the winter i turned intelligent: chapter 7 (pt. 2)

Important Note from Dreamy Plots & Story Talks: This story contains suggestive language and sexual content and is only suitable for readers that are 18+.

Chapter 7 (part 2):  

Natasha was clearly annoyed that I hadn’t believed her initially, “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go to practice.”

She didn’t waste another second and quickly made her way to the other ice rink in the arena. All those early mornings she had to wake up for and the times she couldn’t stay out too late now made a lot more sense to me. This is what she was doing? Training for the Olympics. I had my assumptions, but I would’ve never guessed this. Although I was curious to watch her skate, I’d taken way too long to change my skates, so I made my way back to our ice rink where the holiday theme skating event was occurring.

As soon as my skates touched the ice, I tripped over my right skate, but luckily Belly was there to help me from falling completely, “thanks.” I gave her a half-smile hoping the cold air between us would dissipate.

She brushed away a strand of my hair that fell onto my forehead, “some things never change.” 

I felt warmth move back into my chest, “you rescuing me on the ice? Or me being a better skater than you?”

Belly rolled her eyes with the smile that I missed seeing the past week, while she helped me gain back my balance, “says the guy who almost fell barely a few feet away from the entrance.”

I placed my palms on her shoulders and tried my best to look serious, “that was just a distraction...and it clearly worked.”

I skated away from her as fast as I could and heard her call, “I love how even you know that you need a head start, that way you at least have a chance at winning!”

Sure enough, Belly skated right past me a few moments later. It dawned on me in that moment that even though she was mad at me, she hadn’t left. I guessed amidst this argument, I had failed to recognize that she still chose to stay with me to figure out everything together.

At this point, Belly was on the other side of the rink so I accepted the defeat, “Okay, okay, we get it, you won!” I saw her cheering to herself, and it brought the biggest smile to my face. Belly’s face always lit up after winning a competition, and this was no exception.

My attention shifted to the scene right in front of me. I wasn’t sure if I was seeing things, but Trusky and Jessica were holding hands while they skated. I couldn’t have been gone that long that they were now a couple. Last thing I remembered was that he was happy with Nina, but the smile on his face right now told me otherwise. Jessica always glowed when she was around him, though I had never seen Trusky look this happy before.

After about an hour of skating, Steven offered to order our food since the rink was only getting more packed. He took down everyone’s orders, “okay, five orders of chicken tenders and fries, two pizzas, and one salted pretzel. Make sure to meet us in 20 minutes so the food doesn’t get cold! Conrad’s getting the table since it’s so busy.” 

Dinner:

Leaving the ice was one of my favorite parts of ice skating. The cozy heat from the indoor arena embraced me as I left the chilly ice.

The table Conrad got was fairly close to the other ice rink, and I was reminded that Natasha might walk out at any instant. I wasn’t sure if Conrad knew that she was a competitive figure skater. I felt like he would have told us if he knew, but I wasn’t sure. Even if we sat at another table, there was still a chance that we would run into her.

The food looked incredible. I was distracted by the chicken tenders and fries when I heard Ashley address what I was wondering earlier, “Trusky, are you going to tell your girlfriend how you were holding hands with Jess?” She finished eating her fries as Taylor giggled.

I could tell Trusky got defensive, “She was about to fall.” Then to my surprise his tone became a little flirty as he glanced at Jessica. “She’s even clumsier than Jeremiah, and I didn’t know that was possible.”

Ashley continued eating her fries, “hmm didn’t look like that to me...”

Taylor turned to Carlos, “I’m going to need a drink knowing where this conversation’s headed...”

Carlos snorted, “same.” 

Since everyone was busy with their food, I took the opportunity to go to the other rink, “I’ll be right back.”

I was curious to see if Natasha had really been telling the truth, even though by the end of our conversation I was convinced she was serious. Still, I wanted to see it for myself.

When I went inside the rink, I didn’t see Natasha skating. I sat down on the bleachers near the glass shields. I searched the rink for her as I sat in my seat.

I must have looked lost, when I heard a young girl who was sitting a few rows above me say, “who are you looking for?” She didn’t look more than ten years old. Her hair was in a bun, and she also had skates on.

I was about to answer her when I noticed Natasha on the ice, “uh, I just found her.”

My attention turned towards Natasha who was now holding hands with a guy who also wore skates. Before I had a chance to process any of this, the little girl continued, “you know Natasha?!”

Her eyes lit up, while she waited for my response, and I was confused why she seemed so excited, “um yeah I know her.”

“Are you her boyfriend?” I was shocked by her candor.

“No, I’m not.” For a second, I had thought the guy Natasha held hands with could have been her boyfriend, but this girl’s question had proved me wrong.  

“Who are you then?” My confusion grew at how determined she seemed to be to figure out my connection to Natasha.

