Right There || Dylan O'Brien

chapter eleven; ice skating

She didn't want him to pick her up the next day, now they were meeting in Los Angeles. He would have to drive 30 minutes, then back just for her, that wasn't what Clara wanted. She asked Sandra if she could borrow her car for a day and there she was, standing at of the ice rink building with some of his friends. They were waiting, and they all were there but Dylan. Apparently he got stuck in traffic.

"Why didn't he just leave earlier?" Holland, who leaned herself against the wall next to her, sighed impatiently. "You could've taken him with you when you left with Seana."

Tyler shrugged, trying to hide his grin. Clara couldn't quite understand why he found this funny, but she guessed it was of the strawberry blonde. "He didn't want to come. I, ehm-... He said he had something else on his mind."

"Sounds convincing, Posey," commented Crystal, chuckling. "But I'll slip that through for one, alright? Thank me for that."

He rolled his eyes.

"Whatever it is, I hope it doesn't take long," she grabbed her phone out of her purse, checking the time to put it right back in. "We've been waiting for 15 minutes now."

"I'm sure he won't," Crystal pushed her hair back with her hand, the wind bring it back into its messy self. "We could go inside though, I'm getting cold."

"We'll go," Seana kissed Tyler's cheek, then looked at Clara. "Are you coming with us?"

"Yeah, okay," she slightly nodded, moving her hands at the building in a weird way. "I'll em, I'll-..." she blushed, looking down. It was a gesture to the boys, where only Tyler reacted on with a small wave. "Bye."

"Everything will come around," Seana promised her, smiling. "It's all about getting to know each other, getting comfortable. Just so you know you can be yourself around us. I mean, yesterday was fun, right?"

At the moment Holland turned around, standing by the cashier, wallet in her hand. "Clara, wat size feet you do you have?"

"Size 5" the blonde went to grab her own wallet, but Holland shook her head.

"I'll pay, but make sure when we go out, the drinks are on you."

"That's okay," it wasn't because she paying for her ice skates, but was saying they were going to get together again, which technically meant she didn't mind her to be around. Well, she got that idea when Holland started talking out of nowhere to her, just to kill the time. She was just really insecure, she had to stop it. She was friendly, what was there not to like?

When she was handed her ice skates, she heard a familiar voice behind them. "Girls, I'm sorry I'm late. I had to take care of a few things, then got stuck in traffic. It's all messed up, I hope I didn't ruin the fun."

"It's alright, babe," Holland gave him his ice skates, pulling him into a hug. "The party can't start without you."

 ----

When Crustal stepped on the ice, holding onto the wall to keep herself from falling, she almost forgot Clara was still struggling with her skates. She turned around, sighing with a smile on her face. "Oh, Clara, when was the last time you went ice skating?"

"When I was 11," she giggled, looking up. It was a kind of embarrassing, but maybe she wanted to kill time. She wasn't the best ice skater. "My sister really wanted to go, so I went with her. Why?"

"Because you're slow," she stepped off the ice, deciding to help her. "Everyone's already skating, having fun and you're just sitting here. It's not because you're afraid, right?"

"How do you mean, afraid?"

"Afraid what they're going to think of you-..."

"Yes, but it's just-..."