do right by your neighbor;

“Well that’s good to hear, I sure hope it’s soon,” Sacha said with an awkward laugh, she was absolutely desperate for a good coach. Working by herself was fine for a couple weeks, but competition season was coming up and she needed the honest input from a coach, that would actually offer fixes to her problem moves and jumps rather than simply pointing them out. She knew she under rotated things and wasn’t getting the height in certain places, but she needed more instruction. Instruction that would take her to the Olympics. 

“We’re staying at the Lodge for now, it’s really nice. Strange though to stay at a hotel for an extended period.” Usually holidays were only two weeks, and she was getting quite used to having food delivered and in house cleaners. 

The woman behind the counter approached them, asking Sacha if she was ready to order. “Cheeseburger and fries, please, and a diet lemonade? Thank you.”

Sacha laughed at Lorelei’s easy agreement about the hockey team’s failings, shaking her head slightly in surprise. “Oh you’re friends with some of them? But at the same time, there’s bad blood between us all?” It was a little strange, but she’d go along with it for now. There must be more of a history than what she was understanding. “Are they mean or anything?” She nodded, “Sure, I suppose it might be quite amusing to watch them if they’re not doing that great. But best not let them have something to hold over me, like I’m actually interested.” 

“I’ve stayed there before for weeks at a time too. It’s amazing how fast you get used to a life of luxury,” Lore smiled. Of course, Lore also came from a life of luxury... but that wasn’t such a surprising thing for people staying at the Astoria. 

“The only tip I can offer you is that the gym is more packed in the early morning. Not surprising since winter sports are the thing to do here and everyone seems to be early risers, even the tourists. But... if you head there mid-day you might just have the place to yourself. Also, room service is happy to make you a hot fudge sundae at any time. At least, they were when I was twelve. And sixteen.

Lore’s stomach practically grumbled at just the words Sacha had mention in her order, but she didn’t let the idea of a burger and fries hang in the air for long. Not when it would disappoint her nutritionist and her coach. No, instead Lore was thrilled to continue her deep dive into an explanation of the skating and hockey rivalry. There was still much to be revealed to the newest member of Team Skate.

“My best friend and my brother are on the team. We’re all supposed to be rivals, but sometimes you form lasting bonds before you officially pick a side. You can’t be penalized for that. And they’re not really mean. They’re just sort of... there. All the time. I don’t think the feud would exist at all if we had more than one rink in town, but as it currently stands we can’t exactly live in perfect harmony. Technically one sport suffers each time the other takes the ice. Last time a skater tried to practice on the same ice as the hockey team the goalie ended up hospitalized and there was a lawsuit. If I remember correctly the puck came a little too close to the skater for comfort and uh... a battle of the blades ensued. Sometimes the rivalry is used for good, though. There’s an annual charity free skate night where we compete to see who can bring the most people to the rink and who can make the most money off of concessions. All proceeds go to the winner’s charity of choice.”

She wasn’t typically the type to linger around the rink, finding the whole practice of hanging around and fighting for open spots to skate alone sort of aggressive and not worth it. After all, it wasn’t as if she was trying to get into the sport professionally, not really. Though Mia supposed, if she actually put forth the effort and really trained as Ian did, she could make it. But that was neither here nor there as she caught sight of a familiar blonde. Lorelei was something of an enigma to her, one that didn’t entirely know how to approach. On the one hand, she had a bit of a rocky history with the brother that Mia adored above all else – that would make her something of an enemy. On the other, she was the sister of Mia’s very best friend in the world, so perhaps she was more meant to be something of a neutral or casual friend.

Then there was the fact that Lorelei and her brother were skating together again, which meant that Mia had to at least try to play nice for everyone’s sake. She approached the girl rather quickly, not really bothering to consider whether or not the blonde had other things to do beside humor the casual skater that took up space at the rink. “Hey, did you just finish a practice session, or are you going to get one in right now? Is Ian with you?” @loreleilyons​

It felt like she was doing something wrong, booking ice time to not-so-secretly skate solo while her partnership ebbed and flowed with each passing minute. She was supposed to be getting into a rhythm with Ian, syncing up with him so that she could anticipate his every move on the ice. And yet... she was still actively skating without him.

Which form of skating was the backup plan again?

