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“Hey! Will you stop going the wrong way? I have kids learning to skate and you’re getting in their way!”
You huff out a heavy breath from your exercise. It’s always tiring to teach young kids to roller skate, but you enjoy the smiles it brought to their faces. One day soon they would be able to easily join the adults that waltzed across the shiny wooden floors.
Your job at the local roller rink is perfect. You love the smoky atmosphere and the big disco ball. You love hearing the latest groovy songs play over the speakers. You love being able to zoom around in your favorite bell bottom jeans and best pair of skates.
What you don’t enjoy is annoying boys that obnoxiously skate around the rink.
You look back at the boy in question. It isNa Jaemin, of course. The boy has been the bane of your existence since he came to the rink for the first time a little over two weeks ago.
Na Jaemin, with his blonde hair and constant grin, always so cocksure about everything. You had to admit, he’s an incredible skater, but you could never admit that to him.
Especially when he is doing everything in his power to annoy you at the present moment.
“Are you even qualified to teach people how to skate?” he asks, with narrow eyes, “Can you even go backwards?”
You know he’s just teasing, just trying to get a rise out of you, and you fall so easily into his trap every time.
“Of course I can go backwards Jaemin! That’s not what I’m teaching right now though!” you reply.
“Well then, I can do a demonstration!”
“Jaemin, no.”
“Jaemin, yes.”
You let out a sigh as you watch him show off in front of the kids. They were a nice little bunch, but they were easily distracted, especially when the distraction was putting on such a show.
Once again, you knew, it would be a long night.
~~~~
Not even a week later, you encounter the nuisance again. Tonight, someone that usually works the food counter called off, meaning you’re stuck making hot dogs and grabbing bottles of cola for a bunch of little kids and teenagers. It wasn’t the worst job, but it certainly wasn’t your favorite.
Especially since you can’t just skate away when Jaemin comes around to annoy you.
You spot him skating around the rink with a few of his buddies, doing laps around the younger kids. You can’t help but roll your eyes.
The last you recalled, Jaemin never ordered much from the food counter when he was at the rink, so you assume he won’t bother you tonight. You couldn’t be more wrong.
You were back behind the pretzel machine when someone came up to the counter, ringing the bell to get your attention.
“I’ll be right there!” you call out, “What can I get for you?”
“A second of your time perhaps?”
You whip your head around to see Jaemin standing at the counter, a cheesy smile across his face. His hair is ruffled and wild, and he seems to be breathing a bit heavy from the exercise he was just doing.
You huff as you walk over to him, “Jaem, if you’re just going to annoy me, go away. Do you actually want any food?”
He doesn’t miss the small nickname that crosses your lips, but he doesn’t have time to think too hard about it. As always, he is on a mission.
“I wanted to show you my new skates!” he says, moving backwards a bit to show you the new boots, “Nice wheels, right?”
You can’t help the snort of amusement that comes out. The skates are bright yellow, with orange wheels and laces. They certainly will stand out under the glow of the neon lights and the disco ball over the wooden rink.
He starts moonwalking around in front of you, and you can’t help but marvel with a smile of your own at the skates and the silly boy in front of you. He must catch you staring, because he breaks you out of your trance by coming closer.
He says , “I wonder how fast I’ll be able to go in them.”
He bounds off towards the rink, zipping around the people on his new wheels. He looks back over to see if you are watching, causing a triumphant grin to grace his face when he realizes he still has your attention.
The only problem is, with his eyes on you instead of where he’s going, he nearly runs into an older lady, and quickly diverts his course to keep from crashing into her. His new skates take him directly towards the wall, sending him on a collision course with concrete.
His fall is anything but graceful, as his friends laugh at him. You also let out a chuckle of your own at the silly boy who will do anything for even an ounce of attention.
~~~~
It is once again the end of a long day, and the quiet of the rink surrounds you. The music is turned off, and you’re the last one here, finishing up some cleaning before you finally go home.
You always loved being the last one at the rink. The roller rink was constantly alive with lots of people, lots of sounds, lots of activity. It was calming to be the only one, skating around the rink with a broom to wipe down the surface.
As you are making your way around the outside of the rink one last time, you hear a loud noise near the entrance to the building. You can’t help but grip the broom a little tighter, before you see Jaemin come through the door.
