"So, you want to explain to me one more time why your arm is in a cast, April?"
"Funny story, Mom…"
April tapped her finger boredly on the countertop, twirling a ballpoint pen between her fingers with the opposite hand as she blew a strand of hair out of her face. Evenings at her new gig - aka "job at the 24/7 gas station" - could be awfully boring after midnight, and with it being the weekend, business tended to die after a certain point. That, and she was the only person there, having graciously been promoted to "closer" three days after starting thanks to the previous closer having walked out the door the minute she walked in to apply.
She wasn't complaining, though. The pay was decent, the work was straightforward, and the uneventful time periods gave her time to count the cash register, clean the floors and bathroom, and anything else she might come up with to do in the last hour before closing. Her favorite pastime, of course, was dunking cans in the trash from behind the counter. Tonight, she had managed five out of eight, a new score. She was particularly proud.
As the clock struck eleven thirty, she glanced over the floor once more, looking for any spots she might have missed while mopping, acknowledging it was fine and stowing away the mop and bucket. She then grabbed some cleaning supplies and scrubbed the restroom, wiping her brow after having intensely scrubbed the toilet, nodding her head and proceeding to put the items away.
At eleven forty-five, the convenience store was clean as a whistle, so she began to finish up the last of her tasks and cut each of the lights off, along with the four gas pumps outside. She took off her work apron, hanging it behind the counter and grabbed her winter jacket, donning her knitted hat and pocketing her phone. She then grabbed her keys and turned the last light off, locking the store's door behind her.
As she slowly turned, she glanced from one direction to the other, zipping her jacket up and putting her hands in her pocket as she jogged to the adjacent sidewalk, watching her breath form a visible cloud in the cold December night. The overhead streetlights lit up the sidewalk, their somber light casting a sheen on the pavement, illuminating it to reveal small patches of ice here and there as she pulled her arms in closely, hugging herself to preserve heat.
She glanced to the side as she stood still on the sidewalk, the silent intersection ghosted at this time of night, ironically anticipating an arrival. A cold breeze blew past her, causing her to shiver as she hugged herself tighter.
"Sorry I'm late."
April turned to stare in the direction the voice was coming from, grinning at the sight of an oversized turtle staring down at her from atop his perch on the nearest street light pole.
"Took you long enough, Raph." She smirked, crossing her arms as she rested her weight on one side. Raphael hopped from the light and down onto the pavement, immediately hitting a patch of ice and slipping, smacking his face as he tumbled to the ground with a loud "OOF!". April gasped, running to his side before she, too, hit a patch of ice and tumbled over top of him, landing on his back, getting caught on one of his sharp spikes.
The two shook off the pain with hearty laughter, helping each get untangled after a moment and carefully stepping onto the sidewalk.
"Raph would'a been here sooner, but Pops decided to pull an evening session." Raph rubbed the back of his head, grinning embarrassedly. "He said it was supposed to help train us t' be better at the art of strategy… or somethin' like that."
He shook his head, shrugging as April grinned knowingly. "Any way, I came all the way out here for this," he pulled a pair of ice skates out from under his coat, "so are we gonna go do it?"
"I waited all day for this;" April smirked, "we'd better!"
"Yeah!" Raphael pumped his fist in the air, showing his teeth as he grinned widely, following April as she grabbed his hand and pulled him down the street and towards Central Park. It took them a bit to get there between avoiding ice patches on the sidewalks and trying to stay out of sight from the occasional police car roaming the streets, but they eventually made their way towards the park and slipped into an area where a frozen lake adorned the scenery, the reflections of the night sky and overhead trees shimmering on the ice.
April was already in her skates before Raphael had a chance to do a double take, gleefully squealing as she set foot on the ice, immediately becoming comfortable with her balance, and making her way further and further out onto the lake. She could feel the cool air breezing past her neck as she laughed openly, the feeling of freedom warming her cold cheeks.
When she became aware of the strange quiet, she turned and realized that Raph was still standing on the riverbank, staring at the edge of the ice as he tried to ease his way onto it, immediately loosing his balance and slipping, hitting the ice unceremoniously and sliding a few feet away from the bank. He embarrassedly chuckled as she skated up, kneeling down to look him in the eye.
"You've never skated before?" She asked, grinning. Raph frowned, breaking eye contact as he rose to a sitting position, holding himself up on his palms.
April offered her hand, to which he stared at first, then accepted as he struggled to regain his balance. She was careful to let him do it on his own, afraid that trying to assist would result in her swift crushing under the weight of his massive body. Eventually, he managed to straighten up enough to stand, so she began to guide him slowly and carefully, letting him get the feel for balancing on the blades and maneuvering along the ice.
It was different; definitely not something he was used to, but he eventually grew comfortable enough to depend less on her leading and more on the direction he wanted to go, steadily increasing his speed as he went. She figured their size difference made it harder to translate a sense of balance, but Raphael seemed to connect the dots quickly and soon was able to keep up pace with her.
For an hour they skated along the ice, laughing merrily at each other when one would slip up and fall, the opposite skating over to help the other up. They tried figure skating, to which Raph quickly discovered he was not built for and instead just resorted to letting April be the one that did all the dramatic poses, lifting her up whenever he could manage without falling over.
At the latter part of the hour, they attempted to do a quick strategy without either falling, April instructing Raph to get a running start from the opposite end of the lake and her on the other. Together, they would skate towards each other, and she would jump into his arms, where he would catch her and perform a dramatic spin into the middle of the lake.
It seemed like a good idea up until the point where Raphael caught her, losing his balance as he hit a dent in the ice, curling over to try and protect her from the impact as they both barreled into the nearest snowbank, hitting it, and becoming buried in several inches of freezing cold snow.
Raphael was the first to recover, jerking his head forward as he gasped, frantically dusting the snow off his face and chest, relieved when April was finally discovered underneath, groaning, holding onto the shell covering his front for dear life. He then breathed a sigh of relief and rose to a sitting position, dusting the rest of the snow off them both. However, when April cried out in pain and coiled over, clenching her left arm, it was clear their icy escapade was over.
"I, uh- slipped on a patch of ice on the way home and fell."
April's mother raised a brow, not buying the excuse, but suspecting that inquiring further would reveal an answer she was not in the mood to hear as she turned and walked away. April exhaled, grinning as she pulled her phone out and sent a text to Raphael:
"Had a great time last night. Can't wait to do it again!"
