CH180

CH180
Heads turned. A small group came in and, based on their assessing gazes, they were likely the Olympic scouts. Their presence sent a ripple of murmurs through the rink.
More hopefuls came out of the locker rooms. There were a lot of faces I didn’t recognize, but they were skaters from around the region. Coach Avery stood as Lukas and I removed our guards.
Coach Avery clapped us both on the shoulders.
“Here's the plan,” he said. “It’s a walkthrough, not a free skate, and with all the chaos today, no sense in getting fancy or even looking like you will. Madame Lila passed me some notes about how things are going, and I want you to work on your syncing and base lifts." He looked at me. "Olympic scouts are going to want to see that you're your usual self and that your new partner is up to snuff. We'll start with lifts and holds and move into jumps when we get to it." He looked down the rink. "Might be hard with all the activity, but we'll see, for now. Warm up. Five minutes synced. I want it as neat as possible."
Lukas extended his hand without hesitation. I took it, and he got to the ice, starting slowly until we found an easy pace, syncing our movements and clearing our minds. We drifted and started the usual sequence. I took his hand, leaning into a side-by-side figure eight, narrowly avoiding someone and letting the cold sweep past me.
"I've been thinking," Lukas said.
"Yeah?"
"The compound lift," he frowned. "The one in the middle."
The really complicated one.
"I think we should downgrade it."
I almost stop when he says that. "Why?"
He worked his jaw. "The technical difficulty of it, even without it, is already very high. It's extra."
I narrowed my eyes. "Extra?"
"I don't want you to do something dangerous, or be pushed into it, because you feel you have something to prove."
I swallow. "You think I can't handle it."
“That’s not what I said.” Lukas’s tone was steady but firm. He took my hand, leading me into another is grip on my hand stayed strong, but there was tension running through his arm, his shoulders set tight. “I think it’s reckless when you’re still—”
“Still what?” My voice pitched sharper than I meant it to.
“Still processing.” His eyes flicked to mine. “If we slip—”
“Then we get up again,” I said, pulling just a little against his hold.
Something fierce flashed in his expression, but before he could answer, Celeste cut across our path.
Her smirk was sharp enough to draw blood.
“Oh dear,” she cooed, not even pretending to lower her voice. “Trouble in paradise already?” Her eyes glinted. “What a shame. I thought you two were supposed to be this perfect couple."
Heat rushed up my neck. Lukas didn’t miss a beat.
“Where is your other half of paradise?" He asked coolly, not even looking at her. "Shouldn't you be working on your spins?"
Celeste’s smirk faltered just slightly, though she masked it with a flip of her ponytail and a lazy spin.
“You should be careful,” she drawled, “Would be a pity if one of you—” her gaze lingered on me, deliberate “—fell again."
My fists clenched at my sides, but Lukas squeezed my hand, grounding me. She skated off, her laugh trailing behind her, though she didn't seem to be heading towards Reese.
“Don’t listen to her,” Lukas murmured.
My chest was still tight, the sting of doubt that hit me had bloomed into an unrelenting pressure in my chest.
We pushed through the last of the warm-up sequence in silence. My lungs burned from the cold, and the argument tingled, raw and unsettled on my tongue. Lukas didn’t say another word, but every time our hands met, the pressure of his grip felt like an unspoken plea I didn't want to hear.
I would be fine. I would match him stride for stride. We could manage the lift Madame Lila and Coach Avery had planned. If not, we'd train harder.
I'd train harder.
“Alright,” Coach Avery’s clap rang out across the boards. “That’s enough warming up. Bring it in.”
We slowed to a glide, circling back toward where he stood with Madame Lila’s notes in hand. His sharp eyes scanned the pages, then came to us.
“I want to see your stability,” he said, pitching his voice over the chatter of the rink. He looked at Lukas squarely before glancing at me. “We’re starting with the basics, and we'll push forward to more complicated moves if you're looking to be in a good place. Full body lift and glide." He stepped onto the ice, tucking his notebook and pages into his jacket and zipping it closed.
I exhaled through my nose, steadying the jitter of nerves in my chest. Lukas adjusted his gloves, his face unreadable.
Coach Avery skated away a few paces. back, pulling his stopwatch. “When you’re ready to start, take it at half pace.”
The ice stretched wide and open in front of us. People were zipping by. The scouts were taking notes on their clipboards, their eyes flicking toward us.
Lukas bent slightly, hand out. “Ready?”
I placed my hand in his, pulse drumming. “Ready.”
We pushed off together, building momentum. My breath caught as we reached the right speed and Lukas prepared to send me up.
I inhaled and set my core as Lukas’s hands closed firmly around my waist. His eyes flicked to mine for the briefest moment, steady and grounding, before he lifted me. My body rose cleanly into the air, his arms holding me up with effortless precision. The air rushed by me like I was flying and I heard Coach Avery just behind us.
“Hold it at a gliding skate. Thirty seconds."
Lukas let out momentum carry us, keeping the pace steady with pushes. I felt the power rippling through his body as he pushed our combined weights across the ice. I clenched my jaw, fighting to hold my position. My heart hammered against my ribs and my vision went too bright.