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The town’s ice skating rink.
It was exactly the quality you’d expect. White tiles spread across the floor, some cracked near the edges, that ultimately led up to a tiny welcome desk. It was filled with scattered papers and a computer that managed to survive over a decade. On the wall behind the desk, a laminated paper was taped on that listed the prices:
“$11.00 for Town Residents”
“$15.00 for Non-Town Residents”
“$5.00 for Children Under 12”
For the majority of the year, the place was empty besides for figure skaters and local youth hockey practices. However, this was January, winter break exactly.
This meant everyone and their moms were there. Which ultimately translated to groups of 12 year-old boys who acted like they were ice skating prodigies or families whose kids wore excessive protective gear in case of a fall.
It also translated to teenagers trying to find a romantic date idea in a plain and boring town.
Someone crept closer to Lenore, going on her tippy toes to lightly tap her shoulder, “I hope I did not keep you waiting too long, pet.”
“Oh, no not at all.” Lenore turned around, she observed the shorter girl, her eyes widening and her face flushed. “You… look beautiful.”
Annabel Lee was just wearing a plain pure blue coat and charcoal gray beanie, although that fact hardly mattered to Lenore. She was always surprised by Annabel’s beauty as if it was the first time they met, even if it very well may have been the millionth time they met.
Annabel softly smiled in response, this was hardly an uncommon conversation they had, “Oh you flatter me so.” She grabbed Lenore’s hand, dragging her into the locker area, “Come, let’s go to the rink.”
They both put on their ice skates, one more gracefully than the other. And Annabel plopped their shoes and other items in one of the lockers. While Lenore remained glued to the floor with her ice skates on.
Lenore started, “Hey Annie… could you help me up?” glancing away embarrassed.
Annabel chuckled at the pathetic look Lenore had on her face. “You haven’t walked in ice skates before?”
Lenore replied, “I’ve never even put on ice skates before.”
“Ever?” Annabel raised her eyebrow.
Lenore lifted her arms up towards Annabel, “Yes, please now help me up.”
“Well since you asked so nicely,” Lenore rolled her eyes as Annabel hoisted her upwards, “gosh you’re so freakishly tall.”
Lenore’s embarrassment was immediately replaced with a smirk as she bent down to ‘Annabel’s level.’ “Have you ever thought that you’re just freakishly short?”
Annabel rolled her eyes, “don’t get snarky with me” Annabel gripped Lenore’s maroon beanie and pulled it over Lenore's eyes.
“Hey!” Lenore readjusted her beanie, and placed the loose parts of her hair back in place. She muttered under her breath, “evil”.
Annabel Lee’s smile widened wickedly in response, “Well I suppose that means you won’t need help walking to the rink.” Annabel began walking away at a dramatically slow pace.
Lenore grabbed her arm, her legs slightly shaking from being off balance. “Wait Annie please.”
“Oh! What a surprise. Asking such a villany person for help is surely unwise.”
“Oh come on”, Lenore replied. Annabel offered Lenore her hand, while Lenore gripped it like a lifeline to regain her footing. “Thank you.”
Annabel hummed in response, “of course, my date has to actually make it to the rink or it would be a waste of money.”
“Yeah. Of course.” Lenore was fully focusing on the word “date” above all else, no matter how long they date that fact will always remain the same.
In the locker room, two pairs of doors were snapped open and groups of people were all walking in and out of the area. The rink itself was the most impressive part of the place. To be fair, it was the only part that needed to technically be maintained.
“Now how are you planning to ice skate if you can’t even walk on your own?” Annabel questioned.
“Doing what I am now” Lenore held their hands up.
“Okay yes, but you can’t exactly get inside the rink like that.” Annabel giggled.
Lenore’s face dropped, “Oh.” An obstacle.
Annabel let go of Lenore’s hand stepping towards one of the entrances. “Okay I’m going to go in first.” She of course went in flawlessly, gliding upon the ice as if she was a professional figure skater, and she probably was.
She came back to the entrance and held her hand outwards. “Come on pet, you only have to step in by yourself.”
Lenore looked at the ice with worry then at Annabel with resolve. She stepped on the ice.
And immediately lost her balance.
Lenore held her hands outwards trying to regain some kind of footing, which is as expected, is hard on ice.
Just as she was about to fall face first onto the ice, which Annabel would admit to have found slightly amusing. Annabel grabbed Lenore’s waist and soon Lenore was leaning her entire body weight against her.
“My knight in shining armor.” Lenore let out a sigh of relief against Annabel’s shoulder.
“I thought you were supposed to be mine.” Annabel patted her back.
“I know my place.” Which got a small chuckle out of Annabel.
