Chapter Ten
The next afternoon, at about two o'clock p.m. (her parents had made her do chores before she left the house), Tanna met the group at the ice rink in West Ed, as agreed on. Since she was a little late, the other seven were already skating - or trying to. She laced up her skates and stepped timidly on the ice. Usually she could skate reasonably well, but she hadn't skated in quite a while, and she didn't know this ice surface.
Mackenzie, Kevin, and AJ were skating around the outside, arm in arm, stride for stride. Howie was showing off wildly for a blonde girl who was laughing like a ditz. Brian was following behind, laughing at both of them. Nick and Drew were at the far end of the rink, slowly making their way around. Every few steps Drew would grab for either Nick or the boards. As Shannon watched, Drew tried to grab both at once, but ended up hugging the ice.
Tanna started toward them slowly. Gliding, she became overconfident, tried to turn around, and fell flat on her butt. Brian and AJ saw her, and skated in a circle around her. She tried to get up, but their circling impeded her.
"Here, could you help me up?" she asked and held up her hand.
"Nah, I like seeing you in that position. It makes me feel powerful." AJ sneered.
"You are such an unimaginable bastard, AJ!" Tanna gave him a glare that made AJ hold up two crossed fingers in defense. But he got out of the way long enough for her to get to her feet. Totally brushing the two of them off, she started to skate towards Drew.
"Hey! How's it going?" She asked, lending an arm when Drew stumbled.
"Oh, just peachy keen!" Drew muttered. "Why did I ever agree to go skating?"
"Because you love it so much." Nick laughed.
Drew rolled her eyes, "Yeah, that's it! How could have I forgotten that one important fact?"
Just then, Mackenzie made a dramatic entry, stopping right before Drew in a spray of ice crystals. Drew's automatic reaction was to jerk back, and she would have fallen, if Brian hadn't arrived just then and steadied her.
"Having fun?" Kevin asked as he and Howie skated up. Everyone replied in the affirmative, even if Drew's was reluctant.
"Why didn't you tell us that you couldn't skate?" Howie asked Drew.
"Would it have made a difference?" She answered bitterly.
"Probably not, no. But it would have been good to know." He shot back with and impudent smile.
"Hey guys - truce, remember?" AJ interrupted their verbal sparring.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." They both said at once, then laughed.
As they were laughing, a voice came over the loudspeakers. "Okay now. Couples only!"
"See ya, guys!" Howie threw over his shoulder as he started madly in the direction of the blonde he had been flirting with earlier. He skated up behind her, tapped her on the shoulder, and, from what the group could tell, asked her if she wanted to skate with him. When she nodded, the rest of the guys in the group hooted, and the girls grinned.
Then Kevin held his arm out to Mackenzie and they skated off. Nick took Drew's hand and started skating, slowly, with her.
"Well, that's my cue to leave." said Tanna, and she, AJ, and Brian all went and sat down. They watched Kevin and Mackenzie whiz past and listened to the romantic music. Then Brian suddenly stood up.
"Let's go out there." He held out his hand to Tanna. She took it, and he led her out onto the ice. She expected him to drop her hand after they had skated around for a while, but instead, he laced his fingers with hers.
"Oomph!" Drew fell down again. This time she landed on her butt. "That's it! I refuse to do this any more!"
Nick helped her up. "You want to get out of here? We'd have more fun somewhere else."
"Thank you! Anywhere else would be more fun that this." Drew clung to his arm as they skated toward the rink door.
"I'm sorry that you're miserable. You really should have told us that you couldn't skate." Nick apologized.
"That's okay. It was fun because you were here to pick me up." Drew grinned flirtatiously.
"Where are Drew and Nick going?" Kevin asked Mackenzie as they skated past the door.
"Oh, Drew's probably just tired of picking herself off the ice." Mackenzie laughed. "Don't worry so much. They'll be fine."
"Yeah, you're probably right." Kevin nodded, but the thought kept nagging him as they skated for a while longer. Finally broke away from Mackenzie and went up to where Brian and Tanna were.
"Brian, where did Nick and Drew go?" he asked.
"I dunno, why?"
"Can you go check on them?"
"I guess." Brian hesitated.
"Thanks man." Kevin skated back to Mackenzie.
Brian looked helplessly at Tanna. "Do you want to come?"
"Sure." They headed for the door.
After they had taken their skates off, they debated where to look. They turned right and walked through the mall. Eventually they passed the mini-golf courses.
"Look. There they are." Tanna pointed to the line up. They veered off and headed to Nick and Drew.
"What are you guys doing here?" Nick asked accusingly.
"Kevin told us to follow you guys. He was suspicious." Brian answered.
"Sorry." Tanna added.
"That's okay." Drew placated Nick. "You guys want to join us? That way we don't have to golf with strangers."
