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Adele crosses her arms. “This is why you were too busy to come to the costume fitting?”
BJ seems completely unaffected by her presence. “Wanna give us a couple of minutes, Adele?”
She pokes at her cheek with her tongue, eyes shifting to me for a second before she whirls and stomps off.
“You didn’t have to bail on a costume fitting for me.” I don’t want to be the reason for a fight between him and his partner, especially since they spend a lot of time with blades on their feet.
“This is the third fitting. I went to the last two. She keeps adding embellishments, and sitting there while they pin more sequins to her is a colossal waste of my time.”
“Three fittings? Is that typical?”
“It is for Adele.”
“Gotcha.” I don’t know much about Adele, other than she’s his pairs partner. She seems a little high maintenance, but then, BJ is always striving for perfection on the ice, so maybe this is one way she tries to attain it too.
BJ glances at our sweaty outfits hanging from the hooks. “You got a change of clothes in your backpack?”
“Yeah.” I’d like to avoid more awkward run-ins with Adele until I’m fully dressed.
“I’ll grab your bag.” He disappears around the corner and returns a few seconds later.
We rush to get dressed, and I stuff my dirty clothes in the large Ziplock I carry with me. It prevents my bag from smelling like sweat and dirty underwear.
“I’m sorry the afterglow bubble burst so quickly,” BJ says.
“Don’t apologize. You couldn’t have known this would happen.” I check my phone. It’s after twelve. My mom should be back in her room soon.
I wipe down my skate blades and tie the laces together so I can sling them over my shoulder, then follow BJ out of the locker room.
Adele is in full skater gear, makeup and all, leaning against the boards. Her expression makes her look like she swallowed an entire bottle of lemon juice and chased it with vinegar. She tries to smile at me, but it’s more of a constipated grimace. She did just walk in on us in the shower together, so I can’t blame her for being unimpressed.
I turn to BJ. “My mom should be done with her tests.”
“I’ll give you a ride back to the hospital.”
“It’s cool. I’ll bike over.” I smile at Adele. “Your costume looks great.”
Adele looks down at herself. “This is just a practice outfit.”
“Right, okay.” Clearly I’m not winning any points here. I turn back to BJ and make things even more awkward. “Thanks for—” I motion to the rink.
Adele scoffs.
Yeah. Time to roll.
“Text if you need anything.” BJ’s fingers brush mine as I pass.
“I’ll catch up with you later.” I force a smile for Adele. “Nice to see you again.”
She makes a noise but doesn’t respond with words.
I’m all about running away and leaving BJ to deal with the residual awkwardness. Unfortunately my water bottle is on the other side of the rink, so I glide across the ice in my running shoes to retrieve it.
Adele’s voice echoes off the walls. “Seriously, BJ? You blew me off so you could what? Fuck your summer fling in the freaking locker-room shower? And you’re on me about keeping my priorities straight.”
“First of all, I didn’t blow you off. You’re the one who keeps having your costume altered. Me being there won’t make you any happier with the way it looks. And secondly, my personal life isn’t your business.”
I step off the ice, grab my water bottle, and set BJ’s on the sill so he doesn’t forget it. Then I leave before I overhear any more of a conversation that isn’t meant for my ears. I return my skates to my locker, unclip my bike from BJ’s Jeep, and make the short trip to the hospital.
