#simbarficweek

He interrupted her.

“She didn’t, don’t worry” he said with a small smirk, she had that angry face of her that has always reminded him to a squirrel, a very angry squirrel.

“Then, why are you like that?”

Her question made him sigh, he couldn’t tell her about the conversation they had in the locker’s room, and much less about the fact he was almost going to tell Ambar he may need her. It was strange, but he has been thinking a little too much about the blonde girl for a while now, noticing her right in the moment when she came in to a room where he was in, and wanting to be the one she smiled to while she was talking with her friends. It was strange because she was Ambar Smith, and he was just the guitarist, her nemesis’ best friend.

“I’m just nervous about the competition, we still need to find someone to replace Ambar” he lied, he didn’t like to lie to his best friend, but he couldn’t say the truth about this neither.

“Yeah, I know.” Luna bit his lip. “Gastón said he would do it, but the choreography was made for three girls and three boys, so it wouldn’t work. I asked Nina, she is skating a little bit more since she is dating Gastón, but she said she doesn’t have the skills for a competition like that. Matteo told me he would ask Delfi and Jazmín, but I’m pretty sure they won’t do it because of Ambar, and Jim and Ramiro told me they are going to insist with Yam, even if she has said she was too busy with her internship with Mora.”

Yeah, they were screwed, there was only one week left for the competition.

“Maybe if I talk to Ambar…” started to say Luna, and he shook his head.

“She won’t listen”

“But I could insist”

“And she will get mad, say something mean, and you’ll end up fighting” He said, and there it was again, the angry squirrel face.

“We need to do something”

“I know” he admitted.

Yes, he needed to do something, and he wasn’t even talking about the competition, but about his situation with Ambar Smith, he needed to let her know how he felt, even if he wasn’t sure he could handle his heart being ripped apart, again.

 Jazmin was in front of her, tablet on her hands, filming her for the next Fav & Chick update. They were on the rink, not many people were skating around them, and so it was the perfect moment to do a little demonstration of her skills.

But first, they were making a short interview.

“Please, tell us why you’re not participating in the next competition” asked the redhead, and she gave a confident smile to the camera.

“Because the team doesn’t have the level I deserve, so I decided to focus on my training for the next one that is in couples, so I can easily win.” she answered.

“And who is going to be your partner?” was the next question.

“Oh, he hasn’t been chosen yet, but I will be doing some auditions very soon… so stay tuned!” she kept smiling to the camera, even if she wanted Jazmin to turn it off.

“That’s nice!” Her friend continued. “So, why are we here at the rink?” she asked then, as scripted.

“Because I wanted to show some of my moves to my fans” she said, and sent a kiss to the camera. “Ready?” added, going to her position, and when her friend gave her a thumbs up signal, she started skating around the rink, doing some amazing tricks she had been working on.

And then, when she was doing her last trick, he saw him leaning on the protecting bars of the rink.

She almost fell.

He was looking directly at her, his face was illegible, something she had thought was impossible as Simon’s expressions were always an open book.

“What happened on the last trick?” Jazmin asked her.

“I lost concentration, that’s all.” she answered, not even looking at her.

“Would you like to try it again?” her friend asked, getting the tablet ready to film again, but Ambar stopped her.

“Is ok, just edit the last part out, I have to do something” she answered, noticing Simon’s sight still on her.

She couldn’t stop thinking about that conversation they had at the locker’s room the other day, sometimes she felt as if his warm body was still surrounding her in that thigh hug, and sometimes she found herself thinking about how it would be to kiss him.

She always stopped herself in that part.

And last, but not least, she has been asking herself again and again what was that thing he was going to tell her just before storming out from the room.

“Are you sure?” her friend asked, and she saw Simon doing a gesture with his head, like inviting her to go talk somewhere else.

“Yeah, I’m sure”.

 “If you want to talk about the competition, forget it. I’m not going back to the team” She said, as soon as she found him on the park, where they agreed to meet.

