Yes, I have been slacking off on my writing. The last few days have been a bit of a head spinner in terms of my plans for the future. At some points its exhilarating as I think about all the things I could do, then it becomes depressing when I think of my apparent inability to sink a shot on the first go around.
Well, it is Christmas, and by golly I'm going to enjoy myself, whether my subconscious will let me or not. So for today's prompt I went with something incredibly girly. You'll laugh at me when you read the next line. This is NO JUDGING ZONE here so to all of you out there who care to snigger, keep those comments to yourself until you've written something along those lines and I can critique too :)
Prompt #3
Write a love story that takes place in winter.
Eliza sucked at ice-skating. Truly. She wasn't afraid to say it either. There was a problem though: her parents were a famous ice skating duo. They had been gently prodding, hurling, shoving, every sort of encouragement and bribery known to human kind to push Eliza to take to the ice. Therein laid the rub. The relationship between them and Eliza was the equivalent of them performing their routines in a gravel parking lot: it didn't work.
Needless to say she spent a lot of time at the rink where both of her parents coached. Each year when school started she'd lug her homework to her favorite, musty old bench in the box beside the rink. This year, she was a senior in high school. Something in her told her that this year would be different. This year, she'd make her move to independence.
"Sarah, could you make me the usual?" Eliza called out as she rummaged through her bag haphazardly, awkwardly trying to balance her text book and calculator in one arm while the other searched her messenger bag for her ever elusive pen. It was a typical Thursday afternoon in October, Eliza had just walked over from school. By the time she looked up to see the usual good natured face of Sarah, the concessions manager, she'd dug her pen out and was shaking the ink down. Reaching the counter, Eliza gasped.
"Sorry, Miss, I'm not Sarah and unfortunately I don't know what your usual is." A square pair of spectacles gleamed under a mop of Hobbit style brown hair. His nose looked not quite straight, giving him a devil-may-care aura. Staring blankly, frozen in embarrassment, Eliza tried to find a way to continue.
"Where's Sarah?" she asked dumbly.
"Went into labor last night, I expect she's delivering her baby. I'm filling in for her until she gets back."
"Oh, well.... um...." Eliza continued to trip over herself. Whether it was due to her foot in the mouth question or the fact that this boy was quite cute, she couldn't tell.
"You're not used to having your schedule changed, are you?" He chortled.
"I'm quite adaptable, thank you very much." Eliza countered indignantly.
Ten minutes later found the two of them still chatting at the rink's concession stand. Fast friends didn't quite cover them.
"So, you've gone to my school for how long, and we've never met formally?" Eliza asked.
"Three years," He replied, squeezing a few dots of ketchup out of a nearly empty bottle onto a hotdog. "I've been training at this rink since I was five, so I've seen you around."
"Really? Are you serious? Well, that makes me feel like a jerk." Eliza stated shamefully.
"No," He chuckled merrily, pushing his glasses up his crooked nose. "It just means that we weren't meant to cross paths." Eliza smiled at that. From the across the rink, she heard her name rise up in the cold air.
"Oh shoot, I gotta go. I'll see you around?"
"Sure thing, I'll keep your usual in mind." The boy smiled with a half wave. Eliza began walking away.
"Oh! Sorry, what was your name, again?"
"I didn't. Its Danny, for the record."
"Danny, nice to finally meet you."
As the cold December chilled the air, the budding romance between Eliza and Danny seemed to heat up. Eliza would lean on the concession stand counter as Danny would regale her with tales of his many hockey checks and his latest esoteric musical discovery. The attraction between them was like the winter frost; blossoming into crystalline patterns that grew more intricate every day. The patterns weaved and swirled ever closer together until one day when the ice had to be broken.
"Would you be up for a date?" Danny asked out of the blue on a particularly cold December evening. Eliza was caught so off guard that she didn't realize what she was saying until the knee-jerk reaction had done it for her.
"I'm free on Friday." She replied easily, yet suddenly her stomach filled with those butterflies that everyone fawned about.
"Great, I'll pick you up. Wear warm clothes, we'll be outside. How about seven o'clock?" Danny's rag had been wiping the same circle for the last five minutes as he stared at her.
"It's a date." She nearly sang. He called it a date, and he asked her to her face... couldn't ask for more, could she?
Friday. Her anxiety was as thick as peanut butter. After spending three hours getting ready, Eliza tromped down the stairs to her parents waiting in the living room to see her off as they never had before.
"How does it look?" Eliza did her little turn on the catwalk then posed. She'd chosen her pale pink peacoat layered with her fleece hoodie underneath for comfort, a pair of matching pink earmuffs over her brunette waves she'd spent the better part of two hours completing.
"Lookin' good, sweetheart. You'll knock him dead." Her father said, stepping up to her mother's side.
