Bolero
As I sit in my room the routine washes over me every time I close my eyes.
Skate guards off, hand them to Chris. Hold Chris's hand. Deep breath. Step onto the ice, left boot first. Skate into the middle….
I open my eyes. I knew every millisecond of our routine yet I couldn't get the visualisations of it out of my head. Sighing, I sit up and glance at the clock, it showed 5 hours to go. I was trying to sleep away as much of the time as possible, but so far it wasn't working. Idly, I let my mind wander to Chris. I so desperately wanted to go to him, wanted him to hold me, calm my nerves. But we had a strict rule about not seeing each other before a competition. And this was the biggest competition of our lives. I knew what he would be doing. He'd be watching the hours go by, maybe trying to read a book, maybe, like me, trying to get Bolero out of his head.
I re-arranged my pillows and, flopping back on them I re-shut my eyes and tried to drift off. The notes of Bolero tried to infiltrate my mind, but I shut them out, and this time it worked as I fell into an uneasy sleep. A knocking at my door woke me up with a start. I glanced at the clock, which confirmed I'd been asleep for just over an hour. Bleary-eyed from the short sleep I go over and open the door. I'm shocked to see Chris on the other side.
"Hi" I say. "Is everything okay? We don't usually see…." He cuts me off.
"I know. But I had to see you…can I come in?"
"Sure" I stepped aside and I noticed he was holding something behind his back.
"What's that?" I asked curiously, and he blushes.
"Well…..in all this Olympic whirlwind, I nearly forgot what day it is"
It took me a while to realise.
"Oh Chris….I completely forgot"
"It's okay…so did I" he admits. "It's only a small something…" he moves his hands from behind his back and hands me an orchid.
"Oh Chris….it's beautiful….I didn't get you anything"
"You don't have too. I just wanted to give you something special.
"It's lovely Chris. Thank you. So much"
"I'm glad you like it" He clears his throat. "I should….."
"Yeah…"
As I open the door to let him out he turns to me.
"See you out there"
I hesitate slightly before replying.
"I just…I can't believe we're actually going to do this"
He smiles warmly and takes my hand.
"I can….whatever happens out there…..it's you and me…..okay?"
"Okay….see you out there"
I shut the door and move back to my bed. Lying down, I hold the orchid carefully in my hand and, this time I fall peacefully into sleep.
"…..positions….movement….the music starts….we begin our journey…"
The rest is a blur, until I realise I'm lying on the ice with Chris holding onto my leg. Slowly, we get to our feet, and all I can hear is the roar of the audience. We don't look up to see the first set of marks, too busy collecting the sea of flowers that seem to have rained down onto the ice. Whilst skating back across the rink, the marks for artistic impression go up. Flanked by the flowers, Chris leans down to kiss my neck and whispers.
"We did it"
It's later, much later, at the party for us when I realised that Chris and I had practically been together ever since we left the rink, but we hadn't had a minute alone. Suddenly, he grabs my arm.
"Go and get your coat" he says, in my ear.
"What?"
"Just do it?" he says, disappearing off through the crowd.
I grab my coat and head back to the party. Chris is already standing by the door.
"Here" he says, shoving some things into my hands. "Put these under your coat"
I do as he says, confused, and I notice he's also hiding something.
"What's going on?"
He doesn't reply, just takes my hand. "Come on"
I allow him to lead me away from the party, but when he goes towards the doors to go outside I pull back.
"Chris, what's going on?"
"Nothing"
"Then where are we going?"
"Away." He waves a hand towards the party. "From all of this"
I must of looked doubtful because he continued.
"I can't stand all this….I just want to be with you. Alone"
He had a point.
"Okay" I say.
He grabs my hand back.
"Good"
We go out of the doors and the cold air hits me.
"Are we going somewhere warm?" I enquire.
"Sort of" he replies.
We walk along a bit, then Chris steps off the path, onto the fresh, fallen snow.
"Chris! Where on earth?!"
"Don't worry" he says. "We're nearly there now"
After about five minutes, I see where Chris is leading me. It's a small log cabin, near one of the skiing mountains.
"Where did you find this?"
"The other day…I didn't really think about it until now"
He leads me inside, and we sit on one of the wooden benches.
"Sorry, it's not very glamorous" he sighs. "I just feel that…that I haven't seen you since we….."
"I know. I was thinking the same thing"
He smiles at me warmly.
"I thought we should have a little alone…..celebration" With that, he produces a bottle of champagne from under his coat.
"Chris! Did you steal that?"
"Steal….borrowed…..it doesn't matter, anyway it was our party…now where did you put those glasses?"
"Oh right, is that what they were?" I say, fetching them out of my pockets. I sit them on the wooden table in front of us, while Chris pops the champagne.
"Woah!" I say, as the champagne cork sails narrowly close to my head.
"Oops, sorry"
Chris pours us both a drink and passes me mine. He holds his up and I do the same.
"To us. To you"
"And you….we did it together Chris. We did it"
We both pause, and I take a long drink. A draft come through the door, which makes me shiver.
"Are you cold?"
"A bit"
"Do you want to go back inside?"
"No. Then I won't see you"
A smile crosses his features and he holds out his arms to me.
"Come here, I'll warm you up"
I snuggle into his chest and he wraps his arms securely around me. We drink our champagne, and talk quietly, sometimes lapsing into a comfortable silence as we both dwell on the events of the day. Suddenly, feeling slightly brave from the champagne, an idea pops into my head.
"Chris?"
"Hmmmm?"
"I didn't give you anything"
"For what?"
"For Valentine's Day"
"That's okay"
"No. I want to give you something"
I pull away from his arms.
"What?" he looks puzzled.
"This"
I look into his eyes and move towards him. My lips hesitantly meet his, and he kisses me back softly. His hands come up and tangle in my short hair as he deepens the kiss. Our tongues mesh together and I feel my heart racing as we continue to kiss, moulding our bodies together as we had done on the ice mere hours ago. As we break apart he leans his forehead against mine.
"Wow" he whispers. "That was…..the best Valentine's day present ever"
I smile.
"Happy Valentine's day Chris"
"Not Valentine's day"
"What?"
"Bolero Day….it's Bolero day now"
"Well then….happy Bolero day Chris"
He moves back in to kiss me.
"Happy Bolero day Jayne"
