Rumours of the rink

Asra watched as Lillian was pulling the laces tight on their new skates. Breaking in new skates is always the worst and when they need to break in new skates, Lillian would give Asra half days so they could go home and rest.

“Ow.”

“Sorry.” She loosened the top just slightly. She knew that Asra would only say something if it really was too tight. “No jumps, just laps for now okay? I know your current skates are fine. But with the sponsorship with that athletic store being downtown, they threw in a free pair of skates.”

“Okay. just laps. Do we really really need to be breaking in new skates? Shouldn’t I be working on my short program.” Asra watched Lillian get up and grab a water bottle before getting pills out of her bag for Asra. “What about my long program? I haven’t heard anything about that.”

“I’m working with your choreographer. Well have it done by the end of the month.”

“The end of the month!” Asra stood up from the bench. “Lillian.”

“The end of the month is in two weeks.” She held her hand out to Asra. Trying to give them the Advil. Might as well prepare them for the pain that was coming, Asra was always whiny when they were in pain.

“Oh.” They took the two little pills from their coach and the water. “I knew that.”

“Mhm sure.” She shook her head and they’re attention was brought to the pair that was walking in.

“Who are they?” Asra asked as they watched them.

The boy was wearing a black long sleeve, paired with his black pants and his black skates. His hair was styled nicely and the girl was matching but her shirt was short sleeved. She had her hair pulled back tightly into a ponytail, they looked professional. They were walking with their coach, a short nice looking woman. She was dressed in casual wear and a coat since it was cold in the rink. She nodded at them and they both took off their skate guards in unison fashion. Handing them off to the coach. They stepped into the ice and it was like they were even more in sync than James and Jasper. Moving fluidly together, like they were two halves of a whole. They were only doing laps for now but they were perfect.

“Connor William and Katie Fisher.”

Asra turned to see James and Jasper getting ready to get on the ice. They both mildly dressed up. Not as much as the other pair but still dressed up nonetheless. James was wearing a white long sleeve with black pants and his skates. His curls were defined and nice rather than pulled back into a half bun like usual. His hair wasn’t super long but he definitely would rather have it out of his face when he was training so Jasper showed him a simple little turnip like bun he could do. Jasper wore almost the same outfit but hers was a leotard version of it and it was black leggings covering their bottom half. Her hair pulled back into a ponytail and their whole head was dyed black now.

“Who are they?” Asra asked again and looked at Jasper for answers this time since James was no help.

“Last year's pair skate gold medalists.” Jasper answered. ”What the fuck are they doing here?”

“First of all language.” Will warned her. “Second of all, they wanted a new rink to train at and they heard about this one.”

“The one where the new up and coming pair to watch are training.” Lillian finished for him. “The worst part, the three of them are saints. Katie is a sweetheart, she works, well I guess worked a job at a restaurant to donate all her earnings from sponsorships to charity. connor, everyone who has ever met him says he’s a saint, he’s sweet and kind. He takes time out of his training to give kids pointers and just to spend time with them. And dustie they’re coach, she works hard to keep them on schedule and she puts her own personal money to getting them their performance outfits and they’re probably going to go to the Olympics at this rate. Four gold medals in four years.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t know” James looks at Asra.

“Well know I know you two and one other pair are the ones to watch this season. I just didn’t expect them to be here.” Asra shrugged a little. This was clearly some drama they didn't realize the pair was involved in.

“They’re trying to psych us out.” Jasper shook their head and tightened their pony tail. “We almost place nationals and they’re threatened by us.”

“Well maybe we should establish our dominance here, after all this our home rink. Even if we didn’t train here for two years.”

James held out his hand for Jasper to take, when she did they were off on the ice. This only made Asra want to be a pair skater even more. Sure they had their rivalries with people and the tension in the singles category. But it felt different, like being in pairs you had someone to face that with. Even in the single skates your friends are your opponents.

“Laps.”

“Right yeah.” Asra nodded. A bit before taking off on the ice.

They were only skating for maybe three minutes before they were joined by the other person their coach was responsible for.

“Hey.”

“Hey Oliver .” Asra didn’t really pay much attention to him. They were skating alongside each other but Asra kept their eyes on the two pairs. “Have you gotten your long program yet?”

