Chapter 13
Skating
"Stop laughing Alex." Kerry hissed at her friend as they walked into the rink, the side of her jeans soaking wet from slipping and falling into a snowbank after Alex said something raunchy about her date, Donnie, and her. They were meeting both him and Raph for a double date.
"I can't help it!" she gasped. "Y-You're worse than me when it comes to getting embarrassed about this kind of stuff! I didn't think that was possible!"
"Shut up! Fucking snow! Down in Texas there would be no snow this time of year!" Kerry hissed as she marched into the ring. "And you and Raph are farther in your relationship than me and Donnie."
"So? You know how I was before Raph and I became the whole fating thing!" Alex pressed, making her way over to the rental area to get skates for Kerry. Alex had her own. "I don't think I was as embarrassed about this stuff as you are."
"I know, but my point is you've gotten used to it. I haven't." Kerry sighed as she unzipped her tall boots. "Affection isn't my thing."
"Don't dish what you can't take," Alex advised, putting on her skates much quicker than Kerry. She stepped onto the ice, standing next to the boards waiting for Kerry to finish up.
Kerry rolled her eyes as Alex rushed her along. She had ice skated before but they weren't as common in Texas so it wasn't often. She stood up a bit wobbly at first but then regained control and stepped onto the ice. "I can take it. the ice just tripped me." Kerry scoffed a bit.
"You said you wanted to come early and get used to it so you wouldn't make a fool of yourself in front of Don, right?" Alex asked skating backwards slightly to keep her eyes on Kerry, making sure she wouldn't fall.
"Y-Yeah. I mean, it's been years since I've skated. I know how but I'm out of practice." Kerry sighed sticking close to the wall for now.
"It's like riding a bike," Alex encouraged her. Alex practically grew up on the ice. It was her second home, her first being the dojo. Her mom had her in figure skating classes when she was younger, though she enjoyed playing hockey with her brothers far more than wearing those little leotards on ice.
"Yeah, only on small thin blades on slippery ice." Kerry chuckled but eventually and spun around as well.
"Told you," Alex sang, pulling away from Kerry to speed up. Kerry chuckled and spun around again lightly chasing after her, skirting in and out of people they passed.
"So," Kerry asked slowly. "Have you talked to any of the guys about...you know. The adoption incident." she prompted.
"No," Alex said, slowing down. "I-I didn't want to bring it up again. It was so freakin' intense."
"I..."Kerry sighed. "It's hard to imagine them going through that. I mean, who would have guessed with how happy they seem."
"I know," Alex said. "Then again, seeing me right now, could you guess that I witnessed my parents getting shot?"
"No," Kerry mumbled. "Or me and-...my issues." Kerry said in a rush at the end.
"So I guess nobody ever really knows what's going on with a person, past or present," Alex muttered, glancing sideways at Kerry, catching that little comment, but not willing to break the good mood to come.
"Yeah...they were so hot shirtless though," Kerry said changing topic once more.
"Oh God yes," Alex moaned, spinning around to start skating backwards again. "How did we end up with gods again?"
"Fate screwed up, let me tell you." Kerry sighed. "God the pectorals on Donnie." she shivered. "And his back? God!"
"I think I have a thing for hands," Alex admitted. "I play with Raph's far more than I should admit. They're just so big! Imagine what he c-"
"I thought you rather me do it in real life, not in your dreams," Raph said as he skated up behind her. "Hey babe."
Alex gasped, her toe pick catching on the ice due to her losing her concentration. She fell flat on her back, causing her to slide about a foot, hitting her head off the boards. Alex groaned, rolling onto her knees, clenching her head.
"Pfft." Kerry laughed falling to her knees on the ice as she laughed. "Who's embarrassed and klutzy now, bitch!"
"Ow," Alex groaned again, slowly standing up with a hand on the board to steady herself. "Why the hell would you sneak up on someone ice skating?" Alex asked in a grumble, obviously embarrassed by falling and getting caught making such a comment. "Honestly, that's dumb, even for you!"
