"Pencils down everyone!" I hear and finish the final sentence of my English test. I couldn't believe you could even get tested on English, it made no sense. I glance to Mel sitting at the desk next to me who shrugs with some laughter.

Junior year was of course much harder than I'd ever expected, too many things going on this year and concerns to have. But today I was thankful, it was the last day of school before winter break. No more school and Kate and Jonathan decided to scale back my practice over the break now I just got to relax and spend time with my friends and family. I look outside seeing snow coming down feverishly and I feel myself getting excited.

"Have a wonderful break students, I'll see you back in the new year!" My teacher calls as we pass our tests forward. 

I sigh, hearing the school bell ring and feel myself relax. The halls were like a zoo, full of cheering and other students rushing to get out the main doors.

"I can't believe that bitch!" Mel exclaims, linking her arm through mine. "It's the last day of school before winter break and she decides it's the perfect time for a unit test?"

"It's not the end of the world, I wish I'd read the book more closely." I mutter and she shakes her head.

"I can't believe you aren't more upset, it's your birthday Sash and you just spent part of it writing a test." She says and I laugh.

"Well now we're free!" I remind her, walking down the main stairs. "Let the partying begin."

"That's the spirit." She says and I laugh. "So how does it feel to be seventeen?"

"Pretty much like being sixteen." I tell her, furrowing my eyebrows and she laughs.

"Well don't worry this is going to be a day to remember." She assures me, as we reach the lobby and I laugh. I suddenly feel my heart beating faster as a pair of deep hazel eyes locks onto mine, Nate gives me a smile and I find myself rushing over to him.

"Hey birthday girl!" He exclaims, picking me up in a hug. "How was your test?"

"Completely un-festive for both birthdays and Christmas vacation." I inform him and he nods giving me a quick kiss. 

"Well I assume you're ready to head out to celebrate? It's below freezing." He whispers and I feel my smile reach my cheeks.

My friends had put together a quiet afternoon of skating on the pond behind my house as the beginning of my birthday celebration. Mel called it an homage to my figure skating life and I couldn't resist, I loved that little pond. I used to practice on it all the time and thanks to the early cold weather it was more than skate-able.

"Show them some tricks from an official Olympic athlete." Nate encourages and I laugh hitting his chest. 

My tryout had gone much better than expected, it seemed like the key to skating well really was having fun on the ice and being happy with yourself. After losing so badly, so many times last year I was almost afraid to put myself out there, I didn't feel worthy. But I pulled out any trick or combination I could think of and made a loaded program. Once I got the news I kept it to myself for a while knowing as soon as everyone else knew, it would spread like wildfire.

But of course everyone was thrilled, I got too many congratulations to count and I was set to jet-off for the Olympics next month. I had Nate and all of his support to thank for it.

"Ready to head out guys?" Mel asks and everyone follows her lead, out the main doors and to the student lot. Nate wraps his arm around my shoulders and I smile, leaning into his side.

"So how does it feel to be with an older woman Nate?" Malcolm asks, dragging Brooke into his side. She laughs and smacks his chest, making me smile. It had taken the better part of a year but at the end of August he'd worked up the courage to ask Brooke out and become official. I kept telling her to hold on and not give up because I knew how much he liked her.

"Pretty amazing." Nate mumbles, kissing the top of my head and I smile seeing snowflakes falling into his eyelashes. 

"Is Micheal coming?" Rachel asks and I nod.

"Later, him and Irene are on their way back from another competition." I remind her. "But I heard they got first, we'll have something to celebrate."

"Is your birthday not enough of a celebration?" Mel deadpans and I shrug.

"I keep forgetting....honestly the year has been insane." I mumble. It seemed like I blinked and went from sixteen and hopeless to seventeen and happy.

"Well we'll see you there!" She calls as everyone piles into different cars.

"Come on, you're riding with me." Nate whispers and I furrow my eyebrows.

"I thought the guys were going with you?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"Nope, I shifted some people around so I could take you alone." He says and I smile, feeling warm in the midst of the cold air.

I follow him into his car and breathe on my hands waiting for them to warm up.

