Page 35 of Time Served in New York
Sis tried it and grinned before she sat up straight and shook her head. “I just crushed my boobs, but it was worth it just to see the looks on your faces.”
“Why aren’t all the guys ice skating?” Harper asked.
“Because they’re smart enough to know that if they fall, it’s gonna take weeks to recover,” Matalie grumbled. “Why are we doing this again?”
“We can do this,” Pandora cheered as she stood up. She carefully picked her way across the few feet from the bench to the wall, but when she tried to turn around, she wobbled and nearly fell. Once she was steady again, clinging to the partition, she winced and said, “Okay, so maybe we shouldn’t do this.”
“I’ve done this before, but I was younger,” I admitted as I stood and balanced on my skates. “Oh, this is going to end badly.”
The rest of my friends finished tying their skates and made their way over to the wall slowly where we stood, watching everyone on the ice.
“Look at those kids,” Blue said as she motioned toward the ice. “If they can do it, we can do it, right?”
A little girl in a bright blue coat was skating a few feet in front of her mom and squealed as she fell. She laughed as she tried to get back up, and we winced as the mom almost lost her balance trying to help her daughter.
“We’re going in,” Harper said as the girls walked toward the opening in the wall. August and Sis were right behind them, and I watched their progress wondering how close we were to the nearest hospital.
We tracked them as they slowly but surely started moving across the ice.
“I know it’s horrible to wish something bad on your own children, but if they don’t each fall at least once, I’m going to riot,” Pandora grumbled.
As if the universe were on her side, all three girls squealed and then disappeared behind the wall as they fell together in a heap. August and Sis made their way back to try to help them get up and then they fell too.
“If that happens to me, I’m going to need to be put in traction,” Brea mumbled as we leaned over the wall to watch the girls untangle themselves. “Of all the wild shit we’ve done together, this might be the most dangerous.”
“At least the most dangerous physically,” I agreed.
“I think our priorities are skewed,” Maylee said with a sigh. “We were basically hostages in a broom closet, and we thinkthisis scarier than that day.”
“I’d rather be kidnapped and locked in an office where I have to pee in a coffee cup again than do this,” Paula said with a sigh.
“You peed in a coffee cup?” Pandora asked.
Paula looked at our friend and nodded. “I figured that if I did die, at least a little part of me would linger on for a while.”
“I wonder what happened to that cup of pee after you were rescued,” Blue said.
“The cops raided that place, so I’d assume someone found it,” Brea told us. “There’s probably some tech in the crime lab who’s got a sample of your pee, trying to figure out where it fits in with the whole investigation.”
“I was pretty fucked up after that shit with Julia. It took me forever to recover,” Jenn said as she looked down at her hands. “I’m not really sure I’m willing to go out there and fuck up all those months of rehabilitation.”
“I don’t think you should risk it. If you fall, you’re going to try to catch yourself. That’s just natural,” Brea said.
I sighed and noted, “If I hurt myself, I can’t work.”
“It hasn’t been that long since I broke my hand either,” Paula mused as we watched a woman fall close to the middle of the rink. We winced when she tried to get back up and fell again.
“Fuck, I feel old,” Blue admitted sadly. “Back in the day, I’d dive right into something new without even thinking of the repercussions. Now I’m afraid of ice skating, of all things.”
“I’m not doing it,” Maylee said with a sigh. “I hurt my back getting the laundry out of the dryer last week, and I’ve got a baby to chase around.”
“Look at the girls. I don’t remember ever being quite that carefree,” Pandora said as we watched her daughters laugh with Desi, Tanner, and Tyson, whose parents were members of the Ares Infidels, some of which were already out on the ice. The teenagers had been joined by some of the other young family members who had been escorting them around town. It obviously wasn’t their first time on the ice. “It’s probably a good thing Marler’s not here.”
“Who is that boy with his arm around Desi’s waist?” Maylee asked.
“That’s my nephew, Nicky. He’s Freddie’s oldest,” I explained. “The twins are Ziggy’s daughters, Ziva and Zara. The other two girls belong to my brother Aurelio.”
“Come on! It’s fun!” August said as she got closer to us.
