"Mom, what are you doing?" I asked, passing by her room, watching her pack clothes into a suitcase.
"Oh, sweetheart, your father wants me to meet him in Dallas for his job. Today he received the plaque for the Chairman Of The Year award for the company, and that's why he wants me to fly out tonight for the presentation tomorrow afternoon." my mom explained, shutting her suitcase tight and snapping the lock.
"But mom, the marathon is tomorrow! You promised you would come! Do you know how important this it to me!?" I whined, shocked by her news.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot." she stated, biting her lip. She said it like she forgot purposely, setting off a flame in my attitude.
"How could you forget?! I've been talking about it non-stop since I knew about it!" I exploded.
"Well, dad got the award last-" she reiterated.
"But you promised!" I interrupted.
"-Night, and it's really important that I be there tonight with him to accept the award tomorrow. This is a once in a lifetime chance for him. I hope you understand, okay?" she tried to comply with me.
"No! I don't understand! And no, it's not okay." I said coldly, and bolted to my room, locking it.
About an hour later, I heard my mom knock on my door telling me that she was leaving for the airport, and that they wouldn't be back until late the next day.
Later on, around six thirty at night or so, the doorbell rang, and Zac stood there on the front porch for a good minute before unlocking it with the spare key I gave him. He let himself in and trooped up the stairs to my room.
I heard a knock at my door, then a "Kim, you okay? I tried calling you three times, and I know you were home beacuse your car was parked in the driveway. Will you-"
I opened the door before he could finish he sentence. "My parents aren't coming tomorrow." I said flatly, my tear stained face giving him proof.
Zac stepped inside, backing me up against my bed. "Why not?" he asked, confused, smoothing out my hair.
"My mom left for Dallas a couple of hours ago to meet dad there because he received the Chairman Of The Year award yesterday, which is going to be presented to him tomorrow. He wanted mom to be there, and she forgot about tomorrow when I asked her about it. God, I can't believe that. They promised." I explained in a rotten tone.
"Oh, Kim, I'm sorry." he apologized, then thought. "No offense, but, aren't you a little obsessed about tomorrow? Why is it so important?"
"It'll be my last performance." I confided.
"What!?" he shrieked.
I sighed, sitting down on the bed and pulling him with me. I put my left hand on his shoulder and held his hand with my other. "I've always felt I've had to choose between ice-skating and writing. I love ice-skating, don't get me wrong, but writing is my bigger passion; my desire. That's why it's so important that I have you, and my parents especially, there to see it." I explained.
I could tell Zac was flabberghasted. "Have you told your parents?" he finally asked getting over his slight initial shock. "No. But I will sometime later. You see, it would be like...Say you were performing your last concert, and none of your family was there to see it. Just you and Isaac and Jordan. Wouldn't you be pissed?" I analyzed.
"I guess I see what you're implying." he comprehended.
"Sorry I'm so bitchy and rotten." I kind of chuckled, and wiped away a stray tear then tucking a lock of hair behind my ear.
"That's okay, I understand. Just take your mind off of this calamity." he ended the subject.
"Zac-"
"See, you already have your mind off of it." he smiled.
"Now, how about I really take your mind off of it?" he asked hoarsely. I looked into his wanting brown eyes. He was begging, almost whimpering like a puppy. I really couldn't help it. He looked so cute, and I was about to give in.
Too late, he already made the decision for me. He pushed me back and we started kissing, then immediately Zac manuevered us. He held onto the small of my back tight, smashing me against his crotch, and tousled with my hair. I let my hands finally rest on his chest.
As things began to heat up more faster, I manuevered us so that Zac was atop me, lying in between my legs. I held at his neck, while his hands were magnetized to my waist. Our foreheads were glued to each other, as he stared at my closed eyes, our breaths pulsating. He began moving up and down against my crotch, and I the same. He started out hard and fast, pressing against my pelvis, but then he settled into a reasonable pace. Then he got a little bit faster and started groaning, and I exploded with pleasure down there, and the exasperated moan that I let out had him climax too. We rested.
"That was interesting. Was it good for you?" I said, and giggled.
"Everything's good and interesting with you." he replied.
