Such Great Heights

Chapter 4

Ever since moving to the city, Camila knew there was something magical about winter in Chicago.

Though sunny summer days permit walks through the various parks and perhaps a more comfortable climate, there's an atmosphere that doesn't compare to when a blanket of snow covers the city.

Her favorite thing about this time of year is Christmas and how the city decorates the streets for it. How she can hear Christmas tunes being played throughout nearly every store on the famed Magnificent Mile, and how the holiday spirit is infectious among everyone. Although that time has since passed, it's still the perfect weather for enjoying a cup of hot cocoa.

One of the top reasons she looks forward to winter is because of the ice skating rink across from Millennium Park.

It's free as long you bring your own skates, and even then, renting a pair only costs five dollars. Next to the rental stand is an indoor coffee kiosk where you can shelter yourself from the cold with your favorite hot beverage.

Camila normally goes to the rink with Dinah, but she's visited alone on a couple occasions. Sometimes, her favorite thing isn't skating. It's watching the people who are skating. She always has trouble holding in her laughter when she sees a little kid fall, and she can't help but smile at the couples who skate while holding each other's hands. She often finds herself drifting off into a fantasy—one where she is with someone special to her. The minute she visited the rink for the first time ever, she immediately knew that it was the perfect date spot.

She hasn't had the best luck dating either. Unlike Lauren, she doesn't have a history of exes who either broke her heart or got their heart broken because of her. She also doesn't have a history of casual sex.

It's not that she didn't want all of this. Camila was a normal girl who pined over boys in high school and then, eventually in college, girls. Contrary to Lauren, she was accepting of her sexuality and embraced it from the start. This wasn't the source of her problem. She just found that she would pine over people who could or would never want her back.

Thus, the moment she found herself her first ever opportunity to take someone out on a date, she couldn't resist going all out. Maybe it was a little extra. Maybe coercing her best friend into handing her a reservation at the five-star restaurant she managed and convincing her to pick up the tab for them as a little too much...especially for someone who was so mean to her initially.

But she's in her last year of college. God only knows how much longer it would have taken for another opportunity to fall in her lap, so she took this date and ran with it. She can only hope that Lauren warms up to it as much as she has.

"Well...here's part two," Camila points to the rink. "I hope you like ice skating! I mean...it's fine if you don't, we can just go on a walk through the park."

"I haven't gone skating in so fucking long, holy shit," Lauren's face lights up with a grin. Skating was never huge in Miami, simply because it's perpetually warm in South Florida. On a weekend, her and her friends would always go to the beach or go shopping—ice skating rarely ever crossed her mind. She went maybe once or twice with her family when she was younger. "I don't have skates though..."

"That's fine, we can rent them," Camila leads her to the rental booth, which is now automated. She withdraws ten dollars and deposits it into the machine without even giving Lauren a chance to stop her from paying, because she knows she would. "What size are you?"

"An eight," Lauren replies. "C'mon, I would have paid for my own. You treated us to a nice ass dinner."

"More like Dinah did," Camila taps the size 8 button and the size 7 for herself. Two pairs dispense in boxes at the bottom. "Now shush and put on your skates."