The date. [Nicky Lee]

[John Smith]

A dark red Toyota Avensis shifted into a higher gear and raced down the street. The man behind the wheels knew that sooner or later a red light or traffic would force the car to slow down again. But in these fews seconds where the acceleration could be felt. It really made me smile. This was one of the first times I had been driving a car, without an instructor, in almost a year. My former personality had no love for cars and speed. John Smith had been a boring fella, now, with my new and improved John Kvist Smith personality, I felt the trace amounts of adrenalin kick in when I forced the car to a stop. Red light. Cursed. My eyes turned to my hands resting on the wheels. Clearly I didn't have any patience right now. I had a pair of black leather gloves on, the grip on the wheels was perfect. I wore a warm black jacket and just to end the dark colors, I wore a normal pair of jeans that fit with almost anything.

I bit down on my right glove and pulled it off with my teeth. The now free hand moved down at took out my cellphone, I quickly texted a message to Nicky Lee. Just a little message telling her to get ready as I would be at her door step in five. I took a left turn and turned on my gps. It would appear I was close to her house, even with my random drifting around and a couple of minutes after my 5 min mark, I stopped the car outside her place. Nice place. I looked over my left shoulder before I left the car. I gently pushed the car door shut. Perhaps I should lock the car. Better not risk it. I locked the car with a single press on a button and the car keys would disappear out of sight for everyone but the most observant.

I pressed the door bell. Heard it ring inside. I took a couple of steps back so I wasn't standing in the face of whoever opened the door. Naturally, I was smiling one of my more, charming, smiles. If it was a mother or father opening the door, I better show myself from my best side.

[Nicky Lee Young]

-----An hour earlier----
"Augh! What does it matter?" Nicky Lee would ask impatiently, as she pushed her sister's hand away and attempted to get up from her bed. Noëlle would frown angrily, looking towards Leona who provided nothing more than a sheepish smile. Noëlle's hand would grip at Nicky's shoulder, then with one good shove, push her back down on the bed.

"It MATTERS!" Noëlle insisted, anticipating Nicky's next question and cutting her off quickly. "It just does! Now sit there, shut up, and let me help you!"

Knowing she couldn't win, Nicky Lee would sigh and lower her head so that she could glare up at her sister through her bangs and mutter angry things more effectively. Leona, eager to help, would pick up one of the dresses laid out, and hold it up to Nicky, smiling softly and nodding. "This one? Oh you have to wear this one Lee! It's adorable!"
Nicky would widen her eyes in horror at the yellow monstrosity before her, sticking her tongue out in disgust and slapping at the dress as though it was attacking her.
"Leona! Get that thing away from me, it might try to latch on!"

"T'es ridicule." Leona would say with a pout before tossing the dress in the reject section.

"Why can't I just wear something of mine?" Nicky would whine as Noëlle would reach for Nicky's hair. Nicky would fight back by slapping her arm away and small reach-slap fight was started. Noëlle, tired on the stupid game, would slap Nicky on the cheek, take adavantage of her sister's shock, and grab at her hair. Ah, the pain of losing to Noëlle. Nicky was like a lab rat though. She learned after something hurt. She wasn't about to fight Noëlle again because then she'd get another slap. Instead, she'd rub her stinging cheek and mumble.

"Great. Gonna have a nice big red mark on my face for the date. Thanks Noëlle."

Noëlle would roll her eyes, brushing through the gold and black hair of Nicky and hopping on the bed to get behind her so that she could tie the hair up somehow.
"I could very well slap you on the other cheek and balance it out, hun. You know in the old times when they didn't have blush make-up, they'd slap or pinch their cheeks."

No comment to that. Women have been and always will be the weirdest things on the planet when it comes to trying to look good. But so she wasn't going to get called a traitor, Nicky decided not to raise her opinion. Oh yeah and let's not forget the lesson learned about the slap.

-------20 minutes later from that------

Nicky Lee looked at herself in the mirror, content with what she saw. Her hair was pinned-up at the back, making her streaks and patches of blonde at the front and the back show up nicely. Her dress was alright. Kinda office-worker-ish, but the colours where those she were used to. Black. White. And there was an annoying belt on it too, but, she'd endure. Her legs were covered by black leggings, with knee-lenght, striped leg warmers (black and white, naturally). Her shoes were her favourite part.
Otherwise, her neck still had the long golden chain with the cross on it, she never ever took that off (it belonged to her grandfather, who'd passed away. Her grandmother had given it to her since he had been her godfather). Her left arm had a studded bracelet, the other some black plastic perls.

