Tʀᴜʟʏ? - ᴀ ᴛɪᴍᴏᴛʜᴇ̀ᴇ ᴄʜᴀʟᴀᴍᴇᴛ ғᴀɴғɪᴄᴛᴏɴ

7

I let out a yelp as my right foot sank into the ice. Thankfully I wasn't even close to the middle, I was just skating around the very edges. I heard skates scraping against ice and suddenly Lilia was next to me, leaning down a distance from me as I fell on my butt on the ice. Thankfully it didn't crack, but the cold water seeped through the skates and into my socks. Lilia's arms reached out to me as she helped me up. I moved forward a bit and repositioned my leg. It was soaked up to the knee now, and the rest of my legs were freezing from sitting on the ice.

"You okay?" the guy who gave us the skates asked. I gave a thumbs up in response. I and Lilia started skating farther, cracking up. I couldn't hold in my laughs as I imagined how I must've looked when I fell. My ribs ached as I laughed and even though my legs were partly numb I couldn't care less. We rounded the last corner until we were over near the people again. I and Lilia used the fence to get back. We unlaced our skates and put our shoes back in, talking animatedly, laughing with the man from before, and explaining where the safer spots were to skate. We handed him back our jackets and waved goodbye as he told us to leave early.

Lilia and I loitered around the snack tables, secretly stealing food and waiting for 7:30 when we were back on the job of cameras.

"I've got to pee, help me find the bathrooms," Lilia begged. I rolled my eyes and laughed, but agreed. We walked around aimlessly for a while until we came across a long row of porta-potties outside the tent. Lilia went in one while I crossed my arms and stood in the cold for her to finish. I cursed as I remembered I left my jacket back inside on the chairs we were sitting on.

"Hello Cleo," Someone said creepily. I spun around and saw once again, that it was Timothee. It took me a second to catch my breath as I gave him a polite smile. He was laughing at how he managed to scare me.

"Hi," I said nervously. If it hadn't registered to me before that I was talking to a mega-celebrity, it did now.

"How is it that I keep running into you?" I asked playfully, putting on a confident front. He chuckled and walked up next to me, making my breathing come out unevenly and some blood rushes to my cheeks.

"Guess it's just luck," he said, looking straight into my eyes with no shame. I held his gaze for a moment, noticing the green that surrounded his irises. It reminded me of dark moss like a forest nobody has ever been in but you see pictures of it on Pinterest all the time. I felt butterflies in my stomach and broke the eye contact, looking at the ground. He chuckled. He must've noticed the blush dusting my face. I looked back at him, raising my eyebrows.

"What?" I asked. He flashed me a lopsided grin and shook his head.

"Nothing. Are you waiting for the bathrooms?" He asked. Now I shook my head.

"No, I'm just waiting for a friend," I said. He nodded and looked away from my face.

"So you're interning. For how long?" He asked. I shrugged.

"This week and some of next. Class starts again soon, though," I said. He raised his eyebrows at this, turning back to me.

"What school do you go to?" He asked. I met his eyes again.

"I just started at NYU," I said. He whistled.

"Smart cookie," He said. I looked down and giggled. "You a second year?" He asked. I nodded and brought my gaze back up to the bathrooms.