Day 19 ~ Ice Flakes PG-13
19
Ice Flakes"Ready senpai?"
Ryouka scowls down at her feet. Her legs look twice as stick-like than normal with those skates attached to them, not to mention she's likely to get frostbite on her girl-parts after an hour of hovering above ice in a fucking skirt.
So no, dammit, she isn't ready.
"Senpai?"
"Tch," Ryouka closes her eyes. She can do this. She has to do this. It is either this, in a skirt but with Shouta by her side, or having to admit to Keiko tomorrow that she's never ice-skated before. "Fine. Let's get this over with."
Ryouka stands. Or at least that's what she intends to. But the skates sit unwieldy and strange around her feet and she wobbles.
Shouta grabs her bicep. "Careful," she exclaims.
The sudden, sharp pull down the center of her chest and into the pit of her stomach isn't unfamiliar anymore. Nevertheless Ryouka's heart hammers, choking and hard while her body tingles. Her cheek is on fire where a long lock of fair hair brushed against it.
She pushes away. "Let's just…" she mumbles and then hobbles towards the rink.
Decidedly more gracefully, Shouta follows.
Besides two couples who are more intend on sucking face and a fanatic old man tearing around the outer edge, there's not a soul. Small mercies. Practice ran late, no slacking off even when exams are right around the corner, and neither of them had time to head home to don a rather more practical outfit. Ryouka isn't even standing on the ice when she feels the cold breathe up against her bare thighs.
Shouta steps onto the rink first and Ryouka notes with not a little sourness that those woolen thighs she always wears really are a smart move. Especially in winter.
A hand is offered. For the first time Ryouka looks up and into her face. Which she knows is dumb, because looking at Shouta's face is the worst. Granted, there was a lot about Shouta that made Ryouka feel equal parts fascinated and grubby. On the one hand she is obsessed: the urge to stare at and observe Shouta is driving her absolutely fucking mad, but it washes down with a bitter aftertaste of always feeling rather… inadequate. Shouta is beautiful. She's tall and willowy, slender with generous curves (and a cup-size that is the envy of the whole changing room, because let's face it, Shouta's stacked), long legs and clever hands. Delicate hands, they look like, yet they still hit the most fucking awesome serve on the whole high school circuit. Her body is gorgeous. But her face… oh man.
Dark eyes are serious as they watch Ryouka stall and the full mouth is slightly pursed in worry. From under he off-white cream hat, her long fair tumbles over and around her shoulders, thick and wavy. The line of her jaw is just so, just perfect to be cradled and her cheeks slightly flushed from the cold.
"Ready?" she asks.
Ryouka breathes in. Takes her hand and carefully steps onto the ice. One foot. Then the other. Shouta's hand is firm and reassuring. For a moment they stand there, Ryouka wincing inwardly at the cold (definitely frostbite) and how stupid she must look, a scrawny girl almost two heads smaller with scab-rough knees, hanging on to the hand of her gorgeous best friend as though it'll save her ass from kissing the ice.
A deep inhale and then she nods. "Yeah, ready."
Slowly, Shouta skates backwards and gently pulls her along. It goes great, they are about halfway, until Shouta says urgently: "Feet straight!"
And that's all before Ryouka's skates connect, she trips, pin-wheels and falls onto her behind, mostly likely flashing everybody who'd been looking a nice panty-shot (or, rather, a shorts shot, thank hell).
Over the course of the the next hour, Ryouka thinks she must be setting a new record for how badly one can suck at ice-skating. It looks so easy, Shouta glides around without looking, long legs weaving her forward without any mishaps. In contrast, Ryouka is covered in ice shavings, has opened more than half of the scabs on her left knee and all on her right, added some nice bruises to her hands and still can't make it further than two glides before doing yet another belly slide.
"Che," she grumbles. "Lame."
She's gonna make a fool of herself tomorrow.
The rink is deserted. The clerk at the skate rental booth is yawning and reading yesterday's newspaper. And Ryouka still can't skate.
Shouta comes back towards her from doing a few circles herself, unburdened by her this time, and slides to a sharp and precise stop. The tip of her nose is pink and the lights around the rink dance in her eyes. Ryouka's heart takes another bruise to it, since she's already so well on her way everywhere else, so why not.
"Alright?" Shouta asks her. Long fingers pick some wayward strands of hair from her face.
Ryouka shrugs. Her teeth clatter. Her knees ache and her back aches and her heart aches and her butt is cold and she really, really sucks at ice-skating.
