There was a public skate session at the local ice rink. The rink was pretty popular during the weekends in the morning and afternoon but business was slow during lunch hours. There were four people there to skate during this time.
Virgil had come with his boyfriend, Patton.
Virgil was a decent skater. He could stand upright and skate forwards. He was still trying to figure out how to stop without slamming into a wall.
Patton was a terrible skater. He could only stand up with help so it was good that Virgil was there with him.
They paid their entrance fees and went over to the counter to rent skates. The person behind the counter got them both their skates and allowed Patton and Virgil to try them on and make sure they fit.
Once Virgil and Patton were satisfied with their boot sizes, they wobbly walked over to the rink.
Virgil took one foot and placed it on the ice and then the other. He turned himself around and faced his boyfriend.
"Your turn!"
Patton nodded and slowly got onto the ice. He grabbed and squeezed Virgil's hand when he almost slipped.
They started to skate around. Patton was a smiling, giggling mess, especially when he slipped and Virgil caught him and held him upright.
—
There were two other skaters there that sunny afternoon: Logan and Roman.
Logan was a figure skater, he had been skating since he was three. He paid a discounted admission- since he was a member of the figure skating club they let him in for half the price to practice. He took his wheeled bag and sat on a bench.
Logan opened the bag to reveal beautiful, shiny, black figure skates with black laces.
He loosened the laces and put them on his feet. Logan pulled on the laces and tied them as tight as he could. Once he was finished, Logan stood up and walked normally to the rink as if he were wearing regular shoes.
He observed that there were two other people already on the rink but they seemed to be staying to the perimeter so they wouldn't be much of a disruption.
Logan got onto the ice and started his warm ups.
The next to arrive was Roman. He was a hockey player for the rink's high school team. He, too, checked in and received a discounted price for public skating.
He took his large roller bag over to an unoccupied table and opened it. He pulled out his hockey skates and all of his padding.
It took several minutes to get it all on but once he did he went over to the ice and stepped out to start practicing.
Logan watched Roman get onto the ice. He groaned softly. To him, hockey skaters were too rough and inconsiderate of other skaters, especially the figure skaters.
Roman was completely oblivious to the three other people on the rink. To Roman, it was just him and the ice. He started to swiftly skate around to get himself warmed up.
By now, Logan was already warmed up so he went to the center circle to practice his program.
While the two experienced skaters practiced, Patton and Virgil watched in awe and skated around the edge of the rink. Patton held onto the wall with one hand and held Virgil's hand with the other.
About forty-five minutes in, Patton grew more comfortable and suggested that they move away from the wall a bit.
—
Logan ran through his program a few times, Roman almost running into him in the process causing huffs and grumbles from the figure skater.
Almost running into each other again, they stopped quickly causing both of their fronts to get covered in the shaved ice. They looked at each other and frowned.
Logan skated forward close to Roman. He started to skate backwards.
Roman was doing backwards crossovers around the rink, he was looking directly at Logan, who was doing forward crossovers, also looking back at Roman.
They skated fast. Roman wasn't looking behind him, as usual.
Patton slipped on the ice and fell, causing Virgil to fall too as they were holding hands. They both started to giggle.
Roman, skating backwards, tripped over Patton and Virgil laying on the ice.
Logan stopped and let the shaven ice from his stop cover Roman's pants. He looked at the three of them laying in a heap on the ice and smirked.