She had suggested to talk at the locker’s room, but he insisted to do it somewhere no one could interrupt them, so she went to change her skates, and then walked to the park.

She ran, indeed.

“I don’t want to talk about the competition, Jim and Ramiro are convincing Yam to take your part” he answered, and she felt a small jealously prick when he thought about the other girl skating on her placer, even worst, skating with him.

“She isn’t even half good as I am.” She said, taking a strand of hair out of her face.

“Well, you were the one who decided to leave the team, weren’t you?” he asked, and then shook his head, like if he could erase what he had just said with that gesture. “Forget it, I didn’t bring you here to talk about that” he looked nervous.

“Then why?” she asked.

“Because…” he took some air. “Well… I-.” He nervously brushed his hand on his neck. “I thought we could talk about the other day, about everything I told you, I feel I must apologize…”

She didn’t let him continue.

“Don’t apologize.” She said. “You don’t have to.”

“Why for?” he asked.

“Because you were right.” She answered, her heart beating faster.

She had been thinking a lot about their conversation, she knew he was right about her, but that’s what made her get so angry, the fact he got to see her through the wall she had made to keep her true feelings hidden from the world.

“I should be the one to apologize, I don’t like it when people try to lecture me, and so I overreacted.” She sighted. “It wasn’t my best moment, and I made you pay for it, when it wasn’t your fault.”

He looked at her, mouth-opened.

“Wow! Did I just get an apology from Ambar Smith?” He said, sincerely surprised.

She allowed a small grin to come out from her lips.

“Well, don’t get used to it” she answered, but she was smiling.

“I won’t, I promise” he said, and she felt her own hear warming because of his smile.

They didn’t talk for almost a minute, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, it was indeed really nice, because they didn’t need to say much to feel good around each other.

“By the way, about the other day… you were going to say something before you left, what was it?” she asked then, because she couldn’t get that question out of her mind.

“It… it was nothing” he said, trying to avoid the topic, and she rolled her eyes.

“I told you everything, and apologized. So, whatever it was, please tell me” she demanded, and he sighed.

“Ok, but don’t freak out.” He said, after a while. “I understand if you don’t feel the same, but I… I kind of believe that the reason why I went to the lockers room that day wasn’t entirely because of the team, but because I kind of enjoy skating with you, I mean, I feel we connect… we are good for each other, and I kind of started to… like you. Well, more than li…like,” he stuttered. “I thing I’m falling for you. But, as I told you, it’s ok if you don’t fee…”

He didn’t get to finish his words, because her lips met his, and he felt like if the muses were singing hallelujahs around them.

They stopped thinking, his arms went around her putting her close, and hers surrounded his neck, not letting the height difference separate their lips. Right in that moment they could be surrounded by a lot of people, and they wouldn’t notice, in that exact moment there were only both of them.

She was the one who broke the kiss, but he kept her close, as their eyes met.

“I’m not sure about what I feel for you, I’ve never felt something like this before, but I’m not afraid to figure it out, not anymore.” She said, caressing his face.

He smiled.

“We don’t have to rush it, I mean… we have a lot of time” He said. “For example, now that we are here, would you like an ice-cream or something? It could be like a first date” He asked, and she laughed. He was right, maybe they could get along a little bit, know each other, and find out what’s exactly that feeling growing up between them.  

“Don’t you have to go back for work?” She asked, teasing him with a smile.

“I asked Nico to replace me for the rest of the day, we came to an agreement: I covered him last week when he dated Jim.” He answered, and she smiled again. It’s impossible not to smile when he is close, she thought. “Come on, is just an ice cream” he insisted, breaking their embrace, and offering her his hand.

“Ok, let’s go for that ice cream” she said, and took his hand to start walking by the park.

Later that night she couldn’t sleep thinking about that amazing kiss, and found herself knocking on Luna’s bedroom by midnight, telling her she was going to go back to the team, so they wouldn’t have to keep searching for someone to replace her.