"Alright Nicky! You're pretty much ready." Noëlle would begin, dragging her sister away from the mirror. Leona would brush Nicky Lee's bangs from her face and smile. "You look pretty, Lee."

"Yeah, yeah she looks great. Thanks, I did what I could." Noëlle would say hurriedly. "Now, you know how to kiss right?"
Nicky's eyes would bulge. "What??"
"Do I have to say it in French, genius? Tu sais comment embrasser?"
"Oui mais- It's just that- What?"
"Okay, so, you don't."
"No. But I don't think i'll be-"
"Nicky! Even if you don't plan to, you gotta know in case you change your mind. OH MAI GAWD. You're so lucky I'm here."

Noëlle would begin to lean towards her, Nicky backing away with wide-eyes then pinching Noëlle's noes. "Whoa, what are you doing there?"
Pulling out from the pinch, Noëlle would tsk, roll her eyes, then say almost as though Nicky should have known already: "Gonna teach you to kiss!"
"EW! Noey! That's disgusting! We're sisters! "TWIN" sisters"
"So? That should make it okay. We kiss all the time."
"Not like that!! Get away from me!"

Noëlle, finding great amusement in her sister's discomfort would continue to chase her around, saying "Come oooon!" and "We could put it on youtube! Hahaha!"
Sometimes, she wondered what went through that girl's head. She was many guys' fantasy with a mind like that. It made her shiver.

-----Now------

Still getting chased around, the doorbell rang. Nicky had been hoping to hear that sound since John had texted her. Unfortunately, Malyk was closer to the door, and he was rushing over there to answer like the useful boy he was. Nicky Lee would run towards the door as well, screaming out "NO! It's for me! Let me answer!" and Malyk would kindly ignore her. So, just when the door knob would start to turn, John would be able to hear a large crash into the door, some yelling, then the door opening with two people fighting for the knob. The two would look up, stop fighting and smile in unision at John, before Nicky would move back and pull Malyk out of the way.

"Heeeeey! Hahahaha..."
And then she would lean in to whisper to John. "Let's get the fuck out of here now. Before my siblings decide they want to meet you."

Without letting him answer, Nicky would begin to push John down her driveway, looking back to see her brothers and sisters looking out the window. Lance seemed angry, Malyk was probably checking John out and Leona and Noëlle just wanted to watch their work leave. Near the end of the driveway, she'd let John walk on his own, intent of following him now towards his car.
"Sorry for the rush. I'm just looking out for your safety."

[John Smith]

I heard a familiar voice through the door. The next loud crash made me take a step back with my senses alert. Old self-preservation instincts began kicking in. My body had always been quick to distribute adrenalin to the craving body. The trace amounts that managed to get into the blood stream was quite insufficient to give me a real kick. Still, I would've opened the door if the knob was not behaving oddly before my sight. If surprise had a name, it would be Kvist. For I was bloody surprised when the door finally opened. A boy I had never seen before was wrestling with what I assumed was a younger sister I knew. With the confusion painted on my face. Probably to the amusement of everyone else inside the house. If you had not guessed it by now, I was no longer smiling my award-lie-winning charm-smile.

If anything I was wide eyed, a lone eyebrow was raised far above the eyes. I tried to open my mouth when Lee talked to me. Made me look quite dumb for her siblings. Oh, and just how many siblings were there? I really didn't have the time to count the people. I was too surprised to let my sense of pride do anything before the girl pushed me down the driveway. When she let me walk for myself, I unlocked the car. It was around this time I would experience what would probably be the first... Hmm, I don't think they have an English expression for it, but the French call it: Esprit de l'escalier. It is when you find the perfect answer for something that happened in the past. You know the feeling, a guy insults you and your best retort includes a vague description of someones mother. But minutes later, you come up with an answer that would have made you the uncrowned king of quick retorts.

Now, because of the confusion and being pushed back towards the car I had barely been able to take in just how my date was looking. As I stood there on the other side of the car. Hand on the door. I was quite frozen for a moment. I wanted to say something. You know. See if I could avoid another Esprit de l'escalier. I was not quite so lucky. I could only say a single word. But the way it was delivered was timed to perfection. I could not have done it better on purpose.