“No.” He shrugged as he was struggling to keep up with them. “Lillian said I should get it next month.”

“That’s a long time to wait.”

“Yeah but I’ll still have four months to Practice.”

Asra and Oliver shared a lot of the same team when it came up their skating careers. But it was fine they weren’t competing against each other so there was no need to be worried about anything.

“Still got your head in the clouds about pair skating?”

Asra laughed a bit. “Oh shut up.”

While Jasper was gone, Oliverand Asra got close. They were close before but with Jasper gone they were both missing a friend. They didn’t want Jasper to go train abroad but they knew that it had been a part of Jasper's dream for a while. No one was going to hold them back. Because they’re training schedules were overlapping so much, Oliverand Asra joined at the hip.

“Speaking of nationals.”

“I don’t think we were talking about nationals.” Asra looked at Oliverand laughed.

“Shh, Anyway. I heard diane is going to be training at this rink too.”

Asra stopped, everyone could hear how abruptly they stopped. Lillian knew what Oliver Was talking about, she did send him over to deliver the bad news.

“What!” They yelled very loudly, getting everyone’s attention in the rink. “Are you kidding me!”

Asra made their way over to Lillian as quickly as possible. They didn’t wait for Lillian to hand them they’re skate guards. Sitting down for one second to put them on before grabbing their coaches arm and pulling her out.

“diane! The girl who placed above me at nationals is training here!”

“Okay I know you're upset.”

“Upset! Upset? I’m not upset, Lillian. She placed above me. The only reason they placed was because she got a full rotation on their toe loop.”

“Okay but she placed because they’re talented.”

“Not helping Lillian!”

“Sorry.”

“You know if she had just fallen out of her rotation then I could have placed.” Asra was pacing and everyone could hear the loud clicks of their guards on the tile.

“Stop pacing your going to sprain your ankle.”

“Well maybe I should! Diane is going to training at my rink. Mine, I’ve been training here since before I could walk! And now I just have to share it with the person who took my place at nationals!”

“I can’t just tell her she can’t train here. If she pays for the ice time she gets it.”

Asra kept pacing. Running their hands through their hair.Asra only popped one of their jumps at the last competition, and Diane and Asras scores were so close.

“I can’t believe you didn’t just tell me!”

“Where are you going.”

Asra didn’t answer Lillian. They went into the changing room pulling off their skates in record time. They didn’t even bother changing out of their training clothes. Yanking their bag up as they were leaving they stopped. Trying to open the door but someone on the other side got it first. The very girl they were having a fit over was on the other side. Diane was about to say hi, she knew of Asra and thought they were talented but she did place above Asra. her coach thought it would be good to train here for motivation. Diane paced third at nationals, she had a good shot at actually going to the Olympics as well. However whatever her coach coach wanted to do she had to go along with. She hoped they’re coach was right about this because Asra looked like they were seconds away from punching Diane .

But instead they pushed past the bronze medalist, leaving the rink as quickly as they could.

“Get out.” Asra rolled their eyes as they were starting the car.

“Nope.” Oliver Shook his head and stayed in the car.

“I hate you.”

“I know.”

Asra stopped after they went through a drive through. They only broke their diet when something big like this happened. Oliver And Asra made it a tradition that they would go get milkshakes after something big like this happened. Like one time when Asra got into a fight with their mom over pair skating, or Oliver Had to take two months off training after spraining his ankle pretty bad. It was just a comfort thing.

“How could she not tell me.”

“Because she knew how you would react.”

“It’s such bullshit. Am I really that much of a threat? Diane's coach set her up to train in this town at my home rink. My rink. I’ve literally been training here since before I was born. My mom trained there and now, diane is training there. I can’t.”

“First Connor and Katie. Now diane.” Oliver Looked at Asra. “It’s like they know you three are going to place at nationals this year.”

“Oh I’m going to place. I’m not going to just place, I’m going for gold or for nothing.”

“Those are some big words.”

“I am not letting her take away my metal again.” Asra shook their head as they put down their drink. “I hate it here.”

“If you place you might be able to train abroad.”

“I fucking hope so.”

After Asras little fit, they dropped Oliver off at home. Heading back to their parents house, knowing they'd need to rest up for tomorrow. Lillian wasn't going to be happy with them.