“I’m just a friend.” I thought this response would have ended this discussion.

To my surprise, she continued with even more excitement, “Lucky! I wish I was her friend too. I want to be just like her one day!” Then she turned her attention to the rink also waiting for Natasha to start skating.

Now I was the one left with questions, “what do you mean by you want to be just like her? Sorry I just recently met her, so I just found out she skates.”

Her facial expression implied that I had just asked the dumbest question, “She doesn’t just skate. She’s an Olympic champion! Her and Mateo won the gold in the last Winter Olympics for ice dance. They’re training for the next Winter Olympics next year, and they’re the favorites again. This could be the first time in history the same ice dance team would win the gold back-to-back!”

I loved sports, but I had never really followed professional figure skating before, so I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t know who she was.

The music started right after, and Natasha began skating with who I now learned was her skating partner Mateo.  

The lyrics of the song combined with their skating was something I couldn’t put into words. I was particularly drawn to Natasha’s skating. It looked like every movement was important to her.

Then she did this turn that I’d only seen in a movie before, “woah.”

The young girl must have heard me, “I know.” I noticed the girl’s mother called her, and she left shortly after.

For a second, I felt like I finally understood Natasha. She looked so at ease while she skated, a way I hadn’t seen her look before. I was so mesmerized that I must have lost track of time.

I was caught off guard when I heard Belly’s voice, “Hey we just got some fresh cookies, what are you doing? -”

“Uh, I’m coming. Did you know Natasha’s a figure skater?” I didn’t know what else to say to Belly. I realized I hadn’t told anyone I had come to see Natasha skate. Then again, I wasn’t really sure what to say without it sounding odd. Now that Belly was standing in front of me, maybe coming to watch Natasha skate was an odd thing to do?  

“What?” She turned around and looked as surprised as me.

Then she took a seat next to me, “Does Conrad know?”

I doubted he knew, “Not sure.”

Then we continued watching them skate in silence.

Belly’s POV:

The real question I wanted to ask was why he wanted to come watch her skate. Even though I might have known the answer to that question already, I didn’t ask to confirm.

She was pretty amazing, I had to admit, but I was more focused on Jeremiah. I looked at him as he looked at her in awe. Even if he was trying to pretend that he wasn’t affected by her in front of me, it was hard for him to deny just how he was looking at her.

I tried to distract him, “so who’s the guy?”

It didn’t work because his eyes were still focused on the ice, while he responded, “apparently her skating partner. This young girl just told me that they won gold for ice dance in the last Olympics and they’re now training for the next one that’s next year.”  

Of course she was an Olympic athlete.

Jeremiah turned to me, “let’s leave before she sees us.”

“Good idea.” I was happy that he suggested for us to leave before the routine was over.

Back to Jeremiah’s POV:

When we got back, we all had some coffee and sugar cookies.

Just when I thought to myself how it was good that Belly and I both hadn’t brought up Natasha’s skating, she was walking out of the rink with Mateo. We both looked at Conrad who instantly noticed them. I felt bad for Natasha because the moment her and Conrad locked eyes, she looked anxious.  

I didn’t understand why she hadn’t told any of us, but then again, we hadn’t known her that long. Maybe she had her reasons for not telling us, and who were we to judge her anyways?  

She turned to her skating partner, “give me a second,” and Mateo walked away.

“Can we talk?” She directed that to Conrad who I’m sure was embarrassed that our entire group was watching them.

He nodded and got up from his seat to follow her so that they could be alone.

Natasha’s POV:

“So you weren’t busy then...” Conrad’s response made me wish I had told him about all of this because this looked worse.  

I sighed to calm my nerves, “No I was busy. I’m sorry for not clarifying before. I’m a figure skater, and I’m also in a competitive ice dance duo. That guy that you just saw is my skating partner Mateo. I was running late to practice and ran into Jeremiah, and he just found out too. I was going to tell you soon, but it’s not something I really look forward to tell people who I just meet.”

Conrad’s POV:

She just reminded me how we barely still knew each other, but some part of me also felt a little self-conscious that she hadn’t told me. Did she not trust me, or was she not really that comfortable around me? “No worries. I would have understood if you had told me why you were busy, just so you know.”  

I was trying my best to reassure her, but I realized that wasn’t the problem when she continued, “No I know that, that’s not it. Skating is pretty much my entire life. Even when I’m not skating, I’m still focused on it, and when I’m not thinking about it, my family and coach remind me to continue focusing on it. I guess it was nice to not talk about it for once.”

How could I hold that against her? I could tell it wasn’t easy for her to tell me this, so I was relieved that she did actually trust me, “That sounds really overwhelming. Thank you for sharing that with me. And I get it, we also barely still know each other, so I guess it was just bad timing again.”

