3. He's Not His Type

Noah

I paced round my room, trying to work off some of my nervous energy. I was nervous for several reasons.

The first was because I was going Ice skating! I mean, skating on ice! Why? Just why?

Max wasn't exaggerating with what he said to Robin earlier.

Robin had mentioned a week ago that he and some friends were going ice skating and then he asked if me and Max wanted to come. I'd said yes of course, too busy basking in the glow of being invited out with Robin to even realise what I'd agreed to. It was only the following day when Max casually asked me if I'd ever been icesaking that the horror of it all actually hit me.

And so yes, I'd dragged Max with me to the ice rink on Saturday, and yes we'd spent the best part of the day there while I managed to 'find my feet'.

What I couldn't understand was why everyone else could do it! I mean, it was ice!! And they make you wear these thin blades on your feet!! How is it possible NOT to fall over?!!

Max, of course had been ice skating with his family a few times, and looked perfectly natural on the ice. I'd spent the entire time either clinging onto the side, or rather embarrassingly clinging onto Max's arm. Unless I was sat on the ice of course!

The other reasons why I was nervous centered around one person. Robin.

Robin, who was gay.

I still couldn't really get my head around that. I wasn't really sure what that meant for us. And I was terrified that tonight I would get something wrong.

I was never the best person in sensitive situations. I remember when my mum told me my Aunt Libby had died. My response was, "Well, she was old."

Apparently 64 is not that old. Who knew?!

What if I somehow did something stupid tonight and Robin thought I wasn't ok with gays?

I was ok with gays. I think. It's not like I'd ever been around anyone gay before. But I knew that I still wanted to be Robin's friend. And I knew that I was going to do everything I could to make sure that we were still friends at the end of the night.

There was a tentative knock at my door and my mum poked her head round.

"Ooo, you look nice," she said, making me instantly huff and roll my eyes.

"What? You do! Who did you say you're going out with?" she asked.

"Robin and Max, and a few other guys from school."

My mum looked confused. "Then why are you so nervous? You practiced with Max right?"

I groaned and flopped back onto my bed. Why did my mum need to know everything?

"I'm still crap," I mumbled.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll be fine," she said, flapping her hand in the air dismissively. "Plus Max will be there."

"It's not Max I'm worried about," I shot back without thinking.

I shut my eyes and took a deep breath when I realised she'd heard.

She was silent for a moment, then said, "So who are you worried about Sweetie?"

And there it was. She'd pulled out the 'Sweetie' name. The name that meant she wouldn't give up till she found out what was bothering me. Ever since she'd read that stupid article that said one in every four 16 year olds had self harmed she freaked out every time I was in the least bit moody.

Although this time it was partly my fault. I'd given her an 'in' with my stupid thoughtless comment.

But when I thought about it, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to tell her. After all, it was Robin with the issues, not me.

"Erm, Robin kind of came out as gay today," I said, not taking my gaze off the ceiling.

I felt the bed dip underneath me as my mum sat down.

"Oh," she said after a moment's pause, "and how do you feel about that?"

"I'm not homophobic mum, if that's what your worried about!" I said while rolling my eyes.

My mum slapped my leg lightly, "I never thought you were! I just meant, are you comfortable with him being gay?"

I shrugged.

"Look sweetie, just because he's gay doesn't change anything. He's still the same Robin you know. I know it might take a bit of getting used to, but he's still your friend, and he probably needs you to be there for him more than ever right now."

"I know, I know," I huffed at her. "But I just don't know how.....I just can't be.......I don't know what to say!"

"Well what do you want to say?" my mum asked, and on seeing my blank stare, she elaborated. "If you could say anything to him, ask him anything and there not be any come back from it, no chance of offending him, no worrying about it being the wrong thing, what would you say?"

I felt my brow furrow in concentration as I tried to think of what I would say. There were so many things I wanted to say. So many questions. How could I pick just one?

The words came out of my mouth without me even realising it.