"You'll be fine, honey." Her mother murmured, sharing a knowing look with her father. Before Eliza could question it, the doorbell rang. Her mother had to stifle her laughter at Eliza's small yelp of surprise. Humiliated, Eliza answered the door.
"I think you're gonna like what we're doing." Danny seemed as though he would bubble over with enthusiasm as he escorted Eliza across the snowy park, her eyes covered with a blindfold.
"I think you should keep your eyes on on the road so you don't lead me into a tree." Eliza replied.
"Ta-da!" Danny whipped off the blindfold and Eliza's face fell.
They stood on a darkened ice rink.
"This isn't funny, Danny." Eliza said, dejectedly.
"It's not supposed to be. C'mere." He gently led her to the center of the rink, the darkest point.
"Wait here." He instructed.
"Danny, so help me if I fall on my butt I'm gonna-" The lights over the center flooded on and Eliza was left breathless. There, set in festive reds and greens, was a beautiful table for 2.
"Danny.... it's.... it's-"
"It smells delicious, lets eat." Danny skidded up to her expertly with a tray of food in his arms.
Danny's mother had prepared a delicious meal, with Danny contributing to the dessert. Chocolate cupcakes with peppermint frosting. After the smearing of frosting, Danny sighed then jumped up.
"Now, for the fun part." He disappeared again across the rink. Eliza wrinkled her brow, her mouth falling open in confusion. He returned carrying what looked like a lumpy package with loose strings dangling over his arms. As he came closer, Eliza saw the skates.
"No, Danny."
"No what? Come on, I asked you out, you have an obligation as a girl to at least be polite and try." He smiled as he handed her a pair of well worn figure skates, and sat down to fasten his old hockey skates. Eliza pouted for a minute, but her sense of female duty overpowered her pride and she started lacing up the skates.
"I can't stand." Eliza said stubbornly, sitting in her chair.
"Oh yes, you can." Danny heaved and pulled her out of her chair when she promptly slipped and fell onto him. "Easy there, that's it. One step at a time."
"Why? Why do you torture me?" Eliza fumed through gritted teeth, her entire body tensed in an awkwardly bent position. "Where'd you even get the skates to fit?" Danny held her hands firmly and continued to guide her on.
"Your mom, I called and asked for your shoe size and she said she could do me one better." Eliza groaned.
"Leave it to my mother to continue to push me when I don't want to be pushed!"
"You know, 'Liza, no one can push or pull you unless you let them..." Danny said patiently.
"Says the guy who is pulling me along against my will." Eliza straightened up a bit to look him in the eye. Danny cocked his head knowingly and Eliza had to admit that she did let this happen.
"Alright, alright, teach me, Master Yoda, in your icy ways." Eliza submitted her control completely.
"There you go, now I'm just going to hold you and we'll skate together. Only when you're ready."
"Ready," Eliza muttered, setting her jaw for a slippery impact. Suddenly, Danny wasn't in front of her pulling anymore. He fell in stride beside her, slipping one arm around her waist, the other holding her left arm out to help her balance.
"One, two, three and one, two, three..." He whispered beside her. Slowly, ever so slowly, Eliza's grip loosened and her gait lengthened. Danny turned on his iPod and they began skating about to the dulcet tones of Lionel Ritchie and Barbra Streisand, making Eliza fight harder to laugh and skate at the same time.
Time to be brave: Eliza pushed away from Danny's safe hold and began skating around the circle. The wind rushing by her face, the exhilarating feeling of sliding through the air made her heart race. She sped faster and faster, a grin splitting her face from ear to ear. But the euphoria was short lived. The wall seemed to be coming up awful fast.
"Danny! Danny! I can't stop!" Eliza shrieked in terror, already wobbling around. In an instant she heard the swish of experienced skates sliding along, carving the ice to their will. Strong arms wrapped them selves around her and brought her careening body to a halt with an oomph! There was a moment as they stood there, locked in an embrace. Eliza looked up into that Frodo-esque face and was spellbound.
"Are you always that graceful when you let go?" Danny murmured, looking into her soft brown eyes. Eliza's breath caught, not for the first time that night.
"Only when I know someone can keep me from failing miserably." She whispered, eyes still fixed on his. "How do I know I won't fall-" She was cut off as Danny's lips met hers. Shivers raced down her spine as she enjoyed the gentle touch of affection. Once they broke Danny gave her a soft kiss on her forehead.
"You don't. But just know if you're falling, I'm falling right beside you."
The swirling breeze of the night wrapped its soft hands around the pair, still entwined in Danny's arms, pushing them closer together. Eliza began shivering, making Danny chuckle and squeeze her tightly. They both began laughing, letting all their nervous energy out.
All of a sudden there was a scratch on ice and the two found themselves hitting the ice hard. Stunned, the couple looked to each other slowly. The sound of their laughter forcing itself through their lips echoed over the empty rink with a jovial holiday ring.
There you go :) Have at it.
This is Meg, signing off.
IN CASUS PERGIT
