Love Is In The Air

Chapter 13

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"No, no, no, no." Roseanne scream-laughed loudly, waving her hands erratically to keep her balance, but kept struggling until she felt strong hands on her hips stabilizing her, keeping her on her feet. She leaned slightly into the helpful embrace and let herself be pushed across the ice at a slow speed.

"Better?" Lisa asked, mouth close to Roseanne's beanie covered ear, but she felt the breath gently caressing her cheek from the exhale of air. She turned her head to thank her saviour, but hadn't calculated Lisa would be this close. They again found each other in very close proximity. Roseanne's eyes darted down to Lisa's slightly open mouth and the memory of the other night wormed its way in and they both simply smiled, before Lisa guided them to the side so Roseanne could hold onto the railing.

"You've been warned." She laughed, trying to calm her heart.

"I'm not complaining, am I?" Lisa grinned, easing the uncertainty between them.

"So… how often have you been to New York?" Roseanne asked curiously eager to change the topic.

"Well, I grew up in Boston, so it's only an hour by plane."

"You could afford regular flights when you grew up?" Roseanne asked astonished. She herself had been nineteen when she had stepped onto an airplane for the first time. It had been her mum's attempt to convince her to go to medical school by bribing her with a trip to England.

"Well, my parents could afford it and I'm an only child." Lisa shrugged. "Probably their way of making up for leaving me alone."

"There are worse compensations, if you ask me." Roseanne tried to ignore the sombre expression and returned the gesture from earlier and squeezed Lisa's hand. "So what did a young Lisa Bruschweiller do in New York?"

Lisa looked up from her hand currently cradled in the blonde's warm one and met dark brown eyes watching her curiously. "After a couple of years I'd seen all the tourist things and started to explore the real city." The smile returned and she added. "Speaking of, wanna get going?"

"Sure."

Lisa helped her get off the ice and once they found an empty bench Roseanne immediately took of the shoes, wriggled her toes and sighed in contentment.

"I really don't get how you could spend any length of time in these." She glared at the footwear. "They're really hurt."

"I got used to the pain." Lisa laughed and gestured for Roseanne to give her the skates. Roseanne looked at her quizzically for another moment, before rolling her lips into her mouth and stopping herself from saying anything and instead handed her the shoes and watched her walk away.

"You want to see more of the park?" The brunette asked after she had given back the rented items and re-joined Roseanne at the boards.

"Ok." The blonde nodded and let herself be led back to the snowy path. They walked in silence for a little while, Lisa enjoying the cold air and snow powdered trees and bushes before she stopped them, turning Roseanne towards to her.

"Hey, what's going on in that beautiful mind of yours?" She asked softly.

Roseanne smiled at the words and stopped in the middle of a bridge leaning against the banister. "Do you miss Boston?"

"I'm going back and forth, so no not really."

"Do you still have friends there?"

"I never had many. Back in the day it wasn't ok to be gay, but I never made a secret out of my orientation." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the truth either. She sighed.