Morning Shift

Ice Skates 2

When Jonah showed up to the rink at 9:45, Doris was already waiting behind the door just like Nicky had promised she would be, reading a book.

He gave the glass a little tap with his knuckles and waved to Doris, who immediately put her book down and jumped to open the door for him. "Jonah Moshe! How's my favorite little hockey boy?" She asked, pinching his frozen cheeks with her little old lady fingers.

"I'm alright," he replied, stepping inside. He couldn't even pretend like he was embarrassed by Doris' adoration of him— she'd been somewhat of a grandmother to him since he started playing hockey when he was little. "My friend said he was meeting me here."

She smiled and placed a hand over her heart. "Nicolas, right? The one with the freckles? Oh he's just the sweetest."

Jonah nodded, although he wouldn't necessarily call Nicky sweet. "Yeah, him. Do you know where he is?"

"Red rink," she told him, pointing to the ice rink behind him with big red doors.

He thanked her and gave her a little wave goodbye before going to open to red door, but before he could, Doris spoke up, saying, "he really likes you, y'know."

Jonah spun around to see her smirking with her eyebrow raised at him. "You think?" He asked.

"No doubt about it, kiddo. He was so nervous when he walked in, talking about how he needed everything to be perfect for you. Of course I said 'oh honey, it doesn't take much to win my Jonah over,' but the poor boy's ears were bright red anyway."

Jonah imagined his grin was scarily wide, but he couldn't help himself. As much as he had wanted to give Nicky the benefit of the doubt, he had been nervous this was all just an elaborate prank, or another ploy to get him to admit his feelings so they could be used against him. Now, though, he felt better. He pushed the door open with confidence, taking a deep breath of the cool air that rushed past his face.

The first thing his eyes landed on was Nicky sitting on a picnic blanket laid out in the middle of the ice. He was struggling to lace up the rental skates on his feel, muttering curse words to himself loud enough that Jonah could catch a few. Nicky only noticed his presence when he let out a chuckle.

"You're early," he pointed out.

Jonah shrugged. "I didn't want to wait any longer. How'd you get out to the middle of the ice without lacing your skates?"

Nicky looked down at his feet and sighed. "I... I scooted."

"You scooted?"

He nodded dejectedly. "I scooted."

Jonah immediately doubled over in laughter, feeling most of his nervous jitters melt away.

"Asshole!" Nicky called out to him, but he was fighting a smile himself. "I have rental skates for you, if you wanna scoot out here and help me with mine."

Jonah grinned and held up his skates that had been tied together and slung over his shoulders. "Brought my own. I figured if you asked me to meet you at a rink, there'd probably be ice involved, and I'm useless without these."