Work Text:
“You don’t know how to ice skate?” Stevie asks David in place of a hello, her eyebrows raised. “Is this another bike riding situation?”
“Where did you hear that?” David asks slowly, suspicious of what her intentions are. He honestly just came in to ask for a towel.
Stevie shrugs. “Is it true?” she asks. “Because if it is, then you might want to reconsider attending Winter Fest. It’s mostly ice skating and hot chocolate and not really fun if you don’t like either of those things.”
“I like hot chocolate,” David defends. “Do you skate? Because I can’t picture that at all.”
“I’m no Nancy Kerrigan, but yeah, I know how,” Stevie replies, not even bothering to cover her smirk any longer. “There’s not a lot to do around here in winter,” she adds like it’s obvious. “I learned when I was little.” Stevie leans her elbows on the desk and props her chin in her hands. “So?”
“Alexis doesn’t know how either!” David declares, defensive and exhausted by where the conversation is headed already. “Why don’t you ask her for the details?”
“I did. She said she never learned because you never learned, so it's kind of sounding like the bike thing...”
“Fine, yes. I don’t know how and I’ve made it this far without needing to know, so I’m not inclined to learn.”
“But you could,” she points out. “I even know someone who would teach you.” She wiggles her eyebrows.
David raises his brows in return, more suspicious of her intentions than he was before. “No. No, thank you, I’m really not interested, especially if you’re offering.” He takes a step back. Maybe if he just leaves the lobby, she’ll drop the subject, and he can pretend the conversation never happened.
“What?” Stevie laughs. “No, that was not what I was suggesting! I know an actual instructor.”
“I’m not paying to learn something I don’t really want to know,” David informs her, hoping sincerely that that will be the end. “But if I consider it, can we stop talking about it?”
Stevie nods, looking decidedly less interested in pulling the full story from David and decidedly more pleased with herself. “I’ll send you the details. You won’t regret it,” she tells him.
“I doubt that!”
-----------
Stevie’s instructor contact is Jocelyn, who is really too enthusiastic when David speaks to her about lessons. It’s enough to make him pull Alexis in just for a buffer.
-----------
When they arrive at the ice rink on a quiet Sunday afternoon, David is sure that the sign welcoming him and Alexis in bright bubble letters is Jocelyn’s handiwork. It screams school teacher, and honestly, the sight of it makes him seriously reconsider whether he can escape before Jocelyn notices they’ve arrived.
He did not ask for this kind of attention, and judging by the look on Alexis’s face, she’s not over the moon about the call out either.
“My god,” David mutters, rearranging his scarf and drawing his hat further down around his ears. “This is Stevie’s fault.” He’s still unclear how Stevie found out that the Rose siblings didn’t know how to figure skate —she refused to reveal her source— and is very unsure about why it matters. It’s possible that he mentioned it himself, but it’s equally as likely that Moira is responsible. There was a whole conversation about holiday traditions that David zoned out of because he’d heard it all before.
But, again, it’s unclear.
“Don’t be so dramatic, David,” Alexis tells him, striding towards the skate rental desk, leaving him hovering by the doors. “Jocelyn is just being nice.”
“How is that sign nice?!?” he asks, catching up to her. “I did not ask for that attention! I asked for a quiet lesson, just to see if it was worth learning!”
Alexis cuts her eyes towards him. “Oh my god, it’s just ice skating. Really, it’s one hour, and if you don’t like it, you don’t have to do it again.” She tells the attendant her size and offers up David’s size before he can protest.
He’s trying not to focus on how many other feet have been in those skates.
“You’re surprisingly calm about this,” David snipes instead.
“Children literally do this. I don’t think it’s as complicated as you’re making it out to be.” Alexis takes the skates from the counter and doesn’t quite storm away, but she definitely leaves with purpose.
“There are sharp objects involved!” he defends, then sighs and follows her to where Jocelyn is waiting for them expectantly. At least she was patient enough not to accost them at the doors.
“Alexis, David, hi!” Jocelyn greets them with a bright smile. “Earl says we’ll have the rink to ourselves for an hour at least, but after that is open skate.” Earl must be the counter attendant or maybe the owner? David’s not entirely sure.
There are cases of trophies along one wall and banners that belong to the high school teams hanging from the rafters, but not a lot of atmosphere otherwise.
“Great!” Alexis says, matching Jocelyn’s enthusiasm. “Stevie said you used to teach lessons part-time?”