The guitarist wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t the best either; and always, always late.

She was the strongest out of the two; it was easy to outshine him when skating (not that she didn’t do that already when she skated with Matteo, but now it was laughable how easy it was) However, Simón being weak was also a risk; because then her safety would be compromised if he lifted her the wrong way, or dropped her by accident if he stepped wrong.

So far none of that had happened because they hadn’t practiced those parts yet; Tamara wanting to help them ‘connect’ with each other had taken most of their rehearsing time with the easy steps first, leaving the most complicated ones for last (which was stupid and a waste of time, she had made it known but, of course, “take it easy” was the team’s motto).

Another problem was that he was easily distracted all the time; if she had to count the number of times she had to snap him out of his Luna-induced-state, she’d fall asleep very quickly at night.

Him not giving her enough attention bothered her a lot.

And her vanity was wounded. She was used to shine, to be the sun on the rink, everyone’s attention on her, awed by her talent, envying her because her steps were as flawless as it could be; and he, foolishly, would rather focus on a stupid moon who couldn’t care less was his center of gravitation.  

Yes, it bothered a lot.

Ámbar huffed once she finished tying her quads’ laces, angry at herself for letting that boy’s obliviousness affect her, when Simón stumbled into the lockers, in a rush.

“Am I late?” he asked, breathing heavily. She didn’t know what was with him and Luna being late to everything, but she was reaching her limit of patience, always waiting. Was this a Mexican thing, or were they just oh so connected that shared the same flaws?

“Not yet.” She scowled him, standing up to allow him lace up his own skates. Simón had the decency to look ashamed.

“I’m sorry, but with the band we’re still choo-”

She interrupted him, scowl intact, “I honestly don’t care.”

Ámbar waited for him to be offended by her response, like a normal person would; he, of course, being all Mr. Nice Guy, just smiled at her, sitting down with his quads to begin putting them on. “Fair enough.”

She didn’t know how to respond to that.

She wanted to ask him what he meant, why he didn’t seem to mind her bashing his band; but she just huffed again (which she did a lot around him), and skated to the rink, not before shouting a “hurry up” in his direction, to, well, hurry him up.

She stepped in the rink in seconds, unsurprised that the only people from the team that were there, were Ramiro, Matteo and her. Ámbar, of course, couldn’t stop from complaining.

“Your partners aren’t here yet? So unprofessional.”

Matteo was the first to react, rolling his eyes at her comment, and jumped to defend his lover girl “Luna had to stay at school a little longer today, she’ll be here soon.”

“Ah, of course.”

She could see her ex’s mouth turning upwards for a second, before she started her usual warm ups around the rink, not bothering to hear what Ramiro had to say about Jim’s whereabouts. She could care less about whatever those losers were doing, probably moping around some guy; because they were that desperate.

Matteo caught up with her a moment later, “where’s the guitarist, anyway? I don’t see him here either.”

“Miss him already?” she changed her course, standing in front of him to now skate backwards, smirk well put on her face. “Worried that he’s actually with your little Luna-love?”

“Ámbar.” His face turned blank, not entertained at all (which in Matteo terms, meant he was jealous and wasn’t willing to let the world know)

“Luckily for us, though,” she nodded towards the lockers’ doorframe, where Simón was already there, about to step into the rink, “he’s here, alone.”

Matteo didn’t look back, didn’t even tilt his head to look behind him, but kept his eyes on her face. His eyes turned from emotionless to amused in a second, and a smile appeared just as fast, “I see.”

“But you don’t.” She retorted, confused at his answer. Was today a “tell Ámbar weird responses to confuse her” day or something? Or were they just idiots?

“Or do I?” he teased, circling around her. Ámbar glared at him, crossing her arms.

He was acting ridiculous now. From experience, she could tell he was trying to get something out of her, by making her want to lash out and admit something. What exactly, she wasn’t sure. Balsano knew her better than most people, so the probability of him catching up with something about her before she could even think about it first was high.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Matteo circled her one more time before shrugging off, “you’re smart, you’ll figure it out.” With that, he left her side to go to the bleachers, where Gastón was now with Ramiro, Jim and Yam.