I let out a nervous laugh and she noticed because she also started laughing softly, “you know that’s kinda on you right? You still haven’t asked me out on a real first date...”

She was right, and my cheeks now flushed in embarrassment even though her tone had become noticeably more playful, “I see what you did there. No you’re right, we haven’t. Are you free next Friday for dinner? I know the perfect place.”

She smiled, and it melted my heart, “I’ll be there.”

Her skating partner walked up to us, “Tasha, I’m going to be late.”

He looked about 6’2”, had dark brown hair, and hazel eyes. He was a very handsome guy. For a second, I was jealous that he got to spend so much time with her, until my attention was brought back to Natasha, “Mateo, this is Conrad. Conrad, this is Mateo.”

He shook my hand firmly, “nice to meet you, sorry to interrupt, but my sister keeps calling.” 

I hugged Natasha before they walked away.

Back to Natasha’s POV:

Mateo glared at me while we headed out of the arena, “it’s funny, you never mentioned a Conrad.”

I rolled my eyes, and he definitely saw it, “we don’t exactly share our dating lives with each other.” 

He snorted, “no what I remember is you always asking me about mine, and you not having one.”

I snorted back, “I only ask because yours is a joke.”

To my dismay he continued, “Is he the one? Are you two gonna get married?? I have so many questions Tasha.”

No matter how I responded to him, I knew he’d continue this the entire car ride because he was right. I didn’t really have a dating life, except for the one boyfriend I had that turned out like shit. In my mind, that hadn’t even counted because of how much of a disaster it had been. Mateo and I made fun of each other most of the time, so since this was a first for me, I knew he’d take the opportunity to tease me about it. Ironically, I wasn’t annoyed this time around because I was finally officially going to go out with someone in since what felt like forever.

Back to Jeremiah’s POV:

Conrad walked back to the table and didn’t look as disappointed as I had expected, “did my coffee get cold?” 

Taylor changed the subject to what everyone was wondering about, “well, what happened, who was that gorgeous guy with her?”

Ashley interjected, “yeah, and is he single?”

Steven rolled his eyes at Taylor, “I’m literally sitting right here.”

In Taylor’s defense, I also noticed how attractive Mateo was. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Natasha and him had even dated at one point, but it wasn’t my place to ask.

Conrad answered Taylor, “that’s her skating partner. They do ice dance together.”

Carlos said this with the most serious facial expression, “are you sure that’s all they do together?” Taylor burst into laughter as he continued, “that man was one of the most attractive men I’ve ever seen.” Then he quickly clarified since Zac was sitting right next to him, “after you babe, after you,” and Zac just shook his head.

Conrad continued, “is it weird that he calls her Tasha? Like does that mean they’ve hooked up before? I shouldn’t assume that, but my mind just went there.”

Belly joined the conversation, “that doesn’t mean anything. Jeremiah called me Bells for years.”

Trusky glared at me trying not to laugh, but I was grateful he didn’t say anything. Conrad instead continued, “you just proved my point...” 

I could tell Belly realized that she didn’t give a good example here, but at least the whole table was laughing now.

Next Week:

Back to Belly’s POV:

I lit Jeremiah’s favorite candy-cane and vanilla candle next to the lamp in the living room. I turned on the fireplace and played a holiday baking special on the TV. Hazel was now sitting on my lap, and it made me smile how she had grown more comfortable around me. I heard the door open shortly after, and Jeremiah walked in with a bunch of Trader Joe’s bags. Hazel immediately went by his feet and started barking with joy. He kissed my cheeks and picked up Hazel after he placed the bags on the floor, “how are my two favorite girls?”

Back to Conrad’s POV:

I picked up Natasha from the rink since she had practice also on Friday. I had borrowed Steven’s car the past week and parked it on the sidewalk, as I stood outside waiting for her. My jaw must have dropped onto the pavement when I saw her walk outside. Her hair was pushed to the side, and she had on a long-sleeved burgundy mini dress with sequins at the top and black tights and heels. We both went in for a hug, but I wasn’t sure if I should have kissed her as well. I spent the entire car ride wishing that I had.  

Back to Jeremiah’s POV:

I pretended I was a magician as I took the groceries out of the paper bags, while Belly and Hazel waited to see what I revealed next, “look what I got...”

Belly ran to the other side of the kitchen counter where I stood and took the box of peppermint dark chocolate covered marshmallows from me, “I’m convinced Trader Joe’s secretly or not so secretly has a crush on you...because why do they always have the things that I want when you go there, but when I go there, they have nothing!!”

I smirked at her as I unwrapped my scarf from my neck, “what’s the biggest thing that you want?”

She locked her fingers into the belt loops of my jeans, “right now?”

I bit my bottom lip, “right now.”