He glides over to the opening of the rink, his boombox in his hand. You do nothing but stare as he sets it up on the ground, pressing play before starting to skate. Finally he acknowledges your presence with a casual wave, like he isn’t here after hours or anything.
“What do you think you are doing?” you ask. “The rink closed ten minutes ago, and aren’t you tired? You were here all night.”
You couldn’t ignore the slip up you made, realizing you let it slip that you were aware of his presence all night. You didn’t need him thinking you were looking at him a lot, because you weren’t. Ever.
“I like skating to my own tunes.” he says, as nonchalant as ever.
He apparently doesn’t see a problem with the way things are unfolding, and you let out a huff.
“Oh my god, I’m trying to clean the floor! Can’t you just come back tomorrow?”
“Aw, so eager to see me again?” he smiles as he makes his way to you, “Anyways, I can help!”
He takes your broom, skating around while casually sweeping. You might not have brand new skates like him, but you easily catch up to him, snatching it back.
Why was he even here? Just like you had pointed out, he had been here all night. What was keeping him from going home like the rest of the crowd?
“Go, Jaemin!” you exclaim out of annoyance, “And take your annoying boombox with you!”
His face morphs into a pout at this, “You turned off the music, what was I supposed to do?”
“Go home?”
You glide over to the portable machine producing the loud disco music, turning off the switch. You manage to pick it up, shoving the boombox towards Jaemin.
“Jaemin, I’m begging you, go home! I can’t clean if you are still here, and I want to go home, too.”
He must see the exhausted look in your eye behind all of your annoyance, because he rolls over to you.
Jaemin grabs his boombox again, “Am I too much of a distraction if I sit on the bench?”
He gestures to the bench just outside of the rink, where little kids often tied their laces. For some reason, he just doesn’t want to leave, so you nod your head.
He sits down, and turns on his boombox again while doing so. He turns the volume down lower, and looks out at you, jokingly saluting you in a promise to not be bothersome.
You roll your eyes, finally resuming your cleaning.
As you clean, Jaemin talks aimlessly. He talks about his classes at the local university next fall, and about how he just can’t figure out how to land a specific jump on his skates.
While you were reluctant to let him stay, his presence ends up being really nice. His voice is soft as it fills the empty building, and as you both walk out to your cars after locking up, you are grateful to have someone by your side.
It feels a little weird that you are having nice thoughts about the boy who is constantly a pain in your side, but you ignore the slight upbeat in your heart rate when he bids you goodnight.
You throw him a smile as you get into your car, “Goodnight, Jaem.”
~~~~
It is once again a slow Tuesday night, and you are almost about ready to fall asleep at the admissions counter. Every so often you are assigned a shift in the ticket lobby, which you don’t mind typically. On a weekend day, you would be busy taking care of admissions for people as they came and went.
The rink is not busy today.
And you’re about to doze off.
You sigh. The one day you don’t have a book or a newspaper or any homework to do.
You find yourself brushing off invisible dust from your new vest and turtleneck outfit when you hear the door chime, signaling a new customer. You look up from your seat.
Of course, it is Na Jaemin.
“Hey, are you stuck out here today?” he asks, his skate laces tied together to rest over his left shoulder.
“Yeah, it’s so boring tonight, kinda empty too, but at least that means you won’t plow into a sixth grader again.” you smile.
“That was one time!” he says, also grinning at the memory.
He pulls out some money for admission and you hand him the paper wristband to show he paid and brought his own skates. Just as he is about to walk through the door to get to the rink, he pauses.
“Hey, uh, what’s your favorite song to skate to?”
“Huh?”
“Yeah,” he scratches the back of his neck. He tries to explain his reasoning, “Maybe if I play it on my boombox, you won’t make me turn it off.”
You let out a chuckle, “I’ll still probably make you turn it off.”
“Y/N, can you please just answer the question?” Jaemin seems serious now.
And while you are taken aback by the change from his normally aloof demeanor, you clear your throat, “Okay, umm, I really love that new movie Grease, right now. Have you seen it? There’s this one song that’s kinda slow, ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You,’ and it’s really pretty and fun to just skate around the rink to.”
