About 20 minutes after we left the coffee shop, we found ourselves in front of a building called "The Cavalier Family Skating Center."
"You ever roller skated?" I asked.
"No, I haven't."
"Well then, I think I found the first thing that we are going to do!" Grinning, I dragged Spencer into the building. It was darkly lit, with strobe lights flickering over the shiny wooden floors. There were old, cheap arcade games against the walls. There was a small food stand that probably sold mostly generic sodas, soggy pizza, and the occasional salty popcorn. Next to that, was the renting counter for skates.
Perfect.
"What size are your feet?" I asked, dragging him by the arm.
"What?" he said, his voice going up a few pitches.
"For the skates?" I said, rolling my eyes. "I need to know your foot size so I can rent a pair for you?"
"I can pay for my own."
"No way. I made you come on an adventure, so my treat. Now what size?" I gave him a look that I hoped said, 'Don't argue with me.'
"Size 10," Spencer said, before adding, "Thanks."
"No worries!" I said, walking up to the counter. There was a teenaged boy sitting there on his phone. His name tag said Tom, and he looked very bored.
"Hi," I said, grabbing his attention. "Can I get two pairs of skates?"
"Sizes?" he asked, his voice dead. He really hated his job.
"A men's size 10 and a women's size 7?" I asked.
"That'll be $19.36."
"Here," I said, handing him my card.
"Let me go grab the skates for you," he said, handing me my card. I slipped it back into the pocket on the back of my phone.
"Here," the teen said, setting the two pairs of skates on the counter. "Return these when you're done and have a good time."
"Thanks," I said, grabbing both pairs of skates and turning to return to Spencer, who was standing by one of the claw games. "I got the skates!"
"Did you know that most claw machines are adjustable in relations to how often a claw will grab a prize with their full strength, a way to manage losses and wins so as to ensure that profits will remain higher?" Spencer said, briefly breaking his gaze with the machine to grab his skates from my hands.
"If you mean, did I know it was rigged? Then yeah," I said, laughing. "I was such a sucker for these games when I was little. There was this one in an arcade by my house, and I was obsessed with this little pink elephant. It was cheap as hell, but I wanted it so bad." I guided Spencer over to a bench where I began to untie my shoes.
"Did you ever win it?"
"No, as we discussed, it was rigged," I said, giving a small shrug, setting my shoes, book, and phone next to me as I reached for the skates. "Within two weeks of me making it my personal mission to get it, it disappeared from the claw machine." With my skates now on, I slowly waddled over to a cubby. I placed my items in, only now remembering the envelope tucked into my waistband. Turning around, I saw Spencer was still struggling to put his skates on. I quickly snuck the envelope into a random page in my book. I waddled back over to Spencer, who was now struggling to stand-up.
"Want me to put your stuff away?" I asked.
"I think I've got it," Spencer said, nearly falling to the ground as he attempted to bend down to grab his stuff.
"Woah, I got it, I got it…" I said, laughing as I grabbed it for him. "Now stay here. Last thing you need is to break something, Mr. FBI." I quickly threw his items into the cubby next to mine, before rejoining the gawky man.
"One step at a time," I said, waddling ahead of Spencer to the shiny rink. I let my foot touch the ground, and almost instantly it began to slowly slide away from me.
"Shit shit shit," I murmured putting my other foot on the shiny surface. I slowly let myself find my balance.
I got this.
I found myself not wobbling.
I got this.
I began to stand straight.
I got this.
Then I fell right on my butt.
"Ow!" I yelped. Taking a deep breath, I slowly got to my feet, being extra careful not to fall again. And I began to take steps. One step at a time.
And then I found a rhythm of skating. Slowly.
"Hey! I got it!" I said triumphantly, turning to see Spencer still standing at the edge of the rink. I skated slowly over to him. "You going to join?"
"I've never skated before," he said, glancing at the floor before meeting my gaze.
"There's a first time for everything Spencer, now, come on!" I said, grabbing his arm and getting coaxing him onto the shiny floor. He was taller than me, so I had to be careful to make sure that I wouldn't make him fall on top of me.
"That's right, slowly… slowly…" I said, guiding him before letting him go, "Keep going just like that… you've got it."
"Did you know that roller skating uses 80% of your bodies' muscles?" Spencer said, his face contorted in concentration.
"I didn't…" I said, noticing an improvement in form when he listed off a random factoid, "Any other random facts, you just happen to know?"
"About roller skating specifically?"
"Or anything," I said, testing my theory.
"Oranges aren't naturally occurring fruits, they're actually hybrids of tangerines and pomelos, a large Asian citrus fruit that is closely related to grapefruits. Oranges were originally green, not orange, and have only begun to appear orange due to now growing in temperate climates, which causes for it to lose its chlorophyll-induced green color."
"That's… interesting…" I murmured, smiling when I noticed he was no longer focusing on his balance, which was now near perfect, "Want to know something?"
"What?"
"You're roller skating," I said, smiling widely,
"Huh… I guess I am."
"Now for the fun part."
"And what's that?"
"Catch me if you can!" I said, rushing off to the other side of the rink. I heard Spencer laugh, soon followed by the sound of skates on the wood. I grinned as I sped up. I glanced backwards to see Spencer close behind me.
"You're not going catch me today," I said, trying to go faster.
"But I think I am," came Spencer's voice as I felt a hand grab my wrist. I let out a small yelp before bursting into laughter.
"Okay, okay you got me," I said, slowing down with him.
"Now what?" Spencer asked.
"Well, what time is it?" I asked, looking for a clock, finding one on the electronic board in the back. "It's 3:12… a little too early for me to go grocery shopping, so is there anything you've always wanted to do?"
"I've always wanted to-" he began, but I promptly cut him off.
"And do not say something science related. Something spontaneous!" Spencer gave a look at that as we skated off the on the shiny floor to the grossly colored carpet.
"I've always wanted to go to the Stafford Civil War Park, but that would definitely be a car ride away. Honestly, today might be a little hard to do much," he said, deep in thought.
"As much as I hate to admit it," I said, sighing as I undid my skates, "you're probably right… Here give me your skates and I can go return them."
Spencer quietly handed me his skates as I made my way to the counter. Giving them to the teen, I made my way to my cubby, where Spencer was grabbing his stuff next to mine.
"Well, I guess I should go ahead to the grocery store, huh?" I said, putting on my shoes, before turning to Spencer, "Well, this was fun. Let's do it again sometime?"
"We'll see," he said.
"Admit it, you had a good time," I said, grabbing my items as we headed out.
"That I did," he said, giving me a small smile.
"Well, see you around?" I said, giving him a wave.
"Yeah… have a good day," he said.
"You too!" I said, parting with him and making my way to the grocery store near my apartment. Seeing Spencer today was unexpected, but definitely worth it.
For the first time I felt something that I hadn't felt in years.
And that feeling?
It was addictive.