"Wow." If she would look up at my speechless gasp, she would see that the word was a compliment to her. Really. That single word summed up how she looked. With the moment gone I would smile with color flooding into my cheeks. I know what you're thinking. Is Kvist able to blush at command? Yes. I was able to blush whenever I wanted to. But in this situation, it was much easier. I saw myself as a sadistic mastermind. And yet, this suburban girl and her family had in seconds turned me into a normal teenager. It was quite scary thought. I would get in the car, if she had wanted to say anything to my gasped word, then she would have had ample opportunity. For now, it was time for us to go, before either of us were pinned down by her siblings merciless gaze.

"Uhm... To put it more elegantly. You look stunning. Really. You do."

The engine would make a roar as it returned to life. With the seatbelt fastened and the mirrors checked for incoming traffic, I would begin driving. Allowing Nicky to take a last look at her home before the date was over. As I drove down the street, a female voice commanded me to turn around. The GPS was still turned on. With a quick 2 finger jab, the power button was hit. Making it shut up instantly.

"So, did you get in trouble for being sent to detention?"

[Nicky Lee Young]

'Nice car. This can't be his.' Nicky thought, observing it with a few blinks. Or perhaps it was his and he was rich, or had nice parents, or worked his ass off so save for it. Regardless, she was impressed. Firstly, because she didn't want to be driven around in some old rusty thing (however shallow this may seem), secondly, because she didn't wanna walk and third...well. Okay there was no third. That's pretty much it.

Her head would lift and turn towards John as he gasped. His eyes were fixed in her direction, so, Nicky gave a quick turn to see if anything interesting was going on behind her. When she saw nothing of interest, she settled that it was indeed directed towards her. The smile and the blush made her smile, mostly because she thought it was cute. In response, she'd just give a few embarassed giggles and make her way to the passenger side of the car, her hand grasping the handle.
"A-Thank You~" she'd reply, blowing up at her bangs and finally getting into the car. You know, that had been the nicest reaction to how she looked that she'd ever had. All she remembered getting were yells out of cars by some partied-up teenage boys, which would usually make her jump and possibly jump into a bush. Not exactly the most glamorous reaction to an immature compliment, but, what could you do?

She'd pull her seatbelt over her shoulder, smiling again as John decided to reword his compliment. She felt her face heat up in embarassment, but otherwise she did not change to any shade of red. Still, she could tell she was blushing, luckily, John probably couldn't. As he roared the car to life, she figured she might as well be polite and say something about her "date". Even if she didn't consider this a date, of course.

"That's really nice of you." she'd begin, sticking her tongue out but refusing to shift her gaze from out the window. "You look pretty too."

Oh lord, what had she done? Pretty?
"I-I mean. Well, not pretty! But..Christ, what do girls say to guys? Ummm..." and she'd begin to mumble on. "Hottie sounds rude, and like hell I'm using 'babe', that's weird...." and finally she remembered one. Unfortunately, she remembered kind of loudly. "HANDSOME!"

She was surprised to hear a females voice, and for a second Nicky Lee had thought about turning around to see who was hiding in the back seat. An angry chaperone? Another woman? Awkward. But, she settled down once she observed John's fingers poke at a button and the little thingie was off. Ah, those fancy little GPS thingies that talk to you. Of course it wasn't someone in the car, that voice was too monotone! How silly of her. She thanked the Lord that she'd restrained herself from looking around all paranoid, what would THAT have looked like? Like John was stuck with a crazy chick for a while, that's what. Maybe he'd end up leaving her on the side of the road somewhere for fear that she may grab at the wheel and yell stuff before driving them into a ditch. She smiled a bit and chuckled soflty at the mental image.

John to the recue! Keeping Nicky's random from making her head 'splode by asking her a question.
"If you mean with my mom, then nope. Like hell I'm telling her. They didn't seem to call home either so that means I'm safe. However, a certain someone's got blackmail material on me so I gotta play guinea pig for her hairstyling and make-up practice."
She gave a shiver.
"And....what about you? I could probably get away with animal rescue should my mom find out, but, did you get into a pickle for attacking someone?"

It was obivous in her tone that Nicky seemed a bit uncomfortable talking about violence, but this was the only way she could get used to it all. Kind of like a conquor your fears type of thing. Although this wasn't really a FEAR per se.

[John Smith]

I had chuckled at her when she began rambling. She apparently couldn't decide what word fit me. Quite cute. She ended up with the word handsome, I didn't dislike it, at least she didn't think I looked like an ogre. Or else she was a grand mistress of deception.

