Before I do, I remember the threatening texts Nandini and Cora sent me earlier and I sigh, taking out my phone. “Before we continue, can you guys take a picture of Ace and me? For Instagram?” I look hopefully at Mia and Daniela.

“Of course,” Mia says, expression lighting up as she accepts my phone. “We can do a little photo shoot! Daniela loves photography. Here you go, babe.”

Daniela grabs the phone from Mia, eyes bright with delight. “We’ll have to skate to the other side. There’s better lighting there.”

She and Mia take off before I can protest that I don’t care about the lighting. “I’m not going to make it over there for another ten minutes,” I complain, judging the distance between us and them.

“I’ve got you,” Ace says, squeezing my hand. A jolt goes down my spine, strange and unfamiliar. “Just don’t let go of me.”

I nod my agreement, and he pulls us toward the other side of the rink. Halfway there, Ace gives me a contemplative look. “I didn’t peg you as the type to post stuff like this on Instagram.”

“I’m not,” I say, biting my bottom lip as I search for a lie that isn’t I panicked about whether this was a date and got manipulated by my best friends into treating it like one. “Cora and Nandini threatened to...murder me, if I didn’t post a picture of me ice skating on there.”

Ace raises an eyebrow. “They care that much about ice skating?”

“I guess so,” I say under my breath. Wait. Is Ace asking because he doesn’t want to be in a photo with me?

After he let me follow his Instagram, I looked through his profile. It’s all but barren, except for one picture of the night sky. The location is Istanbul, Turkey, and the only person tagged is someone named Ben Wang. Probably the same Ben that Ace mentioned the other day.

Mine at least has pictures of Nandini, Cora, and me doing stupid things and the occasional selfie when they coerce me into posting one. “Do you not want to be in the photo?” I ask. “You don’t have to be.”

“No, I don’t mind,” Ace says, his gaze still thoughtful. “Will you send me the pictures when you’re done?”

I squint. “For what?”

He takes one of my hands and raises it above my head. I don’t understand what he’s trying to do until he spins me around in a slow circle. Not far from us, I hear the sound of a camera shutter go off.

“To remember,” he says as he turns me back toward him. “There’s something magical about this moment I don’t ever want to forget.”