Annabel grabbed Lenore’s hands lifting her back upwards, moving Lenore to be between her and the wall just in case of tragedy. Lenore clung to both Annabel’s hand and the banister on the wall, remaining still.
“I am never moving from this spot.” Lenore quivered.
“Come on pet, it’s not all bad. I’ll help you.”’ Annabel raised their hands, attempting to move forward.
Lenore broke the connection and clung to the banister tightly now with both hands. “Nope right here. This is where you’ll find me.”
“Fine, if you insist.” Annabel started to glide away but Lenore grabbed her hand. Except instead of stopping Annabel she was only pulled alongside her.
“Woah, woah, woah” Lenore flung her free hand around trying to regain any balance she could. However, Annabel kept moving forward, not allowing Lenore time to stop.
Lenore started to make strides at the same pace Annabel had, albeit clumsily and while clinging to Annabel’s hand for dear life.
“There you go pet, I knew you would get it.” Annabel hadn’t even acknowledged Lenore’s struggles. In her mind, Lenore was always capable so her struggles were always temporary.
“This isn’t actually too hard,” speaking too soon, she lost her balance over a chip in the ice. Her knees buckled making her fall into a kneeling position.
Annabel steered in front of Lenore laughing quietly to herself as she admired the view.
“It’s not funny!” Lenore yells from the ground.
“Oh I never said it was” her smirk permanently etched onto her face.
Lenore rolled her eyes taking Annabel’s hand for support getting up.
A blaring alarm echoed throughout the stadium. In turn, everyone calmly exited at a somewhat quick pace.
Lenore looks back and forth at the people around her. “Why is everyone getting off the rink?”
Annabel plainly stated, “We have to go so they can get a smooth layer of ice ready.”
Lenore looked around to see if there was anywhere nearby to exit the rink from. Nope. The only way to go was the main exit, aka the one directly across the rink.
Lenore looked at Annabel Lee somewhat afraid, especially because she had only been skating a couple of minutes. Most of her balance so far came from Annabel and the banister circling the rink.
Annabel picked up on Lenore’s worries, squeezing her hand tighter. “Oh come on now pet, it isn’t too bad.”
“If you say so.” Lenore spoke skeptically, beginning to hesitantly move towards the exit.
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*One bad trip across the ice skating rink with repeated falls later*
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Lenore jumped onto her couch, “Ugh I’m exhausted.” She buried her face into a pillow with her limbs contorted over the rest of the seat.
Annabel sat down next to her properly and Lenore adjusted herself to give her more room. She started to run her fingers through Lenore’s messy hair, “yes because of all that work you presumably did.”
Lenore protested, “that was a lot of work.” She turned to face Annabel, questioning softly, “did you enjoy the trip?”
“Well it was certainly entertaining to say the least. I’ve never imagined someone could fall so much in quick succession.” Annabel laughed.
“Hey! Be serious.” Lenore became flustered.
“Of course I had fun, you’re so silly pet.” Annabel moved away some of Lenore’s hair from her face and kissed the top of her forehead.
Lenore grinned sheepishly, “okay.”
Annabel smiled back, admiring Lenore’s cute expression for a moment longer before turning to the TV remote and powering it on. “Now, what type of movie do you have in mind?”
“Well I was thinking since you were my knight in shining armor multiple times today, you can pick.” Lenore almost instantly regretted her moment of kindness as Annabel’s smile turned sinister.
“Anything I want to watch, yes?” It was too late. Annabel’s eyes flared with a certain evil only a true psychopath would have.
“Wait- well maybe not everything, maybe certain categories should be off limit, you know like-” nope it was too late and she knew it. The TV remote hovered the section labeled “Horror” and she scrolled through the variety of movies in the section, all scarier than the next. At least in Lenore’s opinion.
Finally, the movie Annabel selected created a loud suspenseful noise, appearing with black background and large white bold that read:
“Based on a True Story”
Which caused Lenore to squeak, retracting further into the pillows.
Annabel rolled her eyes, “Oh come here pet, I’ll protect you.”
Lenore inched closer to Annabel, placing her head in the crook of her neck. She held tightly onto Annabel letting herself relax into her. Annabel grabbed one of the fluffy blankets from the couch and draped it over the both of them smiling contently.
Annabel whispered, “Thank you for today, pet.”
Lenore mumbled into her side, “No, thank you. I have the best girlfriend you know?” Lenore lifted her head up to admire Annabel.
A tint of red covered Annabel Lee’s face as she hardly let herself smile, “Oh shush, watch the movie.” Lenore agreed with the sentiment due to her fatigue from the day.
They watched the rest of the movie in peaceful silence (which was periodically interrupted by Lenore’s reactions to jump scares).