"Woah woah woah. It was self defense against the authority and I explained that to my parents and they seemed to understand. I don't think they have ever been fond of the corporal punishment system. So they let me off the hook. And hey, the let me borrow their car, so it can't be all bad, right?" I said with a smile.

Woah, I talked too much. Especially since recent surveys had shown that people who talked while driving, in phone or otherwise, reacted slower than people who were focused on the road. But really. I had survived so much, that it would be a cruel destiny if I were to die because I talked while driving. The car would slow down because of a red light, before the engine roared again as the light turned green again. If Nicky knew the city, she would know they were heading for the beach. Not the beach itself, but in the area down there. But, well, perhaps I should change the subject from my violence, it seemed to bother the young girl. Hmm, what could I possibly start talking about?

"So, have you always lived in San Francisco?"

[Nicky Lee Young]

(I'm vair tired, I apologize if some stuff doesn't make sense @.@)

Nicky listened to his explanation and nodded softly to herself. Being an active trouble-maker, she couldn't disagree with knocking someone's teeth in if it was a teacher. The fact it was self-defense didn't make it 'right' in a way. Since the corporal punishment thingie was implemented, technically if John did something to deserve whatever attack came his way, then he deserved it, right? So was it still considered self-defense? Or was what he did something similar to "talking back" to figures of authority? That was something to think about. In the end it made no difference to her, she still decided that John "defending" himself was the right thing to do.

She'd crack a quick smile as he mentioned being allowed to borrow his parents car, making Nicky nod in agreement. What nice parents. Her mother would never let her borrow her big truck. Not that Nicky trusted herself in that monster of a vehicle anyway, but she'd probably not be allowed to drive a normal car either. 'Cause she's too "reckless" or something like that.
'Crash with a moped once, and you just can't be trusted anymore it seems.'

Nicky Lee would finally shift her eyes away from out the window to give John a quick glance. She shook her head at his question, even though he was busy looking at the road, naturally.
"Non~" she'd answer in almost a chirp, shifting her eyes back to the front where she'd stare down at the road.
"I'm technically French-Canadian. But French sucks." While Nicky realised she spoke it a lot, especially with family, it still didn't change the fact she thought it was the crappiest language ever invented. Swear-sentences were as good as it got. Then again, there were perks with confusing people who don't understand French, too.
"Originally from Ontario. I'm from this teeny-tiny town that borders Quebec, so everything was pretty bilingual. Mostly French, unfortunately. Anyway, mom's boyfriend found a job here so we moved around a year ago, I think... San Fran. really is nothing like where I used to live. That's for sure."

Small town girl in a big city. Scary, scary.

"What about you? How long have you been here?"

[John Smith]

Awww, damn... She is probably going to skate 8'ties around me all evening. Can my pride handle that? Hah... A hurt pride plus blades on the feet.... Dangerous combination...

I smiled at the thoughts that crept through my mind. I faked that I was looking over my left shoulder to get the sickening grin off my face. If Nicky should be unnaturally observant, she might have seen it, but the look would be gone again when I looked forward again. Oops, barely missed a right turn. I looked over the other shoulder, placing a pair of warm eyes upon the young girl at the same time. Pretty indeed. Oh well. I had a question to respond to.

"I've lived in this city for 2-3 years. Moved from the east coast when my old school closed down and my dad got a new job over here. It is a nice city and most of the people are nice. Except the authorities. You shouldn't trust them. Heh. Oh, looks like we're here."

I found an empty parking spot. Just opposite of the place. Wonderful, eh? I left the car and put my back against the closed door. The girl couldn't miss the large sign. Ice skating. The ice probably wasn't natural cooled down. Too warm for that. It would be bad for business if the ice was gone. It was a large flat circle with some minor fencing so people didn't skate right over the edge onto the street. There were 40 people or something like that out skating. But there was a lot of free space for people to skate on. I turned and smiled at Nicky.

"If I had known you're Canadian, I would probably have found a sport where I would have had a chance to impress you, hehe. Uhm, can you skate with that dress on?" A grin.

[Nicky Lee Young]

At the memtion of his school closing down, Nicky would bite at her lower lip. Could he really be one of those transfers from...where was it? New York? Coincidence, she told herself. Write it off as that. However, with curiousity filling her, she knew that she'd question him about that at some point. Just to make sure it was indeed, just a coincidence.

