Love Me Not

“What are you wearing tonight,” Alina said from where she was sitting perched on the edge of Eve’s bed. Eve kicked the door of their shared en suite bathroom open as she wrangled with her hair that she was frantically towel dying. “I need to dry this mess first.” She was stressing about being ready for the party held on the first night of the Stars on Ice tour. It was an annual thing she’d been attending since she won her first world championship but Alina hadn’t gone before so Eve agreed to go with her. Otherwise she would have probably stayed in her room to watch anime—Eve found herself preferring solitude increasingly often recently. Regardless her problem at the moment was her wet hair and finding clothes to wear. “You look nice,” she said to Alina smiling. The younger girl who Eve had to remind herself was still just fifteen smiled modestly, “Thanks Zhen. Do you think it will be appropriate?” Alina was dressed in a sweet dress, which Eve approved of in her position as Alina’s training partner and surrogate older sister. The girl looked appropriate for the party, which was wild only for figure skaters whilst not aging or making her look older than her age.  “You look perfect,” Eve reassured. “I love your curls when you don’t straighten your hair.” Eve still slightly unsatisfied with her hair abandoned the towel and instead letting her hair hang down in damp strands turned towards the wardrobe. “Thanks. They don’t rival Sasha’s hair though,” Alina laughed before pushing herself up to her feet and helping Eve rifle through the clothes she’d unpacked only a few hours beforehand. A few moments passed in companionable silence, “I like this.” Eve appraised the garment for a few seconds before smiling, “I like it.” …. The music was already playing by the time Eve and Alina entered the lounge room that had been designated to be the party room. Someone who she had a high suspicion was either Javier or Patrick had decorated the room with some streamers and if she could see correctly there was even bunting on the far wall. Unfortunately they had also clearly set the music that was playing out of the speakers and whilst Eve could already see Alina’s head nodding from side to side it wasn’t exactly to Eve’s taste.  “Eve I thought you’re not coming here tonight,” Wakaba said bounding across the room with the same grace that was displayed on the ice in her massive high heels.  Eve shook her head, “Alina convinced me to come.” The music was loud and Eve was forced to holler over to talk to Wakaba.  “Wanna dance,” Wakaba said close enough to them now that they didn’t have to yell at each other anymore. Eve glanced to her side feeling Alina’s slightly awkward presence, “I’ll be back. I need a drink but you can dance with Alina for now.” Leaving the two skaters together Eve ducked and weaved though the crowd with practised ease.  When she finally turned back upon reaching the table that the drinks had been set up on she quickly spotted Alina with Wakaba in the middle of the crowd as she poured herself a drink. Alina had metaphorically and literally let her hair down from her tight bun and Eve couldn’t be prouder but she couldn’t help but feel cold. Normally she always was the centre of the group and instead now she was on the outside whether it was her choice or not.  She downed her glass of some liquor that Eve couldn’t recognise before pouring herself another, which she downed in quick succession. It burnt on the way down but it felt less satisfying than it had when she was younger and still technically underage. Grabbing a third glass Eve started drinking it before feeling a faint cloud of alcohol settle over her mind. Turning back to the large crowd Eve finished her glass before finding Katya and with her inhibitions lowered started to dance. The evening passed in a blur of movement with her hair that was still wet when she had arrived drying as she twirled around and her head spinning even faster. She couldn’t tell how much time had past or how many people she was dancing with feeling finally free for the first time in what felt like so long being bound in Eteri’s mould. But she was leaving Eteri in favour for Orser and she didn’t need to be that scared child anymore who was terrified of letting her down. Finally becoming aware of the pain in her feet Eve pushed her way through the crowd to the edge of the room where there was some chairs set up. Sitting down on the chair Eve eased of her heels. They weren’t high but compared to the skates and trainers she was accustomed to they were killing her feet. Tossing the shoes onto the ground Eve outstretched one hand to massage her temples.  “You having fun,” Eve heard a voice say from beside her accompanied with the sound of someone sitting down on a chair beside her.  She turned her head to see that Yas had settled beside her, “I was.” She paused tilting her head slightly at the man who was sitting beside her. “You weren’t dancing were you?” Her thoughts felt slow like toffee and she couldn’t put more than one or two thoughts together. Yas looked down at his ankle, “I didn’t want to.” Eve looked down somehow conscious of the lines Yas was drawing though at the same time in her inebriated out of control state she danced past them with an insolent smile. “You wanna come outside with me,” Eve said leaning towards Yas. He almost laughed but instead stood up extending a hand towards Eve, which she took with a half-smile. Reaching her feet unsteadily Eve balanced herself with one hand flailing around whilst the other gripped onto Yas’s hand with all the strength that she could muster.  He wrapped an arm around Eve to support her and prevent her from falling down. His touch was warm and Eve felt herself curl into it as and they headed outside onto the balcony attached to the suite of rooms the part was in. Yas pushed the door open and two figures quickly flitted in from the end of the balcony but with the darkness Eve couldn’t recognise them despite her curiosity.  “You good there,” he said as they entered the darkness that enshrouded the balcony. The pair separated from each other whist remaining a few centimetres apart so that they could still make out each other’s faces. Eve tried to push her hands into her pockets before forgetting that this damned dress didn’t have any. “This dress doesn’t have any pockets.” He laughed at Eve and the girl pouted back at him in a manner that she thought was charming. “You’re a special one Eve.” “I know” Eve said stepping forwards close to him. Without her shoes on he was five to six inches taller than Eve but Eve didn’t find the difference in height intimidating. Instead in combination with the dark that surrounded me and the seemingly gallons of alcohol she had drunk that night she found it all rather intoxicating.  Yas squinted at Eve, “Are you okay Eve.”  “Yeah I think so,” Eve said looking down at her feet for a second as though she was shy. Then seemingly taken over the alcohol and feeling numb though her body Eve leant up onto her tiptoes and grabbing onto Yas’s shoulders for balance leant in as though she was going to kiss him. Yas stepped away pushing his way out of Eve’s arms almost allowing her to overbalance away from Yas and out of control but he grabbed her with one hand and propped her up brusquely. “I need to go Eve this isn’t right.” As she watched him leave through the door and back into the light Eve felt the warmth generated from his presence leave her and suddenly she was aware of how the stone floor was leeching heat from her bare feet.  Suddenly Eve felt the drunken haze that had engulfed her lift and she realised exactly what she had just done. Sliding down so that she was sitting on the ground Eve pressed her hands against her eyes to stop the tears from coming out. She was such an i***t—such a stupid wasted i***t who was completely out of control and throwing herself at girl like the useless girl that his fans accused her of being.  She sat there for longer than she knew until she stopped shivering from the cold and instead just felt numb. Finally when she was just about to close her eyes Eve heard a person coming into the balcony and before she knew it countless hands were pulling Eve up and hauling her towards the door and back to Alina and Eve’s shared room. … When Eve finally opened her eyes she was surrounded by several of her best friends among the ladies figure skating who were all whispering at each other furiously. “What’s happening?” she asked blearily. “We’re plotting vengeance,” Wakaba said cheerily from her position between Satoko and Kaetlyn who were both looking quite dubious about the entire thing.  Tessa, the unofficial mother of the group, wrapped Eve in a one arm hug. “You do know that Yas like you Eve.” “Really,” Eve added non-committedly. Kaetlyn held back a snort, “We can all see it okay Eve there’s been something there since at least last year’s grand prix final.” “And don’t pretend you don’t like him you’ve been talking about him for years,” Alina piped up from where she was sitting on her bed leaning against the wall. Eve shot glares at both of them, “Well regardless he clearly doesn’t want me so this is all pointless. He literally said that this wasn’t a good idea.” “Interesting,” Tessa said pausing thoughtfully. “Well in that case it’s obvious.”  “What are you thinking,” Gabby interjected into the conversation with a worried expression on her face as though she had heard too many of Tessa’s brilliant plans. Tessa paused allowing a Machiavellian smile to play across her face and Eve was almost terrified, “we need to make Yas jealous.” A cacophony of noise erupted from around the small room as everyone had something to say for themselves about Tessa’s idea. Eve sat almost shellshock as she watched even quiet Satoko become worked up as she argued with the others vehemently. Across the room on the other bed however she could see Alina who was had fallen asleep leaning against the wall with her head tilted to the side. “Enough guys,” Eve shushed the other girls who were still awake. “Alina is asleep.” They all turned around to check on the 15 year old who was the youngest person on the tour and was currently snoring lightly.  “It’s a good idea,” Wakaba said whispering to the other girls. “This way if he doesn’t feel anything then Eve won’t humiliate herself and will instead force him to take action.” “Thanks Waka,” Eve said sarcastically. “Nice to know that I clearly humiliate myself regularly. “No worries.” Wakaba said smirking back towards Eve. Satoko whispered, “What are we going to call this plan.” “Operation MYRJ,” Kaetlyn said as though it was a great pronunciation of intelligence. Everyone else including Eve turned to look at Kaetlyn confused about what she was going on about. “Operation Make Yas Really Jealous—it’s an acronym.” Gabby paused before grinning, “Operation MYRJSHSH.” “Wait what,” Eve asked trying to fit words to each letter to complete whatever sentence that Gabby was thinking of. “Make Yas Really Jealous So He Shags Her,” Satoko answered filling in the missing words with a disapproving expression on her face.  “Gabby,” Eve hissed starting to get annoyed now at the other girls.  Gabby rolled her eyes, “Fine then just Operation MYRJ.” “Pinkies in,” Tessa said outstretching one pinkie into the middle. The other skaters all put forwards a pinkie towards Tessa’s except the sleeping Alina until all 5 pinkies where touching each other in the centre except Eve’s. Kaetlyn who was sitting on the ground beside Eve grabbed Eve’s little finger and put it in the middle with the remaining fingers despite Eve’s resistance. The six girls pushing their fingers together chanted the four letters as though they were doing a school chant for sports before locking them together one after another in order to seal the deal.