Lacing up her skates on the sidelines, Lorelei was already mentally going through her short program when she heard a familiar voice ring out near her. Not familiar enough to be placed immediately, but familiar enough that once she looked up and saw who it was, the level of recognition felt justified.

Lore didn’t know Mia Calloway very well. She knew that she was Finn’s best friend and Ian’s sister (both of which therefore made whatever relationship they had more complex), but the times they’d actually spoken had been few and far between. There had been a distinct purpose with each conversation thus far, and it appeared that trend was to continue.

“I’m doing some solo work this morning, but he’ll be here later. Not sure if you want to wait around...” Lore informed the girl. Skates now fully on, she was ready to go. Unless Mia needed something? “Everything... good?”

“We’re stopping,” Caroline said, knowing full well that Lore was purposefully pulling the car over. Still, she made not of it, aware that this move was likely the result of what she’d just said. Stupid idiot, opening her mouth when she shouldn’t be. That’s what you got for being honest.

She sighed. “Nope. And I don’t want to and I don’t plan to. I’m not going to worry my dad by bothering him with this bullshit. I’m sure I’ll get over it or something.”

Or maybe she wouldn’t.

Caroline did her best to avoid Lorelei’s gaze, staring out the window at everything but her. There was a gentle breeze outside and for a moment she wondered what it might be like to float away on it to a world long forgotten. Maybe back to when life made a little more sense.

“What is a therapist going to tell me that I don’t already know, Lore? That I have mommy issues? Shocker.”

“Maybe he should be worried. Caroline, you’re eighteen,” Lore insisted perhaps more harshly than she’d intended. Could she really be blamed, though? Caroline had been like a little sister to her for so long, and even though they’d both drifted that attachment didn’t just go away. You didn’t want to see someone you cared about spiral.

The car was stopped and Lore wasn’t going to move along until some actual headway had been made in the solution part of their conversation. Admitting you had a problem was one thing, but it wasn’t enough.

“Do you think he’s not worried anyway? He’s known you longer than anyone. Maybe he already knows something’s up,” she found herself suggesting, reaching up to turn on the overhead light in order to get a better look at the girl.

“Look, I can’t tell you the first thing about having a healthy relationship with your parents, but I’m pretty sure step number one is not hiding when you’re struggling. And a therapist is supposed to help you work through things. Recognize your bad habits and guide you onto a healthier path. Are they going to say you have mom issues? I’m not a therapist. I could not possibly begin to say. But you recognizing that you probably do and that you have a problem, because you definitely just said that, probably makes their job a whole lot easier.”

Finn had spent a lot of his life inside Lore’s bedroom whether she wanted him there or not. He liked to think it was his gift of being a younger sibling, making sure she was never truly alone, never isolated. Even if she really felt like she wanted to be.

No fun in that.

“I mean, yeah, sure, you can try to hide them but like, what’s the point? I can read you like a book. And I do,” he teased, holding up her journal again. “Like, a recently really sad book. Dostoevsky called and he wants his tragedy back. Yikes, you want to talk about anything or should we just ignore it and hope that no one acknowledges our feelings because we’re masculine bros in a super rich household and we don’t talk about our feelings.”

Finn sighed, scooting over so she could move closer to him in her own bed. “I don’t know. I’m thinking about maybe moving back in with mom, even if it means risking a few more run ins with the stomach pump. I feel wicked lonely recently. And even if mom’s cuckoo for essential oils she still wants to talk to me and stuff.”

“Everyone is allowed to keep some secrets, Finn. Even from their nosy siblings,” Lore pointed out, thankful that he no longer had the book-in-question in his hands to reference specific passages. Did she wonder which part he felt was the saddest? Sure. Ian and Caroline were taking turns making her life a constantly spinning merry-go-round of regrets and confusion and her journal had heard it all. Did that mean that she was dying to chat with someone about it all? No. Benji had heard some, and she’d gotten the rest out in writing. She was fine.

“We’re breaking that cycle constantly and you know it but there’s nothing to say. No need for a walk down memory lane today,” she shrugged, her staring up at the ceiling allowing her to avoid eye contact. She just wanted to relax, not go through her problems one-by-one when she was supposed to be the one who was older and wiser.

Besides, clearly Finn was having problems too. His presence in the house was proof enough of that. As he soon explained himself, Lore was thankful that at least her Finn instincts were still on point.

