Page 77 of Side By Side
Belle headed out of the room and into the warm-up space, where other skaters were stretching, listening to music on headphones, and running through their routines. It was all very blast from the past for her, and she worried that she’d made a mistake.
“Hey, are you okay?” Chandler asked, and her hand was on the small of Belle’s back. “Tamara is a lot.”
“I feel so much older than everyone here.”
“Join the club. I’m older than you.”
“By, like, three weeks.”
“Still older,” Chandler pointed out. “And, yeah, it feels like that to me all the time.”
“It also feels like I left this behind for a reason, but here I am again. Does that make me a glutton for punishment?”
“What sort of punishment are you expecting tonight, Belle?”
“I don’t know. A talking to from my old coaches who didn’t want me to leave?”
“Then, that would be a compliment, not a punishment.”
“How do you figure?” she asked.
“Because they didn’t want you to go in the first place, and they remember you after all these years and tell you so. Compliment. Most people just age out or get told to go, like Tamara in there.”
“I guess so,” she replied.
“We’ve got a good routine. We’re exhausted from making it good,” Chandler said.
“Are you telling me that or reminding yourself? You’re looking a little nervous.”
“I am nervous. I’m about to skate pairs with a woman against a bunch of male-female pairs. It’s local and doesn’t matter much, but there will be people here who will possibly inform or help make a call on my future.”
“What? You told me it was a chill local thing.”
“It is. But you know figure skating is a very small world. I still need to skate well tonight.”
“You will skate well. You’re a great skater, Chandler.”
“You’re better,” Chandler replied.
“Tonight, I’m there to support you. I’m the one doing the lifts. No one will be looking at me. They’ll be looking at you.”
“Is that supposed to make me less nervous?” Chandler laughed.
“Come on. Let’s change. Is Tamara still back there?”
“No. Jacob is up soon, so she’s in the stands.”
“Good. I feel like I’m old enough to be her mom, even though we’re only, like, eight or nine years apart.”
“Let’s go,” Chandler said with a little laugh and pulled Belle back into the locker room to get ready.
An hour later, they were warmed up and ready to take the ice. Belle’s nerves were gone. They had always somehow magically disappeared right before it was time for her to skate, which she hadn’t appreciated enough back then, but she was happy to discover that even now, that was still the case. Unfortunately, it didn’t appear to be the same for Chandler.
“My laces are too tight.”
Belle looked down and saw Chandler sitting on the bench, retying her right skate. Then, she stood back up.
“Now, they’re too loose.” She sat back down.