Page 57 of Melt His Heart

The first speaker addresses the attendees. They discuss what the foundation stands for and the charities that we can support through today’s gala. The food is being served between speeches. Servers place our first course down, and I set my napkin in my lap before starting to eat.

I don’t think I like the taste of whatever this is that much. Carson’s shoulders move up and down next to me. Someone is highly amused. I guess I’m horrible at disguising my distaste.

“We’ll grab Korean after this.” He whispers in my ear, and I try to laugh as quietly as I can. I don’t want to be rude, but that definitely sounds good right about now.

Chapter 19

Practice is horrible. I laugh to myself as I flit across the rink. I didn’t go into any of the transitions we’ve been working on within my new choreography well. And speaking of the choreography, I forgot half of it, and my favorite snack bar was sold out at the store this morning.

But hey, you win some, you lose some, isn’t that what they say? My win some is that I’m not completely beating myself up for the train wreck that was me on the ice today. Slowly, I’m accepting some days are just simply bad days, and they too shall pass.

“We’ll get it tomorrow.” Coach Peters smiles at me.

“Yeah, hopefully. Sorry about today.”

“It’s ok, Julian, remember it happens. It’s a new program, you’ll get it down.”

“Thank you, Coach, I’ll definitely do better tomorrow.” I sigh.

He pats my arm before heading off. I walk over to the bench area and start packing up. I told Liam I’d come over today after practice, and to be honest, it sounds nice. I think I need it. Wow, look at me, a life outside of skating.

The chilled air meets my skin as I exit the arena. The weather has definitely gotten brisk over the weeks since I’ve arrived, the season fully changing.

I can’t believe I’ve been here for as long as I have. I feel like I have a life here now, more so even than at home. I don’t really have any friends there or anyone waiting for me besides my parents. It feels odd to think about. I wonder how I’ll feel when it’s time for me to leave. I wonder if the life I made here will remember me when I’m gone. I chuckle to myself.

Liam and Kevin live not too far from the flower shop, so it was pretty easy to find. I walk up to the door. The house suits them so well. There’s flowers hanging from the archway of their porch, and Liam has all the seasonal decor lingering around. I ring the bell, and he answers in a split second, almost like he was waiting for me.

“I brought wine,” I say, holding the bottle up.

“Thank you! Now, get in here!” He says, grabbing me and pulling me inside.

“Well, just kidnap me, I suppose.” I laugh.

Their home is beautiful and so very Liam and Kevin just like the outside. There’s stems of flowers in buckets around the foyer where I take my shoes off. I follow Liam into the living room. Kevin is there watching sports news.

“Hey, Julian! You made it! How was practice?” He asks, without breaking eye contact with the screen.

“It was shit.” I deadpan, walking over to the couch and taking a seat.

“Damn, sorry. There’s always tomorrow.” He says.

“Yeah.” I chuckle, and he pats my shoulder.

“Well, maybe some cookies will make you feel better!” Liam yells from the kitchen, where he ran off to after depositing me here.

He comes out with a plate full of pumpkin-shaped cookies, and I hope it’s just a shape because I don’t think I like pumpkin flavor very much. Americans seem to love it though. Carson says it’s because they’ve been brainwashed into thinking it’s delicious as opposed to sweet potato, and we laughed so hard over his silly theory.

“They’re chocolate chip! Have some.” Liam exclaims, nudging them toward me.

“A chocolate chip pumpkin-shaped cookie.” I laugh, taking a bite out of the one he hands me. They’re pretty good. I definitely prefer chocolate chip of all the cookie flavors. I suppose you can say I like the classics.

Keep it simple.

“Don’t think too much about it.” Liam laughs.

We all sit around and watch TV for a while before they’re talking about hockey and Carson’s team. They’re doing pretty well this season, and he says they’re expected to make it to the playoffs? I’m still learning about how everything goes. We’ve been exchanging information with each other about our respective sports slowly, though it’s nice not to talk about work for both of us. Carson does sometimes joke that we should do pairs skating after our little date.

I can definitely imagine him lifting me, but not in that way.