It's Just Frozen Water

“You sure you don’t want my help?” Brendan asked, lacing up his skates.

“I didn’t need your help tightening up my skates and I definitely will not need your help skating either,” Devon chortled, with a shake of her head.

Her blonde waves reflected in the midafternoon sun and despite how beautiful she looked bundled up, Brendan still rolled his eyes at her stubbornness. “And what makes you so sure that you won’t need my help?” he asked again, his voice rising with the slight intonation of sarcasm.

Her lips pursed together and Brendan smiled. She always did that when he’d made a good point, but then her lips turned up into a smirk. Brendan gulped. She always did that when she had a rebuttal. “I’m Canadian. Perfect skating abilities are in my blood,” she answered, without batting an eyelash.

One of Brendan’s eyebrows rose, “When was the last time you went ice skating…on a pond?”

“Seven years ago,” she shrugged, “C’mon Brendan, it’s nothing more than frozen water. How hard could it be?”

He crossed his arms, “Hard enough.”

Devon threw her head back and laughed. Then she noticed the scowl twisting his lips. She scooted closer to him on the bench. He scooted away. She nudged his shoulder with hers. He pushed her back. Devon laughed again, “Did I hurt your feelings babe?”

Brendan ignored her. She turned to him, grabbed his hand, and squeezed it. “I’m sorry,” she spoke sincerely, placing a kiss on his cheek. He smiled despite himself. It was too much effort for him to stay mad at someone for long.

Devon stood up and walked over to the edge of the pond. “Don’t slow me down okay?” she joked, setting one foot on the ice.

Pushing off with her other foot, Devon wobbled forward. She had barely made it a foot or so when her legs kicked out in front of her and she fell flat on her ass.

Brendan collapsed beside the bench in a fit of giggles. When Devon tried to stand back up, only to fall down again, he exploded even more.

Devon looked over at him. Her shoulders slumped. “Could you please help me?” she mumbled, embarrassment blazing red across her cheeks.

Through laughter, Brendan said, “What’s that? I can’t hear you!”
“I was wrong! I do need your help,” Devon spoke up.

“What?” he spoke, smirk firmly in place. It was very rare Brendan won over her tenacity and he was milking it up for all it was worth –not that Devon blamed him, she would’ve done the same.

Devon let out an exasperated sigh. “I SAID I NEED YOUR HELP,” she shouted, a small smile turning up the corner of her lips by the end. Just like Brendan, neither could she stay mad for long –especially with him.

He skated towards her and then hoisted her up off the ground. Arms around her waist, he nodded, “Ready to go?”

Devon bit her lip. “Please don’t let me fall,” she spoke, hugging him tighter.

Brendan smiled, “I won’t ever let you fall.”