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Turning off his phone and sliding it into his back pocket, TK contemplated whether or not he could still get away with chickening out. Sometimes cowardice was the best plan.
“Hey, TK!”
That plan was evidently very short-lived.
Taking a deep breath, TK turned around and gave a smile. “Hey, Marjan,” he offered with an awkward little wave.
Marjan eyed him curiously, raising an eyebrow at his body language as she adjusted the duffel bag slung over her shoulder. “You’re not getting cold feet on me, are you, Strand?”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Good.” Marjan gave him an evil smirk. “I’d hate to have to tell everyone how much of a coward you are.”
“I’m sure that would be the pinnacle of suffering for you. Being unable to sing my praise? Torture.”
Marjan pressed her lips into a tight line as a not-so-subtle attempt to contain a snicker. “Mmhmm, totally.”
“Are we gonna go in?”
“I thought you’d never ask!”
It was an instant shift in atmosphere as they crossed the threshold. First of all, it was darker inside, a stark contrast to the brilliant light of the midday Austin sunshine. It was just as busy as the outside bustling street, perhaps even more so. There was a song playing over the speakers that seemed more melancholy than the rest of the vibes of the roller rink.
“C’mon! Let’s get you set up with some skates so we can get in the rink,” Marjan said, looping her arm around TK’s and tugging him along. She was a woman on a mission and TK wasn’t about to face her wrath should he not obey her every instruction.
Marjan navigated the rink with ease, until she all but shoved TK onto one of the benches.
“Stay here. Don’t die. I’ll be right back.”
True to her word, Marjan was gone before the song that was playing as she left even finished. TK didn’t pay much attention to the lyrics, but there seemed to be a lot of discussion about cars for a song that was decidedly not off the latest country album.
She brandished the admittedly worn out skates like a trophy. They were sleek and black they looked like TK’s favourite pair of combat boots just with bulky red wheels screwed onto the bottom. Their dark colour, however, betrayed their age as every scuff and scratch was on full display.
“How do you know my shoe size?”
Marjan set the skates down next to TK’s feet as she sat on the bench next to him and unzipped her mysterious duffle bag. “Asked Carlos.”
“He knows?”
“He checked your shoes while you were in the shower,” Marjan said as if it were the most normal thing in the world, already pulling her skates on. They weren’t like TK’s rented pair. They were well-maintained, shaped more like sneakers and a bright purple with, perhaps even more vibrant mismatched pink and blue wheels.
“Evil. The both of you.”
“Thank you,” Marjan said with a pleased grin, as if TK had given her the highest praise possible.
She looked down as TK tied his first skate and just let out an exasperated huff as she knelt down and easily untied it. “How did you manage to do this so wrong?”
“In case you couldn’t tell, I’ve never done this before.”
“It’s very obvious.” Marjan quickly tied the laces with practiced ease before grabbing TK’s other foot and shoving the skate on.
“I don’t enjoy being manhandled.”
“Suck it up,” she said as she stood up taking TK’s hands in her own and held them steady as she carefully tugged TK upwards.
“Don’t slide your feet or you’ll fall.”
“I’ll try not to,” TK said as he heaved his body upwards with the assistance of Marjan’s grip to brace himself. Honestly, he was impressed that he didn’t immediately feel his feet racing away from him, determined to throw him to the ground.
Marjan gave him a shockingly genuine smile. “Good job.”
“That was very nice, coming from you. Who are you and what have you done with my Marjan?” TK asked with a soft chuckle. This was shaping up to be less scary than he thought.
“Don’t get used to it.”
“Ah,” TK sighed, “there she is.”
Marjan just rolled her eyes and tugged TK “Take small steps but make sure to lift your feet. If you fall, I fall.”
“I’ll try my best,” TK said as he carefully followed Marjan who seemed more concerned about TK taking both of them down than she did about walking into anything as she navigated their way to the rink backwards.
“Your feet should be perpendicular, not parallel, or you’ll fall,” she chirped as one of TK’s feet started to slip. He quickly pulled himself back upright and took a moment to adjust his stance.
TK didn’t realise he could miss carpet. That was until he stepped out onto the rink and his feet immediately started sliding. In a panic, he steadied himself by clinging to the wall of the rink.
“Bend your knees, or you’ll fall,” Marjan instructed as she effortlessly glided backwards and further away from TK.
“I feel like if I have even one hair out of place, I’ll fall,” TK grumbled as he tried to regain his footing enough to stand upright.
Marjan shrugged. “Pretty much.”
“Good to know.”
“What are the chances that I need 911 on speed dial right now?”
TK ignored her jab with an eyeroll. “Can you even skate?”
Marjan scoffed. “Can I skate?”
