Two days passed since the night Lilly had gone to the theater with Gwen. In the morning, she had been on a phone call with her mother, telling how grand the ceremony was. At noon, Sam visited them at Gwen's house to collect notes from Lilly on the classes he had missed. Though he didn't say much about Rick going out with the girl named Kim from another school, the time he did say Gwen seemed calm and intact with her feelings. Lilly wondered if it had anything to do with Cole who had been sending her messages once in a while. Or maybe it was Gwen's nature of accepting, telling this was how life worked.
On the other hand, Lilly didn't know how Ace had got hold of her number. Suspiciously when she had tried going through her call logs she saw there were no outgoing calls to the number. Checking with Gwen she found that her friend hadn't shared her number either. It was quite odd to her.
"You're in a hurry," Gwen noted, seeing he had hurried with copying some notes while he looked all dressed up with his hairs combed back which he rarely did.
"I have a date," he stuffed the books back into his bag.
"O-la la. Who is it?" Gwen asked curiously.
"I met her two weeks ago at the food mart and that's all you guys get. No more questions and I am running late," he realized looking at his watch.
"Have fun," Lilly shouted as he waved, leaving through the door. Deciding to bring up the topic of her smiling like an idiot every time she looked at her phone, Lilly asked,
"So..how's Cole doing?"
"Good."
"And...?" Lilly pressed for more information.
Gwen finally turned around on the couch to face Lilly, "He's nice and funny. Like good funny, of course. But I am not sure how I feel, I mean we just met right."
"Are you telling it because you mean it or are is it the other way round?"
"Do you think it's too soon?" she asked anxiously.
"If you feel it's right, it's right. I am not going to judge you," Lilly narrowed her eyes.
"I know that! But there is this thing called guilt which pokes the consciousness," Gwen scratched her neck with a sigh.
"Just because you harbored feelings for Rick and now that he is seeing someone else doesn't mean you can't let it go and start afresh. It is fine," she assured Gwen with a wide smile, "So are you guys meeting up anytime soon?"
"About that...He asked if we could go skating together today. The four of us," she bit the side of her cheek while waiting for Lilly to agree.
"Four?"
"Yes. You, me and he and Ace."
"Oh," she then added, "You do remember I don't know to skate right?"
"I will be right next to you. You will be fine."
Arriving at the ice rink Lilly took a deep breath she followed Gwen inside, looking at people paying for the skates in line at the counter of the entrance. Even though the place had only opened up recently, there weren't many people which made it easier to spot both Cole and Ace.
"Cole!" Gwen called his name to catch his attention as they were talking to each other near the edge of the rink.
After Lilly wore her skates, she walked carefully inside the rink whilst holding Gwen's hand. Scared to let it go. Initially, Gwen did help in teaching her how to walk but she knew it wouldn't be fair to hog herself for the day. Instead, Cole asked Ace to help her which she politely refused saying she was only warming up. But who was she kidding? It was clear as day that she had no clue what to do.
"You don't look comfortable," Ace said tilting his head, seeing Lilly hold the sidelines.
"I am fine," she waved him as her legs wobbled.
"Give me your hand," he said raising his hand making her blink at him.
"What?"
"Your hand. Let me guide you," he said taking her hand and leading her towards the center.
"I think I am happy to stand near the sidelines," she reasoned to see him smile which was a rare sight to her.
"Reasons reasons. You need to try before giving up," he said looking her in the eye making her heart skip a beat. As he helped her to skate on the ice, she noticed his hair that was tousled carelessly. He hadn't bothered to wear a jacket and she wondered if he wasn't cold. Maybe he was because his hands were cold and it made her skin shiver.
"You're staring again," he chuckled, observing her.
"Ah, sorry," she quickly apologized before he shook his head.
"Don't be. It is you, so its okay," she wondered what that meant, "Skating is very simple. Here, position your legs this way so that you can balance it your feet. Yes, just now start sliding slowly. Don't worry I'll hold your hand all the way," he said looking into her eyes.
"Okay," she mumbled looking at her feet.
Thankfully, as he promised Ace didn't let her hand go. There were times when he finally felt she was ready to skate alone she would almost fall before he would catch her.
"Careful, you're doing well. Have confidence, cupcake," he said making her eyes go wide at the new nickname.
"C-cupcake?" she stuttered.