Nevertheless, Ámbar was annoyed. “What the- Matteo!” she called after him, ready to skate in his direction when Simón appeared in front of her, blocking her way from demanding answers out of her ex-boyfriend.

“Have you warmed up yet?” he asked, half scaring her to death, half actually killing her by nearly making her fall from the scare. Basically, he almost murders her.

He did save her, though, by holding her by the shoulders before she could meet the ground.

“I was in the middle of that,” she shrugged him off, literally, to get his hands off her. He took a step back, and smiled down at her, making her slightly uncomfortable.

Personally, she thought he looked ridiculous. Crooked beanie, horrible blue hoodie, and creepy smile. She was reminded of her best friend’s stupid crush when he first appeared in their lives; for someone who loved fashion, how could Jazmín had ever been interested in him? A real mystery she was not set to solve.

He had a nice enough body and face, but there was something that just made her hesitate about him. Unknown territory she had no intention to step on.

“Want to warm up together? We could even practice the lifts this time.” Simón pulled her out of her thoughts. So, of course, taken out in a shock, she blurted out the first thing that came out from her brain.

“Do you like Jazmín?”

He blinked, once, twice, “what?”

The heat from her cheeks was unwelcome. She knew she was embarrassed.

Fortunately for her, it was then when Mariano came and ordered them to start skating around the rink again, so they did.

They circled around fourteenth times, stretching and practicing a couple easy steps on the way. Lunita joined them when they hit the fourth round, shouting apologies nobody (her) cared to listen, and she huffed once more.

Fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth.

On the eighteenth turn, Simón finally caught up with her, skating along her and trying to follow whatever step she was making. She got annoyed soon, and went past him, increasing her speed until it was safe to do an axel without falling on her face for lack of impulse.

She heard her friends cheer on the background, clapping loudly. When had they arrived, she had no idea, but she still flipped her hair in acknowledgement, smirking proudly.

When she looked back she found Simón’s eyes on her, smiling and clapping along. The image was so weird, so unusual to her, she lost her balance for a second, and fell on her butt. His face turned concerned immediately and, rushed to her side; the rest of the team plus their coaches close behind.

His face was in front of hers in a minute, “you’re okay?”

She gulped at the closeness, her stomach getting unsettled all of the sudden, “I think so.”

Tamara came behind Simón, who had kneeled down beside her, and asked, “can you stand? Does it hurt anywhere?”

It was then when Ámbar noticed her ankle was actually in pain, wincing. “I think my ankle might be hurt.”

Mariano cursed loudly, and ordered for anyone to bring ice quickly, while he ran to his cellphone to call a doctor. With Tamara and Simón’s help, they took her quads off, the former examining her left ankle as soon as the sock was off.

“I think it might just be a bruise,” she spoke sweetly, after a few minutes, “still, it’d be better if you just sit down and ice it for today.” Ámbar was more than ready to complain, but Tamara’s look shut her up before she could, “now, one of you please take her to the bleachers so she can sit down there.”

On the corner of her eye, she saw Matteo taking a step, ready to offer himself. Simón beat him at it, surprising them both, but made her ex smile for some reason.  

“I will.” Without giving her time to protest, he lifted her up, securing her in his arms; bride-style.

Ámbar was speechless. He even had his freaking quads on! She didn’t know if she was scared he’d let her fall or just plain shocked he volunteered to carry her, but she couldn’t form a sentence.

Once they reached the stands, he accommodated her on a chair, before allowing Delfi and Jazmín to bombarded with questions about her wellbeing.

“Hey, hey, let her breath.” He nudged them softly, shutting them up effectively for a total of two seconds, because then they proceeded to apologize non-stop.

Somehow she found her voice again, “just shut up already.” They did this time, “if you want to be useful go and bring me water or something.”