TK nodded, knowing he was about to regret asking such a silly question. As Marjan just grinned at him, as Judd would describe “like the butcher’s dog” and took off. She was fast, gliding with ease, almost as if she was a bird in flight.
After picking up the speed, she spun so that she was skating backwards, not even looking where she was going. She poked her tongue out at TK as she whirled back around.
Marjan was a person that TK would consider to always be in her element, but this was something else. She ducked and weaved through other skaters without even slowing down. At one point she was even crouched low to the ground as she slid along the ground, and returned to standing without so much as a stumble.
TK wasn’t sure his jaw could drop any further as Marjan rejoined him with a few quick spins.
“So, can I skate?” she asked with a raised eyebrow and a look that was ready to tear TK to shreds.
TK quickly clamped his mouth shut and nodded quickly. “Definitely.”
It was no secret that Marjan loved compliments, but it was clear that TK’s support of something she was clearly passionate about mattered more to her than she’d ever admit as her face lit up.
“Never doubt me again, Strand.”
“I won’t,” TK said, lifting his hands in surrender. Only for his feet to slide away.
Clamouring desperately for the wall, TK kept trying to regain his footing. He probably looked like a newborn deer, or like he was treading water, as he continuously failed his every attempt. Until he just resigned to his fate and settled for using his knees to hold himself upright as he held the wall in a white-knuckle grip. Learning to skate was proving to be a much more stressful experience than he had ever anticipated.
Marjan just laughed, having witnessed the entire ordeal. “You don’t have to be scared of falling, TK.”
“Well, I am,” TK huffed, ignoring how pathetic he knew he looked.
“Incredible. You can run into burning buildings and get shot, and not bat an eye. But roller skates scare you?”
TK shot her a glare. “I’m not meant to have wheels on my feet, Marj.”
She didn’t reply, just skated up to TK as he pulled himself back to his feet.
“Skate with me.”
“What?” TK asked, not intending for his voice to come out so high-pitched and panicked.
“We’ll take it slow.” At TK’s unsure expression, she was quick to follow up the statement. “I’ll hold you up. You can tell me to stop whenever.”
Reluctantly, TK took Marjan’s hands and gave her a look that he hoped conveyed how unsure he was about this plan of hers. She just smiled and started moving.
The only catch was that it was much faster than TK had been anticipated.
His poorly-concealed panic didn’t want to stay dormant anymore as his heart rate picked up. He didn’t like the feeling of not being in control.
“Wait! Stop, stop, stop-”
Marjan carefully eased them to a halt. “You really don’t like this, huh?”
“I would rather be on land.”
“You are on land,” Marjan stated as she helped return TK to his emotional support wall.
TK gave her a glare. “I mean land where I’m not at risk of falling at all times.”
“It’s okay to fall, great even.” Marjan said as she left TK’s side once more. She was evidently enjoying this a whole lot more than he was. “Falling is a part of learning”
“Your existence is giving me a headache. Go stand over there.”
“Just try not to get impaled,” she called as TK heard her skates gliding further away.
If attempting to do so wouldn’t mean an instant faceplant, TK would’ve chased Marjan to smack her upside the head. He really didn’t need to be thinking about impalement and compound fractures being set in the field. “Why would you remind me of that right now?”
Eager to shove the memory of his first, and only prior, visit to a roller rink out of his mind, TK deflected attention off of him and onto Marjan.
“So, are you going to join the Austin Annihilators?” TK asked, carefully moving around the very edge of the rink, his hand never releasing the wall. “They are down a blocker.”
“Met up with the team yesterday,” Marjan shrugged, keeping up with TK with ease. He wondered how many hours it had taken for roller skating to come like second nature to her. TK still had to take a few minutes to remember how to ride a bike every time he mounted one. And having wheels attached to his feet was definitely harder to get a hang of than a bike could ever be.
“How’d it go?”
“I made the team.”
“What? That’s great, Marjan!”
They skated in silence for a little while. Marjan left TK behind a few times, just to go a little faster than a pace at which a snail could definitely outrun them and, of course, to show off. TK didn’t mind though, it was nice to see Marjan so confident and happy.
Even if it meant fearing for his life every time his feet so much as stuttered forward without his conscious effort.
Feeling like tempting fate, TK let go of the wall. To his shock, he continued to stay on his feet as he mimicked Marjan’s movements.
“Hey, I think I got the hang of it!” TK exclaimed as he continued the rhythmic motion of his feet that allowed him to keep moving forward.
“I told you you could do it!”
Just to prove them both wrong, his feet flew out from under him before he could even realise what was happening. With a panicked yelp he hurtled face-first into the rink.