Raph put his hand under her arms and pulled her up. "Why the hell are you talking about me doing things to you with my big hands while ice skating?" he shot back at her.
"I wasn't going to say what you'd do! I was just stating that there was a lot that you could do," she muttered, rubbing the sore spot. "With your...big...hands," she muttered, glancing away in embarrassment. Her face was obviously as red as her hair.
"Okay enough of this conversation please!" Kerry said quickly as she flung her arms around trying to find a safe way to get off her knees.
"Hey Kerry," Don greeted, skating over to the group slowly, not used to being on ice.
"Hey Donnie, good seeing you." Kerry grinned at him, still sitting on the ice. Damn her knees were freezing now.
"Would you get up?" Alex asked the girl. "You're going to freeze your ass off if you sit there!"
"...I don't know how." Kerry said slowly.
Don reached out to try and help her up, but when he pulled he lost his own balance and fell forward, practically on top of Kerry. "I am so sorry," he quickly apologized, his face bright red, just inches from Kerry's.
Kerry blinked up at him for a second, face red but then she giggled a bit. She leaned up pressing a kiss onto his lips. "Good to see you too Donnie." She winked a bit. "While this position is interesting, my ass is kinda freezing here, so lets pick this up later, kay?"
"I'm sure Don could fix that," Alex giggled, grabbing Raph's hand, pulling him away from the two slightly. "He can probably figure out how to get you up too." Once they were out of earshot, Alex looked at Raph and muttered, "Because God knows Kerry already knows how to get him up."
Raph slapped a hand over his mouth to hold in the loud burst of laughter from breaking free. "Good god, Alex, that is so wrong!" he snickered.
"You're laughing," she giggled, "So you can't find it all that bad. Otherwise you'd scold me."
"Which only proves how wrong it is." Raph corrected. "If I'm laughing at it."
"Well, I guess it's a good thing we're together then," she said, skating ahead of him a couple feet. She turned around backwards again to look at him. "So nobody else really has to worry about the comments. We appreciate them for what they are."
"I guess so." He chuckled hands clutching hers as he skated forward effortlessly, planting a kiss on her lips.
Alex wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him. She moved her lips with his easily, having been very used to how Raph moved against her. She sucked his bottom lip gently, asking for entrance for once, instead of forcing her way into his mouth like she normally did.
"Hey now, not while I'm driving." Raph joked against her lips but didn't deny her any more than that.
Alex whined softly, nuzzling her nose against his neck. "We could go somewhere a little more private," she suggested. She gently kissed the tender skin at the junction of his jaw and neck, sucking softly. "I don't think Don and Kerry would really notice."
"No, they're busy themselves, I suppose." Raph scoffed. "But we came here to skate, Alex." he chuckled a bit.
"Right now all I want to do is skate off with you," she muttered.
"That was incredibly cheesy." Raph chuckled a bit.
"Cheesy works," she muttered, biting his neck.
"Hey now, we can be arrested for PDA," Raph said with a roll of his eyes though his big hands rested pretty low on her back, rubbing circles into her skin.
"Only if you're the one with the handcuffs," she muttered, nuzzling his neck. "You know how I am with handcuffs."
"Goodness woman, did you take some hormone pills or something? You are in such a freaking mood," Raph scoffed.
Alex pouted, pulling herself away from Raph to spin. He was right, she was a little more...distracted than usual. "You have that effect on me," she sang, rushing off to get momentum to do a jump.
"Uh huh." Raph chuckled as he skated after her but giving her some distance for her jump. "Basically grew up on the ice huh?"
"Yeah," Alex answered, skating back over to Raph. She took his hand and skated alongside him. "Mom signed me up for figure skating when I was younger. Did it until I was thirteen."
"Why'd you stop?" He asked her.
Alex shrugged. "I don't know. Wasn't exactly my thing," she said. "I liked hockey more, and martial arts even more."
"Because Hockey is better," Raph said as if obvious.
"Of course it is," Alex agreed with him. By that time, Alex and Raph went around the rink, making their way to Kerry and Don, who had finally gotten to their feet. "Having fun yet?" Alex asked.
