a movie.”
I groan, throwing my head back. “I’ve thought of all of those already. The mall won’t work because it’s always packed on the weekends, and besides, I hate shopping. And then I checked the movies playing today, and they’re all either lame or rated R—no in between.”
“Well, let me think.” She taps her chin and then claps her hands together. “I have it. The perfect place.” She pauses for dramatic effect.
I nod and lean forward, gesturing for her to continue. “And it is?”
As soon as she smirks, I know this is going to be something that’ll test my boundaries.
Her hands fan out in front of her. “Ice skating.”
I cringe. I haven’t done that in years. What if my feet forgot how to do it? Or what if I slice my hand on someone’s skates? That’s a very valid fear of mine that’s plagued me every time I’ve gone.
“Think about it. The rink is never that busy, so you won’t have to deal with a lot of people. Plus, it’s right next to that cute Italian restaurant, so you could go get something to eat after.”
I scrunch up my face as my mind wrestles with the two sides of me—the part of me that would always rather stay home and the part of me that wants to plan something special for Caleb, even if it means bundling up to go skating. “Okay. Ice skating it is.”
Mom claps. “Now what are you going to wear?”
“I don’t know. Clothes,” I say, backing out of the kitchen to avoid exciting her anymore.
Her jaw drops, and she claps her hand over her mouth. “Why don’t I help you pick your outfit?”
“N-no. You don’t need to do that.”
“Please. Just this once. I’ve always dreamed of doing things like this with my little girl.” Her pleading eyes tug at my heart.
“Fine,” I say.
Lunging forward, she abducts me into a hug. “You won’t regret it,” she says.
She kisses my forehead, and I push away, wiping it off. “I’m already regretting it.”
“Oh, stop. I love you.”
Those three words come out of her mouth so easily, but for me, I don’t know why I have to pry them out to ever say them back to anyone.
“Candy store?” Jordy asks from the back seat.
I didn’t plan to bring Jordy with us, but Mrs. Park had an errand. Leaving him at home isn’t the most responsible thing to do, nor is it legal. Besides, I bet he’ll love ice skating, and I like having him around.
“Nope,” I reply.
He pouts, crossing his arms. “Why won’t you just tell me where we’re going?”
I sigh. “Because that wouldn’t be fun.”
He gives me the stink eye. “You need to stop spending so much time with Caleb. You’re starting to sound just like him, and I don’t know how I feel about that.”
Caleb glances up at his brother in the rearview mirror. “You should feel honored.”
“More like . . . concerned,” Jordy says.
Our ice rink is smack dab in the center of downtown. It’s an indoor rink because the temperature never gets low enough here to have one outside.
I went through a phase one winter where I went to the rink so many times that I could skate backward and skate circles around Sadie. I wonder if it’ll be like riding a bike. Will I be able to jump back into it like no time has passed?
“Turn here,” I say.
Jordy gasps as soon as the large arena comes into view. “We’re going skating!”
“Have you ever been ice skating?” I ask, twisting back to see him.
“Nope.”
“You’ll love it,” I say. Then, I turn to Caleb. “What about you?”
“It’s been a while. I’m not sure if I’ll be any good,” he says, parking the car.
“I haven’t skated in years either. We can be terrible together. It’s the perfect couple activity.”
He laughs. “It’ll be entertaining. That’s for sure.”
Leaning over the console, I kiss his cheek. “Come on, let's go.”
His lips curve upward slightly, and his fingers touch his cheek. He tilts his head and leans in.
I pull back and smile wider.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
I shrug. “I’m sorry. Did you want something?”
His brows furrow. “Really?” He reaches for me. “Come here.”
I dodge him. “You’ll have to catch me,” I say, winking. I winked. Then, I fly out of the car as fast as humanly possible.
Jordy, who is already out of the car, plasters himself to the side to avoid being run over. “What are you doing?”
“I’m running!” I yell over my shoulder.
Caleb takes off after me.
“You guys are silly,” Jordy says as he follows.
The chilled air fills my lungs and whips through my hair, blowing it in every direction. I run in between the cars in the lot, toward the doors. Caleb’s gaining on me, so I make an unexpected detour and duck behind a large red truck to fall out of his view.
“Where did she go?” Jordy huffs.
