My Hockey Alpha Chapter 255- Not a Drill Nina “Let me teach you how to skate.” I widened my eyes at Enzo’s words. I had just skated circles around the rink with him after only ever skating once before, and I hadn’t fallen once. But I had never thought about skating seriously. In fact, I had never even considered hockey or figure skating as particularly interesting sports until I started to get to know Enzo. After skating with him a couple of times, however, I was beginning to realize that I did enjoy the sport. It was fun, and it was good exercise. Even after just skating around in circles for a few minutes, I was already out of breath and little beads of sweat were beginning to form on my skin, causing my bangs to stick to my forehead.
“Um… I’ll think about it,” I said, somewhat sheepishly. “I have another class to go to right now, though.” Enzo nodded, still beaming widely with his eyes shining more brightly than ever before. “Of course,” he said. “Tomorrow morning, maybe?” I shrugged and repeated that I would think about it and let him know later, which seemed to be enough for Enzo for the time being. He continued to practice while I changed back into my shoes and put the rental skates away, and after that I headed to class.
Just before I left, I took one last look at Enzo as he skated back and forth the rink. He had returned to doing his drills from before, and was once again tirelessly zooming around the rink while expertly maneuvering the puck with his stick. Seeing him move so freely, and doing something that he clearly loved and missed so much, made me smile. And, in an odd way, it made me a little envious. Maybe if I put the work in, I could have just as much fun skating as Enzo did.
Throughout class, and throughout the rest of the day, I found myself not being able to stop thinking about how good it felt to skate with Enzo. Once I got past the feeling of being a baby deer with little to no control over my legs, I had actually had a lot of fun playing with Enzo when I didn’t think that I would have had much fun at all. It made the time fly, and it made me feel closer to Enzo, too. Not only that, but it took my mind off of all of the stress that I had been under.
All of those things were why, later that night as I got ready for bed with Enzo, I finally decided to skate with him in the morning after all.
“You know what?” I said as I walked out of Enzo’s apartment bathroom, drying my hair after a shower. “I think I will skate with you in the morning.” Enzo’s eyes lit up. He had returned to his somber demeanor, clearly stressing over everything with the Luna and the Crescents, earlier that afternoon. But hearing that I planned on skating with him again immediately perked him up.
“Really?” he asked with a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “You want to try some drills?” I nodded. “I don’t know if I would play hockey or anything like that, but it could be fun to learn to skate,” I replied. “I don’t know… Figure skating could be fun to try, I think.” Enzo’s face lit up even more as I said this. He jumped up and ran over to me, picking me up in his arms and spinning me around as he kissed me all over my face. I couldn’t help but laugh and think that maybe his happiness alone was a good enough reason to try ice skating.
… The next morning, Enzo and I woke up early and got ready to head to the arena. I didn’t have any classes until the afternoon, which would give us plenty of time to skate for a while before having breakfast and getting cleaned up.
By the time the campus started to come alive with activity, Enzo and I were already on the ice. He set up some cones for me, spacing them evenly apart, and stood at one end while I stood at the other.
“Just try to weave between the cones,” he said. “Remember… Keep your knees bent, your weight shifted forward, hold your arms out a bit to the sides to keep your balance, and push out with your feet in a V position. If you want to go one way, just lean into that side with your skate, and push off a bit with the other foot. You can go slow, and just shift a little weight at a time.” I nodded, taking in all of this information. I did as Enzo said and bent my knees and shifted my weight forward, then pushed off.
I was wobbly at first. On my first turn, I instantly slipped and fell on the ice. Enzo laughed and skated over to me, helping me up before telling me to keep trying. And I did, if not only because it made him so happy to see me try my hardest; but I had to admit that by the time I finished going back and forth a few times, no matter how many times I fell, I was actually having a lot of fun.
“This isn’t so bad,” I said on my fourth time going back and forth.
Enzo grinned. “Wait here,” he said as I came to the end. He skated out and positioned the cones closer together, then skated back to me and pulled a stopwatch out of his pocket.
“Try that. And go a little faster this time. I’ll even time you, and if you can do it in under thirty seconds, I’ll even take you out for breakfast afterwards.” I bit my lip. The cones were a lot closer together now, and turning was difficult. But when Enzo counted down and told me to go, I couldn’t deny the little bit of adrenaline that rushed through me, and the desire to do well made me try even harder. That time, I somehow managed to make it all the way to the end even with the closer space.
“Nice!” Enzo said, clicking the stopwatch. “You did it in under thirty—” “Enzo! Nina!” Enzo and I both jerked our heads up at the sound of Luke’s frantic voice, followed by the sound of his rapidly approaching footsteps. We shot each other a worried look when he stopped in the doorway, breathing heavily as though he had run a long way.
“Luke? What’s wrong?” Enzo asked warily, skating over to the barrier. I followed.
“It’s the Crescents,” Luke replied in between breaths. “I just got word that they expanded their borders.” Enzo and I looked at each other worriedly again. Enzo shook his head. “Did they get past the island?” he asked.
Thankfully, Luke shook his head. “No. Not yet. But there’s been another rogue outbreak. And it’s not just that…” “W-What is it?” I asked, fearing the worst — fearing that the Luna was on her way right now.
Luke looked up, his eyes wide and full of worry. “A pack of rogues is on their way to Mountainview.”