As soon as Elena exits the bathroom, a bright pink flyer is thrust into her face. "There's a bowl-a-thon Friday night. We're going right?"
"I don't know," she shifts from foot to foot indecisively, "It depends on what Damon wants to do."
"You know that he'll go, he loves to party!"
Elena glances around the hallway, where most people are chattering about it and nods. "It should be fun. Damon's talking about getting a hockey tryout with the North Stars."
"Really?" Bonnie asks as she walks beside her friend to the library for study hall.
Elena's brow furrows. "His parents told him he had to do something."
"I suppose that makes sense," Bonnie pulls her into a secluded table at the back of the room.
"Yeah, I know that. And he does, too. He's just unsure of what he wants to do with his life," Elena admits as she opens her book to start studying for her trigonometry test.
Elena's putting her books away when Damon suddenly appears, pulling the door open enough to look at her. She leans back against the lockers, glancing up and down the hallway.
Apart from a few stragglers, the two of them are essentially alone.
"What are you doing here?" Elena tilts her head and looks into his eyes. It isn't so much the color that's so breathtaking, it's what's inside... the blue-gray of stormy skies that drowns her in the rain to come.
"I came to pick you up, thought maybe we could hang out for a while."
"Sheila will have my ass if I don't show up for practice," Elena sighs.
"Oh, come on, Elena. Time-out." Damon makes the T sign with his hands. "Step away from your life for five minutes. Five minutes!"
He steps closer, placing one hand against the lockers next to her. His body brushes against hers and she can feel the heat radiating and surrounding her completely.
Elena leans forward and her lips graze his. With his free hand, he cups the back of her neck and pulls her into a fiery kiss pulling away only when whistles erupt.
"Ignore them," he glares at the offenders causing them to scatter and quickly turns back to Elena. She draws in a sharp breath when Damon's fingers skim her mid-thigh blazing a familiar trail of fire.
Leaning forward, his mouth brushes against her ear shell. "Five minutes..."
Letting out a deep breath, Sheila considers the woman sitting at the bar in front of her.
"Are you her coach?"
"I am," Sheila replies as she fills the woman's coffee cup.
"You do good work. How old is she?"
"Look, Ms. Forbes, let's start over. I know who you are and we both know that Elena's training has been subpar at best."
"She's had work in jumps and routines?" Liz asks as she raises the cup to her mouth.
"She has such natural talent, unlike anything I've seen before."
"She's very impressive. The crowd loved her."
"You want to train her?" Sheila states firmly as she stares at the woman.
"I want to find out what her goals are and if she has the discipline required to compete," Liz counters.
"You think she's that good?"
"She looked good. Of course, it was only a regional competition."
"You want to train her."
Liz smiles. "Yes, I want to train her. You didn't answer my question. How old is she?"
"Elena is sixteen."
Liz releases a weighted sigh. "You have to know she's much too old to be just starting out in this sport."
"She's very quick," Sheila blurts out as Liz stands up to leave.
"Pardon?"
"I mean, I've seen her watch someone on television, you know, professional skaters. And she can pick up those moves...I've never seen anything like it."
"You really have that much faith in her abilities?"
"You said it, the crowd loved her. She can do it, I know she can. There is no one who will work harder."
Liz pauses and looks back at Sheila. "This is against my better judgment but let's go and talk to her."
"Logan, I'll be gone for a bit," Sheila calls over her shoulder as she and Liz step outside.
Intricate patterns of ice float weightlessly downward from the pure white sky above, each flake swirling and dancing, as an icy wind carries it over the landscape. Elena enjoys everything about this kind of weather - from the satisfaction of being the first to make an impression in a pristine blanket of fresh snow to the subtle crunch underfoot as she stomps through it.
As they make their way down the highway, Elena groans, "Sheila is going to murder me."
Damon gives her a shooting glance. "She'll probably give you a scold but murder...I don't think so."
"Yeah well you don't work with her every day," Elena grumbles, turning her head to scan the countryside as Damon drives her home.
"I should tell you that the North Stars asked me to come to a tryout. A lot of guys will be there, competing to make the team."
"That's great."
"When do you go?" Elena asks as she sucks her lower lip between her teeth.
"In two weeks."
"Do you want to do that? Play hockey?"
"Hell yeah. It's fun..." Damon pauses when he sees the wistful look on her face.
He takes her chin in his hand and turns her to face him. "Come on, I'm only going to be gone a few weeks."
"What if you make it? Then what?"