They were gone in a flash, so she looked up to the boy, who looked more amused than anything. “What?” she asked, but he just shrugged, avoiding an answer.

“Simón! Get back to practice!” Mariano yelled at him, snapping his fingers to let him know there was no time to waste.

“I hate that guy,” he told her secretively, making the corners of her mouth twitch.

“SIMÓN!”

The boy rolled his eyes, but still didn’t move, “are you going to be okay by yourself for now?” she nodded in response, “feel better, yeah? Can’t let this rink be without its queen.” Simón winked, and left her to go with a very pissed Mariano, finally starting to practice the choreography.

She was stunned, once again, by him. What even was this? Black magic? Voodoo? This clearly wasn’t her.

“Does it hurt less now, Ámbar?” Delfi appeared again, with a bottle of water and a very worried Jazmín carrying a sandwich behind her.

She nodded. But inside, she was screaming.

Simón must have thrown a spell on her, that was the only (il)logical reason.  

Cause she, sure as hell, wasn’t crushing on him.

“You know you say this about someone at least once a week?” Simón asks amused.

“I am very aware.”Ámbar says turning around in her bed. “It’s just that there are so many people deserving of my hate in this world.”

“I’m just glad that I’m not one of them.” Simón teases her and Ámbar rolls her eyes even if he can’t see her.

“At least for now.” Ámbar teases him. “Who knows who can happen in the future.”

“I hope nothing bad, I don’t want to to suffer your wrath.” Simón chuckles and she smiles to herself.“Anyway it’s late and you have classes tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. “Ámbar sighs. “Good night, sleep well.”

“Good night, I love you.” He says sounding distracted and Ámbar breath catches for a second, Simón doesn’t seem to notice what came out of his mouth immediately but the moment he does an awkward silence takes over the line.”Ok, sleep well.”

“And how am I supposed to do that after what you’ve just told me?” Ámbar question him hoping that this will prompts some explanation about what just happened out of him but instead he just mutters a quick bye and hangs up the phone. Ámbar can’t believe this guy, after dropping that bomb all he says is ‘sleep well’?

She huffs and looks at her phone offended and confused, the first because this loser just hanged up on her and the second because she recognizes the feeling growing on her chest as disappointment. Is she disappointed that Simón just told her he loves her? That can’t be, the uneasiness of the feeling started settling itself on her chest after he said, when it had become obvious that Simón was going to avoid the topic. Is it possible she is disappointed because of that?That she is disappointed that he is avoiding topic instead of facing it?Is it possible that she is actually in love with Simón and that's why she is feeling like this?

Ámbar stares at the ceiling, analyzing her present and pasts feelings for Simón.

Somehow the guy had become an important feature in her life, he had become the person she goes to when she is feeling down, sad or angry, the first person she runs to every time she has good news and the person who always managed to make smile. Maybe there is a chance that somewhere along the way she had fallen in love with the guitarist without noticing, that love is the warm feeling that spreads on her chest when she sees his face. Ámbar groans into her pillow, she can’t believe she fell in love with Simón and that she couldn’t notice it in time to stop it.

Ámbar turns on her bed again, now with another burning question roaming her mind, sadly this is a question she can’t answer on her own, no matter how smart she is.

Saying Ámbar wakes up the next morning would imply that she actually managed to actually sleep but all she did was toss and turn. At least she had a plan of action after that sleepless night, first step: Interrogate Lunita. 

Ámbar gets ready quickly and throws a look at her clock, it’s almost seven, which means that Luna must still be on her room, perfect. Ámbar walks across the house until she reaches Luna’s room but when she knocks on her door there’s no answer, she tries again, harder this time, just in case she is still asleep but nothing changes. Ámbar opens the door just to find the room empty, she figures Simón warned Luna about what happened and she decided to flee as early as she could just to avoid her, great.

She goes down to the kitchen and when she finds no one but Mónica her suspicions are confirmed, that little coward ran. Now the only thing she can do is go straight to the source.

