Back to the Dream Page
Chapter 4
"You've got to be kidding me," Mel moaned.
"Nope. There's ice-skating tonight and you're coming," Mona grinned.
"And suffer the same humiliation I faced twelve years ago? I'd rather be back in school taking my midterms than go back and fall all over the place again."
"Hey, who knows? Maybe you'll bring down all the guys like you did last time. I still can't believe you managed to get the entire group down!"
"Please Mona, don't remind me," Mel winced. She remembered how they'd convinced her to let go of the side of the rink. She'd been fine for a few seconds but then she panicked. The next thing she knew, she'd been flailing around and grabbed hold of someone's jacket, either Dennis's or Jason's, she couldn't remember whose. But all the guys had surrounded her when they came to support her. Their fall had a domino effect and she managed to bring down a handful of other guys as well. She was certain Don and Brian and Jameson and all the others had witnessed it, managing to break away before they'd gotten tangled up as well. Still… Knowing that she wasn't as knowledgeable in skating as she was in schoolwork didn't help her wounded pride.
"Oh cheer up, Mel. It won't be that bad."
"Easy for you to say," she managed to grumble.
"Yup. Besides. The guy you might manage to fall on this time may be Mr. Dimaranan himself."
Mel threw a pillow at Mona. "Hey! There's absolutely nothing going on between us and you know that."
Mona gave a sympathetic smile. "I'm not even going to bother bringing up how you've had your eyes on no one but him since he got here. Don't tell me it was just by coincidence that you happened to be outside when he got here the other day."
"But it was a coincidence!" Mel whined.
"Uh huh. Sure," she winked.
Mel rolled her eyes. "So when's the get together?"
"We leave as soon as we're all done with dinner."
Mel looked at her watch. Ten minutes to kill before dinner starts. "Well, we might as well go down now."
"So you can chat with a certain someone before dinner starts and ignore people like me."
Mel smiled. "That's the idea. Now let's go. I'm getting hungry."
An hour later, all thirty-five of them made the final few steps toward the ice-skating rink. Now that the winter season was over, the rink didn't attract many visitors now. Lucky for me, she thought. There were fewer people to watch her mess up. She tried to get out of it, staying as long as she could off the ice by talking with her former teachers, Miss Murray and Mrs. Marchetti who'd surprised them all by showing up. But as those two had been separated for some time after Mrs. Marchetti had retired, they shooed Mel off so they could talk alone.
Reluctantly, Mel made her way to the ice and tentatively put a foot on the slippery surface. "Hey! Come on!" she heard Sherie yell to her. "The ice is great!"
She watched as Sherie flew by, her professional ice-skating skills returning to her after warming up for a few minutes. "Coming!" she called back, but Sherie was already on the other side of the rink.
Sighing to herself, she put her other foot on the ice and nearly toppled over backwards. "Hey there, careful. Find your center, remember?" She felt a pair of strong arms encircle her from behind and steady her until she had her feet more or less underneath her. "Still haven't gone out much, have you?" his voice teased.
"I have too, gone out," Mel sniffed. "Just not ice-skating."
"So I see." Lucky for him, he bit back his laughter as she tried to move away from him. One foot slipped out from under her though, and he was quick to keep her from falling forward. "Easy, Mel. Take it slow. Here." He moved from behind her to in front of her, taking her hands in his. Slowly, he guided her around the rink a couple of times. He finally let go and for a few minutes, she was actually fine. Then, she had to catch Mona's knowing look. Mel glared back at her friend and losing her concentration, slipped and finally managed to fall over. She blinked up at the evening sky and found Don's face grinning down at her. "Miss the view so much you just had to fall over, didn't you?"
"I'm fine, thank you for asking," she said as she struggled to get up.
"I would have asked if I knew something was wrong, but you looked okay to me. Why waste my breath?"
"When I get my hands on you, I-"
A high-pitched whistle coming from nearby cut off her threat. Mel looked up and saw Aaron, Ryan, Dennis, and a few other guys watching. "You better take her up on her offer, Don," Aaron said to them. "You've been waiting for more than a decade now."
Mel's mouth dropped open as Don took off after Aaron. The two wove their ways in and out of the skating groups and everyone stopped to watch as the two slid all over the place. Everyone cheered when Don finally caught up to Aaron and the two came tumbling down to the ice, playfully tackling each other as if they were in junior high again, playing football out on the parking lot. Laughing, the two got up and helped each other brush the ice off themselves and everything returned to as it was only minutes before.
Joannah and Allison made their way closer to Mel. "What was all that about just now?"
"Nothing," she lied, still slightly embarrassed.
"It's Don, huh?" Allison probed.
"Really, it was nothing. Aaron just got to teasing Don again."
"Uh huh, sure," Joannah laughed as the two skated off again, leaving her alone.
Mel rolled her eyes and made her way to the rink door, letting out a sigh of relief that her feet were on solid ground once again. She noticed that a group of her former classmates huddled close to the fire, separated from the teachers by a couple of benches. Declining their invitations to join them, Mel walked over to a bench separate from the group. Carefully, she sat down, recalling the pain she'd felt years before when she'd fallen on the ice three times. It had hurt to sit down then and she didn't want to push her luck anymore tonight. She bent down and started the task of unlacing her skates.
A minute later, she noticed a steaming mug of hot chocolate being pushed into her face. Looking up, she saw Rachel standing there. "Mind if I sit with you?" she asked.
"Go right ahead." Gratefully, she took the warm mug in her hands to help battle her cold, stiff fingers.
The two sat in silence for a bit, watching as the skaters continued to fly by. Occasionally, someone would call out to each of them and they'd wave back. One time, it was even Don, taking the time to stop his playing with the guys to smile and wave at them. "You know he likes you, don't you?" Rachel asked suddenly.
"Of course not," Mel found herself saying although she still wished it were untrue. "We're nothing more than friends."
"Sometimes friends turn into something more."
"And most of the time, those friendships have to end when the relationships end also. I don't want to risk that. Besides, how would you know?"
"You forget Don was like a kuya to me. You know, an older brother. We were close before."
"We've changed Rachel. We've all changed. That was so long ago."
"Well, tell me this then. Have your feelings for him changed any?"
"That's not what I meant!" Mel protested.
"Just answer the question." Rachel forced Mel to look at her and even though she tried to open her mouth to deny her feelings, no sound came. Smiling sympathetically, Rachel reached over and gave Mel a hug. "Don't cut yourself short because you're afraid. What have you got to lose?" With that, Rachel excused herself and made her way back onto the ice rink, giving Mel a final wave before pushing off.
Mel sighed and leaned back. There was no denying that she was still highly attracted to him but how could she be sure of his feelings? Everyone had known about her crush on him. She couldn't be sure of what she heard about him then and she wasn't about to take anything heard now as truth just yet. She turned away from the rink and looked up into the sky. With the dim lights behind her, she could barely make out some of the more brightly shining stars in the sky. Her eyes locked on one in particular and she made a wish. As childish as it was, she found the familiar words forming in her mind as she gazed up into the heavens. Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight. Little star, after all these years, my wish hasn't changed much. First off, I wish that I could help my people more. And if that's not too much trouble, then of course, I'd like to know where I stand with Don. Thank you. As she opened her eyes though, a sudden breeze filtered through the trees and faintly, she could hear cold laughter riding the wind. Mel's eyes narrowed. The time was coming quickly…