"You stay in here and warm up, I'm just going to clean off the car." He whispers, kissing my cheek and I smile, turning on my seat heater. 

Nate hadn't changed in the entire time we'd been together, he was still incredibly sweet and compassionate. We'd become better at communication in our relationship and we shared our responsibility and stress together. He thought of fun dates and thoughtful presents, I always tried to show him I cared but he just seemed much more romantic than I was. But of course he always gave me a huge smile when I did something for him.

Then he's back in the car driving to my house and apologizing about how his hand isn't on my knee because of the horrible road conditions. I just laughed and assured him I was alright all the way there. Once he gets to my house he turns off the car and grabs my hand.

"There was a reason I wanted to take you alone." He says and I feel my heart hammer in my chest. "I wanted to give you something, but it was really.....well I hope it's going to be really special and I wasn't sure when I'd be able to pull you away durning the rest of today."

"You're too sweet." I mumble, feeling my cheeks heat up.

"I got this for you." He whispers, placing a square box down in my palm. "I really hope it's perfect."

"Whatever it is, I love it." I assure him, placing my hand on the side of his face and giving him a kiss on the cheek. 

I quietly pull back the ribbon on the small box and smile, removing the lid. I wondered at first what could be so heavy but so small, but when I saw what it was I nearly melted.

"It's a charm bracelet." He whispers and I smile, running my finger over the silver chain.

"It's gorgeous." I whisper, lifting it out of the box. "What do all of them mean?"

"Well," He says grabbing my hand and bringing it closer. "The lady I worked with looked at me like I was insane for everything I picked out." I laugh a bit at that and watch as he does it up around my wrist.

"The first one is a figure skate." He says, pulling it out from the others. "For obvious reasons, the next is this heart, because I love you and you have a spot in my heart." He whispers and I feel tears spring into my eyes. "Then I picked out the duckling, because we all know about your love for the duck pond. The next is an ice cream cone, because we always used to share when we were little." Then the tears break and I sniffle feeling them roll over my cheeks.

"I got this B-F-F one, because you were my best friend first. I also put on this bottle, they don't make vodka bottle charms, but it's because your hobby seems to be outdoing everyone on shots." He says and I chuckle a bit through my tears. "The next one I don't know about, it's a hockey stick, for the nights you come to my games and for our relationship."

"I love that one." I whisper. "It should be on there, you mean everything to me."

"I also put one on of the mother-country." He teases, showing me the one shaped like Russia. "Then I just put a few on from dates we've been on, the beach umbrella from last summer, a star for the planetarium. I picked out this coffee cup because we met again in that shitty coffee shop all those months ago."

"It's so beautiful." I whisper, twisting my wrist around to see it from all angles. Then I furrow my eyebrows realizing he didn't explain two of them, and it seemed to be the two that needed the most explaining. "What do these mean?" I ask, sniffling in a deep breath. "The number two and an infinity sign?" He just smiles and brings my hands into his.

"The two is because you gave me a second chance." He whispers and I'm starting to watch his eyes turn red with unshed tears. "Because I don't want to waste any second with you and I'm glad you let me in again." The small amount I was able to restrain my tears is completely gone now. I'm full on ugly-crying in the passenger seat.

"The infinity has a double meaning." He says even more quietly. "The first is because I'll love you forever, you're my forever." He says and I smile watching tears make wet spots on my shirt. "But I got it for you.....because I'll never be able to tell you all the reasons or ways I love you, Sasha Petrov." He says giving my hands a squeeze.

I just reach over and give him a hug, crying on his shoulder. The moment was far too sweet and I just felt emotional seeing all the thought that went into the special gift. He doesn't hesitate to bring me into his lap and wait for the tears to die down.

"I love you." I whisper. "Thank you Nathan, this is the sweetest present."

"I'm glad you like it." He says and I nod, kissing his cheek.

"Of course I do." I mumble and he smiles, wiping away my tears.

"Come on birthday girl, dry those tears." He says quietly. "Let's get our skates on?" He suggests and I nod, climbing out of the car. We walk around to the back and get our skates out, ready to head down and see everyone.