Kerry had her arm around Donnie's waist for extra balance for the boy. "We are, thank you very much, you ditcher," she accused.
"Well, I thought you guys would appreciate some alone time!" Alex laughed, slowing down to make it easier for the two to skate with her and Raph.
"Yeah, half of which was spent trying to get up off the ice, resulting in even more embarrassing positions." Kerry glared, though it was playful.
"Would you have wanted us to see said embarrassing positions? Hm, I think not," Alex muttered.
"You could have helped us and avoided said positions," Kerry argued. Here they go again.
"You would have pulled me down too!" Alex told her. "And I'm sorry, Kerry, but I don't love you like that."
"Puh-lease, that'd be the most action you've ever gotten," Kerry scoffed.
"Hey." Raph said, slightly offended. "Boyfriend is right here."
"I've still gotten more action than you," Alex retorted. She turned to Raph briefly and said, "You know, we never did finish that conversation we started at the hockey game, which you promised we'd continue."
"That might have been true if you helped me off the ice!" Kerry retorted.
"Which conversation?" Raph mumbled looking away.
"You know very well which conversation, Loverboy," Alex told him, referring to the whole sex conversation they had had with Casey. She turned back to Kerry and said, "And so, in the end, I helped you get some action. I did you a favor."
"What about it?" Raph asked still playing dumb.
"I hate you so much right now," Kerry grumbled.
"Oh, you know you'd hug me to my grave," Alex scoffed. She turned to Raph and said, "You promised we'd continue it. So later we will."
"We are not friends anymore!" Kerry huffed, almost losing her balance from her animated hand talking.
"I...don't know what you're talking about." Raph whistled a bit. Alex just rolled her eyes and kept skating, dropping the subject for the moment.
"Kerry, be reasonable," Don told her, trying to catch her. He wobbled, but managed to keep both of them upright.
"Fuck reason." Kerry grumbled a bit, clinging to him a bit.
"Isn't Don the voice of reason?" Alex thought. "So doesn't that mean you have to f-"
"No friendship!" Kerry hissed.
"Can we still have lunch together though? I enjoy the conversation," Alex laughed, knowing she wasn't being serious.
"Oh what, yeah duh of course." Kerry blinked at her.
"You too make no sense when you argue," Raph grumbled.
"It's okay, you don't have to understand it," Alex laughed. She moved in close to peck his cheek.
"You two will be the death of us." Raph grumbled pulling her closer, spinning slightly with her, more graceful than a guy his size should be. Alex just giggled.
"Puh-lease, I'm the best thing to happen to you three," Kerry huffed.
"Yeah," Don muttered, tightening his hold on Kerry's hand.
Kerry blushed a bit, looking at him with wide eyes. She smiled after a while, bumping his hip playfully with hers. Don nearly fell over again, pulling Kerry with him, but since Alex was right next to him, she managed to catch him and keep the couple up right.
"You are so klutzy." Kerry chuckled a bit,as she helped Alex steady him, not wanting to make contact with the cold ice again. "I would have thought it'd be the other way around with you and Raph."
"What do you mean?" Alex asked.
"Well, it's all about distributing your weight, right? Raph has more muscle mass to organize over his surface area and- oh god Donnie what have you done to me!" Kerry gasped at the boy.
"Uh, I don't know?" he muttered.
"He's making you smarter!" Alex laughed.
"B-But where did that come from?" Kerry blinked, hand pressed against her lips as if someone had popped her one.
"You had to have heard it somewhere before," Don told her. "Sometimes you retain information without even realizing it."
"It'd be good for Jeopardy," Alex said.
"I never used to do that before, only with art and history," Kerry said in wonder. "Never with math or science. My attention is always elsewhere in those classes."
"You must have retained some of it, apparently," Don said.
"You're corrupting me," Kerry play glared at Donnie. "I thought I would be doing that to you."
"You are." Raph tacked on nonchalantly. "He has more of an attitude now."
Alex giggled. She also remembered several comments Raph had made about wishing he has his shower back. Don, apparently, spent quite a good deal of time in there. In fact Raph at the moment seemed to grumble under his breath about it.
