Chapter 7: Deal

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The day started with a stain of black coffee in my jeans. I really hoped it wouldn't start a chain of catastrophes, nobody has time for that.

After I achieved to change my outfit, I finished my coffee and got out of my apartment. I took the elevator and went down to the garage.

"Okay, let's see where this is..."

I tapped on the location Cara had sent me the day before and a picture of a big building appeared in the screen. Harrington Palace Ice Arena. Oh. So she wanted me to go and see her skate? I was in. Before I started the engine, I texted Cara telling her I was on my way. I should've looked it up before I got out. It was almost an hour away and I had decided to leave just 40 minutes before.

After a while in the car, I discovered that it wasn't that far away from the city center, where we lived, but the traffic was horrible. I was a really patient person, but traffic jam made me unease. If only my car had wings.

52 minutes later, I arrived to the ice arena. It was a huge grey building, silver letters spelling its name. People were getting out, lots of girls, wearing tight clothes. My eyes wandered around, drooling a bit, not gonna lie. They all looked so intimidatingly fit and so delicate at the same time. I parked in the big parking lot behind the arena and waited for a moment for the song I was listening to to end.

Yeah, I was that kind of a person. As you can see, I didn't mind arriving late. If Cara had been waiting for me since 10.30 just as she said, she had been waiting now for 15 minutes more already. One more minute wouldn't hurt her.

I got out and walked towards the entry. There was a middle aged woman behind a counter in the hall. Since I didn't see Cara around, I decided to ask her.

"Hello. I was looking for Cara Belinsky?" I asked taking off my sunglasses.

The woman glanced up at me under her thin glasses. She simply extended her arm and pointed towards a big double door with a little window in the middle.

I nodded and gave her a tight smile before I tapped the counter twice. "Thank you."

People that walked by were looking at me. Maybe it was because I was slightly limping, but for some reason, I knew it was because they weren't used to see new faces around. I pushed the doors open and let out a big breath. Where was I even going? These hallway lead to the changing rooms. I felt it, I could smell the slight scent of shampoo.

Just at the end of the hallway, right next to the emergency exit, I saw her. She was talking to a tall and lean, but really fit man. He had a tracksuit on, a whistle and a notepad, so I was guessing he was the coach. Cara had her head down as she rummaged through her things in the bag. She nodded absentmindedly. I could totally see she was ignoring him.

With a sigh, the coach ran a hand along his face and laughed. "Come on, you can go. I'll see you later."

Only then did she glance up at him and smiled big. She waved him goodbye and turned around quickly, achieving to take out her phone. Cara stopped in her tracks when she saw me at the other end. Her big smile turned into a toothless one as she approached me. "I was just gonna call you. Have you been waiting for long?" She asked with a frown. "There was this thing that I couldn't get right."

"No, no. I just arrived." I smiled.

"Are you hungry? I'm starving. Did you have lunch already?"

"Lunch?" I asked confused. "I just woke up, I haven't even had breakfast." I chuckled.

"You're not serious." She opened the double doors and I walked past them behind her. "I've been awake for like five hours already."

I opened my eyes wide. "You wake up at 5.30?"

"At 4.30. Sorry, I'm not good at maths." She twisted her mouth and got out of the building. I think I got dizzy after thinking of waking up that early. "I'm already in the rink at 6, and my house is not exactly the nearest. I train for four hours in the morning."

"What do you do next?"

"I go to physical therapy." She licked her lips. "Just not today."

"What would you normally do today?"

"I'd probably stay for an hour longer in the rink before I went to get lunch, but since you're here, I don't know..." She opened her mouth a little and stared up at me. I didn't have time to study her face earlier, but her hair was down and a little dump. It was longer than I thought. She looked beautiful. With that high ponytail she was always wearing, she looked fierce and dangerous. But now she looked way more relaxed and fun. Her hair was so blonde it barely darkened with water. Her cheeks were rosy, making her green eyes pop. She had a tinted chapstick on, what only made her small mouth and plumped lips more kissable. "Nico." She snapped her fingers in front of my face.

"What?"

She let out a awkward laugh. "What do you want to do?"

"Uhm- you're hungry, right?" She nodded eagerly. "Wanna have an early lunch?"

"Sure. I know this place not too far from here, it's where I normally go. If you want..." she threw me a quick glance and tightened her bag against her. I nodded with a smile. "We can walk."

"Why don't you let your things in the car?"

"I... " she chuckled and waved her hands expressively. "See, my truck is a little old, the..." she was hesitating to tell me. "The door doesn't close."

I raised my eyebrows. Oh, so that was why. "You can leave it in my car."

"Really?" She opened her eyes wide, as if I was offering her a million dollars.

"Yeah. That thing looks heavy."

Before letting it inside the trunk of my car, she grabbed some of her things out of the bag.

"What are you doing afterwards?" I asked as we started to walk.

"I do some off-ice training and then I take a ballet class, then I have to pick my brothers from school, after that, I go home, make something to dinner, help showering the kids... well, you know."

No, I didn't know. I opened my eyes wide. Why did she have to do all that? She was just a kid and she had so many responsibilities. I just had to remember to brush my teeth.

"Mais t'es un bébé..." I mumbled in admiration. How could she do so many things and still have energy?

She scrunched up her nose and laughed. "What?"

"Nah, I was just saying... you're too young to be that busy. Bébé, baby." I explained.

Cara chuckled. "That's cute." I smiled. She shrugged and kept on talking. "My mom and my three older brothers work during the day, they come home late. And my dad... well, it's complicated."