You flush out of embarrassment for the cheesy song choice, but Jaemin nods with a smile. You ignore your traitorous heart reminding you that you had definitely played your Grease soundtrack cassette tape a few too many times since meeting Jaemin. There was definitely no correlation.
“That song is nice.” he says, before turning away and heading into the rink, leaving you alone at the ticket counter once again.
~~~~
A few days later you once again are stuck at the ticket counter. And finally, your shift is over. The ticket counter was nice every once in a while, but you feel tired of standing there, especially more than once in a week. You much preferred the satisfying exhaustion that came from being on wheels for your entire shift.
The staff has mostly gone home, even your boss who just needed to lock up the cash office. You had offered to lock up the building after he left, since you felt like skating for a bit before going home.
There is something about skating on the wooden floor when no one else is around. It is entirely quiet, with the music turned off, just the sound of your wheels spinning., And peaceful, with the air clear of cigarette smoke and loud screams of children playing. It was calming.
Your calm is interrupted by soft music coming from near the entrance. It’s only when you see Jaemin’s face and his stupidly large boombox that you realize what song it is.
Your favorite song.
You can’t help the goofy smile that spreads across your face as he skates over, leaving the boombox on the ledge of the rink wall, coming over to you as ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You,’ echoes throughout the building.
He’s mouthing the lyrics as he skates to you, his eyes bright with mischief and something else that you can’t quite place.
“Hey,” he says once he’s finally in front of you, “Can I join? It seemed a little quiet in here.”
For some reason, this flusters you, as you look at his ruffled hair and jean jacket. “Uh, yeah sure.”
With your approval, he begins skating, beckoning you to follow him. The song ends, but starts up again, and you give Jaemin a questioning look.
“I made a mixtape of this song on loop a couple of times,” he says, running a hand through his hair leisurely, like that’s the most normal thing in the world for someone to do. “It’s nice right?”
It makes you smile regardless. The two of you skate around for a bit, simply going around the rink as you would if lots of people were there. It’s comfortable, you realize, with just the two of you all alone.
Finally on the third loop of the song, Jaemin comes a little closer, and grabs your hand quickly, as if unsure that he is able to do that. You squeeze his hand in reassurance.
It’s strange, wherever this night is going, but you can’t remember a time that you seemed happier to be at the rink.
“I recall you mentioning you can skate backwards, yes?” Jaemin asks, after a few moments.
“Yes, of course—” you begin, but stop talking when he spins you to skate backwards in front of him, causing you to let out a slight squeal at the change.
It’s almost like dancing in a way, as he pushes the two of you forward around the rink and you impulsively grip his shoulders to make sure you can keep your balance.
Eventually, the two of you slow down, and he leads a few spins, which sends laughter through the air and chills down your spine. It’s hard to believe just a few weeks ago this boy was the most annoying pain in your side.
The boombox finally goes quiet after its few repeats of the song, and the building is plunged into silence again, as you stand in front of Jaemin with a small smile and a sweaty complexion.
The neon lights glow around you and Jaemin’s face turns serious. He readjusts his grip on your waist, sliding ever so slightly closer to you.
“I’m sorry I was an asshole at the beginning.” he says, just above a whisper to be heard by only you, “I didn’t know how else to get your attention. Finally I changed the plan to this, and I think it’s working out better.”
“The plan?” you ask, your brain cloudy from his proximity.
He has the nerve to look bashful, making his face even more cuter, “I’ve, uh, kinda liked you for a while, and I needed a plan to tell you and see if you felt the same.”
You smile, moving your left hand from his shoulder to his jawline, stroking his cheeky tenderly. Every piece of him that you touch leaves a burning feeling within your heart, and you finally are thinking you know how to fix it.
With a bold move like when he picked up your hand, you touch your lips to his, letting them sit there for a moment. It’s a chaste kiss, leaving Jaemin to decide what to do next.
He deepens the kiss, smiling as he fully wraps his arms around you and keeps you from sliding away by using his toe stops.
The disco ball overhead isn’t turning anymore, and the music that typically fills the roller rink isn’t playing, but you’ve never found the rink more spectacular in your life. It’s not the atmosphere of the rink that you love, but the people within.
And right now, the person in front of you is your favorite.