Game Theory × NH

090 | thorium

× Mercury

When Niall first asked me out on a date, I didn't really know what to expect. I thought maybe we would do the typical dinner and a movie, maybe a stroll through the park. But as we walked up to an outside ice rink, I wasn't exactly sure how to react.

It was a small rink, maybe a hundred feet a square. It was in the middle of the small city, with tall business buildings and frosty trees around the circumference. There were a few families and a couple out on the rink already, but other than that, it was deserted.

"Isn't this kind of cliché?" I asked with a quirk of an eyebrow.

"Are you making fun of me?" Niall asked, offended.

We walked up to the ice house and stepped inside. I followed Niall to the desk at the front and watched as he handed the lady behind the counter five pounds. "Not you," I assured him. "Just your idea of a date."

"You're mean," he laughed. "Why can't you just be happy and shut up?"

We told the lady our shoe size and waited as she grabbed the skates. She placed a pair of white and black blades on the counter and we took them before heading toward the back of the ice house and sitting down on a bench.

The moment I had my shoes off, a thought occurred to me.

"Oh my God," I said in a panic.

Niall looked at me, a little scared. "What? What's wrong?" he asked. "If it's the skating, we don't have to do it. We can do something else."

"No, no, it's not that," I assured him and dug my phone out of my coat pocket. "It's my brother. When I was hanging out with Jace, Anders video chatted me but I had to take a phone call and left to talk in my room. Matt was keeping him company until I got back."

Niall looked at his watch around his wrist. "You want to go back? We've only been gone ten minutes; he might still be with Matt. Talking to your brother is more important than this."

I groaned and dialed Matt's number. I'd hate to go all the way back just to learn that he wasn't on the line anymore. I waited a few rings before he picked up. I told him that I had gotten caught up with something and wasn't able to go back to the room and asked if Anders was still online.

"Thanks for keeping him company, Matt," I said through the phone before hanging up.

"No luck?" Niall asked.

"No, Anders had to go. Not sure when I'll get the chance to talk to him next."

Niall finished tying his skates and sat back against the wall. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were going to go back to talk to him, I wouldn't have asked you to come then," he said, looking over at me. "If you want, I can call Greg to bring him to London again."

I laughed and bent down, putting my skates on. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm going to pass. I don't think Anders' commander would be too thrilled that he keeps leaving his post."

Soft pop music played through the small compartment as I tied my skates. Niall confessed that he wasn't very good at skating and that I should be grateful that I get to see him make a fool of himself, only for me to retort that I already see that daily at soccer practice.

"My mom used to figure skate," I told Niall as we stepped out onto the rink. "I never got to see her, though. Told me she did it during high school and college and stopped once her career took off and Anders was born. According to Dad, she was pretty good."