Jocelyn nods. “Yes, when Mutt was little.” She bends over to remove the guards from her blades. “I used to compete in high school. Teaching lessons was an easy way to make some extra money.”
David reluctantly takes a seat to put his skates on, letting Alexis and Jocelyn talk around him.
“Your mother mentioned they tried to put you both in lessons,” Jocelyn continues, her expression a question mark. Moira must not have filled in the details.
“Mm, yes. David didn’t even make it on the ice, so they decided it was a bad idea and pulled us both out of lessons,” Alexis explains, surprisingly neutral, replacing her boots for the rented skates.
“Well, it’s really easy once you get the hang of it,” Jocelyn says brightly, stepping onto the ice and encouraging them to follow her once they’re laced up. “We’ll go slow and start with the basics.”
-----------
“David, be careful of the toe pick!” Jocelyn reminds him. But even with her warning, he still stumbles and nearly falls again. “Are you sure you don’t want to switch for a set of hockey skates?” she asks him. “They might be easier.”
David straightens and rearranges his scarf. “No, I’m fine,” he responds, doing his level best not to focus on Alexis across the rink, moving like she’s been ice skating for years. Instead, he concentrates, beginning to do figure eights again.
“You’re doing really well,” Jocelyn encourages. “Just, if you remember that the toepick is not meant to help you stop-”
“Yes, I know!” David cuts her off, pointedly executing the snowplow stop that they had spent ten minutes going over after he fell. “Can we just go back to turns?”
It’s probably Jocelyn’s years of teaching that makes her unphased by his tone and his attitude.
“Of course,” she replies, then calls across the rink, “Alexis, would you like to cover turns again?”
“No, thanks!” Alexis responds, executing a smooth turn as she says it. She’s showing off. David wishes that she would catch her toepick on the ice. Then feels terrible for thinking it.
“Ok, David, remember the steps?”
-----------
It’s not as bad as he thought it would be, but he’s still relieved when the hour is over.
At least Jocelyn reminded him often enough about the toepick that it finally ingrained in his mind.
He schedules another lesson with her, but only because Alexis asks if he’s going to.
-----------
Winter Fest is… well, it’s exactly what David would have expected from a Schitt’s Creek event called Winter Fest. The outdoor rink is not as nice as the indoor rink he’s been learning on, and it’s a lot more crowded. But he doesn’t want to disappoint Jocelyn by not using his newfound skill.
She has the low-key teacher guilt thing well-honed.
“Hot chocolate?” Stevie asks, walking up beside where he’s stopped at the boards and offering him a styrofoam cup.
“No, thank you. This is cashmere,” David replies, rearranging the fringe on the end.
“Alexis?” Stevie extends the cup in her direction instead.
“Mm, yes, thanks,” Alexis replies, curling her fingers around the cup and leaning some of her weight against the boards.
David likes to think it’s because she’s not as steady on her skates as she wants everyone to believe.
“I thought you said there was nothing to do but skate and drink hot chocolate?” David asks, pointedly looking at the boots Stevie’s wearing.
“I didn’t want to overshadow you,” she replies, a familiar smirk in place. “You’re doing a lot better than I expected.” He ‘hmphs’ but accepts the veiled praise. “Alexis told me you fell a couple of times during your lessons.”
“Once! I fell once!” he declares louder than intended, modulating his voice down when he adds, “What did Alexis tell you, exactly?!?!” He looks directly at his sister, who waves and skates off in response.
“She said you had some problems with the toepicks,” Stevie tells him. “I probably should have guessed that she left some things out.”
“Yes, you should have,” David agrees, crossing his arms, wobbling, then redistributing his weight to avoid falling on his ass. He’s not going to embarrass himself in front of the entire town. “Care to tell me now?”
“Tell you what?” Stevie feigns ignorance, he assumes.
“Who your source was?”
“Source for what?”
“Who told you I couldn’t skate?!”
“Oh, that.” Stevie’s smirk morphs to more of a genuine smile. “Mr. Rose told me when I was explaining what Winter Fest was to him.”
“Oh my god, you are not serious!”
“He seemed to think it was cute, the way you refused to get up from the bench.”
“Oh my god!”
“And the way you pouted about your socks bunching up weird,” Stevie continues, like David hasn’t said anything. “It might’ve been the cutest thing I’ve heard.”
“Skates, now,” David demands. “You owe me.”
He’s actually surprised when she nods and walks away, presumably to get skates.
Maybe in a few months, he’ll admit that he likes it.
Maybe.