Sparks Fly

“Char, do we really have to go ice skating?”

“Yes, Hannah, we do! We agreed that you would teach me how to skate!”

I rolled my eyes as I opened my closet to find an outfit to wear to the rink. I loved my best friend dearly, but she can be really annoying sometimes. She’s been up my butt about teaching her how to ice skate for months now. “Okay, fine. But this time you can’t get frustrated and yell at me.”

“I’ll be better this time I promise! Just pick me up in 30 okay?”

“Okay, see you soon.” I sighed and hung up the phone.

I put on a nice sweater, a pair of jeans, and my uggs. I tied my hair back in a messy bun and put on a little bit of makeup. When I pulled up to Charlotte’s house, she ran out to my car and got into the passenger seat.

When we got to the rink, we paid admission and headed for the ice. I had my own skates so I put them on while Charlotte rented skates. Then we hit the ice. I held Charlotte’s hands and helped her skate forward as I skated backwards. “Don’t walk, glide.” I instructed.

“I’m trying!”

We made it halfway around when Charlotte told me to stop. I could tell she was beginning to get frustrated. “Can we just sit for a little bit?”

We sat down on the bench and watched the other skaters go by. We sat in silence for a couple of minutes until two people caught my eye. I nudged Charlotte. “Char! Do you see those guys over there?”

Charlotte looked in the same direction as I was. “You mean the one with the long brown hair and the shorter one with the short brown hair?”

“Yes! I think that’s Justin Faulk and Jeff Skinner!”

“No way! What are they doing here?”

“I don’t know!”

“We should get back on the ice. You know, to show the boys our skills.”

I laughed as Charlotte stumbled onto the ice. She almost fell but I picked her up. So much for showing the boys our moves. We skated a little bit the way we were before but Charlotte’s skills hadn’t improved much, so I had an idea.

“Okay. I’m gonna skate in front of you a little bit to show you what to do okay?” I skated past Charlotte, making sure to exaggerate the gliding motion with each stride. I turned around to face Charlotte. “See! It’s not so ha-” Suddenly I felt my feet get knocked out from under me and I fell flat on the ice. I heard a voice from above me.

“Oh my god. I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” I looked up and saw that the voice belonged to Jeff Skinner. He held out his hand to help me up.

Blushing, I took Jeff’s hand and he helped me up. “I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”

“I’m sorry my stupid friend pushed me into you.” he gave Justin a death glare.

Justin waved at me. He had an evil smile on my face. I giggled, “It’s okay. I’m fine, really.”

Jeff looked at me like he was about to die of embarrassment. “Alright. Once again, I’m really sorry.”

“Once again, it’s okay.”

I started skating back towards Charlotte, who had a shocked look on her face.

“Oh. My. God.” she said once I reached her.

“I know.” Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Jeff and Justin.

“Hello again.” Justin said from behind Jeff.

“Hello.” Charlotte and I said in unison.

“When my friend Jeff over here,” Justin put his hands on Jeff’s shoulders “ran into you just now he didn’t catch your name. What is your name?”

I smiled. Justin was very smooth. “I’m Hannah, and this is my friend Charlotte.”

“Well hello Hannah and Charlotte. I’m Justin Faulk and this is Jeff Skinner but I have a feeling you guys already knew that.”

“Yeah.”

“We couldn’t help but notice that you were trying to teach Charlotte how to skate. Do you mind if I take over? I’m an excellent teacher.” Justin held his hand out and Charlotte took it. He gave Jeff a look that seemed to mean now’s your chance, bro.

Jeff looked at me. “Why don’t we give these two some privacy for their, um, lesson.”

I looked at Charlotte and she mouthed “go” at me. I looked at Jeff and smiled. “Sure.”

Jeff and I skated away from Charlotte and Justin. We took a few laps around the ice in awkward silence. I looked over my shoulder and saw Justin with his hands around Charlotte’s waist, pulling her forwards as he skated backwards. Charlotte was smiling and giggling like a little girl. I looked up at Jeff and I could tell he was nervous. He obviously wasn’t as comfortable around women as Justin was. I decided to break the awkward silence. “So, what brings you guys to the ice rink tonight?”

Jeff laughed. “Justin thought it would be a good idea. He thought maybe we could meet some girls here.”

“Really? Well it was a good idea because you’re talking to me and Justin is making Charlotte swoon over there.”

“Yeah, Justin sorta has that effect on girls. One look at him and they go crazy.”

I nudged him “Hey, you can have that effect on girls too, you know.”

“You’re just saying that to be nice.”

“No, I’m serious! I’ve seen girls go absolutely crazy over you at games. And, um, I think you’re pretty cute too.”

Jeff looked at me. “Just cute?”

I laughed. “Okay, I think you’re hot, is that better?”

“Yes, much better.”

After that, all awkwardness disappeared between us. We talked and skated for what seemed like hours until we skated back to join Justin and Charlotte, who were sitting on the bench together. Jeff and I leaned on the boards to talk to them.

“Hey man.” Jeff said. “We should get going, because we have practice in the morning.”

Justin didn’t even look away from Charlotte. “Yeah, I guess we should go. Oh! I have an idea! Why don’t you come to practice tomorrow morning? It’s open to all fans.”

Charlotte’s face lit up “Totally! We’ll be there, right Hannah?”

“Um, yeah. Sounds good.”

Justin smiled. “Awesome. I’ll just give you my number...” Charlotte handed him her phone and he put his number in and she did the same on his phone.

I turned to Jeff “Here,” I handed him my phone. “put in your number.”

Jeff smiled. “Okay, bossy.” he put in his number and then handed me his phone so I could do the same.

Justin got up from the bench and came up next to Jeff. “See you guys tomorrow.” he may have been talking to both of us, but his eyes were fixed on Charlotte.

“See you tomorrow.” Charlotte said with a slightly higher pitch to her voice than normal.

“See you tomorrow.” Jeff said to me.

“See you tomorrow.”

The guys skated away and Charlotte and I weren’t far behind them. When we got in the car, Charlotte and I looked at each other in disbelief.

“What just happened?” I asked

“I have no idea.”

“What was up with you? You were acting like a schoolgirl with a crush.”

Charlotte blushed. “I don’t know. Justin is very....charming. And what about you, missy? Could you and Jeff flirt anymore? I saw you guys skating and being all smiley and blushy.”

I felt my cheeks burning up. “I don’t know either. It’s the dimples. They just make me melt.”

A few minutes later I pulled up to Charlotte’s house. She got out of the car and started walking towards her house. I rolled down the window. “So I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning?” I shouted.

“Yeah! Pick me up early so we can get breakfast!”

I rolled up the window and drove to my house. When I got home, I put on my pajamas and went to bed. Before I could fall asleep, my phone vibrated. It was a text message from Jeff: Hey. Just wanted to say goodnight. I’ll see you in the morning :)

A huge smile crept across my face as I read the text. I replied: Goodnight. See you in the morning :)