As he peeled his face from the ground, he could hear Marjan cheering.
“Look at you! See? Falling didn’t kill you.”
TK looked up to give Marjan a scowl, only to watch her face fall as her cheers faltered. She didn’t hesitate to skate over to TK, sliding to kneel in front of him as she drew closer.
Her eyes were a little wide and worried as she tilted TK’s chin up.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Marj,” TK snickered, not understanding why Marjan wasn’t just laughing at him.
“And you’re bleeding everywhere so I think we’re even.”
“I am?”
“Definitely.”
“Not ideal.”
“Okay princess,” Marjan sighed, patting TK on the shoulder, “how about we get you out of these skates, hmm?”
TK nodded. “I’d like that.”
Marjan covered most of the effort it took to get TK back on his feet. Especially since TK was having a monumentally hard time keeping his wheels in place. He was willing to crawl the entire way to the exit but Marjan was careful as she looped an arm around his waist and draped one of his over her shoulder and pulled him along.
“This is fun,” TK said, in an attempt to lighten the mood.
“TK, you’re renting these skates and you’re getting blood all over the wheels.”
He closed his eyes, the combination of the bright lights and Marjan’s sharp tone making his head hurt. “Didn’t mean to.”
“I know you didn’t. I shouldn’t be surprised at this point. Only you would fall once and manage to land on your face.”
“If you do something, you might as well be the best at it,” TK chuckled, remembering the words from Marjan’s interview.
Marjan just groaned. “I hate you.”
“You love me.”
“Tell that to Carlos when he sees the mess you’ve made of that shirt he bought you for your birthday.”
TK groaned. “Oh no.”
“Oh, yes.”
Stepping onto the carpet brought TK an unbelievable amount of relief. The friction helped to keep his feet from sliding out from under him every time he tried to take a step.
He didn’t end up taking more than a few steps before Marjan heaved him onto a bench. He was glad to no longer be at the mercy of the wheels on his feet. In fact, he’d decided that roller skating really wasn’t for him.
“Please actively try to avoid dying,” Marjan said as she let TK sag against his seat.
“No promises.”
TK wasn’t really paying a whole lot of attention but Marjan definitely disappeared. For a few seconds or multiple minutes, he wasn’t sure, but she returned almost as quickly as she had left.
Just to shove a wad of tissues in his face.
“Thanks,” TK mumbled into the tissues.
There was some poking at his ankle as Marjan spoke again. “Don’t mention it.”
A yank and TK felt the absence of the boot on his foot. He was grateful for that. He’d never take sneakers for granted again.
“Count on you to get these covered in blood when you’re renting them. This was a disaster. You’re a disaster.”
TK couldn’t help but laugh as Marjan removed the other skate. “I’m aware.”
“Are you concussed?”
TK took a few seconds to give himself a mental once-over. His knees and hands hurt, as did his head, but it wasn’t anything more than a nuisance. What bothered him the most was the tightness as blood started to dry on his skin. “Don’t think so.”
“Good enough for me.”
TK sat there with the tissues pressed to his nose for a while until he was sure it had stopped bleeding as Marjan packed their excursion up in near complete silence. He couldn’t help but feel bad that he had ruined their hangout session, if not just by being awkward and unable to skate, managing to fight the floor with his face definitely put a damper on the mood.
He didn’t even notice Marjan taking her phone out at any point, but she clearly did by the presence of the last person he wanted to see his epic failure.
“Hey, sweetheart.”
TK groaned. Of course Carlos was here.
Perhaps even worse, was when TK looked up at his boyfriend to reveal the fact that Carlos was still in uniform. So not only was TK a bloody mess who just wanted to go home, but everyone in the roller rink could see him getting picked up by a cop.
It was not often that TK wanted to be subtle, but this was definitely a moment that he didn’t want everyone eagerly looking in on.
“Trust you to get into trouble on your day off.”
“In my defense,” TK started with an accusatory finger in Marjan’s direction, “it wasn’t my fault.”
“I’m innocent,” Marjan objected. “It’s not my fault that you might be the worst coordinated person on earth- and the most accident-prone.”
Carlos rounded the bench and placed a hand on either of TK’s shoulders as he pressed a kiss to the crown of his head. “How are you feeling?”
“I wanna take a shower,” TK grumbled, not caring about how pathetic he looked with his pout.
Carlos laughed softly into TK’s hair. “Do you think you can walk out to the car? Or do we need a gurney?”
“Carry me?”
“I love you, but not that much.”
TK folded his arms across his chest and moved away from Carlos’ touch. “Why does everyone hate me today? You guys are mean.”
Carlos ruffled TK’s hair. “Let’s go home. You clearly need a nap.”