“Why are you feeling lonely? What’s up?” she questioned, resting her head on her shoulder as she shifted to be able to study him. She couldn’t detect much just by looking at him, but it was surely a matter of seconds until he spilled.

“I would sooner advise you to get a place with Mia than to risk your life in coming back here, and we both know that’s saying something when it’s coming from me. Nothing against Mia, but... you know.”

You know being code-word for that would be weird for me specifically.

“But I am here for you. And yes, you are clearly mom’s favorite, so she’ll happily make time for you too.”

“Oh no, her family was elsewhere and she wanted to go back to them. It sort of gave us a minute to decide what we really wanted to do, and we decided moving here where there were better facilities was the best choice. We are having to bring in a coach though. We did contact a couple around here but they were quite booked up and wouldn’t be able to give a lot of one on one time.” Sacha was repeatedly using the word we, but in reality it was her father making those choices, but she hadn’t disagreed with any of them. They all held such promise, when she thought about it too much her heart swelled. 

“Thanks, I hope so too! Honestly I think my parents are holding off actually buying a house here to see if I like the coach and the rink first.”  . 

When Lorelei pushed her salad away it reminded her why she was here, and took the moment to grab the menu that sat in front of them and lay it flat, so she could both look for her meal and pay attention to Lorelei. It felt impossible not to pay attention to her. The food sounded good, and for the most part was what you would find in any diner so it didn’t make the choice particularly hard. 

Sacha’s brows raised as Lore spoke, feeling as if she was being let in on some big secret of the town. “Really? Wow.” She looked down at the table for a moment as she processed, then leaned in slightly, speaking lower. “I get the space thing, we all want rink time, but… I heard that the hockey team wasn’t very good…” How was there even a competition for attention when the skate team had olympic medal winners and the hockey team were considered average at best? Perhaps she’d been informed wrong. 

“That’s understandable. I was six when I made the transition to town so I had absolutely no say in the matter, but Kingscrest is like a magnet for the best coaches in the US at this point. I’m sure you’ll find the right fit sooner rather than later,” Lore acknowledged, keeping her pleasantries for the most part surface-level. She wasn’t spouting any information that wasn’t common knowledge to anyone who had been in town for a bit or who had read her Wikipedia page, but it was nice just to be making conversation.

“Marilynn is my fourth coach,” she also made sure to offer up, in case the girl was feeling at all uneasy about how she didn’t yet have a coach. “She’s also the coach that got me to the Olympics. The magic of Kingscrest.”

Ignore the fact that all four of her coaches had been in Kingscrest and maybe there would’ve actually been something to her statement, but instead it was just meant to function as an optimistic reassurance.

“Where are you living right now?” Lore asked, the question being an obvious next step in the conversation. There were always plenty of places to rent, especially in West Vale, but the Astoria probably provided the most temporary of accommodations. The Lyons family had lived there for a short while from time to time when major construction projects had impacted their ability to live at home, so if Sacha was staying there, Lore could at least give a few tips on when certain amenities were least likely to be in use.

The topic of the major ice skating versus hockey rivalry was much more appealing, though. Thus, with a delighted twinkle in her eye at how she got to be the one to state the cold, hard facts about the hockey team, she jumped right in to things.

“Oh, yeah, they’re not,” Lore agreed, only mildly cringing at how blunt the statement was. It was common knowledge that the Knights were not good, though - both in Kingscrest and outside of it. “I wish I could say otherwise as I love some of them dearly but they are major underdogs. Every time they have a competition that’s less ice time for us, though. And believe it or not there are some die-hard Knights fans in town. Attend a game at some point so you can fully see for yourself because just peeking in on their practice sessions does not do them justice. Just one, though. It’ll go to their heads if you attend more than that and there are some skaters who are way more intense about our little ice family feud.”

Kyle had known Lore for a while and she still was astounded by the woman she called her mother. She was very much the Kris Jenner type, that was obvious, and Kyle wondered how the blonde dealt with that day in and day out. Kyle would probably rip her hair out if that was her mother. “Hey don’t lower your guard. You know that cheer show on netflix? Bitches love watching reality shows about young athletes. Watching them push themselves to the limits and breaking down and breaking bones? It’s like crack to normies, and I wouldn’t be shocked if someone does a show like that following around skaters. And then your mom would get to live out her dream.”

