Kiss My Ice

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12.

Practice with Tiffany left a large smile plastered to my face like I had just won the lottery or something.

Today was the first day in what felt like forever that I was able to push all of the negative thoughts from my head and I was able to focus solely on my skating. I wasn't worried that my practice time had been moved. I wasn't worried about the hockey team. And I definitely wasn't thinking about Aiden. I got a taste of why I loved to skate, and that felt amazing.

I could tell that Tiffany was pleased with me too. Every jump was clean and my spins solid. I wasn't perfect, but I wasn't stuck in my head either. Even my difficult jumps I had landed clean.

"Caramel latte, as per the usual," Lucy greeted as I approached her in the little corner of the Coffee House. She handed me my drink.

I smiled. "Thanks."

There was something about being in the small corner of the Coffee House sipping my favorite coffee and spending hours gossiping with my best friend that seemed to reset time. Like we had gone back to life the were it used to be. Back before there was a new sponsor. Before my ice time was moved to the afternoon. Before Aiden.

"Senior year starts in a month and half." Lucy chewed the tip of her straw, eyed me cautiously like I was going to be upset that she brought school up.

I raised my eyebrows. Why was she acting weird about it? "Yeah, I know. I'm actually looking forward to it. Minus the whole mom making school come before skating."

Lucy eyed me as though I was lying. "So you aren't worried at all about staying on top of both school and skating without your morning practice?"

So that was what this was about. Lucy was worried that I wouldn't be excited for senior year because of my practice being moved. Yeah, that sucked, and I would have preferred to have had my morning practice, but I was going to make the most of it. I only got one senior year of high school.

I let out a soft sigh, shook the ice around in my coffee before I looked up to meet Lucy's blue eyes watching me in anticipation. "I'm not worried."

"I have seen your mom when you get a bad grade, Zo. Your parents will pull their money out of the rink so quick that you suffering through practices with Aiden wouldn't even have been worth it. How are you not worried?"

"Yeah," I agreed. My mom would not hesitate to pull all funding out if I got one bad grade. But I had always been good about maintaining my grades and I wasn't about to break my GPA now. "I'll still keep my school a top priority, it will just have to get done after my practices."

Lucy sucked in a sharp breath and turned away, breaking our eye contact. She took a small sip of her coffee. Clearly, she was still not convinced that I had everything under control.

We didn't say much for a few minutes, we just sat in silence. It was odd, like there was a sudden strain in our relationship but I wasn't sure what caused it. Was she really that worried about me being able to handle both school and the rink? That was my business.

I didn't bother to try to push the subject. I didn't understand why she would have been so concerned about my life, but it was my life and my parents. It didn't make sense that she would get stressed over it for me. That was my job.

"Can I come with you to the rink tonight?"

Lucy's question caught me off guard and I paused; mid grab for my keys on the coffee table in front of us. Something was definitely going on. Lucy rarely wanted to come to the rink.