Sighing as they rubbed the left side of their temple. Asra opened the door to the rink, they knew this wasn’t going to end well. Lillian was waiting, she had her arms crossed. Asra could see most of the pairs were already skating. They took up most of the space.

“What?”

They clearly didn’t want to be there, they were annoyed. Looking at Lillian they didn’t even bother trying to put on their skates.

“You're late.”

“By ten minutes. There was construction by my house. Out of my control.” keeping their voice monotone they weren't happy this morning.

“Really? Your mom texted me and told me you were just sitting in the kitchen.”

“Okay so what?”

Asra dropped their skates and rolled their eyes.

“You can’t just walk out on training and then not text me back at all.” Lillian reached forward to make Asra look at them. “You can’t just leave and go radio silent on me. You know what happened during your juniors.”

“It was one time”

“Four times.” Lillian spoke again. “You can’t do that to me. I told you I would only keep coaching you if you agreed to talk to me.”

“And how did that turn out for me? You didn’t tell me I’d be having to share my home rink with the girl who placed above me. You didn’t even tell me Jasper was back. And last year you told me to just go for it and it would be fine and I popped my jump at the nationals.”

“Get over it!” Lillian raised her voice. Making everyone look at the two. “We all pop our jumps. It happens. You wanna know what’s going to happen if you keep dwelling on that one competition?” Lillian stepped closer. “That’s all you’re going to be remembered for. That’s it. And you don’t deserve that. We are working past that and that includes learning to keep your temper in check.”

“My temper is in check.”

“It doesn’t seem like it.” She stopped and just sighed again. “Asra I want you to be honest with me.”

“When am I not honest with you?”

“Are you still going to therapy? That was in our agreement.”

“Lillian what the fuck.” Asra took a full step back from her. “Just because I have one bad day doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop going to therapy.”

“I know. I just wanted to be sure.”

“I’m 18 now. I’m an adult, you can trust my word.” Asra sighed and looked down. “Aren’t you going to give some stupid laps to run?”

Lillian knew she couldn’t let up with that. It was a consistent rule and it made Asra stop walking out on training. If you walk out the next day you thirty laps before you even step foot into the ice. She just nodded a bit.

“Stretch first, then go.”

During the morning session of training James couldn’t really focus. He was watching Asra. He Watched them run their laps on the outside of the ice then just be left on ice laps for their new skates. Lillian was punishing them. James snapped back into it when he was trying to do a salchow throw jump with Jasper. He fumbled his hold on her when he was sending up into the air. Since it was an assisted jump Jasper needed James to be focused on doing his part properly. But he didn’t and before she could really process she was on the ice holding her leg. Will got mad, any time something went wrong on James’s part he always got mad. Out of the two of them James’s job was to make sure she didn’t fall. That included lifts and throws.

“I didn’t mean to.”

James was sitting next to Jasper on the bench. It hurt really bad in the moment, but she was mostly okay now. Probably would just have a nasty bruise.

“I know. I’m fine.” Jasper smiled at him and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “I’m fine.”

“I’m taking you to the ER. We can risk any chance I know you said your fine, but if you have a fracture.”

“I know.” Jasper nodded a bit.

She looked up away from Will, looking at the ice she could see Katie and Connor skating together. Just watching. Like they were waiting for the pair to fail. This wasn’t a failure, it was just an off day.

“Let’s go.” Will put her running shoes on her feet after James helped take off the skates. “You can call it a day with training. I don’t know where your head is at but deal with it. When you're on the ice with Jasper she is your only concern.”

“Yes sir.”

He nodded and watched Jasper and will take their leave. He was watching the pair skaters training. He had nothing better to be doing. Watching Jenn and Sam messing around alot. Giggling and not really getting work done. He smiled and Kinda missed when he was that age. He was 18 now so that meant Sam had just turned 16. Sam was kinda like his little brother at the rink, but then he left and lost a lot of contact with him. Jenn and Sam were talented, he didn’t know if they’d make it past regionals. Only due to the fact that Jasper and him were competing, and now Connor and Katie were training at the rink. Although they didn’t seem to bother the young pair all that much. They're coach was good, Jason knew they were just kids and trying their best and that was good enough for him. After about an hour he decided to get up. Checking his phone and clicking through Jaspers story Instagram, she always did post a lot during hospital visits. Maybe it was a coping thing. He never asked.