Tanna and Brian exchanged a look, then agreed. The four of them stood in line, got their clubs, and arrived at the first tee.
Nick went first, getting his ball two feet from the hole. Then Brian had his shot. His ball landed close to Nick's. Drew stepped up next. She swung her club at the ball, and missed.
"Oh, shush!" Drew glared as Nick and Brian doubled up laughing. She tried again, and got the ball half way to the hole.
Tanna stepped up and placed her ball on the specified dot. "Don't laugh, guys. I won't do any better than she did."
As Tanna lined up the ball, she looked like she knew what she was doing. Her club came back and she hit the little blue ball. It launched into the air at a 35-degree angle. It flew over the raised edges, past the fake grass, and into the water trap two holes over.
There was a stunned silence as the group at that tee looked over at them. The Nick, Brian, and Drew burst into laughter. Tanna shrugged as if to say 'See, I told you so'.
When they had completed the first hole, Tanna had used 10 strokes, Nick and Brian each had two, and Drew had four. They arrived at the second hole, Nick and Brian teed off right away. When Drew put her ball in place and she got into position, Nick came up behind her.
"Here. You have to hold the club like this." He put his arms around Drew and demonstrated, with what appeared to Tanna and Brian to be a lot of unnecessary caressing. "Now bend your knees, That's right! Keep your arms and back straight. Now swing back. There you go!"
With Nick helping her, Drew got the ball all the way down the mini fairway and near the hole. Then Tanna placed her ball.
"You know, you're not half bad?" Began Brian, but Tanna interrupted.
"What!? Did you totally miss that last shot, or something?"
"I was about to say? just don't put so much force behind it." He laughed.
"Easy for you to say! You can actually play this game." She made her shot. This time it stayed on the ground, but it only went a few inches.
"Now you're overcompensating." Put in Nick.
"No shit, Sherlock!" Tanna glared at him. "Sorry, but that was totally unhelpful! I had already figured out that I suck!" That comment made them all laugh.
By the time they had finished the course, Drew and Tanna had had several more humiliating experiences. Nick's final score was 32, Brian's was 33, Drew's was 48, and Tanna's was 61.
"I think that we should go to Orange Julius to celebrate." Nick said to Brian.
"Celebrate what?" Tanna asked.
"The fact that we kicked your ass at mini-golf!" Brian answered, then had to duck behind Nick as both Drew and Tanna flew at him.
Back at the Ice Palace, Howie and AJ had already left for the food court (AJ was hungry again). Kevin and Mackenzie were just getting off the ice. They sat down in the far corner of the changing area, where there weren't very many people, and Mackenzie bent to untie her lace.
"There's a knot in my lace. Bloody hell!" Mackenzie swore, frustrated.
"Here, let me finish getting mine off, then I'll help you." Kevin slipped off his left skate. When he had put on his shoes, he knelt in front of Mackenzie.
Kevin lifted Mackenzie's foot to rest it on his thigh. He gently stroked her ankle as his hands moved toward the troublesome knot. Without too much effort, he untangled it and slipped off her skate. Placing it to one side, Kevin massaged her foot for a moment before sliding it into her shoe. He then repeated the treatment on Mackenzie's other foot. Kevin met Mackenzie's eyes, and moved to sit beside her.
"Thank you." Mackenzie said softly. Kevin reached over and brushed a curl from her face. Then he leaned forward and kissed her softly. When Mackenzie encouraged him, he deepened the kiss. Mackenzie's arms came up and around Kevin's neck. Kevin pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. He broke off and pressed kisses along her jaw line.
Brian leaned over the railing to look down in the change area. He had been sent a little ahead to see what was keeping Mackenzie and Kevin. When he saw them, a grin broke out on his face. He turned to see the other three approaching. He put his fingers to his lips. When they had stopped talking, he gestured to where Mackenzie and Kevin were.
Tanna and Drew had to smother their giggles. Nick and Brian gave each other a high-five. As the watched, Kevin pulled away.
"We should catch up with the others." They heard him say. Mackenzie was flushed as she nodded.
"Good idea!" Brian called down. Both dark heads jerked up. Mackenzie blushed fiercely, as did Kevin. Then Nick, Tanna, and Drew poked their heads over the railing and waved. Kevin looked absolutely furious, and they all laughed.
Kevin and Mackenzie got up and walked out of the change area. When they reached the level where Brian and the others were waiting, the colour on Mackenzie's face had faded from bright red to pale pink. Kevin still looked furious, but his colour, too, was more subdued.
"How long had you guys been there?" He asked in a low voice.
"Only about a minute." Tanna said.
"Yeah, not very long." Drew added, and winked at Mackenzie, who flushed again.
"Where are Howie and AJ?" Nick asked, changing the subject.
"They went ahead to the food court." Mackenzie answered. "Let's go catch up with them."
Chapter Eleven