Their shoes are visible from underneath the bed of the truck, halting. I watch them, prepared to bolt at any moment.
Caleb whispers, but it’s too quiet for me to make it out. Then, Jordy bends down to peer underneath the truck. “Hey, Becca.” He waves with a giddy face.
I leap up, crashing into the fabric of Caleb’s dark black jacket.
With Jordy’s distraction, he’d made it all the way to the other side of the truck.
He steadies me with a hand on my waist, and his full-fledged smile greets me.
The one that’s lopsided and framed with dimples. “You’re bad at hide-and-seek.”
“You’re right,” I sigh, pulling away. “I guess we better go in.”
He takes my hand, turning me back to face him. “Not so fast.”
I smirk, meeting his gaze. “Why? Did you want something?” I repeat.
He rolls his eyes. “You’re something else. You know that, right?”
“Would you prefer me to be normal?”
He tilts my chin up and cups my face in his hands, kissing me. “No.”
Butterflies flood my stomach. I love his kisses and the way they make me feel.
Caleb loops his arm around mine, and we go inside for our skate rentals. Once we have them, we head to a room filled with benches and lockers. I tuck my shoes underneath one of the benches and slip my feet into the skates. They’re well worn, barely reminiscent of the white color they once were.
When I stand, I wobble. It takes me a minute to find my balance and to get used to the height difference. I may only be a few inches taller, but I swear it's a whole other world up here.
Jordy tugs on his laces, tightening and finishing them with an uneven bow. “Ta-da!” he says. He stands up in front of Caleb, who is still seated. “Now I’m as tall as you.”
“Not quite,” Caleb says. When he stands, he towers over Jordy. As if he wasn’t tall enough already, his skates have graced him with even more height.
We’re a very dysfunctional trio as we enter the rink. Jordy holds on to the wall for dear life while Caleb immediately falls.
“Are you going to help me up?” Caleb asks, looking up at me.
I hold out my hand, but when he takes hold of it, my feet slip out from underneath me. I collide into him on the ice. My hair fans over both of us.
Caleb laughs, moving the strands out of my face.
I gasp. “Wait. Did you do that on purpose?”
He smiles. “Maybe.”
I glare at him as I push myself to my feet. “You’re a flirt.”
He stands, swaying before he finds a slow rhythm to help him balance. “Would you prefer if I weren’t?”
I look away, hiding my smile. “No. Just make sure you’re only flirting with me.”
“Always.”
I try to memorize every detail of this moment. Caleb’s glistening eyes. The way he looks at me. The pitter-patter of my heart. The joy I feel trickling through me. I want this to last forever.
Jordy hasn’t made it very far. He’s migrated away from the wall, but his skates slip and slide more than anything else.
Skating closer, I stop next to him. “Do you need some help?”
He nods as his hands reach out in front of him, grasping nothing but air.
“Okay, bend your knees a little bit,” I say, exaggerating how much I bend mine.
He copies me, wobbling.
“Good. Now, we’re going to move one foot at a time and make sure you shift your weight with it. Like this.” I skate ahead, demonstrating how it works. I circle back around to be in front of him, skating backward. I guess it is like riding a bike after all.
He pushes off with one foot. Before I know it, he’s gliding past me. “This isn’t so bad.”
“You’re a natural,” I say.
His legs are still shaky, but he’s picking it up a lot faster than I did my first time.
Caleb glides up beside me. He holds out his hand, and while this is the cheesiest thing I’ve ever done in my life, I take it, and we skate hand in hand around the rink.
It’s way more calming than I expected it to be.
I take another mental picture of us. We’re laughing as we fall and get back up. We’re having fun and teasing each other. Most of all, the smiles stretched across our faces show the world that, at this moment, we’re happy.
This is what I want to fill my memories with.
After skating until we couldn’t possibly keep going, we turn in our skates and head back home. I talked the boys into coming over to watch the next episode of Star Trek. It wasn’t hard. They’re already hooked. They both jumped at the idea.
“I think Spock is my favorite,” Jordy says as we get out of the car.
“Why is that?”
“Have you seen his eyebrows? They’re impressive.”
I want to laugh, but the yelling coming from my house stops me in my tracks.
An eerie sensation ripples through me.
This isn’t the usual fighting from my parents. Something is wrong.
Very wrong.