He takes my hand and leads me down the path next to my house to the little pond behind my house. The snow seems to be dying down slightly, now it just falls softly, making the scene much more romantic.

I push through the trees feeling almost surprised at what I see, all around the pond were lights strung through the trees. I see my friends down by the pond's edge, lacing up their skates. I immediately find Mel, giving her the old pair of skates I promised her.

"Thanks Sash, these are great." She says and I smile. "Can I watch you do them up? I don't know how."

"Sure." I tell her and she takes a seat next to me, watching me tighten them up. She follows along until suddenly her hand shoots out and grabs my wrist.

"This is beautiful." She gasps, pulling my sleeve up. "This is what Nate gave you? He asked if he could take you alone to give you his present.....it's so sweet." She whines and I nod, smiling too. "But that just gave us some extra time to set this up." She says, gesturing around at the lights and I give her a hug.

"You're too sweet, this is the best birthday I've had in years." I tell her and she smiles.

"I'm so glad." She agrees and continues watching me tie up the skates. "So are these just old?" She asks and I nod.

"Yeah, skates are like anything else, they wear-out over time. They're fine to skate on, just for fun and everything, but the ankles are gone which means I can't land my jumps." I inform her.

"As long as they hold me up, they sound amazing." She sighs and I nudge her.

It meant a lot to me that even my friends who didn't know a thing about skating were giving this a try. Skating could be hard if you'd never had experience with it and I hoped it would be fun for everyone.

Someone connects to a speaker, blasting music over the ice and quickly everyone gets up on their skates. Rachel and Brooke cling to Damien and Malcolm, trying to adjust to the ice. Maddie is up skating around with Adrian, both in a focused conversation. They weren't dating, just ended up clicking and becoming great friends.

"Come on gorgeous." Nate says taking my hands and I smile, getting to my feet. I turn back and look at Mel sitting on the log and furrow my eyebrows.

"Are you going to skate?" I ask and she sighs. 

"I will in a bit, but you two go." She assures me and I nod, giving her a friendly smile and giving Nate's hand a squeeze.

"You guys started without us?" We hear and turn to see Micheal, Irene and Dean coming to the pond.

Micheal and Irene, as I predicted had stayed incredibly close. They didn't resent each other and made better friends than they ever did lovers. Micheal and Dean kept their relationship very toned down in fear of judgement. Of course it was no secret that Micheal was gay, word had gotten out a long time ago and after a while, he just seemed happier. He didn't have a secret anymore and he got to feel like himself.

Sweet little Irene had gone through a boy phase, determined to gain experience. But all she really gained were broken hearts and disappointing stands that didn't lead anywhere. Irene was really quite pretty, she could have any guy if she really worked on him, and after the summer she got herself together, happily choosing to go back to skating with Micheal. 

"Did you win?" I ask excitedly and they nod, I knew I just wanted to hear it in person.

"Sash, you really need to stop doubting us." Micheal huffs, pretending to be offended and I chuckle as they start to lace up their own skates.

"You know I'm not." I scold and he laughs standing up and giving me a hug.

"Happy birthday." He says and I find myself smiling. "I hope you don't mind that I brought Dean along-"

"Not at all." I assure him. "I'm glad you brought him."

"Well I won't distract you from Nate any longer." He says and I laugh. "Save me a lap at some point."

"You've got it." I tell him and wave skating back to Nate, who gladly takes my hand and holds me close.

"You know I still can't believe they made up like that." Nate mumbles. "Given how broken-up Irene was."

"I guess." I shrug. "But they have history, they're really close and if they swapped partners they'd never be as good again. They almost skate better now that they're not in a relationship."

"And that's why I'm glad me and you were never a pair." He teases and I laugh.

When I look back I see Irene giving Mel a hand up and Mel hesitantly giving it her best go. She stumbles on the toe picks and I sigh watching her almost face-plant on the ice.

"Did you warn her about the toe picks?" Nate asks and I feel my cheeks turn red when I realize I never did. "Shit, I guess we should have found her a pair of hockey skates."