She asks Mónica for a quick breakfast and in just minutes he is out of the house and in her way to the Jam&Roller, she doesn’t care how early it is,she doesn’t care that they are probably not opened yet, she doesn’t care that Nico and Pedro will be there too, she doesn’t care about anything, she is a woman on a mission and nothing will stop her.

Once she gets to the Roller the doors are closed but she hears some rustling inside so she starts knocking forcefully, just a few seconds later a very confused Pedro opens the door for her.

“What are you doing-?” Pedro starts but she interrupts him.

“Where’s Simón?” She asks and Pedro just takes a step to the side to let her in and points inside, his confused expression changed for a vaguely terrified one.

“What the fuck, Simón? “She says in form of greeting when she finds him cleaning tables with Nico.

“I better go do...that thing.” Nico says and bolts somewhere Ámbar doesn’t care about.

“Hi.” Simón says awkwardly and Ámbar rolls her eyes.

“Save it.” She tells him. “You know why I’m here.”

“I know.” Simón sighs and walks to her. “Look Ámbar I’m sorry.”

“You are sorry?” Ámbar asks too surprised to keep the hurt out of her voice.

“Yeah, I am.” Simón looks down, avoiding her eyes. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

Ámbar doesn’t know what she expected when she came here but she is sure it wasn’t this. She didn’t expect a big love declaration that would end up in passionate kiss that would seal their love forever or some crap, she is not that kind of girl but she thought she would at least get a kiss and maybe a boyfriend by the end of this conversation. And now it looks like she won’t even be capable of keeping her friend if the tears stinging in her eyes are anything to go by.

“You shouldn’t have?” She asks slowly, bracing herself for his answer.

“No, I shouldn’t.” Simón sighs.  “I know you are not in love with me and I should have never put that weight on you, I’ve learned my lesson.”

“What?” Ámbar exclaims confused. “Tell me again why you shouldn’t have said you love me.”

“Because you don’t.” Simón looks up, finally meeting her eyes and letting her see the sadness. “But you are still on of my best friends and I want to have on in my life so the fact that I’m in love with you it’s my problem, not yours.”

“Okay but who the hell said I’m not in love with you?” Ámbar asks somewhat harshly.

“Wait.”Simón shakes his head in disbelief.”What did you just say?”

“I said that I’m in love with you.” Ámbar says softly, taking a step closer to her. “I don’t know how it happened or how I left it happen but it did and I’m in love with you.”

Simón looks at her dumbfounded, his mouth slightly open and the surprise evident in his eye, but slowly a bright smile replaces his confused expression and hope fills his eyes.

“Do you really mean it?” He whispers softly, taking a step closer to her, leaving their bodies almost pressed to each other and letting her feel his breath on her lips.

“I really do.” Ámbar admits just as softly, taking her hands to his shoulders, hoping he gets the hint.

“Well since I’m in love with you and you are in love I have a proposition.” Simón tells her, resting his hands on her waist.

“What is it?” Ámbar asks curious about the excitement  in his eyes.

“You and me.” He starts and Ámbar has to bite her lip to contain a small giggle, she doesn't giggle. “Going on a date, tomorrow night.”

“And what would we do on this date?”

“This, I hope.” And with that Simón lips finally meet with hers.

“What do you want me to say?” He didn’t even try to put a friendly voice.

“That you are sorry!”

“Why would I be sorry? I didn’t do wrong.” He answered, still driving. “You were the one who was being passive-aggressive with Luna, and the rest of our friends”.

“I wasn’t” she tried to defend herself, he looked at her for a second, and then took his eyes back to the road.

“You know you were, don’t argue with me about that” he said.

Then, she didn’t say word, and he drove some miles more in complete silence, before she got to fire back.

“Well, they weren’t friendly with me neither”

“You were mean, Ambar” He answered, not taking his eyes from the road. “You told Luna so many insulting things I lost count, and she was sincerely trying to be friendly with you, even after all what you did to the Jam & Roller and the team last year”.