"I've been alone with you inside my mind. And in my dreams I've kissed your lips, a thousand times. I sometimes see you pass outside my door. Hello..." It was the big day. The marathon. My marathon, my show.
I had been lacing up my skates back in the locker room, when I kept going back to my thoughts. I had three things contemplating my mind. I worried that Zac wouldn't be here this afternoon to watch me perform. I was disappointed and furoius that my parents weren't there. And my heart was falling apart because it and myself knew that this was my last performance.
I guess I didn't realize that I shouldv'e told everyone about it sooner. My reason probably didn't seem good enough for others, even for myself. I had two passions. Ice skating, and writing. I had been ice skating for nearly seven years, and it had grown on my to be a passion, and thought for being a future career. But I had been writing all of these fantasies and funny poems, and participating on newspaper staffs in school, and even more as I advanced, since second grade when I had to memorize poems and parts for plays. I hadn't told my parents yet, or anyone else except Zac for the matter, because I had only realized my decision a few days ago. Now that I was strong about it, I was weak today. How would I pull through about my confession later on?
"Well, this will be the last time I put these on." I whispered to myself, tying my right skate, holding back my chokes and tears.
"Kim?" a voice asked.
I gasped. "Mrs. Selner?" I asked, turning around.
"Kimberly Jean Brown, is that you? Look at you! Oh gosh, how long has it been? Five years?" she asked, walking further into the locker room.
"Mrs. Selner! You're back!" I said, and got up to embrace her.
"Sit down, sweetie." I obeyed. "Now, even though I don't teach anymore, I'm still your teacher. What was it that I heard this will be the last time you put those on?" she asked, pointing to my skates.
The tears came out immediately. "Oh, Mrs. Selner, I just-"
"Now performing next, Kimberly Brown!" the annoucer said over the loudspeaker.
"I gotta go, I'm performing." I said, wiping my eyes with a tissue and putting on a smile.
"Kim..." she trailed off.
I turned back around. "Yeah?"
"Be the star that you know you are. The little star I know that's in there." she said and pointed to my chest.
I held the place in my chest where my heart was and smiled at her.
I hurried out to the complex and skated out to the center of the ice, feeling the spotlight shine brightly over me. I looked out in front of me and saw Zac and the rest of the Hanson's there with him in the front and second rows.
The music started, the cameras rolled, and I skated to my routine. I almost didn't care anymore about how I would do on my routine, or how I would explain to anyone that I've given up ice-skating. I let my mind wander on how I would conjure up a speech explaining what my mind and body was going through.
Before I know it, I was done. My performance, over. Tears of what shouldv'e been happiness spilled over my cheeks, but they were tears of sadness and sorrow. The glitter on my face directed my tears away and people mistakened them for decals on my face.
I skated off of the rink and over to the announcer with the microphone, and took it away from him. "Everyone, listen please. Cameras, you keep rolling. I have something extremely important to announce," I stated, swallowing hard. "My name is Kimberly Brown, and I'm seventeen years old. I've been skating since I was nine years old, and today, what I just did, was my final performance. To this minute, I am giving up ice skating." I announced. The audience fell silent.
"What?!" exclaimed Mrs. Selner.
"What?!" exclaimed Jordan.
Slam!!! The doors to the rink closed loudly. "What!? yelled two people from the doorway. My parents.
"This afternoon, this marathon has made well over ten thousand dollars for the Tulsa General Children's Hospital, and I thank God for that, and I thank him for giving me my talent and my courage to confess my decision to loved ones and everyone else. But since I was about seven or eight, I've been writing, too. Until recently, I've wanted to ice-skate or write as a profession. I chose to write. I'm sorry to disappoint those who believed in me, myself included. But mom, dad," I turned to my parents. "I feel I am old enough to make my own decisions. If you change this important one of mine, you're changing my outlook on life and my feelings. Don't hurt me more worse than you have already, seeing that you didn't arrive in time to witness my last time on ice. As I go back and change, memories will only exist and remain here, in my skates, and in my heart. As of right now, I have retired from skating. Thank you." I concluded, walking back to the lockers, hands covering my eyes, leaving behind a roaring applause and about fifteen sad and confused souls.