Author's notes: I have been shown the fic which the beginning of this is similar too, and I apologise for any confusion. I've edited the beginning so that it's no longer like the other fic, so read away! You can go back and re-read the beginning if you like, but it doesn't change anything.
Santana
I've never done this before… I told Dani so much in the car on the way here, and she just laughed at me. "You'll be fine. You've got a good sense of balance from dancing, right? You'll work it out. And if you don't, you can hold my hand and I'll pull you around."
I lace up my skates, watching as Dani pushes herself up onto hers. She wobbles a bit then finds her balance. "Come on, San!" she says, skating in backwards and forwards in front of me. I grimace at her skill, laughing at the funny faces she's pulling.
"I don't know if I can do this," I say, trying to get up and landing back on the seat of my butt with an inelegant slip.
Dani laughs at me. "Yes, you so can. Come on." She offers me a hand and I get to my feet with one hand on the bench and one hand in hers. Both of our hands are icy-cold, so in between balancing and trying to move, I lift hers to my mouth and kiss it. She giggles, biting her lip as she smiles.
I slide around, trying to make movements like I'm walking at first. Dani instructs me, showing me how to push my feet out a bit to get better traction and balance, and suddenly it all falls into place. I skate a little way on my own and then turn back to her. I nearly fall over but regain my composure and luckily Dani is too busy with her own balance to see.
"Coming?" I call, holding my arms out to the side.
"You okay?" she checks, skating up beside me. "I'm a bit out of practice myself."
"I'm fine. I think I got it, I just need to practise more!" I declare happily. She grins, slipping her hand into mine. It throws me off balance for a few seconds and I have to squeeze her hand to not fall on my butt, but then I figure it out and we keep skating. The ice-rink is a big oval and everyone is going in the same general direction.
This is an unbelievably fun date.
Once we've both settled into the rhythm of skating, Dani shouts "Race you!" and I race her around the rink.
I go too fast and crash into the wall, nearly doing the splits. I'm saving only by clinging to the railing and pulling myself back up. Dani doubles over laughing but then we race again and she slides over and tries to land a skid like she's on stage.
"I think I'd have a heart atta-a-a-ack!" she sings. Her voice, unedited, is beautiful. A few people glance around but I think the only ones who recognise her are the middle school piranhas, who are all too shy to approach. I laugh and help her up.
We do it again and again. I find multitudes of ways to fall on my butt that I didn't even know existed. There are times when I'm about to fall over and she pulls me in close to her and keeps me from falling while she kisses me.
"Eww, gross!" I hear some middle school kid shouting, and I smile into her lips.
She waits until I've got my balance again and puts her forehead against mine. "Eww, gross," she laughs.
I laugh too, until some other kid whizzes past and nearly takes me out, then we keep skating. This time I try to jump on my skates, do a flying leap like some of the experts are.
"You look like a penguin, please stop!" Dani is clinging to the wall and has her head thrown back, laughing.
"Shut up!" I stick my hands out like penguin wings and slide a bit closer.
"Oh god, that's scary!"
I laugh and drop them, skating over and pinning her against the wall. "What was that?"
"You're very scary," she whispers, eyes flitting over my face. I kiss her quickly, then touch my cold fingertips to her cheek.
"Aah!" She skates away quickly.
"Come back here!" I yell, but she's still faster than me if she wants to be, so I skate slowly in the direction she went and hope that she'll come back around.
"Boo!" She does come back, skating past me and then spinning so she's facing me, skating backwards.
"That's very elegant," I tell her, just as she crashes into a middle school girl.
She swats at me as I help her up. "At least I can skate straight." She pokes her tongue out at me.
"You can't even act straight, who are you hating on?" I say, knowing she can't argue.
"How could I, when you're so incredibly hot?" She grabs my wrists and pulls me closer, entwining our fingers.
"Good point," I manage as she kisses me again. Every time she kisses me, I get these little fireworks displays in my stomach, in my head, everywhere.
Dani
Santana picks up skating remarkably quickly. I guess it's all that dance training at NYADA.
I can't imagine anything I would rather be doing than skating here, beside her, holding her hand.
Except maybe being able to feel her hand. The rink is freezing, quite literally. "San? You wanna go get some hot chocolate?"
"Sure," she says. "If I can get these skates off my feet again."
We skate to a bench where I first unlace my skates, then help Santana get hers off. She laughs when I have to grab her foot to pull it out and when I go to put the skates in a cubby, she leans up and kisses me. I smile down at her, passing her her shoes and putting on mine. "Ready?"
"Yeah," she says.
"What do you want?" I ask her as we're standing in line.
"Hot chocolate? That's what we came here for, right?"
"Yeah. Hungry?" I ask.
"I'm fine," she says.
"We can have a muffin," I declare.
She rolls her eyes. "Fine."
I place the order, and I hold up the line searching for the right card. I can never remember which one is my tour expenses card. I finally wave it, apologizing to the customers behind me, none of whom notice.
I breathe a silent sigh of relief that no one recognised me and take a table marker.
"Hey," I say, sitting down at the table that Santana's picked.
"Hi," she replies.
"Good date?" I ask, kissing her forehead.
"Yeah, it was… Better than the movies, anyway."
"I got to see you look like a penguin," I laugh.
"Yeah, you did." Santana smiles, flicking a sachet of sugar between her fingers. "You look nice." Her eyes duck down towards the table as she says it.
I automatically glance down at my outfit - jeans, a green top cinched with a belt, and a black leather jacket. "Thanks. You do too."
She's wearing a flared pink dress over sheer stockings with a jacket similar to mine over top. She must have been freezing skating, but she's gorgeous now, with the cold making her look a bit flushed.
The waitress brings us our hot chocolate and muffin and I can't help but think how lucky I am to be sitting here, with Santana. I smile at her, stirring my hot chocolate.
"Do I make you happy, San?" As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I look down. "Sorry, I-"
Santana smiles back at me when I dare to glance up again. "You make me so happy, Dani." She slides her hands over mine.
I breathe out. "You make me happy too," I try to say but she leans over and kisses me with a mouth that tastes like chocolate and in that moment I can't imagine anything more magical.