"I'd want to ask him why Bradley? Of all people, why him?"

Why my brain chose to pick that one question out of all the others, I didn't know. Maybe because it was something I definitely couldn't ask him to his face. I mean, what if Bradley was his boyfriend?

I felt my body shiver involuntarily.

My mum looked surprised at my question.

"What's Bradley got to do with anything. And who's Bradley?"

I rolled my eyes. "Bradley is the boy he was pictured with. Bradley's gay and everyone knows it, so when they saw Robin......getting close with Bradley, they made the leap that he was gay too. And he is."

"Ok, so what's wrong with Bradley then?" my mum asked.

I sighed loudly and banged my arms on the bed beside me in frustration.

"He's just......I don't know.....he's just....uurgghh. I mean, Robin could have any gay guy he wants, so why chose that loser?"

"So are they boyfriends then?"

"I don't know," I replied, shaking my head at the thought.

"Then maybe there's nothing going on. Maybe you should ask him tonight."

I let out a snort of laughter at the thought. "Yeah right, he'll think I'm a right creeper."

"What because you're showing an interest in his life? If you thought Max had a girlfriend, you'd ask him about it."

I remained silent and stared at the ceiling. My mum had a point there. I wouldn't have any issues teasing and laughing with Max about a possible girlfriend, so why did it freak me out so much with Robin? Was it because it was a boyfriend rather than a girlfriend?

After a few moment's silence, my mum patted my leg then got up off the bed.

"I'll leave you to think about it then," she said as she headed to the door.

I just hummed in response, still lost in my thoughts.

"But I don't think you've got anything to worry about," she said, as she hovered at my door, "I don't think Bradley's his type."

As she walked out of the room, her words suddenly snapped me out of my thoughts.

"What do you mean?" I shouted to the now empty door, "How do you know, when you don't even know who Bradley is?"

A few seconds later my mum's head peered back round the door frame.

"Well, is this Bradley anything like you?" she asked.

"God no!"

"Then he's not his type then," she said, then disappeared before my jaw even had time to drop.

I stared at the empty doorway for a good minute before turning my head back to face the ceiling again.

My mum was off her rocker. There was no other explanation for it.

The sound of a car horn made me jump up off the bed.

I shot to the window and saw Max waiting in his car outside.

I quickly sorted out my hair in front of the mirror, giving myself a final once over.

I'd gone for black jeans and a black shirt. I'm not sure why a shirt, especially as I was just going to be shoving a grey hoodie over the top.

I grabbed my phone and wallet before running downstairs.

"I'm off, Mum," I shouted towards the kitchen.

"Ok, love, have fun," came the reply as I headed out the front door.

I quickly zipped up my hoodie as I made my way over to Max's car. Partly because it was cold, and partly because I didn't want him to comment on my shirt.

"Hey, Bambi! Are you ready?" Max hollered as I opened the passenger side door.

I cuffed him lightly on the shoulder before fastening my belt.

"Are you wearing a shirt?" Max asked as he set off down the road.

I glanced down to see that I'd not zipped my hoodie up far enough to hide the collar of my shirt.

"Erm, yeah, all my nice t-shirts were in the wash."

Max laughed and wiggled his eyebrows at me. So I punched his shoulder.

"Hey, watch out! You don't want to make me crash! Save the injuries for the ice!"

I went to hit him again but thought better of it seen as he was maneuvering down a narrow street with cars on either side of him.

"You better not abandon me tonight," I mumbled, folding my arms across my chest.

"Damn! You've figured out my plan. I'm going to drag you into the middle of the ice and just leave you there!"

I shot an alarmed look at my friend.

"I know you're joking right now, but just so you know, do that, and I'll cut your balls off in your sleep!"

"Ooo, kinky!" he said, while laughing.

I rolled my eyes.

I knew Max would have my back tonight, but I also knew he loved to wind me up, so I suspected at some point tonight I would be the butt of his jokes.