Her eyes would dart out the window as John mentioned they were here. After catching sight of the sign, Nicky's eyes would brighten. Excitement overcame her and she quickly escaped from the car and ran around to meet up with John, who was leaning on the car. She'd like to say she wasn't stereotypically Canadian, but unfortunately she was. If she remembered anything about before her dad left them, it was that he would take the family skating. Her dad played Hockey, afterall.

A grin would cross her lips at John's comments.
"Heheh, worrying about me? The dress won't hinder me. I'll be impressed if you can keep up, even if I'm wearing this." she'd give him a wink, almost implying that she was only kidding. She really wasn't though, she meant every word. Like hell she'd let some guy show her up on the ice.
"Anyway, the leggings and the leg-warmers are doing their thing. The dress allows enough movement. I didn't bring any skates though...you should have told me."

As she spoke, her eyes refused to shift from the ice. It was like a dog eyeing a bone. The intense longing to be out there. However Nicky refused to cross any street alone. Call her reckless, but she either crossed without looking, or nearly got hit by a car she couldn't see because she's half-blind (she doesn't like wearing glasses and she can't seem to get contacts on). So, even though she wanted to dart right out there, Nicky decided she'd bolt once she got John to get her across the street. Like an old lady and a scout.

[John Smith]

[OOC: Terrible sorry for the delay. Been sick and blocked by a mean writer :/ ]

And.... Positive comment about her happiness. - But be smart about it, fool.

Following the orders from my head, I smiled at Nicky's happiness and shook my head a little.

"And missed seeing your cute expression, just now? I think not." I would grin a little and took a look around. Before my incapacitated time, I had been able to spot people worth recruiting with a single glance. Those I found worthy to recruit, were violent people. So. I had a knack for spotting troublemakers. Did I see any now? Yeah. There was always a couple in a given crowd. But I saw quite a lot here. I didn't care. The road was free. Pushing my luck, I grabbed her left hand I pulled her over the road. Well. I assumed she would run with him when I began to run.

"And a good thing you can rent some skates over there then." I pointed at a little house that had more than just skates. Hot chocolate, ice cream, hot dogs, sandwiches ... You know the type of place. I let go of her hand and lead the way over to a nice elderly man who let you rent the skates. Call it mind reading, but I knew what this man was going to say before he said it and my murderous intentions wanted to make him shut up, permanently, before he could say anything. But I didn't have the money to make it disappear any more.

'Anything I can do for you and your lady' - the tone of voice at the word lady made me fake a smile at Lee. Just to see her reaction. I wasn't going to object. Would make it harder for me to control my calm exterior.

"Just a pair of skates. One for both of us. ... Hmm, I think I am a size 12½." The man turned around and grabbed a pair of skates before I could give room for Lee to talk. I grabbed the skates when he handed 'em over. Now, I did have time to let her order her skates. I was guessing a size 5½-6.

[Nicky Lee Young]

Nicky Lee didn't seem to make much of a fuss over John grabbing her hand and pulling her along. Mostly because it was best this way. Running wasn't a bad thing either, as Nicky was quite eager to get to the ice. In fact, she held back the urge of running past him, finding that she would immasculate him enough on the ice. No need to overkill it. 'Mwahahahaha...!'

Her eyes would scan the house, feeling relieved that they rented out skates. Or was it free? She didn't care, either way she wasn't paying. Would she feel guilty of perhaps making John pay from some snackums later? Absolutely not. In fact, she looked forward to an offer and if John never offered, she'd ask herself. He seemed like he was trying to impress her so far, being so nice and all even though Nicky was acting as natural as ever. Maybe that was just how John was, though. She didn't feel bad for taking advantage of his kindness.

Approaching the old man had been interesting. John had flashed a smile towards her at the comment, but Nicky wasn't so quick to hold her tongue. Instead she blurted, "He's my brother." and gave the old guy a disgusted look. The old man seemed to feel a bit awkward, but lucky for him John had him fetch his skates. This way the old man would have a temporary escape route. Nicky would quickly tell him her shoe-size as he went off but would frown at what the old man brought back. Women's skates.

"These won't do." Nicky would say, shaking her head. "Bring me male hockey skates instead, please." she'd leave the converting from women's sizes to men's sizes to the old man. She wasn't sure how it worked, and it was the old dude's job to know (probably). The old man returned with the skates and Nicky grabbed them excitedly. She'd look towards John and nod, signalling that they could find a spot to sit and switch into the skates. As they would walk away (or at least Nicky would), the old man would attempt at some kindness.
"You and your brother have fun, miss!"