“I thought we were good about it!”

“We are!” he replied, raising his voice for the first time. “You know what? I can’t do this anymore, I can’t drive while we argue” he said and pulled the car out of the road, because if they continued this conversation while he was driving there would be a car crash, or something like that.

“Look…” he said, turning on the parking lights. “I’m good with you being on a different team, practicing on another rink, competing against our team.” He took some air.  “Yes, I miss skating with you, and I miss seeing you at the Jam & Roller every day, but I understand why you are doing this, and I know your decision has nothing to do with me, or the team”.

She stayed silent.

“Well, maybe it IS a little bit about the team” he added.  “But I understand and fully support you, and I will always do it. I know you needed to find yourself somewhere else, to skate in a place where you could achieve your dreams, and show up all your potential. I know you’re happy in your new team, and I would never be mad at you because of that. So yeah, we could compete in different teams, but I will always be your number one fan, and be happy if your team wins, as much as I would if ours did.”

More silence, so he sighed.

“It is ok for me, but you have to understand it’s not the same way for the others, they feel betrayed, and you can’t blame them for that.” He continued, with a soft voice. “And I was so stupid I took you to that party so you could talk to them, and maybe fix some things. But you were with your defenses up, waiting for them to say anything you could translate into an invitation to start an argument, and so it happened.”

“You snapped at me in front of all of them!” she finally exploded.

“Once, and I just told you to calm down.” he sighed again, trying to keep it cool. “I know it wasn’t the best tone, but otherwise you and Luna would have killed each other, and I’m pretty sure not even me and Matteo together would have been able to stop you.”

“But you are my boyfriend, and it totally looked like if you were on her side” she replied.

He rolled his eyes.

“Oh no, don’t bring that my side – her side discussion here,” he said, visibly in pain. “You are my girlfriend, she is my best friend, I love you both in a totally different way… she is like my sister, and you know how important you are for me, how much I love you, so stop talking about me taking sides, because I don’t.”

She looked taken aback for a moment, before silently turning around to look at the car window on her side, and he closed his eyes, and pressed the bridge of his nose with his fingertips.

His head was killing him.

“I’m sorry” she eventually said, and he opened his eyes. “I know you want the best for me. And I do miss everyone, so thank you for trying, I guess I was just… jealous.”

“Of what?” he looked at her, surprised.

“Of Luna, of all of you being friendly and happy and me being the stranger… the undesirable number one. Of you skating with them and not with me. And I know, I know” she stopped him, before he could even open his mouth to say something. “I know you can’t leave the Roller because you work there, and because of the band,” she sighed.  “But I can’t help feeling that way. So I’m sorry for making you pay for something that is all my fault, and for making this night so miserable”.

He softly smiled, and raised his hand to caress her cheek.

“Hey, it hasn’t been all miserable” he said, with a soft voice. “I feel like it’s getting nicer right now” he added, and she smiled back.

“Is it?” she asked.

“Yeah, it is” he answered, and came closer to let a soft kiss on her lips, leaving all their discussion behind, making her forget about roller skate competitions, rinks, and jealously problems caused by dumb insecurities.

“I love you” he said, when they parted away.

“I know” she answered, smiling. “And I love you too.”

“I’m sorry for snapping at you”

“Don’t be, you were right, I’d have killed Lunita, and you need her on your team if you want to be close to my team’s level for the next competition.” She said, and they both laughed. “Just… don’t tell her I said that.”

“I won’t” he promised, and then started the car.

The stupid skate finally comes out from her foot, and she has to use all her self-control to not to throw it across the room, she is not the kind of girl who does that kind of tantrums, and she is not giving them the pleasure to see her going mad.

Never.

She was taking her backpack off the locker, to get her phone and call her driver, when she felt someone was coming.

“Look Matteo, I don’t want to talk about it, I’m tired of…” she was saying, but then notices it wasn’t her ex-boyfriend the one who followed her to the locker’s room, and went speechless.

