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Aria nods and smiles back at me, although it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "Good to know. Since we've cleared that up, can we do what we're actually supposed to do together?"
Her tone is a bit abrasive and there's a coldness that lingers in her words. Gone is the warmth she offered me last night, but I know it is my own doing. It doesn't matter now. Whatever that was between us has passed and now we can get back to skating without having anything clouding the air between us.
"That might be the best idea you've had so far."
Aria winks at me. "Sleeping with you certainly wasn't," she mumbles under her breath as she begins to skate toward the center of the rink, leaving me standing by the boards.
What the fuck?
"Aria and Leo," Eva speaks both of our names from where she is standing by the benches. Everyone else is beginning to line up over there and the song Aria picked for us to skate to begins to sound through the speaker system. "The two of you can go first."
I turn around and find Aria waiting for me as she gets into position. A sigh escapes me and irritation slides through my veins as I quickly skate to meet her in the middle of the rink. The melody of the song is still soft and slow. I move behind Aria, wrapping my arms around her waist. She reaches back, sliding her hands around the back of my neck as she tilts her head back against my shoulder. I revel in her warmth and resist the urge to pull her closer.
Goddammit.
Shaking my head, I push the thoughts away. That ship has already sailed. We had our time together and nothing more would ever come of it. I fucked her out of my system and that was that. It can never happen between us again and we already both agreed that it wouldn't.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't thoroughly enjoy it, though…
The music shifts and we both skate away from one another before simultaneously spinning. We're in perfect sync and Aria flashes me a painstakingly beautiful smile as we meet again, joining hands as we begin to move backward around the rink. I really believe we are supposed to skate together. Nothing has ever felt quite as right as this partnership does.
We run through our entire routine, both of us skating to the melody, hitting every single move the exact way we are supposed to. It's a perfect performance and exactly what we need to do in three days when it really counts.
We meet again in the middle of the ice as the music begins to slow and my hands clasp the sides of her face as our bodies bend together. We're both breathless and we fold into one another, me supporting her and holding her away from the ice as the music comes to a stop.
Aria's face is so close to mine, her breath dancing across my lips. All I have to do is shift forward, just an inch, and our mouths would touch. Her eyes bounce back and forth between mine, but she doesn't dare to be the one to break contact. She's waiting for me to kiss her, and fuck me for wanting to do it.
Everyone in the rink that was watching us begins to clap loudly, the sound filling the entire building. It's enough to break Aria and I from our trance. We both stand up together, quickly breaking apart as she steadies herself on her feet. I swallow roughly, running a hand through my hair as I let out a deep breath. I'm frustrated and it has nothing to do with Aria and everything to do with me. My self-control is severely lacking and I need to remind myself of the bigger picture here.
Aria and I need each other to skate and we can't cross that line again. We both allowed ourselves that moment of weakness, to give in to the lust that was burning between us. My mind needs to get its shit together and learn to separate from her. We need to be able to skate together, maintain a healthy level of professionalism that we've finally found together, and ensure the emotional pull and chemistry is still there without giving in to any of that.
Jesus, this is going to be much harder than I imagined it would be.
It was a lot easier when I didn't like her at all…
Aria skates over to where our waters are and I meet her over there, taking one of the bottles as she hands it to me. "That felt really good," she says with a bright smile and a nod as the next two skaters head to the center of the ice. Her face is slightly flushed and I count the freckles peppered across the bridge of her nose.
I take a sip of my water and nod. "I told you we would get it as close to perfect as possible."
Her smile falters. "Friday is the performance that counts. This is just practice."
Whenever she gets pessimistic, it always throws me off-kilter a bit.
"Practice supposedly makes perfect."
Aria's face cracks and soft laughter spills from her lips as her face lights up, and I feel another section of my wall crumbling. The lilt of her laughter dances across my eardrums and I want to memorize the sound and store it there forever. I push open the door to the benches and she steps up. I follow after her, both of us sitting down next to one another as we wait for our next time to go back on the ice and run through our routine again. Aria folds her hands in her lap and her thigh presses against mine.
She leans into me, bumping me with her shoulder. "You know, you might not be so bad, after all, Wells."
Turning my head to her, my gaze meets hers as she continues to smile at me. "I wish I could say the same about you."
"You don't mean that," she says with another laugh as she rolls her eyes. "Dare I say what I think might be the actual truth?"
I bite back a smirk. "Enlighten me."
"I think you're growing fond of me, Leo Wells."
I choke out a laugh and shake my head at her dismissively. "Don't get ahead of yourself, Reed. I promise that will never happen."