Nicky would give a quick look over her shoulder and smile,
"Oh, he's not my brother. Thanks though!" and she'd continue to walk. The old man seemed even more confused now, saying nothing in return.

She would turn to John then, a mischievous but satisfied look splattered across her face.
"That'll teach people to assume."

[John Smith]

Well. I had been called a lot of things by ladies, but never brother and the surprise the manager felt, was the same as I felt. Perhaps this girl was a bit loony in her head. Just a tiny bit. Okay. A lot. When she finally found a pair of skates that fit her she walked away to change into the skates, the manager spoke again. And Lee told him the truth. I only shrugged my shoulders at the manager when he looked at me. The last thing I saw him do, before I turned away to follow Nicky, was him shake his head and pour himself a cup of coffee.

"Uhh, of course."

I sat down on a bench near the ice and removed my boots and began fumbling with the skates. When I finally had them on, I began fumbling with the laces. When I finally had them on, I stood up. My years of fighting gave me a natural sense of balance, so I stood normally with these skates on. I would turn to Nicky. Offer her my hand with a smile. Just to help her up.

[Nicky Lee Young]

Nicky took a seat next to John, putting on her skates expertly as she pulled at the laces like mad to assure maximum tightness. There was nothing worse than loose skates, that she knew. It made you wobble around and chances are your ankles and knees would begin to hurt. That's right, she spoke from experience. She remembered telling her dad she could tie her OWN skates, back when she was little. It certainly wasn't like tying your running shoes. What an awful experience.

She tapped her bladed heel on the ice, testing if the little bone at the ankle area wasn't being painfully crushed either. If it wasn't too loose, it was too tight. But Nicky was proud to see she'd managed to keep it inbetween. Tight enough nt to wobble, but loose enough so it didn't hurt.

When she looked up, John's hand would be out in his offer to help her up. She didn't decline. As good at skating as she proclaimed to be, Nicky was still her mother's daughter, and balance wasn't one of their strong points. Even as she pulled herself up with the help of John's hand, she staggered and wiggled a bit before steadying herself. All the while, crushing John's hand a little. She'd look up at him and grin sheepishly, giving an apologetic shrug before turning to face the ice.

"Man, I never thought I'd skate again." she told herself, mostly. But skating was like learning to ride a bike. At least, in Nicky's case it was. She never forgot how, and even if she wasn't the most stable, she never actually fell anymore.

Without a word, she'd begin to make her way towards the ice, taking the initiative to being on first. Mostly to show off and then look to see if John'd fall. That would be funny. Anyway, back to the point. Once at the ice, she'd quickly hop onto it, pushing herself forth and smiling softly to herself. As she thought, she still had it. With that, she'd give a bit of a twirl and then stop, looking back to see how John's venturing onto the ice would go.

"C'moooon!" she'd call out. "The water's nice and freezing!"

What a dork.

[John Smith]

It would take more than a petite girl's hand to crush my hand. In fact, years of punching brick walls/morons had caused some serious nerve damage in my hands. So I could barely feel any pain in them. So, I could feel her grip, but it wasn't painful. But she certainly did her best to damage me before skating. But I just grinned and shook my head at her when she shrugged. I'd watch her as she ran past me and out on the ice. I wondered how she would be on the ice. Her way to move on solid ground gave me reason to believe she wasn't very graceful.

Watching her a few seconds on the ice shattered that image of her. When she did the twirl, my jaw dropped an inch or something like that. Yeah. Me impressing her with my ice skating skills had just been thrown out of the window. It was time to salvage what could be salvaged and by god not fall on my rear. I placed my right foot on the "freezing water" and pushed off on my grounded foot. Pushing myself forward. Okay. This was looking quite graceful for someone my size. Riiight, better slow down before I ram into Nicky.

How do you break these things again?

Oh damn. See. There are things that are the product of years of experience and talent. And then there is this, which is equally amounts of luck and ... luck. In order to avoid ramming my date, I changed direction. But in that direction a couple of children, probably around the age of 12 or something like that. Under normal circumstances, I would jump and slice the brats, but this was a date, and decapitated children didn't work with the ladies. So, I turned. And it was a sharp turn. I made it halfway around Nicky before I stopped like it was on purpose.

What the... I am still standing... Well! Of course!

"Well, do you dare to race me?"

