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“Lilly!” Riley shouts, the little blonde is hell-bent on learning how to skate today.
I look over to see her moving without her support. It’s slow, but she’s going strong.
“Wahoo! Go, Riley.” I clap then yelp as someone bumps into me, sending me on my ass. “Ugh.”
“Shit, Lilly,” Toby hisses, crouching down. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but my ass hurts now.” I sigh.
“Bad woooords,” Rachel sings.
“I’ll buy everyone hot cocoa after this lesson if you don’t tell your parents.” I grin.
“Deal!” she says excitedly. I’m not teaching kids how to lie or anything, it’s not like I said bitch or fuck.
“Here.” Toby holds out his hand, offering it to me. But when I just stare at it, he lets out a huff. “It’s not going to bite you,” he jokes. And I can’t help it, a smile twitches on my lips.
Deciding I can’t stay down here all night, I take his hand, letting him pull me to my feet. When I’m standing steady on my skates, I try to shake him off, but he doesn’t let go. My eyes find his and everything inside me feels like it’s on fire.
I miss him. I love him. I can’t have him. I want to cry and scream all at once. “Thanks,” I whisper, licking my lips.
His eyes drop, watching the motion, and I step away, spinning around to focus on the girls. “Alright, girls. You all did amazing! We have a few more minutes, then we need to go out and meet up with your parents.”
“Are you going to be here next week?” Rachel asks me.
“Yup.” I give her a big smile. “I’ll bring cookies next time.”
“Yay!” They all cheer.
“Are you doing okay?” Bishop asks me as we help all the little ones off the ice and over to the benches so they can remove their skates. His eyes flick over to Toby and back to me. I look over to Toby too, seeing him laughing and talking to a few of the boys as he helps them unlace their skates.
Why does even the simplest of glances from him have some weird kind of emotion sweeping over me? The idea of not having him in my life, even after he broke my heart, makes me feel sick. But I can’t even be in the same room as him without my brain and heart clashing together.
I know girls who would beg and plead for the person they love to give them a chance, I’ve seen it at parties more than I would have liked to.
As much as I want to, and I’ve thought about it, I need to stand my ground, be confident in my self-worth. I know I shouldn’t have to beg someone to love me. That doesn’t mean I don’t still want him. I probably always will, in one way or another.
Turning my gaze back to Bishop, I give him a forced smile. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
His eyes search mine for a moment. When he brings his hand up to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear, my heart goes nuts for a whole other reason. “Toby might be one of my best friends, but so are you. I don’t like what he’s done to you, so please, never for a moment think I’d be on his side when it comes to that stuff.” He looks at me with pleading eyes.
My face softens. “I know. And thank you for that. I know stuff like this can be hard to deal with. But please, don’t stop being friends with him just because of me.”
“I’m not. But it doesn’t mean I’m just going to sit back and watch him hurt you, Lilly. You don’t deserve that.” He frowns.
Tears sting my eyes. “Thank you,” I whisper. “It’s nice to hear that, you know?”
“What? That you're worth the world and more? Oh, il mio cuore. I’ll tell you every damn day, if that's what you need.”
My heart goes crazy, my lips part in surprise and for a moment I forget where we are. Heat fills Bishop’s eyes, and I want to ask him to kiss me again.
Then Toby clears his throat, snapping us out of the moment. “All the kids are good to go.”
“What?” I blink out of the haze and look over to see the boys and girls are all out of their skates. “Oh, shoot. Sorry.”
“It’s fine.” Toby gives me a small smile, then looks up at Bishop. “Do you mind taking them out to their parents? I’d like to talk to Lilly for a moment.”
Bishop looks down at me. “You okay with that?”