"Hmm, that true?" Kerry mumbled. "I don't want Donnie to have an attitude, he needs to stay sweet. I love him being sweet." she pouted at the boy. "I'm the bad tempered one."
"Even if he has an attitude sometimes, that doesn't mean he's any less sweet," Alex said. "It just means he may stick up for himself more.
"Hmm, he could be a bit more daring," Kerry teased a bit, letting go of Donnie and skating away from him a bit.
"Kerry!" Don groaned, wobbling the instant she let go. "I can be daring, but not on ice!" Don's footing slipped out from under him, causing him to fall flat on his butt. "Ow," he moaned. "I think I bruised…"
Kerry put a hand over her mouth to hide her giggles as she skated back around him and then took his hands in hers. "I'm so-.."She had to stop to cover a laugh. "I'm so sorry Donnie." she breathed, fighting a giggle. "What exactly did you bruise, maybe I can kiss it better." She winked as she pulled him up, more successfully as he did with her earlier.
"Uh, t-that's okay," he muttered, his cheeks red. "I'd just settle for a regular kiss."
"Oh, you really are getting more forward," Kerry giggled pulling him closer before pecking him on the lips quickly, having to be careful to shift too much due to the height difference making it difficult.
Alex glanced at Raph, smiling softly. Operation Korny was almost complete. All that was left was to make sure they got the titles of boyfriend and girlfriend, which didn't seem like it was too far off. Raph gave a little smirk, winking at her a bit as he spun them around again, fast this time, and at a sharper angle.
Raph's skate got caught on one of Alex's in doing so, however, causing the two redhead to topple over onto the ice. Alex landed with her back on the ice, Raph sprawled on top of her, his elbow digging into her stomach. Alex gasped, trying to get air back into her lungs before groaning softly as he removed his elbow from her stomach. He had hit the exact spot where the bullet had grazed.
"Hmm, I so do love, karma," Kerry smirked as she and Donnie passed. "Don't you Donnie?"
"Shut up," Raph groaned as he shifted off of Alex. "Sorry, Firecracker."
Alex closed her eyes tightly as Raph helped her sit up. SHe held her side, trying to calm herself down. The pain in that exact spot caused her to have flashbacks of the night her parents died. Breathe, she told herself. Breathe, you're okay. You're not there. You're with Raph, Kerry and Don. Not the gangsters.
"Alex?" Raph mumbled, touching the side of her face. "Alex, hey, look at me." Raph said trying to see her. He kissed her cheek. "Come on."
"Lexi?" Kerry asked stopping to look back at her.
"I'm okay," She gasped. "Give..give me a minute."
Raph pulled her under his arm as she knelt next to her, taking her off the cold ice a bit. The warm contact slowly helped Alex snap out of it. The warmth was the opposite of that night. It had been so cold that night. "Thanks," she muttered, taking his hand as she got up with ease.
"You okay, Alex? Did you hit your head?" Donnie asked putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Uh, no," Alex muttered, tightening her hold on Raph's hand. "No, I'm okay. Don't worry about it."
"Of course we're going to worry about it," Raph said softly hugging her close. "We love you."
"Really," she muttered with a soft smile. She stayed in his embrace, resting her head against his shoulder. "It's okay. I'm okay now."
"...If you're sure." He said hesitantly as Kerry and Don still looked on in worry.
Alex pulled back and smiled up at him. "Really," she told him. "I'm okay now." She kissed his cheek softly, lingering with her lips on his skin for a moment before pulling back slowly. "Thank you."
Raph sighed a bit, head resting on the top of hers before he nodded. "Of course. You wanna take a break? We can all go grab something to eat. Give you some time to rest and save these klutzes from more bruising."
"Hey!" Kerry snapped.
Alex chuckled, wrapping her arm around his waist. "That sounds like a plan, Pumpkin."
"You're all assholes." Kerry grumbled, wanting to huff and skate away, but also not wanting to let Donnie fall again.