[Nicky Lee Young]

Nicky had braced herself for the incomming impact of her date speeding her way, but, he had changed direction then. Was he trying to scare her? She watched as he was heading for a bunch of tweens and cringed. She would prefer him ramming into her than them, but, John had changed his direction again which made Nicky smile nervously. He came back her way and stopped, Nicky turning in place to be face to face with her date raising her brow.

She'd burst out laughing as he asked her to race, giving him a few good slaps on the shoulder. She meant them to be pats, honestly.

"Race huh? Shame on me if I turn that down! Let's do this thing!" she grinned before placing her hands on her hips. "What's the destination? There and back? All around?"

Didn't really matter to her, she was going to win. Especially if John's skating was as he'd just demonstrated. Unless he only did it as a bluff...and he was actually really good. She'd squint he eyes at him as though she was trying to see through him before looking away as if he wasn't paying attention. Which he may not have been.

Whatever the destination, Nicky would ready herself before giving him one more look.
"I say we make this more interesting. Kind of a if I win I get, and if you win you get blah blah blah. Whaddy'a say, Johnny? Nothings more fun than prizes~"

(Sorry, short)

[John Smith]

I didn't like that she laughed at my challenge. But what could I do about it? Besides beating her fair and square on the ice. She might have experience, but I might be able to make up for that with pure brute force. And my gender. Men seemed to be faster when it came to competitive sports. See. If this had been a movie or something cheesy. Then I would have said something about her giving me a kiss should I win. But really. A kiss? There was much more to gain from girls. And besides, asking for a kiss would be so cheesy that I would vomit on the ice trying to say it.

"Okay, sure thing. Hmm, what could be fun." A moment where I looked thoughtful. "Ah, I got it. If I win. You have to skinny dip after this." I said with a smirk. It would be hard to see if I was joking or not. "And what I have to do in case you win. Well, that is entirely up to you. I'll give you some time to think about it." I took a glance around the place. Finding a fair distance so my slower start could catch up to her.

"And I think we should race from there." I pointed at a spot several feet behind us. I spun back around and looked for a suitable finish. Hmm. No suitable places. "And how about a full round along the edge of the ice arena? Though I don't think it will matter. For I will win" I blinked and leaned against the railing near the start. Ready to go at a seconds notice.

"So, what if you win?"

[Nicky Lee Young]

Her eyes widened and she'd shoot John a dirty look as he told her what his prize would be. Oh how typical! Damn boys and their dirtyness. If she protested though, she'd be admitting that she had doubts that she'd win. And she absolutely had none whatsoever! If anything, this would just make her drive to win all that much greater.
'That pervert! I'm going to kick his ass so bad in this race, it won't even be funny! I was going to be nice, but now I have to humiliate him!'

Nicky's brows remained furrowed, but a dangerous smile would cross her lips then.

She looked around the ice before placing herself beside John. She'd let him race along the railing, he'd need it for when he'd nose dive. That thought was amusing. Anyway, she'd give a stretch as John brought her prize back up, and Nicky would just flash him a mischievous grin.
"It's no fun if I tell you, silly."
Which meant that it could be just about anything, good or bad, and if he wanted to avoid finding out, he'd better win. "You'll find out as soon as I win. I hope you get a good look at my back!"

And she'd wink.

Nicky had never been THIS competitive before. Maybe there was something about John that brought out that side of her? You know. That side that wants to tear someone apart then rub it in their faces. Grinning a bit at the thought of her prize, Nicky would place herself, ready to start.

"Count us down, Mr. Smith!"

She felt sorry for anyone who got in her way. She was the daughter of a Hockey player, afterall.

[John Smith]

Okay, I'll admit it. I was not only amazed that this girl accepted my side of the bargain. Really. It is not often you see a girl who is willing to skinny dip in front of a stranger. Not her age. Not in her soberness. She must really be confident in her abilities. Or really into skinny dipping. If her face wasn't in such a state of near explosion, I would have smirked. Instead I looked quite contempt with her decision. But her part of the bargain was dangerous for me. Because she could basically decide that I should take a run around the ice naked. Or similar in the school. But I suppose I had to win this thing to avoid that humiliation.

A smile would cross my lips.

"I suppose so. But I have to draw a line at streaking anywhere public. That I won't do." Not sober at least... But I wasn't going to lose here. No way. This little girl was playing with a dangerous cat who knew what it wanted. And she was just a little mouse entering the wrong turf. I skated over next to her. With a single purpose in my mind. Winning this race.

"Well... On go! Ready? ... Set...! ... GO!"