He wouldn’t admit it but he timed himself leaving perfectly when Asra got out of the changing rooms. He was leaning against the wall. He had changed out of his training stuff. They stopped their tracks seeing James on the other side of the wall. He was just wearing jeans and pullover and his hair was in that stupid turnip hair do, but somehow he still looked hot.

“What do you want?” Asra crosses their arms. “Jasper made it pretty clear, I’m off limits.”

“Well yeah. You are. But that only I approach you first.”

“This isn’t you approaching me?”

“No it is.” He smiled. “Because you walked out of the changing room. Towards me so technically you approached me first.”

“You have some pretty weird logic there.”

“But it works.” He hummed and kept smiling. Asra didn’t step any closer so he just asked a question. “So are you still punching walls when you don’t place?”

Asra wanted to look offended but that caught them off guard, they laughed a little and shook their head.

“‘No not anymore because I place.”

“You didn’t, not at nationals.”

“Okay I was in fourth. That’s almost placing and nationals is a big thing. I’m glad I didn’t end up last.”

“So you're not punching things anymore. Remember when you broke your all fingers because you punched a locker handle at full force.”

“Shut up.” Asra reaches forward to cover his mouth. “I don’t punch things anymore, but I still punch people.”

“Still.”

His words were muffled behind Asras hand. The position they were in looked suggestive. Which was just feeding into James’s little crush on them. When they realized why he was just staring at them and saying not anything they stepped back.

“I only broke my middle finger and my pinky. It wasn’t my whole hand but I can’t have you just outing all my secrets like that.” Asra pushed him a bit when he was standing up straight and off the wall. “I have a reputation to uphold.”

“Oh of course. A fake reputation is all a skater has.”

“Okay, your just being dumb with me. I’m done here.”

Even though talking to James was lightening their mood a little bit. They were still in a shitty mood after this morning's training. They got their half day because they were breaking in skates but now they just had nothing to do. They kept walking and James let them go. He knew when he wasn’t wanted and he wasn’t going to follow them and make them uncomfortable. So he headed in the opposite direction sitting at one of the tables near the snack bar. It was oddly empty, mostly due to the fact that all the little kids had actual school today and the older skaters were either at the gym or practicing their programs. James however was skipping his gym time. He was on his phone and just minding his business, he could probably go home. There was nothing better to do. But he stayed anyway.

That was until he heard someone walking fast down the hallway and they found their bag and their skates hitting each other. Of course it was Asra, they were walking with purpose towards James. He was fully ready to apologize for making them uncomfortable if that’s what they were coming to tell him. But when they got there they just pulled a seat out and sat down.

“Hi?”

James put his phone away while Asra was staring at him. They kept eye contact with him. Their leg was bouncing under the table out of fear. They decided it just as they were leaving the rink and had to come back. They didn’t really think it through, they were just doing it.

“Teach how to pair skate.”

“What?”

Asra rolled their eyes and leaned closer. Talking in a whisper so no one would hear. They couldn’t risk Lillian hearing about it.

“Teach me how to pair skate.”

“But you're a single skater.”

“So?”

“And I already have a partner.”

“Well I didn’t ask you to be my partner. I asked you to teach me.”

“Why me?”

“Because I can’t ask anyone else. If I ask anyone else’s Lillian will find out somehow. And I can have her or my mom finding out.”

“Why not.”

“It’s a long story.” They waved their hands to tell him to not focus on it. “Teach me how to pair skate.”

“Okay.” He shrugged and leaned back in his chair.

“Okay? That’s it that’s all it took.”

“Well I mean you aren’t asking me to drop my long term partner for you. And you want to pair skate so why not?”

“Lillian can’t know.”

“Okay so we’ll meet after hours.”

“After hours- how?”

“I know a guy.” James smiled at them. He went to get up. “Meet me here at 9.”

Asra just nodded a bit. Watching James pick up his bag and leave. Like he was actually going to leave. He did, he didn’t give them his number. Asra was hoping he’d just show up at nine. They smiled to themselves for a second and they shook their head and got up. Waiting for James’s car to be gone before they also left for the day.