Speechless(79)

                Sam’s laughter fades, slowly replaced by an awkward smile, his                     eyes locked on mine. He reaches one gloved hand up to brush some of my hair                     behind my ear, and my breath catches in my throat at the contact.

                “You should smile more often,” he tells me. “It’s a good look                     for you.”

                I know that a normal person would’ve gotten to their feet by                     now, and this has officially passed the welcome sign to Awkward City, but I’m so                     struck by the look on his face that I can’t bring myself to pull away yet.

                “Wow, you two really suck.”

                The sound of Asha’s voice defuses the moment like a bucket of                     cold water poured over my head. I look over to where she’s standing with both                     hands on her hips and push off Sam quickly, struggling to my feet. I’m not sure                     whether to be disappointed or grateful to Asha for interrupting.

                “Hey, we can’t all be Michelle Kwan,” Sam retorts, sitting up                     on his elbows.

                To his credit, he sounds completely unfazed by what just                     happened, so maybe I really was imagining things. He stands up, brushing off his                     knees while Asha skates around him, throwing in a few graceful spins. I like                     watching her move. She seems so sure of herself out here.

                She skates over to me and snatches my hand. “Come on, skate                     with me,” she urges. My eyes widen, and she smirks. “I’ll go extra slow, I                     promise.”

                I allow Asha to drag me for a while, until I get into the                     rhythm enough to keep up with her snail’s pace, and we glide along semismoothly.                     Sam catches up and skates backward in front of us. Showoff. Every so often Asha                     breaks away to zoom around the rink and do a few twirls and spins, or she and                     Sam will race around, or they’ll skate tight circles around me, laughing.

                I fall down a few more times, and they both laugh, but every                     time I do they help me up again, so I can’t be too annoyed about it.

                * * *

                “This is for me?”

                Asha is marveling at my gift to her like I purchased a diamond                     necklace or something. I nod as I sip on what’s left of my Coke, the straw                     making gurgling sounds. We’re seated in the rink’s small eatery, stuffing our                     faces with nachos and hot dogs. Crap food compared to the diner, but once the                     free skate was over, we were too hungry to drive over to Rosie’s and wait.