"Yeah they might be easier to learn on." I mumble, feeling guilty, but relieved when I see Irene helping her up and talking to her.

Nate spins with me and lets me show him boring tricks, not meant to be performed on hockey skates and I just laugh watching him give them a try.

In this moment I felt like I was at my happiest, everything was perfect. Between my friends, me and Nate and me and my family. I missed my brothers a lot, I never realized just how important they were or how much we saw each other before they left. But we got on video call and chatted every other night, I knew they were happy to be out of the house and pursuing what they loved. 

Nik and Alex had actually come home when they found out I'd secured my Olympic spot. They came to celebrate with me and I watched dad shed real tears. Mom made a special family meal and we all got to sit down and eat it together. Those were the sorts of moments I really cherished, we didn't get many now that my brothers were moved out, but I enjoyed the few I did get.

Now I just found myself missing Nik and Alex, we'd never missed each others' birthdays before but at the same time they both had busy schedules and they told me they would be home in two days. I really missed seeing them all the time and having someone to talk to at home. My parents were busy so I found myself getting lonely often.

"What's wrong?" Nate asks, grabbing my shoulders. "You seem a million miles away."

"I miss my brothers." I sigh. "It's the holidays and I haven't seen them in person for a while. They won't be home until two days from now."

"I'm sorry." He whispers, kissing my forehead. "I know you get along so well with them." I nod and press my lips together.

"We've never missed birthdays before, and I know that this year it's a little out of my control, but I still want them here." I tell him and he nods taking my hands.

"They want to be here." He tells me confidently. "They love you."

"I know." I mumble feeling more upset than I meant to. I didn't want to be so emotional about it.

"Don't get upset." He tells me and I nod. "They'll be here sooner than you think."

"You're right, I guess I'll just count down the hours." I mumble and he laughs, grabbing my waist.

"Or you could just turn around." He whispers, kissing my cheek and I feel my eyes widen.

"No....." I say, pulling back and looking for any signs of teasing in his eyes. 

"Sasha!" I hear and I know the voice, I immediately get excited and furrow my eyebrows.

"I know you missed them, I called and they made arrangements to come home for your birthday." Nate whispers and I turn to see my brothers, hockey skates strung over their shoulders.

"Come on dancing queen, I just took a two hour plane ride. Can I at least get a hug?" Nik asks and I skate over faster than I mean to, moving faster and faster until I can jump into his arms. Just like always, Alex then crushes me from the other side and I laugh, getting crushed in the best possible way. I felt weirdly emotional seeing them again, I was so tired of walking past their dark bedrooms and wishing they were here.

"Happy seventeenth Sasha." Alex says and I smile.

"I can't believe you guys are here." I say feeling warm inside that they made the trip home just for my birthday.

"Well Nate called, he said you and your friends were going to skate today on our pond, we wanted to be here for it." Nik says and they set me down.

"How long are you staying?" I ask excitedly.

"Until after New-Year's." Alex says quietly. "We're moving in for the holidays."

"What?" I ask too quickly. Last I checked they were planning on only coming by a few times through the break.

"Well we miss seeing you, it'll be just like last year and the three of us can hang out and catch up." Nik suggests and I smile, feeling oddly relaxed by the idea.

"I'm so glad, I missed you guys." I say, getting another hug.

"So how was your last day?" Nik asks. "Anyone still calling you Ice Queen?" I shake my head, feeling a smile spread over my face and ready to catch up over the next few weeks.

"No, that's over." I say confidently, looking over my friends who skate around the rink, taking the pictures and holding onto each other. I look at Nate who gives me a mushy smile and my heart melts. "Ice Queen's dead, I'm not that person anymore."

"Good for you Sash." Alex says, nudging my arm. "Well we came to skate, we'll lace up and join you and your friends if it's alright?"

"Of course it's alright." I say, shaking my head. "This day wouldn't be complete without you."

Last year it was just my brothers and me, baking cupcakes incorrectly and not eating them because none of us could stand the amount of sugar in them. This year I had real non-relative friends to spend my birthday with and I couldn't help but feel like everyone I wanted to celebrate with was here.