The girl could only imagine the kind of chaos that would ensure if a show like that happened to take place here in Kingcrest. The fucking competition that would arise out of kids just trying to get on it, and then the jealousy that would rise out of the ones that didn’t get picked. Shit would be terrifying and she wouldn’t enter that rink for however long it lasted.

“Exactly what I was thinking. I’m real fucking tempted to reach out to them, but I don’t want to seem desperate, ya know? I have to talk to my agent and shit. Figure out how to go about this. Should I send an edible arraignment and a handwritten note to the head of marketing or like… just hope for the best?” She had clearly thought too much about this, but how could she not? Especially when she was being approached for brand deals with companies that she didn’t want. How did she get the deals with companies she did want?

“Okay, so how did it happen? Like why’d you guys decide to try it again?” When Lore asked about what Kyle was up to, the girl shook her head and smiled. “Nah, my life is pretty boring right now. Just training. So go on, spill. Tell me the whole story.”

Wide-eyed, Lore realized that she was now and for the foreseeable future going to live in fear of Kyle’s hypothetical. The skating world was already competitive enough! Add in cameras and confessionals and reality tv fame and things might just become unbearable.

“She can never know of this idea or else she’ll pitch it herself,” Lore insisted, letting some of the horror she felt at the very idea sink into her tone. “Plus, there’s no way someone wouldn’t end up dead. We’re already competitive enough. We don’t need someone going Extreme Tonya Harding for the cameras.”

Mulling over the idea more and more in her mind, Lore made a mental note to reach out to a few contacts who may be able to ensure that no such thing ever came to pass before she refocused on sponsorship talk. Lorelei was essentially as new to the influencer life as Kyle, but she had inherited some knowledge from her mother that she was happy to share.

“Maybe one non-sponsored Insta post is all it takes to really get on their radar. Tag them in it, rack up those likes, and give it a few weeks. If they don’t come knocking on your door, then you go knocking on theirs with an oh so casual ‘oh, I made this post and my fans were wondering if you were sponsoring me. It hadn’t crossed my mind until now, but I am open to that if you’re currently looking for more athletes to represent your brand’. It’s not like you haven’t been a visible winner since 2018. I see no reason why they’d say no thanks, you know?”

Eager to hear a more thorough life update from Kyle, the light slowly began to drain from Lore’s eyes as she realized she’d presented too tempting of a topic to pursue. The pairs thing was a surprise to many, given how she’d done so well on her own. And given how it was common knowledge that she and Ian hadn’t even been able to make it one full competition season together after nonstop training for two years.

Kyle was her friend, and therefore she felt the need to answer the question... but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t prefer talking about anything aside from Ian.

“I’m going to be honest, it really wasn’t my decision,” she began, unsure of exactly how much Kyle may have already known. They were pals, but they’d gotten to know each other two years after that particular drama in her life. “He appeared out of the blue, after four years of us not talking at all, to basically whisper the idea into the ear of my coach. The next thing I knew Marilynn had decided to throw out my solo routine and nothing I could say would stop her. You need a coach to compete. My fate, for the moment, has been sealed.”

Perhaps staring so intensely at her glass of water as she spoke had been the wrong choice, but it had been her default one. Looking up at Kyle to gauge her reaction to the specifics, Lore couldn’t be sure of what the girl was thinking.

“I don’t know how I’m making it sound, but... just know it’s not some whirlwind thing. Leaving things off in a bad place and letting them fester for four years doesn’t exactly do wonders for a partnership.”

Ian opened his mouth to continue his tirade about circles when she pulled him aside. The flames of passion in him burnt strongly on the topic of good luck and circles. Fat Eeyore had stuck it out with him for a long time as a symbol of his success. Her refusal to accept the walrus was surely some kind of counter sign. An omen.

“Yeah… Are you?” he replied slowly, narrowing his eyes warily at her. It was a weird question to be asking someone who was trying to explain the intricacies of the world’s lace. Clearly, Lorelei needed a lot of help.

Ian stroked the walrus’s plump body fondly, gazing down at the thing in deliberation before offering her the plush toy. Its smiling face looked more tense than cheerful in his hold, like a happy hostage in the palms of a bad situation. 

