Page 78 of Tiers of Joy

“Left, right, left right.” He continues and I follow his instructions.

I resist the urge to look at my feet.

“You’re doing it!” He smiles.

I smile.

“Holy shit, I'm doing it.” I breathe.

We continue like that for a while.

“Right, now I'm going to let go of one hand and stand to the side of you.” He says as he lets go.

“What? What are you doing you psychopath?” I screech.

Gaige laughs.

“Right ready? Left, right, left, right.” He repeats as I move slowly and wobbly around the ice rink. I can’t believe I'm skating.

Some young teens whizz past us, making me wobble.

“Hey! Watch it!” I yell.

They spin around to face us.

“Oh look boys, it’s true. You can teach an old dog new tricks.” He mocks.

My head snaps up.

“Oh piss off pimple dick. I could eat a bowl of alphabet soup and shit out a smarter statement than that!” I snap.

Gaige bursts out laughing. The teen looks like I slapped him as his mates laugh at my comeback.

“Fuck off.” He strops off, his mates following him.

“Esme?” Gaige calls.

“Yeah.” I turn my head in his direction.

“You’re skating.” He smiles.

I look down at my feet and realise I’d been so distracted by teen twat I hadn’t realised I’d been skating.

“Oh fuck!” I smile excitedly.

As I say that my foot slips and my feet come out from under me. Gaige moves fast and grabs me. He takes the brunt of the fall with me landing on top of him.

“You stopped me from hurting myself.” I smile, laying on top of him.

He tucks my hair behind my ear.

“I promised you I would never let you get hurt, even if that means protecting you from yourself.” He winks.

I move quickly so he doesn’t have time to stop me. I crash my mouth on his. He moans and kisses me back.

“Oi! None of that on the ice rink!” Is yelled over the speaker.

We break the kiss.

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