For a Moment

I slammed to a stop with a delighted smile, the hard plastic barrier digging into my hip, turning me to see him sliding smoothly to a standstill, at ease on the ice.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his lips slightly upturned with humor and concern.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed. "That was fun!"

"Do you know what else is fun?" he asked, eyeing me speculatively.

"No," I laughed, still grinning and breathless. "What?"

He pulled off his beanie, leaving it crumpled on the wall, and extended his hands to me, smile still there, but banished to the bare corners of his lips.

My stomach simultaneously sank and jumped.

"You're kidding me."

But I put my hands in his.

"Trust me."

He began to skate, blades flashing into the ice, glinting and glimmering like glitter in a heartbeat, pulling me forward with him.

For a moment, it felt strange, as though I had to rely on him, on his beauty and strength, as though I could do no more than match my skates to his and follow.

For a moment.

The peculiar chill of flight emanated up from the ice and my lips parted as my gaze locked with his.

Everything changed.

The pressure shifted off our hands as I propelled myself forward, crossing one skate over the other as we passed from straight-away to straight-away.

His eyes widened, sparking purple as a red strobe light pulsed over them.

We moved.

We wove in and out of each other, connected and trusting the other not to pull us down or hold us back, but completely separate, not needing the other for the flash of our skates to break us from gravity.

Around and around, faster, pushing each other farther and farther away from the earth.

Finally, the frozen air yielded no more oxygen and we glided to a halt, silent but smiling.

We stayed with our hands locked together for a moment, weight back in our palms, exchanging glances. His eyes were so blue and my pulse was so fast -

We dropped hands.

"You're right," I panted. "That was fun."