"What do they do?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"Uhm... my mom is a nursing assistant. Then there's Brandon. He's 27. He has a son that lives with us, since his girlfriend abandoned them, who is a construction worker. Then there's Ash. He's 26. He works with Brandon, too. He's engaged so he'll leave soon. I hope." She chuckled and I did too. "Then there's Ben. He's 22. We don't get along. He dropped out of college and nobody gets why, since he's really smart. Like video games and computers smart. He literally drove my parents into debt. He should really use that head of his, but he's a Belinsky, so... yeah, not very good genes." She was talking fast and stopped abruptly all of a sudden. "Oh my god, I'm talking too much, I'm sorry."

"No, please, keep going." I nodded. "I like listening to you." For some reason, I did enjoy it. I wanted to know more about her. I wanted to understand why she was the way she was.

The blonde girl stared at me as if I was crazy. "That's the place." She nodded towards a diner before pushing one of the doors and getting in. The place wasn't much, but it smelled amazing. I didn't eat a thing, so I was pretty hungry myself. She smiled at the waiter and we sat down in a booth.

Cara took off her long sleeve shirt, discovering a really tight black tank top. Her skin looked so smooth, I wanted to run my fingers all along it. Her chest was pretty small, the sports bra she was wearing doing nothing to make her boobs look bigger. To be honest, I preferred it like that. I wasn't a fan of big tits, maybe that's why I also liked guys.

I smiled to myself.

"Hello gorgeous. The usual?" The waiter approached us and checked me out cheekily.

Cara laughed. "Yeah."

"Should I leave more time for your boyfriend to decide?" He asked as he chewed gum loudly.

Cara reddened hard and stayed quiet. A horrified expression in her face. Didn't know how to take that. "I'll just have the same as her." I smiled at him as I handed him the menu and he quickly left. "Why didn't you deny it?" I asked amused.

"I... Uhm-" she coughed and shook her head dismissing it. "The club pays for my food, I don't like the food in the cafeteria there, so I sometimes escape and come here. Where was I? Oh yeah, my family. Uhm, well, then there's me. And that's it, the rest are in school." She added quickly.

I dropped my smile slowly. "And your dad?"

The green eyed girl bit her lips and fidgeted on the table, I could feel her legs bouncing up and down. "He's unemployed. He leaves early in the morning and arrives late at night. I like to imagine that he's looking for a job." She said quietly. I stared at her for a few moments and she grabbed nervously a hair band.

As she started to pull her hair up in a ponytail I stopped her with my hand. She stared at me confused. "Why don't you leave your hair like that? I like it."

She let out a breath and finished the hairstyle, completely ignoring my suggestion. "It bothers me. I don't like my hair."

"Why?"

She shrugged and avoided my gaze. She hid something, something bothered her and I wanted to know what it was. I just didn't want to be rude.

"Have you ever been asked if you're a model?"

I think I could never get the image of Cara blushing out of my mind. "Yeah, I got asked that a few times. Since, you know. I'm skinny and quite tall."

"And you're beautiful." I added.

She snorted, looking away, as if that was the funniest thing on earth. "I'm not."

The waiter came in with our food. Two burgers the side of my head and two extra large milkshakes. He winked at me then left graciously. "Do you really eat all this?" I opened my eyes wide examining the fries and salad in the plate.

"I wish." She chuckled. "I'm on a diet all the time. I only do this like twice a month."

"I could never eat this much."

"Yeah, you're pretty skinny." She gave a big bite to her burger as she absentmindedly dipped a fry into the ketchup.

I glanced up at her as I hid my bottom lip inside my mouth. I had never been insecure about my body. I actually looked skinnier with my clothes on, since I was really tall, but still. For some reason that day, I was starting to feel a little self-conscious. It had never crossed my mind that someone could not like me. Seriously, I always thought of myself as a very attractive and desirable person. I had never thought the problem with Cara could be that. What if she didn't like me?

"You didn't tell me anything about you. Do you have siblings?" She asked with a little smile as she extended her hand to grab her milkshake.

Just then I realized I hadn't touched my burger. I grasped it with both hands and took a bite. "I have one step brother and one step sister. My parents are divorced."

"How's that?" She studied my face for a moment. I cocked my head confused as I took a sip. "I mean... your parents being divorced."

"I don't really remember their relationship together, to be honest. I was young when it happened. But I guess it's nice? Since they're not fighting anymore."

"Yeah." She nodded.

"So, Cara." I tried to lighten the mood. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

She shook her head quickly, her face flushed. "No."

"Girlfriend?"

She laughed. "No. I don't- I don't do relationships."

"Why?" I asked taking a fry. The fries were amazing.

"I can't. I don't have time." She chuckled. "I don't even have time to have friends."

"You made time for me." I raised an eyebrow amused.

Cara shrugged and bit her lip trying to fight a smile, looking away. "Yeah."




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Cara accompanied me to my car, so she could grab her bag. I turned to her with a sigh, giving her a small smile.

"Can I see you skate sometime?" I asked nodding towards the arena.

She was glancing down at my arms and chest, my shirt was a little open and you could see some of my tattoos. She narrowed her green eyes. "Only if you show me your tattoos." She smirked.

Was she flirting with me? I mean, I had tattoos distributed all over my body, if she really wanted to see them, I would have to get naked.

Sounded like a plan to me.

"Deal." I said quickly extending my hand.

She looked at it for a moment, hesitating before she shook it with her delicate and much smaller one. Staring up at me, she smiled. "Deal."

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