Where Promises Must Glide

31 - Juliette

Theo told me the date wasn't until 7 pm, so I decided to go to practice today.

I did my normal conditioning and warm ups before working on both routines. As the days get closer, we were sent to a different facility where it was more sports. There was a powerlifting room, for some of the people who use that as a type of conditioning, and the indoor sports that competed were in the same facility now.

Ice skating was one of the biggest categories, so we had the biggest rink. It was the same rink a NHL team used to practice. Theo and Ophelia were for sure not allowed here, but that never stops him from picking me up after work with my favorite take out and my favorite girl in his arms.

It feels good, everyday coming home more and more to Theo. Ophelia has been so attached to him, and now that seeping part of me that stressed if he'd leave, isn't so loud anymore.

We talked the other night about his life. It wasn't a simple or happy talk. He ended up telling me all about his childhood. He explained how his mother suffered an eating disorder when he was young, and there was times he thought she died because she'd go days without eating.

I tried to hold back tears because I couldn't imagine a child experiencing that. Whenever stuff like that got so bad, I'd seclude myself from Ophelia, but she never remembered it because she was so young. He also told me about his ex, and how he had known her his whole life and when they were teens he wanted to marry her, but she got terminally ill when they were seventeen and died at eighteen. He told me he still has the ring he gave her, promising to marry her when she got healthy enough to have a wedding.

He told me it felt impossible to move on at first, but now he thinks he has moved on enough to start a new relationship. I don't blame him. It's hard to just move on after the majority of your life was spent loving one person. And for him, that person died. For me, they left me heart broken.

I told him a little about my childhood. About how much it was a struggle to stay in this sport. How I started so late, and how my parents worked three jobs to keep paying for lessons and travel funds. I told him how they never went to any of my competition because they either had work or couldn't afford a ticket for themselves.

"So who cheered you on? And got you flowers?" He ended up asking. I laughed and the pity I made of myself. My parents did everything to help me, and that's why I'm helping them now.

"No one," I simply say. "My teammates or coaches, I guess. But flowers, I never really got those. Didn't expect them when my parents were doing so much that flowers felt useless."

"So you never received flowers after a performance?" Theo asked, nearly stunned. "Not even from that asshat ex?"

I laugh at the nickname. "Isiah got me a bear once, I think. He got me a 'get well' balloon when I broke my knee. He never really drove to any of my competitions though, always had an excuse out so I stopped inviting him."

The conversation continued to flow like that, me talking about some stuff and Theo opening up more. He told me the things he wants in a relationship, and I agreed with everything. He told me how much he cared for Ophelia, and all the stories about her. I simply sat and listened until my eyelids closed on me. I woke up tucked in, and with breakfast in bed—again.

"Julie, we need to fix that combination," Elliot says. Elliot spent the first hour of conditioning bragging about his win, which I liked to listen to. Elliot was the best of the best, even if he was my age and everyone said we were too old. We both had the same plan, win one more time and get the hell out of here.

"Want to run through it on the ground, so we have the formation down and some of the spins and tosses, so we don't break anything on the ice?" I ask, laughing. I've been in a good mood this morning. I'm still working on directing my mind away from looking at every mirror I walk by and more on a healthy mindset. I think of Ophelia and imagining her growing up with that same mindset, and I push through.