“Do you want to take him home?” he asked. “Maybe you’ll understand what a good luck charm is when you have one.”

“Yeah. Of course,” Lore brightened, faux cheer driving the conversation forward. She probably shouldn’t have asked him if he was okay. Had she been expecting any other reply? He hadn’t even taken a moment to do a genuine self-assessment, instead having turned things back around on her and forcing her to simply shake her head and move on like she hadn’t just been questioning him.

At that point Lore’s eyes were just left to dart about the room, attempting to find something else to remark on while they waited for Marilynn to appear once more.

“Oh, I should probably put back the-” she started, gesturing towards the neon atrocity that clearly was never going to make an appearance on his body before Ian’s words caught her off guard once more.

Oh.

“Me?” her eyes widened. Given how much he’d just defended his purchase of the item, that he was willing to temporarily give it up so easily was a bit of a surprise. That he was willing to give it up to her even more so.

“Uh... sure. But what am I supposed to do with him? To prove he’s lucky, I mean. I can’t like... wear him, like I did my not-actually-lucky hair pin when I was ten.” It wasn’t a statement on good luck charms being childish, no matter what it sounded like.

Gingerly taking the plush toy back, Lore stared down at the blank eyes that threatened to stare into her soul if she looked too long before looking back up at Ian.

Caroline had been going out and making bad decisions since she was in high school. Before most of her days were spent wallowing in pain and isolating herself from near everyone she could see, making sure they kept far away for fear they might end up hurting her. But when the alcohol got involved she allowed herself to loosen up and have fun. It didn’t matter if people were touching her or pouring shots down her throat. Everything became a gentle buzz.

“I’m an eighteen year old alcoholic, Lore,” she sighed, looking out the window as the trees passed by. “I know it’s a problem. I’m not an idiot.”

She wanted to cry. Tears prickled at the edge of her eyes and she forced them back. No. No. Fuck this, fuck them, fuck everyone. She was not going to start crying in this car. She refused to. Her suit of armor was strong enough to withstand this.

“It’s the only thing I have.”

She’d been expecting Caroline to brush off her concern, insist she was fine, and then stomp off once they reached the Evergreen home. What she hadn’t been expecting was the light to turn green while Caroline confessed that at just eighteen years old she was already an alcoholic.

Lorelei could not possibly concentrate on safe driving and a big conversation simultaneously.

The streets of Kingscrest were normally empty on a Tuesday night, so Lore had no trouble pulling over to the side of the road and parking. She kept the car on for comfort, but she wasn’t about to get moving again until Caroline had expanded upon her thoughts. ‘It’s the only thing I have’ was setting off some major warning bells, and Lore refused to just let it slide.

“Have you talked to anyone about this? Like... a real person. Not me,” she questioned. “A therapist. To make it explicitly clear, I meant a therapist. I know we don’t talk anymore, but drinking cannot be the only thing you have.”

If there was one thing Finn knew he was good at, other than math and engineering and environmental studies and playing hockey, it was being a little brother. He would argue to say that he was probably the best one around. Today he had gotten home earlier than Lore and, well, he wasn’t just going to sit around and wait. That shit was boring.

He made his way to her room and crawled into her bed, pulling out one of the journals he knew was hidden away. Try as she might to keep them from his prying eyes he had mastered the art of finding her shit. Most of the stuff was old news. They didn’t really keep much from each other in terms of secrets. When you lived in the insane pyramid scheme house and had to band together to save your throats from your moms essential oil cooking, you got pretty close.

“How was practice?” Finn asked from his comfortable spot in her bed when he heard the door open. He had her pillows fixed so he was propped up and snuggled in her sheets. “You accidentally cut off his penis yet? I’m telling you it’s a power move.”

@loreleilyons​

After another long day of practice there was nothing Lorelei wanted more than to take a nice warm shower, crawl into bed, and not speak to another soul until the following day. Marilynn’s private suggestion that she needed to pick up an acting class or two had been banging around in her mind in the three hours since the words had hit the air, and suddenly a decently confident Lore was questioning herself more and more.

She’d thought they’d been doing better? She maybe wasn’t as passionate as she could be, but some acknowledgment of how she was no longer cringing at Ian’s touch would be nice. Instead there were zero compliments. Only critiques.

