The ice-skating rink.

Raven was strapped up and ready for it, so were my parents. But not me. I was a hazard when I was on land with my uncoordinated mess of a body so I knew my hope of being remotely good at skating was slim. That did not stop my family though. With a forceful tug on my arm, I was sat in between a now giddy Raven and my dad as I was forced to buckle up as well.

The only reason I was somewhat convinced to join was Raven's expression when we found out we were coming here. It was on his bucket list of things he wanted to do before he died and he never had the time for it. Also it diverted his attention from his douche bag parents and that was enough for me. He looked like a kid on a sugar high, thumping his leg as he waited for me, his gaze on the rink the whole time.

My parents knew how to ice skate, they had been here on one too many dates and knew almost all the trainers, which is why both Raven and I were led by a very toned woman onto the ice. Her name was Maria, she had two siblings and a dog named Killbee. She also studied in New York City and was now in our small town of Springfield because she finally wanted to follow her passions and when she wanted to leave, she fell in love.

How I knew all of this?

The woman kept rambling. Seriously. She did not stop for oxygen and that was quite a feat in itself. She was extremely awkward, a common characteristic we both shared but her outlet was oversharing. But the moment we started to learn, her personality did a whole one-eighty and we were stuck with an extremely intimidating woman.

Through the first half hour, we kept falling, my poor body bruising in multiple places even though we were padded up. But the moment, I got a hang of it, the experience became exhilarating. Maria was happy with me and with how fast I picked up the sport and not going to lie, it was a huge ego boost for me.

Raven however sucked. He loved every minute of it though. It was written on his face. He looked younger than ever, more boyish than the man he was forced into becoming at a young age. And that made my heart soar. He deserved every bit of happiness.

It was a little past an hour and a half when I was dragged back to the sidelines so that we could leave. The three of them had stopped skating and were just talking, waiting for me and after a promise that we would be back here in a week, I begrudgingly agreed.

We were back in the car, now heading for lunch and we agreed on Chinese cuisine, another favourite of Raven's. It had become obvious that we were doing this to make him feel better and it was working. He had looked tired in the morning as he laughed at my misery but looking at his eyes sparkle now made everything better.

I had no qualms pulling him into my arms as he dozed off, hitting his head against the window in the process. My cheeks burned when I saw my parents notice us snuggling in the backseat but hey, friends do this right? Especially best friends. Only I needed to acknowledge my crush for now.

He woke up when we entered the drive through of the restaurant with a jerk when a loud honk ripped through the pleasant afternoon. He fell back into my arms and groaned, not wanting to move.

"Can we stay like this for two minutes?"

Yay me.

--

We had been out the whole day, buying daily necessities for Raven which also included an extra pair of our school uniform. We had also bought him a painting set he had been eyeing the moment we stepped into the establishment. He profusely refused, telling us that it was too much but a knock on the head from my dad shut him up.

The final thing on our list was to watch a movie. We were back on the couch, blanket covering our bodies as my mom surfed for a nice movie to watch. We settled on an action film and comfortable silence ensued as we watched.

I could feel every movement of Raven's considering how close we were sitting and it surprised me that he didn't mind the closeness. He astonished me even more when he intertwined his fingers under the blanket and my body lit up. We were free with our touches with each other and the action gave me more hope than I needed.

So I sucked it up and let him hold my hand through the rest of the movie, not glancing his way even once.