The journey didn't last as long as I would have liked and before I knew it we were pulling up in the car park.

I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans then checked my watch. 8:15pm.

"Come on," Max said, getting out of the car. "It looks like everyone else has gone in already."

I got out of the car and followed Max to the entrance. The rink opened at 8 o'clock so most of the queue had died down.

When we entered the arena, the first thing to hit me was the cold. The second was the loud music. Pharrell Williams's Happy was blaring out over the speakers and the ice rink was darker than the last time and it was lit up with various coloured disco lights.

It was nothing like the Saturday afternoon session I'd come to with Max last week. On that day the rink was mainly filled with young families and adorable little kids holding onto these big plastic penguins that worked like zimmer frames.

Tonight the place was packed with teenagers. Some just huddled on the ice in groups, and others were charging round the ice like they were playing some giant elaborate game of tig.

I walked over to the skate hire and handed in my trainers in exchange for my skates of death.

As I put them on and the all to familiar feeling of discomfort came back, I began to question my sanity for being here.

What was I thinking? They were going to eat me alive out there.

Almost like he could sense my discomfort, Max hopped onto his feet like he had just put on a comfy pair of trainers, and held his hands out to me. "Come on man, you'll be fine, I swear."

I gave him a look to tell him he was an idiot for believing that, but took his hands anyway and let him pull me up.

As I walked to the entrance of the rink, I could only imagine that this is how girls felt the first time they wore high heels. It reminded me of a youtube clip I'd watched of a model wearing ridiculously high stilettos who kept falling off them, her legs looking like two rubber bands as she wobbled down the catwalk.

I glanced nervously at all the people gathered near to the small opening into the rink. If I stepped onto the ice and immediately fell onto my backside like I did on Saturday, there was no way it'd go unnoticed.

Max stepped onto the ice with ease then turned round and offered up his arm.

I gripped onto his wrist like my life depended on it, then stepped onto the ice.

Max quickly moved along around the group of people so I could grab the side of the rink and let go of his arm.

"Well, at least that was better than last time," Max said grinning.

I shot him an unimpressed look, but couldn't help the small smile that made its way onto my face due to the unbelievable relief that I was actually on the ice and still standing.

The relief didn't last long as two figures came hurtling our way before one of them ploughed into me, sending me sprawling backwards onto the ice.

"Fuck, sorry," came the voice of the torpedo, and I turned to see Charlie sat on the ice next to me.

"Damn it Charlie," came a voice that I instantly recognised, and Robin made his way into my vision. "I told you to watch out. Are you ok Noah?" he asked, bending down to look me in the eyes.

It was only at this point that I realised I was still lying flat on my back and I quickly sat up as a wave of embarrassment washed over me.

"I'm fine," I said back and I glanced around until I locked eyes with Max.

Thankfully the best friend telepathy was in tune today as he immediately stepped forward and offered me his hand.

It had taken a while last Saturday, but eventually we'd perfected the method of getting me back onto my feet.

As Max pulled, he turned his boot to one side, and I wedged the blade of my boot into the side of his to give me some leverage. Within seconds I was back on my feet and brushing the ice off the back of my legs.

"Are you sure you're ok man?" asked Charlie as he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," I said, shooting him my best 'it's no big deal' smile.

He dropped his hand off my shoulder and turned to Robin, "anyway, you're it!" he shouted before hitting Robin on the arm then skating away at the same speed he arrived.

"Damn it!" Robin whined as he watched Charlie skate away.

He stayed silent for a few seconds as he looked out at the people skating round passed us.

"So," he eventually said, turning to face me, "Do you want...."

"Come on Robin..." shouted a voice and I watched as Dillon skated past at a frightening speed.

"Yeah, come on!" shouted.....Emma? It was Emma! Uncoordinated, rubbish at anything sporty Emma. And even she was skating round like a pro. This was getting more humiliating by the second.

Robin shot me a look and shrugged his shoulders before skating off after them.

