Page 73 of Nobody in Particular

“How old were you?”

“About four.”

I look at him flatly, and he holds me steady as I scrape myself off the ice.

The regular skaters are congregating again, and this time most of them are holding phones up. I try to ignore the attention and focus on getting a skating rhythm going. The only thing worse than learning how to skate—again—is doing it while people record you to put it online forever.

“Hold on, I’m going to hold both of your hands,” Edmund says, and he starts skating backward, pulling me along. I get a flashback to Rose doing the same thing. I look over at her, and she’s looking at me. Alfie has linked their arms together, and he’s talking at her a mile a minute. When our eyes meet, she smiles, but it’s a little sad.

Then I remember the cameras, and I wrench my eyes away from her and back to Edmund.

“So how come you’re from Colorado and you can’t skate?” Edmund asks me. “I thought it snowed there.”

“It does, but my friends were more into snowboarding and skiing and stuff. You know how you sort of just end up with the same hobbies as the people around you sometimes?”

“Totally,” he says. “That’s how I became vegan. My friends were all vegan, and the more they talked about it, the more I realized they had a point. Also, the food’s just as good if you know where to go. Have you tried other milks before?”

“Like, not cow’s milk? Nope.”

“Okay, there’s a bubble tea place I have to show you. You’ll be a convert. It gets sort of this hazelnutty sort of flavor—do you like hazelnut?”

“I love hazelnut.”

“Then lock it in.”

I don’t really know what to answer. What’s a polite way to say “I’m totally down to try your vegan bubble tea place, but just checking, you mean as friends, right?” I’m still working on the wording when Alfie and Rose pass us, and Edmund calls out to them. “Don’t you think Danni’s doing a great job?” he asks, squeezing both of my hands. “She’s a natural.”

Rose widens her eyes. “Well, I would say that given she’s not skated in—what is it now, Danni, ten years—she’s doing a marvelous job.”

I shoot her alookthat she conveniently misses.

“She says she mostly skis and snowboards,” Edmund tells her. “She’s from somewhere that snows even more than here. Colorado,” he adds.

Rose turns to me with mock interest. “Are you fromColorado?” she asks. “I can’t believe it. I’ve known you almost six months now, and you’ve neveroncementioned any of this information to me. I’m learning so much, thank you, Edmund.”

She lays on the sarcasm so thick that even bubbly Edmund can’t miss it. He smiles, but it’s a hesitant one.

“Don’t worry about Rose,” I say. “Her sense of humor is an acquired taste.”

To my surprise, Rose looks a little hurt. I guess it’s easier for her to take things personally than normal while she’s watching me get led around the ice by my almost-definitely-date.

Alfie laughs nervously. “I’ve been tossing up whether to show off my double Salchow,” he says to Rose, tugging at her to leave us alone. “If I nail it, it’ll be on camera. If I fall, it’ll be on camera.”

“I see the dilemma,” Rose says, skating off with him and leaving me alone with Edmund again. I watch them, my heart tugging.

Edmund follows my gaze. “Do you… know Alfie well?” he asks.

“Not really, why?”

He seems surprised by my answer. “Oh. Just wondering. It’s just, when he found out I thought you were hot, he suggested I come and meet you today. But if there’s any history there or anything…”

I try to process what he said, but there’s a lot to it. He thinks I’minto Alfie? Why the hell would he think that? And he finds me hot? I mean, that’s flattering, I guess, but kind of random that Alfie would choose him to come along today when he knows I’m not exactly a viable option for his friend, isn’t it?

I’m so distracted, I lose track of my feet, and my blades collide together with a clang. It sends me backward, hard—too hard for Edmund to keep his hold on me—and my head smacks against the ice.

I lie there for a second, stunned, and then Rose is above me. “Are you okay?” she asks frantically. “I saw you hit your head.”

She scoops a hand underneath it, to feel for a lump, I guess. “I’m fine,” I say. “Just—fucking ouch?”

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