"Francesca, why did you sit on the aisle if you were the first person to class? That is so obnoxious." Parker climbs over my stuff with Maya and they take their seats next to me leaving a seat open for Luna. I got to class 30 minutes early with all my stuff in tow so I could get the best seat for a quick getaway when class is over.

"That is the obnoxious part Parker? It isn't the fact she has like half our apartment sitting on the floor? What is with the stupid cones anyways?" I also decided that I did not have time to stop home so I lugged all my stuff to class including my skating bag which looks like it is going to give out on me any day now.

"They're for her Berlin wall," Luna says as she joins us, climbing over my stuff like the other two did.

"If I don't set up the cones before he shows up he is going to give himself a bigger section of the ice." I have a competition coming up in two weeks and I need as much room as possible to practice, meaning he can't have even an inch more than necessary.

"Is that not what you're going to do," Luna accuses.

"No," I tell her defensively. "I will be fair."

"I am interested to see what song he will pick from your list, I bet he has good taste." Maya has a dreamy far away look as she thinks about the hockey player. When I told our apartment about him on Thursday she looked him up on the University of Michigan website and now she is obsessed with him. Yesterday she was telling us his freshman year stats and today she was telling us about how he played in the games this weekend, trying to get me to watch his highlights. Meanwhile all I could think was great, another winning weekend he is going to be extra annoying.

"Maya stop if you want a tool we can go to Home Depot girl." Maya juts out her bottom lip and crosses her arms as Parker leans forward to talk to me and Luna. "I still think you letting him pick off the list is insane. It is a good list but Fran are you sure about this?"

"What choice do I have Parker?"

"I don't know but honestly, fuck him for messing with something so important."

Luna nods her head in agreement as Maya who was sulking picks her head up. "Hey how come she can fuck him and I can't." None of us dignify her with an answer, as we all shoot her looks of disgust before turning to the front of the room to the class about to begin.

The second class is over, thankfully a few minutes early instead of running over today, I am out of my seat running toward the doors. "Bye," I yell back to my friends, adjusting my backpack, skating bag, and bag of cones I am attempting to carry. One of them, potentially all of them, yells back something that sounds like dumbass but I don't stop to argue.

I hustle across campus straight to the rink arriving 15 minutes early. Despite the cold I am literally sweating from my power walk to get here. I don't even bother taking off my 10 layers as I kick my shoes to the side and pull my skates on, not even bothering to properly lace them.

I jump onto the ice and carefully place the first cone in the dead center of the ice. From there I carefully place cones next to each other going longways across the rink, making sure there is no space between any of them. They are all perfectly snug, forming a little wall between us when Barb emerges from her office with a smile.

"I see, is this the solution?" she asks as I skate over toward where she is standing.

"It is the best we could agree on," I tell her as I look back at my handiwork.

"Well about that," she says and before she can carry on, I interrupt.

"He found a new time? He decided to transfer schools? Quit hockey? Experience space travel and leave earth for the rest of the semester?"

"No Francesca," she laughs, shaking her head. "We want to give you your money back since you two have to share the ice even though you paid for private time."

"Oh," I reply in shock. "Barb you guys don't have to, I mean seriously."

"Francesca, take it. Use it to get yourself a new costume for Nationals instead, you deserve it."

My eyes glass over as I bite my cheek to keep from crying. The last thing I need is Carson to see me cry. He will probably never let me hear the end of it. "Barb, are you sure? I mean like..." I can't even form a coherent sentence as a weird feeling of relief washes over me.

"We already transferred it back to you, it should be in your account in a few days sweetie."

"Thank you," I tell her as I pull her into a hug.

Money is tight. Actually tight is an understatement, I am flat out broke in a sport that is not very cheap. My parents worked extra shifts when I was growing up, to afford my ice skating but even then you could tell I was not well off like the other kids. My costumes were either hand me downs or homemade by my Nonna. My skates I wore literally until they were too dangerous to step on the ice with. I had my first job when I was 15 helping out at the rink near me in exchange for ice time. When I came to college I was lucky enough to get one of the few ice skating scholarships in the country since most schools don't care about skating but that only covered so much. Everything else it didn't cover I took out loans to cover. I am already in about $30,000 worth of debt and Barb knows how much that weighs on me. My family and I have put a lot on the line for my skating career, and sometimes I question if it is all worth it.

"Do great things Franny," she whispers to me before letting me go and walking back to her office.

I take a moment to collect myself, overwhelmed that for once I might have a costume at Nationals that doesn't cause others to whisper behind my back. The last two years Luna has let me borrow from her and Maya who is a fashion major helped alter them but Luna and her partner are iconic and everyone recognized the hand me down dress, including the judges. Thankfully my skating speaks for itself and even my costumes can't diminish that but it definitely is embarrassing.

"Eyo Beck," Carson yells, instantly souring my mood. I am suddenly not in the mood for his song selection and instead want to use something that channels what I am feeling right now. Something more powerful than the pretty ballets I filled my list with.