"Been better," she mutters. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I keep getting… tangled."
A small line pops up between Shouta's brows as she mulls it over. "I think I know why," she says after a moment. "Take my hands." She sticks them out and Ryouka, after a slight hesitation, takes them. Slowly, Shouta pushes off, backwards, towing Ryouka along.
Her legs wobble and her skates slide towards one other.
"Look at me," Shouta says suddenly.
Automatically, Ryouka does, only to meet her gaze head-on. So looks to the side, awkward.
"No, look at me," Shouta repeats. "Please?"
This time, despite turning a little red as she maintains the forced eye-contact, Ryouka looks at her. Keeps looking at her. Notes, for so umpteenth time, the curve of her mouth, the slope of her nose. The thick, dark lashes around the large eyes. The surprising serious looking brows. The curve of her cheeks and the angle of her forehead, the fair, flawless skin. The even white teeth. The long, shining hair, almost like spun snow itself. So beautiful.
"Well done!" Shouta says, snapping Ryouka out of the daze she was slipping into.
"Huh?" Ryouka blinks. Notices they're at the other side of the rink. Without falling down. "What the-"
"It's because you focussed to hard on what you were thinking you should be doing, instead of just… ah, doing it," Shouta tells her. "Back to the other side?"
Ryouka nods.
Shouta turns them and they go again. Ryouka lets herself shamelessly ogle her best friend and gets pulled along, at least, until half-way through. Shouta lets go, but stays in front of her. "Keep going," she encourages.
Suddenly it's a piece of cake. All by herself she increases speed, makes a slight turn, circling. Ryouka tosses her head back and laughs, disbelieving. Un-fucking-believable. Relieved, she looks up at Shouta, who's kept up pace and is still skating backwards in front of her.
Shouta smiles, sweet, but suddenly shy when Ryouka keeps looking, almost like a challenge. Her cheeks flush even darker and she bites her lip. Ryouka starts to grin, a little, and full-out when Shouta looks away, down between them to break the intimate contact.
And trips.
On pure instinct Ryouka grabs her, before she can keel over flat on her back. The two of them careen out of control and skid for a breathtaking moment, before coming to a standstill clutching at each other. For a heartbeat they keep perfectly still and then Ryouka realizes that that heartbeat is quite literally under her cheek and she's all but face-first pillowed between Shouta's breasts and Shouta is sort of clutching her hips in return, one on the modest curve of them, the other on her bare thigh where her skirt as ridden up.
Their faces are inches apart.
Ryouka's heart turns itself over in her chest, acute and painful.
Shouta doesn't pull away. She leans in, even closer. Something on her mouth, like snow, cold and a little damp. Soft and ethereal, like the long white hairs caught onto her eyelashes that aren't hers.
She can only blink and stare and wonder whether the hell she just went crazy.
But Shouta does it again. Surer and longer, and her mouth is a little warmer after a moment. Ryouka can only fist her hands into the fabric of Shouta's coat and think wildly that she's being kissed, kissed by a girl, kissed by her best friend, being kissed for the first time in her life, in the middle of an ice-rink.
Shouta's lips are soft, smooth and she knows her own are chapped by the cold, but when they kiss, it doesn't matter. Shouta kisses her, soft and over and over again, presses of their mouths together, and by the end of it she's holding Ryouka's face and is smiling, looking happier than ever and Ryouka wonders if she really glows like she feels she's doing, like a star going supernova.
The walk home is made in silence. There are lingering looks and under the cover of the dark in the park, Shouta holds her hand. She holds it like it is something delicate, something wonderful and precious.
Once more, Shouta kisses her. It's still sweet, still kinda chaste, but there's more behind it and from they way she holds Ryouka's waist, it's a tide of feelings as strong and urgent as her own. Her lips are slightly damp from the warm nips on them, the lingering nudges and caresses, the warm breath. It's just that, little presses and left-and-right slicks, letting the natural curves and grooves in their lips catch and spark fire down their spines. Ryouka has her hands full of thick hair where's she's buried them in the nape of Shouta's neck and kneads restlessly, pressing up and forward.
They pull back but don't let go. Shouta is all smiles hidden into Ryouka's dark hair and Ryouka leans into her, the generous curve of those breasts against her throat. They stand and embrace in the shadows of the tall trees.
"Thanks," she whispers.
Shouta has to clear her throat. A few times. "You're welcome."
"You know what?" Ryouka says. "I kinda like ice-skating."
Shouta smiles, hugs her closer. "Me, too."