I had barely said GO! before I had kicked off and was skating along. I had the advantage of knowing when I said go. That split second advantage should be good enough to put me in the lead to begin with. Maintaining that lead was going to be the hard part. It was all about coming into a good rhythm and then stick with it. I knew how to get into a rhythm, I was a fighter after all, and sticking with it shouldn't be that hard.

[Nicky Lee Young]

Oh how nice. She has to skinny dip but streaking is off-limits? Bullshit. He didn't call the shots if she won. While that wasn't what she had planned, if she decided he would need to do that, by God, she'd make him.

Nicky hadn't thought of the advantage that being the one to say GO had. It didn't matter though, because there was a reason she'd picked to skate on the inside of the skating rink. She'd have all the advantages turning the corners, giving her the opportunity to get the lead. Not that she'd need that, but, it was a plus in ensuring she should win. So as John Smith burst forward at Go, Nicky burst forward aswell, albeit a fraction of a second after. She'd been ready to depart afterall.

She'd plant her skates in the ice furiously with every step, concentrating on putting the most pressure on her pushing leg, and secondly on the speed which she did so. She concentrated mostly on where she was going, but she'd shoot John some glances to see just where he was in comparison to her. She wasn't going to rush it yet, keeping her energy for later. She did however manage to pull up neck and neck with John, and grinned.

"Not baaaad!" she'd exclaim, not looking at him. As the first turn came, Nicky would make it abrupt, twisting her body so that she'd end up breaking a little (sending a bit of ice-shavings at him), before giving herself another good kick to burst forward again.
If John was as clumsy with breaking as she saw, she wondered how well he could turn corners.

'I hope he falls' she thought again, swirving around a kid who was heading toward the side of the rink. She'd flail her arms a bit to regain her slightly lost balance. Damn that was close.

'Actually, I hope he rams into that kid.' she thought then, seeing as that kid would be getting in his way too.

[John Smith]

[OOC: Did you notice that this thread is from January?]

I wasn't very good with breaking, especially not when I was nearing my top speed. So when it came to turning I was going to need something to help me. And guess what. A heavy guy was standing near the edge with just enough room to spare that I could slip by him. I reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder and used him to turn with. I didn't notice what happened to him after I had let go again. But I did hear some angry shouts in my direction. With a smirk on my lips I continued to tail the younger female. I was right behind her, exploiting her slipstream, it wasn't much I could hide behind her, because she was physically a midget compared to me, but something is better than nothing. But when she narrowly avoided that kid, I didn't have the time to do a fancy swirl around him. I didn't have the control it took to do such a thing.

So I jumped.

Going into an aerial split, a kick I rarely used, if ever, but for this occasion it was good that I knew it. I landed again, the kid had been so surprised that he had fallen on his rear. I, on the other hand, landed with ease. But my balance was shit compared to what it had been earlier. I lost valuable seconds getting my balance back to normal. And just to make things worse, I had to turn another corner soon. And there weren't any big guys I could use to turn with. I had to slow down considerably and take a wide turn to compensate for my lack of control. But I was still close to the girl. I just had to burn some more energy and not give a damn if my asthma decided to kick me in the balls once this race was complete. With the unnatural skills of novice, I reached her again.

"Having fun?" I said with a natural smile - A natural smile that I had used months to learn how to fake.

[Nicky Lee Young]

(Now I did)

Nicky's teeth would clamp together in frustration as the sound of a falling date never came. Instead, he caught up with her again. Her eyes would shift briefly towards him, catching the smile he had on. One that, at the moment, she wanted to rip off and skate over. In return, she'd give him her fakest smile, and answer through clenched teeth.

"Abso-freakin'-lutely!"

Her eyes searched the ice for a person to throw at him, but, none came. By then the innocent skaters had figured out that they best stay out of the way. There was obvious danger on the ice, afterall, and one was in the form of a 5'4" French Canadian girl who was about ready to plow through anyone. Or at least use them as human meat-weapons in her attempts to win this race. The very obsession over it was making her out to be a bit crazy. Well, you know, apart from the obvious lack of marbles in that Canadian brain of hers.

Anyway, in her need to keep the lead, Nicky decided to pick up her pace in hopes that she could get ahead and perhaps cut right in front of him. Which was risky, because he was so much bigger than her and should he bump into her, well, she was a volkswagan against a minivan. Or something like that.

"Just give up!! Tu vas perdre de toute façon!"

Wonder how long it'd take these two to get kicked off the rink?