Alex steppe off the ice and went over to the bench where the lockers were with their shoes. She sat down and stared to remove her skates. "I was talking about the food," Alex told her with a laugh.
"Your still an asshole," Kerry grumbled a bit. "No one loves me." she huffed.
"T-That's not true," Don muttered. He paused in taking off his skates to take her hand softly.
"I-I was being silly and childish, Donnie." Kerry blushed darkly. "D-Don't worry about it," she mumbled to he obviously appeased her childish sulking.
Don bit his lip. He wanted to tell her just how much he cared about her, but it wasn't the right time nor the right place. He gave her hand a squeeze before going back to his skates.
Kerry was now quiet as she sat down to take off her skates, Donnie always knowing just the thing to say or do to re-set her so to say. Something Alex hasn't even completely figured out how to do. She was still looking for the off button.
"Okay, so what does everybody want to eat?" Alex asked. She stood up, stretching her ankles.
"I'm chill with anything." Kerry shrugged a bit, wincing as her ankles gave a slight throb of protest as she yanked the skate off her foot. "And I think I'm only slightly allergic to jalapenos." she joked with Alex.
"There's no such thing as only slightly allergic," Don laughed. "You're either allergic or not. So I'd say stay away from them."
"But salsa is so good," she chuckled with a fake pout.
"You can make it without it," Don said.
"Yeah, just use other spices to replicate the taste," Alex said. "We can always try it later, if you want."
"Two spicy girls making spicy salsa," Raph teased, poking Alex's side.
"More like hot girls," Don muttered, unaware that everybody could actually hear his comment.
"Uh, thanks," Alex muttered. "I think?" It was weird getting a compliment like that from Don. Kerry's face was bright red, and she hurried to cover the blush with her hands.
"I-I buts sa me." Kerry tried to speak, but only gibberish came out. "Its na."
"I think the hick finally snapped," Raph laughed.
"S-Shut up!" Kerry groaned, finally speaking through the lump in her throat. "You're more annoying than a rooster on sunday!" she swore, twang coming out.
Don chucked and took Kerry's hand, leading them out of the ice area. He always thought her little southern sayings were adorable. "So, where should we go? I don't know the restaurants in this area."
"Ahh, neither do I. But of course I only moved here a year ago...two weeks ago I think." Kerry said eyebrows scrunching up in thought.
Wait...Kerry wasn't here a year ago, was she? She just came to school this year. ALex looked at her oddly for a moment before letting it go. She'd ask her about it later. She didn't want to ruin the date by asking.
"Yeah. Yeah that's right. Anyway, Alex? Raph any clue?" Kery asked.
"Well, there's a chinese takeout place around here somewhere." Raph shrugged.
"Mm, I could go for some dumplings," she moaned, just from the thought of food.
"Are you actually going to eat this time?" Kerry chuckled.
"Kerry, it's almost time for dinner," Alex stated slowly.
"I know, but with how busy you've been, you've skipped meals. Don't think I haven't noticed!" Kerry said. "Honestly, you're supposed to be the responsible one. Keeping me from fighting large men who call me dwarf and eating jalapenos because I'm only a little allergic. If you get sick there is no telling the shit I will get myself into."
"Fighting large men?" Raph asked oddly. "The fuck...?"
"It's complicated, don't worry about it," she told Raph. "And it's fine, Kerry. I've been eating. Just at odd hours."
"You can really screw with your digestive systems like that," Don warned. "Not to mention your nutrient levels will vary because of it."
"You stomach won't absorb it as well or some shit," Kerry thought out loud, trying to remember her lessons.
"Okay, okay," Alex muttered. "I'll make more if an effort. Geez."
"Hey now, you spend all your timekeeping us three in line, so we work together to try and keep you in line too." Raph chuckled. "It takes three to keep you in line," he pretended to grumble under his breath.
"Oh thanks," Alex muttered with a smirk. She playfully hit Raph's arm. Although, Alex couldn't help but think that she needed to hide the effects of the long hours she had with work, school and her Guardian training better.
Raph smirked bringing her in for a quick but rather wild type of kiss, feeling playful with her. "No problem, Firecracker."