"Carson, my name is Francesca," I correct him again.

"Ryder," he says, pointing to himself.

"What?"

"Everyone calls me Ryder. No one uses Carson."

"Ok fine. Ryder, my name is Francesca."

"Yeah and your last name is Beckett." So he does know my name. He is just choosing to call me by my last name.

"What is with the last name thing," I ask. It seems like hockey players always call each other by their last names. My brothers played on a team together and some of their friends I have known for 15 years and I have no idea what their first name is.

"Stop stalling Beckett, let's pick this song." I step off the ice finally removing my jacket and digging the crumpled list from my leggings pocket. Ryder snatches it from my hand and looks it over carefully.

While he reviews the list, I take off the rest of my layers so I am just in my leggings and a long sleeve shirt. I also retie my laces and fix my hair before sitting on the bench and watching Ryder. Like last time, he is in joggers but today he has a white t-shirt and a white hat on backwards. His shirt is tight along his chest and his pants look about the bust from his large thigh muscles.

"Soo," I ask after a few minutes of him searching the songs and making notes on my paper.

"None," he smiles at me, throwing the list in the trash next to us.

"None," I yell as I reach into the trash for my list. I un crumple it and see next to each song all his notes say something like boring, trash, stupid, sounds like a funeral song. "Ryder, you need to pick one!"

"Nope, I have a song for you instead."

"There are rules you can't just pick anything."

"I know, I googled the rules."

"You did," I ask in shock. I would have just assumed he would pick whatever song he liked on his Spotify playlist and called it a day.

"Yeah now anyways, this is my choice." He hits play on his phone and I Wanna Be Your Slave by Måneskin begins to play. I actually like the song and it fits with my current mood more than my list did but I don't want to give Ryder the victory. He already has a smug look on his face as I bob my head along to the song.

"It is too fast," I tell him, which is partly true. I will have to push myself to my limits to skate to such a fast song for almost three minutes straight. My whole routine will have to be quick and sharp while most figure skating routines are slower and more flowy.

"It is only for a few minutes. You can handle it," he says, blowing off my concerns.

"I will be dying by the end," I retort.

"Have you seen a hockey game? We have to skate at top speeds while battling other guys. Again you will survive."

"Yeah but you guys are in and out really fast," I say but immediately regret what I said. I meant that they change lines fast and never skate fully out for more than a couple minutes but the words came out wrong. Ryder already has a shit eating smile spread across his face as his mind processes the innuendo.

"Damn Beck, how did you know I like it hard and fast?" Ryder laughs as my face heats up and I shake my head and step back out onto the ice. Despite my initial protest, I download the song onto my phone and put it on repeat. I will begin actually choreographing tonight but for now I just want to skate and get a feel for the song.

Ryder changes into his skates and steps on the ice looking amused at my wall. "Should have done it this way across the center line," he says but I turn up the volume and begin skating, drowning him out.

I focus mostly on myself for the hour of practice. Occasionally, I peak over at Ryder who seems just as focused on his skating as I am on mine. I secretly admire his dedication. It is rare I meet someone who is as dedicated to their sport as I am, and who actually takes their practice time seriously. Parker has ice time booked too but I know that half of his ice time is just dicking around.

When the hour is up, I turn off my music and begin to collect the cones. I had a really productive skate and I love the song, thought I would never admit that to Ryder. It is not something I would ever in a million years pick for myself but something about it is so addicting and I can already picture fast, jump packed performance that will amaze the judges in two weeks.

Ryder helps grab cones also and hands them to me. I get off the ice first, wiping my face with a towel."What are you doing?" I ask as I notice Ryder tiptoeing across the ice carefully.

"Avoiding your landmines. I don't want to break my damn neck Beck."

"Dramatic."

"Not dramatic."

"Dramatic."

"Not," he says, getting louder.

"Dramatic," I say louder than him."

"No!"

Yes!"

"Woah woah," Barb interrupts looking between the two of us who are standing feet from each other yelling.

"I see this is going well," Josh laughs.

"Sorry," we apologize together, embarrassed about our behavior.

"You two want some hot chocolate before you go?" Barb asks, holding out a cut for each of us. I take mine gingerly while Ryder just shrugs. Josh gives him a look and he reluctantly takes it.

"You can leave your cones," Josh tells me as I struggle to carry my bags. "They will be in the office, just grab them whenever you need them." I reluctantly leave the cones with him. Plus side, it is one less thing to carry but the down side is now Ryder can set them up if he beats me here.

"Anyways I have got to go, bye everyone." Ryder says his goodbyes and I follow a moment later. As I exit, I notice him getting into his car and am instantly jealous as I prepare for my walk back to my apartment as fresh snow begins to fall.

_______________________________

My choice for the song actually came from a Tik Tok so if you want to see the inspiration look up Amberglenniceskater, it is her third pinned video from 6-25. She is an amazing skater and I watched a lot of her skating videos to prepare to write this story.