Page 66 of Fresh Ice
Alonso shouldn’t. He was already in so deep. He’d let Levy in so, so far. But… “Yeah, okay.”
He was too tired to say no to something he wanted that bad.
For the first time in more than a month, he went to sleep curled up close to Levy, not a single weight on his mind.
**********
Alonso woke up with a sense of urgency under his skin, like he’d forgotten something. His phone had blown up during the early morning with texts from his dad, and he stared at the screen, willing himself to open them.
“Hey,” Levy said from the bedroom doorway. He’d gotten up a few hours before, not having been tired out by a day of travel and upheaval.
“Hey.”
“Come get some breakfast? And then we can go to the lake,” Levy suggested.
Alonso chewed on a nail distractedly. “What about training?”
“A day off won’t kill us. I mean, we can do some swimming and go to the rink later on if you want to.”
The pressure in his chest lessened slightly. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
Levy smiled at him. “Okay. Did you bring swimming trunks?”
“Yeah.”
“Perfect. Come on, let’s get some food in you.”
It was easier to let go of his phone in Levy’s presence, and the day unravelled easily from there.
The lake was beautiful, clear and glittering in the sun. The air outside was thick and humid, but dipping into the water washed the discomfort away.
There was a platform floating in the middle, a bunch of kids running across it and jumping into the blue. Levy wasted no time in daring Alonso into a race to reach it, and Alonso accepted happily, spluttering when Levy beat him with no effort at all.
“No fair,” Alonso complained. “You swim all the time.”
Levy squirted water at him from his mouth, promptly leading them into a splashing fight that had a bunch of kids joining in.
Alonso couldn’t think of a time when he’d felt so free. Maybe on the ice, skate blades quick and true under his feet, but this was so much more uncomplicated. There were no expectations, no pressure to win—it was just him, and Levy, the water and the sun and the breeze around them.
They went back to the apartment for a late lunch and a shower, leaving again to the rink for some easy drills. It was liberating to just mess about with Levy on the ice—it felt like he hadn’t done that since he was a kid.
When they finally made it home for the night, Alonso felt pleasantly sore and sun-tired, falling into the cool sheets of Levy’s bed easily. Falling into Levy’s arms easily, his lips. They fucked gently, slowly that night, Levy thrusting into him with easy rolls of his hips until they both came together deep in the dark.
**********
Summer slid on, smooth and light. The days were filled with sunshine, and the lake, and training. The nights were all about Levy—Levy’s family, his friends,him.
Alonso bought a pair of rollerblades to match Levy’s, and they would go around the town, Levy playing personal tour guide. He’d point out the cinema he’d sneak multiple movies out of, hiding in the bathroom and then slinking into a different showing. He showed Alonso where he’d skated into a pole and almost broke his leg. He told Levy about an old museum where a murder had apparently taken place, and the flower shop his mom and dad had met in. They ate at the ancient diner that filled up with teenagers on the weekends.
There was a field twenty minutes away from Levy’s apartment, and they’d roll their way there at night, changing into their normal shoes when the paths turned pebbled. The air smelt like mud and grass and the distant lake, filled with fireflies blinking in and out of existence. They would lay there under the stars, the bug lights, and talk or kiss or just press close and enjoy the quiet and the calm.
They spent a lot of time together as the weeks passed, but Alonso insisted Levy not ignore his friends. Alonso was surprised at how well he got along with them, especially Levy’s old school buddy, Charlie. It was obvious how long they’d known each other just by watching them together, their accents and mannerisms mixing.
“There he is,” Charlie would call out when he saw Alonso, just like Levy’s mom, and it made him smile wide every time.
Charlie and Levy had played in Juniors together, but Charlie hadn’t made the big leagues, not that he showed any resentment about it. “That’s my boy,” he’d cheer whenever the Hounds came up, chirping him mercilessly but full of love.
It was like no other summer Alonso had ever experienced. The weeks sailed by seamlessly, Alonso going to bed at night feeling like every part of him was perfectly aligned.