She wouldn’t be in such a sorry state if she was still skating only solo.

Lore’s stomping up the stairs would have been indication enough to her family that she wanted some alone time, had they been there. But as per usual, the Lion-filled driveway had been empty upon her arrival. Thus, she could not have been more terrified when she tossed open her door only to reveal... Finn.

Alone time was a myth when you had an invasive younger sibling.

“Have you ever considered the fact that I hide things for a reason?” Lore narrowed her eyes, snatching her pastel journal out of the male’s hands before she could even drop her bag. “I don’t need to be known as the Lorena Bobbitt of the figure skating would, thanks. Fame? Fine. Infamy? No thanks.”

Taking a deep breath, Lore dropped her things next to her bed before forcing the male to move over. He wasn’t about to go anywhere, so they might as well both get comfortable.

“What are you doing here? Last time you were here we legitimately almost had to call poison control because of mom’s cooking. I didn’t think you’d be so eager to risk an accidental near-death experience again.”

NAME: Snow ❄️ Evergreen

RINGTONE: Two Ghosts

PICTURE:

NAME: Your FAVORITE 😇

RINGTONE: What Makes You Beautiful

PICTURE:

NAME: You Can’t Talk To Ollie Manning ❌

RINGTONE: Bad Blood

PICTURE:

NAME: Kyle McIntyre 😎

RINGTONE: That’s My Girl

PICTURE:

NAME: Benji Fields 💞

RINGTONE: You’re The One That I Want

PICTURE:

Sacha didn’t notice any delay in speaking, even though there was one, because her head was racing a mile a minute. She could so easily go into a ten minute ramble about every miniscule detail of her performance, every beautiful little flourish that had, in her mind, made it worthy of the gold medal. Holding back felt necessary though, because bombarding her entirely would probably only scare her away and now they shared the same rink and she’d be crushed if Lorelei felt the need to avoid her and her fangirling.

“Definitely paid off.” She chuckled, a tiny wipe of her brow evidencing her nerves. It was surreal for her to be offering a seat beside her, Sach was fairly sure this kind of thing only happened when she was daydreaming. 

She left the Christmas tree behind and hopped onto the diner stool, immediately leaning her elbow onto the counter. Her eyes glanced down at the sad salad sitting in front of Lorelei and immediately felt glad, again, that today was cheat day. 

“I hope so. And yeah, pretty much. The rink in my town was so small, and basically always open to the general public so it was hard to get a good solo practice in. Plus, they didn’t have any proper coaches we had to bring them in, but then my coach was going home to family, so we decided to come here.”

"Oh, did your coach live here or did you get a new one when you moved?”

It was an innocent enough question, and for once Lorelei felt that her questions to a newcomer may simply stay at that level. Lore wasn’t about to interrogate the girl when she was only her potential competition in one facet of her chosen sport. Her pair skating career was still on shaky ground, but since her coach had (for all intents and purposes) ditched out on the idea of Lore’s solo success, Sacha wasn’t technically the competition she had to watch out for. Not unless Sacha had a secret partner she’d failed to mention thus far...

“Mostly asking because I had to have a coach brought in for me,” she decided to follow up seconds later. Best if the question had more context rather than seeming out of the blue, right? “A few times, actually, to find the right fit. So I understand that struggle. Making sure you jive well is a difficult process. Hopefully you find success in Kingscrest.”

With one more bite of salad she had officially declared herself finished with the meal, pushing the plate away to reinforce said declaration before she turned to observe the girl once more. Now that she thought about it, Lore was pretty sure she’d seen videos of her. She had never been one to watch her competitors in person, but a fair few names had come her way online. Something about her was vaguely familiar, but she was going to have to check her YouTube history to be absolutely certain.

In the meantime, what better way to welcome the new girl than to offer her a hot tip?

“Complete side note,” she stressed. “But I don’t know if anyone’s clued you in to it yet. Just so you know, the rink is more or less drama-free amongst the skaters. Our natural enemies are the hockey team. It’s not really Capulet and Montague up in here, but we’re always in competition for space and attention.”

NAME: PROCEED WITH CAUTION ⚠️

RINGTONE: The Devil’s Daughter

PICTURE:

NAME: Sacha F. (New)

RINGTONE: Treat People With Kindness

PICTURE: [taken from skater database]