“Sorry for not being your boyfriend, but…”

“Ex” she corrected him.

“Ok… Sorry for not being your ex-boyfriend, for some reason the team thought it would be better if I came to talk to you” he said, looking at her with a soft smile, the one that never completely disappears from his lips, no matter what.

“Then go back and tell the team I’m out” she ordered, but he didn’t move. “Now!” she insisted, but he stayed in the same place, looking at her with those stupid puppy eyes of him.

She rolled her eyes.

“What do you want?”

He didn’t hesitated to answer.

“I want you to talk to me”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Then I will make myself comfortable over here until you do” he answered, and sit in a bench in front of her, crossing his even-more-stupid guitarist arms over his chest.

She swore under her breath.

“You won’t understand” she finally said, after a couple of minutes.

“I will try to” he insisted.

“There is no way you could understand, ok? Because you’re Luna’s best friend, you are totally biased. You even dated her!” she fired.

“Thanks for the reminder, I had forgotten about it” he answered. Oh my God, was it sarcasm on Simon’s voice? Ambar was surprised. “But we are not talking about my relationship with Luna, or my current lack of it, so keep talking”.

“I-” she had to clear her throat. “Before Lunita came here I was the queen of the rink, I was royalty at the Jam & Roller, I had a boyfriend, and everything was perfect. Right, I didn’t have my godmother’s attention, but at least no-one else had it. And then, my godmother does everything for her and her parents to come live with us in Buenos Aires, she even signed her in MY school, and suddenly this girl steals my place in the rink, skates with my boyf- Ex-boyfriend, and gets all the attention. –She exploded. –And I’m really trying to do my best as I promised, I’m trying to be a better person to fix all those mistakes I made in the past, but I just feel like it doesn’t work for anything, I’m overshadowed by Lunita every time, and I hate that. If I’m not the best, then what?”

While she was talking, Simon stood up and started moving closer, and before she could say or do something, he had wrapped his arms around her in an unexpected hug.

Part of her wanted to push him away, who gave him the right to trespass her personal space? To hug her? But she didn’t do it, because another part of her, one she had been trying to ignore since her birthday, just wanted to stay like that forever. She doesn’t know what happened that day, she asked him to sing because she had promised the Roller Band was going to do it, and he was the only member of said band who was still in the party. He had even taken his guitar! But then, in the middle of the song, he looked directly at her, and she started feeling something she can’t explain, something she was feeling right in that moment.

“I’m sorry.” he said on her ear, and she felt her own body shattering.

“For what?” she didn’t know how she got to say that words.

“For everything you have been through. I’m sorry if we coming here to Argentina changed your life that much, for the skate competitions you weren’t allowed to win, and for not receiving all the attention and love you deserve, because you are an amazing and very talented girl, who deserves to be cared of, and those who don’t see that must be blind.”

Her heart started beating so fast, she had to step back and break that hug.

“You are just saying that so I go back to the rink” she accused him, building again the wall he had started to take down while saying those words.

“No, I’m saying that because it’s true” his face was showing he was hurt.

“You don’t know me to say those things about me”

“No, I don’t. But I have been looking at you lately, and I have noticed you’re much more than what you let people see. You care about certain people, you’re passionate about things you like, you seek for people’s attention because that’s the only way you know to be loved, and…”

She interrupted him.

“Enough!” she couldn’t listen him anymore. “Stop saying all this words just to make me go there, stop trying to make me change my mind. I know that’s the reason why you are here, so stop, you don’t have the right to talk as if you knew me, as if you cared about me”.

“I do care!” he answered. “I admit I came here on the first place to make you go back, the team needs you, but I stopped talking in behalf of the group long ago.”

She didn’t say a word.

“Besides, what if I am the one who nee-.” He shook his head, and took a deep breath. “You know what? Forget it. I will go back there and say you won’t skate on the competition, sorry for bothering you.” He concluded, and stormed out from the lockers room.