A chuckle from my left made me tear my eyes away from Robin's retreating figure.

"What are you laughing at?" I huffed at Max.

"I'm sorry, but that was just so funny!"

"Was not, now come on. Let's get moving. I need the practice."

Max offered me his arm and I clung onto his wrist again as we made our way slowly round the rink.

It took forever to just do one lap, but I gladly accepted Max's offer of a celebratory high five at making it round without falling once.

As I clung to the side taking a well earned break, Max suddenly nudged me in the side and pointed to someone on the ice.

I followed his eyes and groaned.

There was always an employee on duty on the ice, whose job it was to keep an eye on everyone and to assist if anyone fell and was either injured or struggling to get up.

I recognised the guy from last week. Luke. Humiliatingly, he had pulled me up onto my feet on more than one occasion on Saturday.

Almost like he could sense our eyes on him, Luke suddenly looked our way. I quickly snatched my eyes away, but Max clearly had different ideas as he waved wildly at him.

"What ya doin'," I said through gritted teeth.

"Just being friendly," he muttered through his smile as the guy skated over to us.

"Hey, Noah, wasn't it?" he asked looking at me.

I plastered a smile across my face.

"Yep, turns out bruising one arse cheek wasn't enough so I decided to come back to get myself a matching pair."

Luke threw his head back laughing, making me widen my eyes at him. It wasn't that funny.

"Well you're on your feet, so you're already doing better than last week," he said as he touched my shoulder in encouragement.

"Yeah, well, I don't think I could get much worse," I said with a grimace.

A scream from the side made us all snap our attention to the girl coming hurtling our way.

"Luke!!! Help!!" she cried before barreling into him.

He caught her with ease, and laughed with her while making sure she had her balance.

I noticed that she clung onto him for a lot longer than was necessary.

"Anyway, duty calls," he said looking at me and then at the girl before skating off, making the girl's hands finally let him go.

As the girl skated off, in a perfectly controlled way funnily enough, Max turned to me.

"God, I bet he's sick of having all the girls pawing at him like that."

"Yeah, I'm sure it's a real hardship for him," I said, while rolling my eyes.

"Oh, I don't know," Max said with a smirk, "I think he'd have rather spent more time chatting with you than that girl."

"What?" I asked, snapping my head to look back at Max.

The way he was laughing made my eyebrows shoot up.

"No! NO! Really NO!!"

Max just carried on laughing and soon as I was joining in, the ridiculousness of the situation taking over.

I looked back at Luke, who was now gliding effortlessly round the ice. There was no doubt he was good looking. He looked like he was a couple of years older than us. He had a messy mop of blonde hair and bright blue eyes, and a sporty physique. It was no surprise that a lot of the girls seemed to be clambering after his attention.

But gay? No, he certainly didn't look gay. But then again, neither did Robin.

Luke turned my way and our eyes met, making me instantly look away as I felt my face start to flush from being caught staring.

Thankfully Max's attention seemed to be elsewhere.

"Hey, look, it's Mia," he said, pointing to the petit frame of Mia Caldwell. Max's crush.

I groaned and rolled my eyes. That was it now. I knew I'd lost my best friend for the night.

Max looked at me pleadingly.

"Will you be alright here for a bit, while I go say hello?"

My eyes opened wide in alarm.

"What? You can't leave me here!"

"Fine then, what if I get you to the entrance and you can wait off the ice?"

I huffed loudly at him. "Fine, ditch me for a girl. So much for bros before hoes."

"Call her a hoe again, and I'll drag you to the middle of the ice and leave you there!" he said in annoyance, but I knew he was only partly serious.

"Ok, then, I'll go and get a drink, but by the time I come back, you better be done with her."

"Yes Sir, I promise I'll be your escort again, Sir!" Max mocked.

"Hey, less of the escort," I said grinning at him as he led me off the ice. "I wouldn't want to give Luke any ideas!"