That's why I'm going. I know I'm supposed to go to college and I'm supposed to be a doctor or a lawyer. I know I'm supposed to get married and have kids. I'm supposed to end up just like my folks. Every time I start something I see where it's going and I can't see spending my entire life like that. I know I have to do something...it's just...difficult. But, Elena, that doesn't mean that I don't love you."
"I love you, too."
Damon's eyes glint with mischief, "As far as Sheila goes, you're allowed to have a little fun," he whispers huskily, grinning as a rosy color rises high on Elena's cheeks.
"How much fun do you have in mind?" Elena asks coyly, inching ever so close to him.
"I think you already know but your dad will murder me if I don't get you home," Damon groans as he turns toward her place.
"What's the point in putting her through all that trouble and raising her hopes if she's too old?" John asks as tosses his empty beer can in the waste basket.
"I said that normally the best skaters are well-trained at a much younger age."
"Six or seven, yeah, well..." John counters as he paces in his kitchen. "Looks like you're a decade late, Ms. Forbes."
"Elena can do it, John."
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't think so. I can't afford to waste my time." Liz explains as she stares at him.
"Good to hear. Who can?" John answers sarcastically. "Look, I appreciate your coming by."
"Damn it, John, give her a chance to be something," Sheila pleads with him.
"She is something," he counters angrily.
Liz shares a glance with Sheila before locking gazes with John.
"Are you afraid she might make it? What would happen if she became a champion? She'd probably leave here. Come back only for Christmas."
John holds her stare for a beat before looking away and walking out of the kitchen at the sound of a car pulling up.
"Where the hell have you kids been?" Sheila asks as she steps outside.
"Damon's got a hockey tryout," Elena remarks, smiling at Damon.
"You're kidding?" Sheila blurts out as she winks at him.
"Hey, Damon, that's just your speed, bumping into walls for a living, huh?" John teases.
"Excuse me. Elena." Sheila gives her a huge smile. "This is Liz Forbes. She's a professional coach. She wants to train you."
"I saw you at the Regionals. I think you're wonderful. You have a natural gift. It'd be a shame not to let it take you as far as you can go."
Damon stares dumbfounded for a millisecond before wrapping her in his arms. "It's fantastic, Elena. Fantastic. I'm so proud of you." He kisses the top of her head but inside his heart is seizing.
Elena approaches her dad who's standing on the frozen pond, staring at the landscape in front of him.
"Daddy, I want to do this."
"Remember when we used to come here?"
"I wish I did," Elena says softly.
"You and your mom and this damn pond. She'd lean down and pull you around on your skates, talking to you, left, right. Now glide. You would look down at the ice, scared you were going to fall. Hell, it wouldn't have been very far, you were only around three feet tall..." He pauses to reflect for a moment.
"I don't remember skating with her. The first time I can remember is when Damon was on the pond, and took my hand."
John smiles contemplatively. "This was your mom's favorite place. If you're not from around here it all looks white, colorless. But she could see so much more than that...Sadly, she never had a chance to show you. When you were old enough to remember she couldn't come out here anymore. And you thought you were born in those damn things."
John embraces Elena and pulls her into his chest.
"It struck me you ought to try and look at this place, try to see it the way she did...You see that rise over there?" he points into the distance. "You can hardly see it except for that slight shadow line. Then there's that hill over there with all those different tones of white."
Elena stares contemplatively as she listens to him.
"Then, when the ground fog comes you can hardly tell where the fog starts and the snow stops...and the sky begins."
"Daddy."
"What's so sad is that you never really knew your mom. We only talk about her and you remember a kind of an image that's different from the photographs."
"I'm not her..."
Elena pulls out of his embrace and looks up at him. "It's like I felt a power from within me. And the sound the crowd makes...I want to hear that sound," Elena tries to explain the inexplicable draw she feels to the ice.
"I hear you, sweetheart," John says softly as his eyes begin to shine. "You'd better get back to the house. You have some packing to do."
A beaming smile fills Elena's face as she wraps her arms around his middle and gives him a squeeze.
"I love you, Daddy," she bursts out and takes off running toward their house.
Thank you all. Love you, Eva. Thank you CA, I enjoy our chats.
My husband is scheduled to have surgery on 9/1. TQR will come midweek as always but I don't know about next week. I will try to update but it depends on when we get back home. So there might possibly be a week delay in updates for both stories.
I just finished writing, "It's All Coming Back to Me Now". It will begin posting when this one is closer to completion.
Chapter title: I Can See What's Mine Now
Thank you all so much. Have a fabulous day and week ahead. I'll see you soon.