Alex blinked, her cheeks tinted red. She looked away, slightly wishing she had some alone time with him. They hadn't really had any alone time since their date at the hockey game, and now that they were actually dating, she really wanted to spend some quality time with him. Which, of course, consisted of kissing among other things. The group arrived at the chinese place and got seated rather quickly, due to beating the crowds there.
"What are you guys going to get?" Alex asked. She only briefly looked at the menu, knowing what she wanted.
"Not really sure yet." Kerry shrugged. "You know how I get when ordering." Annoying...annoying is exactly how she gets. She always seemed to get almost a stage fright when it came to her to order.
"If you want, I can order it for you," Alex told her, knowing how she got.
"...please?" Kerry said shooting her a pitiful look almost as good as Mikey's.
"Yeah, it's no problem," Alex said. "What do you want?"
"Orange chicken is fine." Kerry said eyes looking away, oh come on she was talking to Alex!
"Okay," Alex said. "What about you guys?"
"I was thinking about getting chicken lo mein," Don said.
"Sweet and sour chicken." Raph said. "I always get it here, it's the best."
"I love sweet and sour chicken," Alex maned, her, head resting on Raph's shoulder dramatically. "I just love chinese food period."
"It's my favorite other than pizza, of course." Raph smirked at her, kissing the top of her head.
"Or maybe it's just food in general," Alex thought. "Sorry Raph, I think my first love is food."
"It's okay, we can both have an affair with it," Raph joked right back at her.
Alex giggled. She moved closer to his ear and whispered, "I could always break out the strawberries and whipped cream again."
"Oh kinky." Raph joked a bit. "Any chocolate on the menu?" he snickered.
"The darkest," she laughed, knowing it was his favorite.
"Perfect," he mumbled. "Sweet chocolate is nasty. The bitterness is better."
"Thank you," Kerry said high fiving him. "That makes you forgiven for being nasty at the dinner table."
"I like sweet though," Alex stated. "I mean, I like dark chocolate too, but I just love milk chocolate."
"Milk chocolate is the best," Don said agreeing with her. "Dark chocolate is too bitter."
Alex high fived Don. The waitress came to take their orders before leaving the group alone again. "So, what do you want to do after dinner?" Alex asked. "Do something or go separate ways?"
"Separate ways," Kerry and Raph said together, almost identical inflections in tone, though Kerry was the only one with a slight pout.
"Separate ways as in couples go separate ways or as in everybody goes home?" Don asked, trying to clarify.
"Couples," Kerry said blushing slightly. "Wanna head back to my place or something?" she mumbled a bit, peeking at him. "I mean, not that you have to, of course. It's totally whatever I just mean if-" she started saying crossing her arms as she went into tsundere mode.
Don chuckled, taking her hand. "I'd love to," he told her.
"O-Oh...right umm okay. Great," Kerry mumbled looking down.
Raph rolled his eyes. "What do you want to do?" he asked Alex.
Alex shrugged. "You can come over to the apartment, if you want," she suggested. "Watch TV or...something." Alex smirked, implying that she'd rather do something else.
"Hmm, something sounds interesting." Raph grinned at her. "Will anyone be joining us for something?"
"Nah," she muttered. "The boys are busy."
"Good, I'm looking forward to something." Raph chuckled.
"Do they think we're stupid and don't understand what they mean? Or just naive?" Kerry whispered to Donnie.
"Not stupid," Alex told them, glancing their way. "Just expecting you to ignore it."
"You're saying it right in front of us." Kerry said slowly. "We're not deaf."
"You sure? Donnie might be from the high pitch whine I hear coming from your mouth every time you open it." Raph glared.
"Okay, enough of that," Alex told him, placing her hand on his leg to shut him up.
"Hick." Raph shot one last time at the girl.
"Dick." Kerry retorted in their usual fashion.
"Guys," Don begged.
"He started it." Kerry pouted a bit, crossing her arms.
"And again, I'm ending it," Alex told them.
The waitress came back with their food and the group fell into a comfortable silence as they enjoyed their meal.