for a second, chase forgot how to be smug about it. he’d asked for honesty because he wanted to watch her squirm a little and see if lola would hand him even one real thing from behind all that wit and gold and danger. he’d expected a dodge. maybe a joke. that feline smile and another remark meant to turn the heat back on him. instead, she gave him exactly what he’d asked for. i thought about you. more often than i should have. you linger. and christ, it should’ve made him unbearable and grin like he’d just put one top shelf in overtime. but it landed too directly for that, sank in too deep, because he’d been doing the same damn thing. thinking about her in between drills, in elevators, in the locker room, in the empty seconds before sleep when he had no excuse for it. “yeah?” he asked, voice quieter now, still near her ear, still tangled up in the music and the heat of her. his thumb pressed once at her hip, as if giving away that he liked hearing it more than he meant to. “good. because you’ve been a real pain in my ass too.”
then she named her prize, and chase blinked. once. twice. ice skating. not another kiss. not a drink. not some wicked little continuation of the game they’d been playing in the middle of the dance floor. ice skating. the surprise knocked a laugh out of him, but it wasn’t cruel; it was bright, charmed, and caught somewhere between disbelief and genuine delight. of all the things lola could’ve asked him for, she’d picked the one thing that made him picture her away from the party, away from all the noise and eyes, bundled up at an empty rink with her hands in his while he taught her how not to eat shit on a turn. the image was so clear it almost annoyed him. “ice princess?” he repeated, grin pulling wide again, warmer around the edges now. “lola, you’re full of surprises. here i was thinkin’ you were gonna ask for another kiss, and you come at me with childhood olympic dreams.”
he shifted with her for another beat, but his hold changed a little, less like he was trying to survive her and more like he’d found a new way to keep her close. “alright,” chase said, eyes holding hers over her shoulder. “i’ll teach you.” there was no hesitation in it or an attempt to play coy, even if his grin stayed trouble. “but i need you to understand that if you fall, i am absolutely allowed to catch you and act heroic about it. that’s non-negotiable.” his gaze dipped briefly to her mouth, then lifted again. “and the triple axel might take us a minute, but staying upright? turning? stopping without slamming into the boards? i can work with that.” a beat passed, his voice dipping again, fond despite himself. “you want me on the ice with you, you’ve got me. just tell me when.”
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