Season Of Love (gxg) | ✍︎︎

15. Safe With Me.

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|  SEASON OF LOVE  |
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"I think you're even worse at this than you were in high school," Noelle said as she extended her hand out to help Hope up from the hard, cold ice she'd fallen onto yet again.

The second they got on the ice, Hope regretted choosing the ice rink as their activity for the night. She'd stumbled her way onto the ice, holding on to Noelle's hand as she stepped onto the slick surface. And not even fifteen minutes in the skates, Hope had already fallen three times.

"I'm starting to think this was a bad idea," Hope said when she was standing once again. "I should have just taken you to dinner like Kat said."

"Why? I'm having fun," Noelle beamed.

"You're only enjoying seeing me fall on my ass."

"That's not true. I'm having fun because I haven't been ice skating in a long time. I almost forgot how much I enjoyed this... even if you are slowing me down," Noelle added with a smile so Hope would know she was just teasing.

Hope inched her way to the edge of the rink and held onto the wall. "Well, I'm over it already. I can't stand to fall in my ass one more time."

"Hope." Noelle laughed at her because she was still holding onto the wall to keep her balance as she made her way, albeit very slowly, around the edge of the rink. "If you don't let go of that damn wall and come here."

Noelle was about ten feet away from Hope and skating backward, looking behind her shoulder every few seconds to make sure she didn't collide with anyone else on the ice.

Hope shook her head as she continued using the wall to keep herself upright as she made her way around the rink.

"You're embarrassing me," Noelle called out.

"Can't be more embarrassing than me falling and busting my ass again. I severely underestimated how much worse I could get at this."

"Hope... Nadine," Noelle called her name once again. "Let go of that damn wall and come here."

"Calling me Nadine isn't gonna get me to let go of this wall."

Noelle skated forward now, so she was only a couple of feet away from Hope. If she wanted to, she could reach out and touch her.

"I won't let you fall again," Noelle reassured her. "If you're about to fall, I'll catch you."

"You didn't the last few times."

"Hope, I got you," she finally held her hand out in an attempt to get her to stop hugging the wall.

Hope didn't take Noelle's hand, but she did push herself off the edge of the wall and skated toward the middle of the ice on shaky legs. And though Hope had to catch herself from falling a couple of times, they finally made it around the rink one full time without her falling.

"You're doing good," Noelle looked over at Hope who looked like she'd finally gotten the hang of being on ice.

Right when she was about to answer, Hope lost her footing once again, but Noelle caught her before she had the chance to hit the ice again. She took Hope's arms and wrapped them around her own waist to keep her upright.

"I got you," Noelle said as she held onto Hope's hands that were wrapped around her waist. "You're safe with me."

"You promise?" Hope said it in a very low voice, basically whispering in Noelle's ear.

"Always," Noelle whispered back.

Hope squeezed her fingers around Noelle's waist even more, pressing down on the spot where she knew those pretty cursive letters were stenciled onto her skin.