The look in her eyes confirmed she had missed this as much as I did. It had been two weeks since the last time. She moved her hands into my hair, and her peach and vanilla smell was now mixed with the burnt vanilla and sweet mint fragrance from the candle.

I felt my knees go weak as I whispered into her ear, “you didn’t need to light that fire.”

Back to Conrad’s POV:

We were having pasta at my favorite Italian restaurant, when I almost brought up ice skating again. I remembered that Natasha had said how she didn’t like focusing on this topic too much because it took up so much of her time already, so I didn’t want to impose.

To my surprise, she brought up the topic shortly after we finished our food, “thanks for being cool about the skating thing. I was actually really embarrassed the way you found out about it.”

“Oh it’s no worries, really, I get it. You don’t even have to talk about it if you don’t want to, I understand.” I tried to reassure her.

“No I want to talk about it.” She smiled softly.

I took a sip of my red wine, “great, because I want to know everything.”

She laughed softly, “so I started skating when my family moved back to the United States from Greece when I was seven.” 

I loved learning more about her, “You’re from Greece? That’s so cool!” 

She smiled with even more confidence, and something told me she didn’t really open up to too many people, and I never related to her more, “Yes, I’m Greek, Italian, and Croatian. I was born in the US but raised in Greece until I was seven, when my family and I moved back here. I was so homesick when we first moved to North Carolina. We actually moved back here during winter.

My grandma was already sick when we moved back, but she got a lot worse the first year we got here. I remember being so angry at everything, mostly because I couldn’t change anything that was happening. I felt helpless, until I started skating. I found some ice near our home, it wasn’t a rink or anything, just near the forest near us. I started skating every morning, and it made me feel at ease.

All I ever wanted was to make her proud, so one day I decided to show her my skating. Looking back, it probably wasn’t impressive at all, but I hadn’t seen her smile as much as she had after watching me skate since she had been back home with her close relatives and friends in Greece. Part of me thinks she also got worse because she had to move. Just to see her smile like that-”

I saw a tear fall on Natasha’s left cheek, and I wanted to wipe it away, but she instantly dried it with her napkin. I didn’t know what to say, but I also had heard that a great way to not dwell on something was to respectfully change the subject, so I tried my best to do that, “you were training though you said right? What are you training for, like what competition?”

She looked grateful that I changed the tone of the conversation. She took in a deep breath before she continued, “yeah, Mateo and I are hoping to qualify for the winter Olympics next year.”

I hope I didn’t look as surprised as I felt, “wow that’s incredible! Is this your first time competing in them?”

She kept surprising me, “It’s our second time competing.”

After I paid the bill, we continued our conversation outside.

The streets were filled with twinkling Christmas lights, and it felt like a holiday movie. The town was embellished with lavish decorations, but my eyes were only on her.

I wanted to know the results of her first time, “well, how did it go? You got the gold, didn’t you?” I immediately wished I hadn’t said that because if she hadn’t, that would’ve gone very awkwardly.

I was relieved when she responded somewhat nervously, “yes we did.” She laughed softly.

I was impressed by her humility, “you’re way better than me, I’d walk around with my medal everywhere I went, believe me.”

She laughed even louder, and I felt the same butterflies I got every time I looked into her eyes, “I love your laugh.” I looked into her eyes for a few more seconds, but time stood still.

She looked at me with a slightly puzzled expression, “are you ever going to kiss-”

I pressed my lips softly, yet firmly onto her lips. The cold air that lay on top of both of our lips instantly turned into heat. The kiss felt electric, “I’m sorry, what were you going to say?”

She snorted as she pulled my sweater towards her and leaned in for a second kiss.

Back to Belly’s POV:  

We were kissing against the kitchen counter, when Jeremiah slowly lifted my sweater. Goosebumps traveled down my spine, “wait, I’ll be right back.”

He kissed my forehead, “okay.”

I ran to our bedroom to find the ruby red silk slip dress that I had bought last Christmas but hadn’t worn yet.

Maybe I hadn’t tried as hard as Jeremiah had in our relationship, especially the past year or so. I had forgotten that lots of people wished to have been with him and that he had ultimately chosen me.

I was going to try harder to show him how much I appreciated him. He had done it for me from the start, and now it was my turn to show up for him. After all, we weren’t just lovers, but we were best friends.

No one, including Natasha, could get in the way of that.

Meeting Natasha had been a pivotal moment for me. I had taken Jeremiah for granted. Some healthy competition wouldn’t do us any harm.

I wasn’t dumb, and I hadn’t forgotten how he had looked at her skate last week. I was smart enough to not bring it up to him though, at least not for now.

Even though I had him, and Natasha was with Conrad, something still told me there was some potential between her and Jeremiah. But no potential was a match for what we had.

I had nothing to worry about.