Jake Understood(40)

I managed to carefully get myself up. We started skating alongside each other when I somehow gained unwanted momentum, slamming into a barrier.

She was laughing as she skated toward me. “That reminds me. I need to teach you how to stop!”

“You think this is funny, huh?”

I teasingly took her earmuffs off her head and put them on mine.

“Hey, lay off my muff!” Her face turned red even though her innuendo was clearly intentional.

God, I loved dirty Nina.

I couldn’t help myself. “I prefer to keep your muff closer to my face.” Her cheeks turned even redder. “Don’t dish it if you can’t take it, Kennedy.”

She conveniently changed the subject. “I need to seriously teach you how to stop.”

“Running my mouth?”

“No…stopping on the ice.” She pointed her toes together. “Do this then push your heels out. That’s how you stop.” She skated around me, starting and stopping several times. I copied the motion, eventually becoming accustomed to it.

She took my hand, and we skated slowly side by side for several minutes. This time, I’d really gotten the hang of it. So caught up in the moment with Nina, I’d barely noticed that the sun had set. The Christmas lights around us looked suddenly magnificent in the darkness.

“It’s getting cold. We should probably get going,” she said.

I wasn’t ready for our date to end. It wasn’t an official date, but it somehow felt like the first real date I’d ever been on.

After we returned our skates, I tugged on her coat. “Let’s go get some hot chocolate.”

“Okay. That sounds good.”

We walked to a café around the corner and found a cozy booth that overlooked the giant Christmas tree on the plaza. I watched her as she looked out the window and sipped her drink. Spending this afternoon with her had been one of the best experiences in recent memory for me. All I could think about was how badly I was feeling the need to open up to her. I wanted to share myself with her in any way I could. In that moment, I decided that if she didn’t get an A on her next exam, I was going to nix the helicopter idea. It needed to be something bigger and better. We’d go on a plane ride instead, and I’d take her away to Chicago, show her where I grew up. I hadn’t been back since I was a teenager, and I wanted to share that experience with her.

“Nina, I love that you’re getting A’s, but is it wrong that I really hope your last grade sucks?”

“Why is that?”

“There’s some place I really want to take you.”

A worried look washed across her face. “Now, I’m scared.”

“Don’t be scared. It’ll be amazing.”

Inherently, it felt like the end of my hiding the truth was near. It was going to happen after Christmas, which meant that this time of ignorant bliss with Nina would be over soon.

I must have gotten lost in my mind.

“You always do that when you’re deep in thought.”

“What?”

“Grind your tongue ring against your teeth.”

“Does it annoy you?”

“No, not at all.”

I wished she’d kept it at that.

Instead, she added, “I think it’s sexy.”

Her words went straight to my dick, triggering a sweet ache of pleasure and pain. My eyes seared into hers as I nodded slowly. So many possible responses flooded my brain, but I opted not to say anything at all. She couldn’t begin to imagine what I wanted to do to her with my tongue.

I crushed the paper cup out of frustration. “We should go.”







That night, I was sitting in bed when Nina texted me from her room.



How’s my Brian Boitano?



Wait. Who was that? I had to think and then remembered he was an Olympic figure skater.



Jake: More like Brian Boita-NO. No, no, no! Never do that again. ;-)



Nina: You were actually pretty good for your first time.



Jake: Yeah…Big Goons on Ice. Don’t order me a leotard. Pretty sure it was my first and last time.



Nina: Damn it! I was gonna teach you the Bunny hop jump and half lutz next time.



Jake: Don’t you mean half KLUTZ?



Nina: LOL. You make me laugh. Thanks again for coming with me.



You make me so fucking happy.



Jake: You’re welcome.



Later that night, Nina walked down the hall to take her evening shower. I held the paper bat in my hand, waiting to sneak it into her room.



What I almost wrote:



I’d go again fo shizzle,

Just to watch you swizzle.



What I wished I could have written:



I want there to be a million next times.



What I never could have written:



You know what?

I’d give my left nut,