His back was to me, and I took a moment to look at it, so wide and broad. Dang, he was tall. My mom had been right. It felt good to get out and do something. If I didn’t remind myself of what my life should be, I was going to collapse into a puddle of hopelessness. Balance. It was all about balance.

Pushing my thoughts away, I gingerly put my hands on his shoulders as we took the turn at the outer edge. “Pull me through?” I said as I leaned in so he could hear me over the music. “You’re tall enough.”

“Oh!” he exclaimed, darting a quick look over his shoulder. “Sure. We’ve got some straight board coming up.”

We were at the speakers, and the music beat into me along with the rumble of the boards. I should come out here more often, I thought. Yes, the crowd was mostly human and the music was lame, but it was relaxing. Safe.

Marshal bent at the waist, and when his hands appeared between his knees, I sank to my heels and grabbed them. “Oh, crap!” I exclaimed when I realized too late he had crossed his wrists, and when he pulled me through, he spun me.

“Oh-h-h-h-h no-o-o-o-o!” I gasped, adrenaline pulsing as the world revolved. I scrambled for balance as I ended up facing him. My eyes were wide, and I caught a glimpse of Marshal laughing before he pulled me to him so I wouldn’t go down. My wheels aligned, and breathless, I froze, my arms crunched between me and him as I skated backward. I took a breath, then looked up at him. He was holding me. “I, uh, wasn’t expecting that.”

“Sorry,” he said softly, gazing at me.

“Liar,” I said as the walls raced by. I was in his arms, skating backward, going full tilt. It was kind of how I lived my life. “You, ah, can let go now,” I said, but I wasn’t moving away, a small, wounded part of me just about dying to stay where I could soak up his warmth and acceptance.

His smile went soft at my awkward conflict, and when his grip loosened, I carefully turned to face forward and slip out of his arms. I probably shouldn’t have done a pull-through, but I hadn’t known he was going to turn it into…that. Crap on toast, I should have left everything as it was.

“Hey,” I said nervously, hoping he wouldn’t assume I wanted to change our relationship. Not that we really had one. “You’re not bad at this. I practically lived here when I wasn’t in school. How did you get so good?”