When Jim got to the rink, it only took a minute to find Rebecca. When she saw that he was Kim, she looked a bit annoyed, and stalked off to the bathroom. Jim followed her in, and, seeing no one else there, asked what was wrong.
Starting to tear up, she said, "I was just hoping it would be you and me. Not Kim and Beth, just you and me."
He hugged her, while she put her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I was hoping for that, too. But your brother was leaving, and couldn't find his phone. He was worried about not being able to do something about it later." He reached down to brush the forming tears away. "I'm really sorry, I didn't realize it would bother you so much. But at least it's still you and me, sweetie."
He hadn't called her that before, so she smiled at him, and gave him a kiss. Then he gave her a deeper kiss. A minute later, they heard the sound of a woman clearing her throat.
Jim and Rebecca looked at each other and laughed. "Sorry, ma'am," she said to the woman. Turning back to Jim, she said, "Go ahead; I'll be out in a minute or two."
"Take your time, I'll get the skates."
She told him the size, and he went to get them. Beth came up to him as he was paying for them. Looking at them, she said, "I've never worn roller blades before."
"Don't worry," he assured her. "I'll teach you."
Once they got their skates on, and got out onto the floor, he said, "Just hold on to my hand, and we'll go slow until you get it." As promised, they meandered fairly slowly around the rink. Every time Becca started to have trouble, she basically fell against Jim, resulting in them being sprawled over each other several times. Neither of them seemed to mind the falls, or the entanglements.
An hour after they arrived, during which they'd pretty much ignored everyone else there, another girl skated up to them from behind. She tapped Jim's shoulder, and said, "Hi, Kim. And this is Beth, I take it? How are you all doing, today?"
Surprised, Jim turned to face her rather suddenly, saying, "Hi, Katie. Yes, it is. Beth, this is my good friend Katie. What are you doing here," he asked.
Katie said, "Hi, Beth. Any friend of Kim's is a friend of mine." She leaned in to hug Rebecca, and whispered to her, "Congratulations, Rebecca. What did you use to get his attention, finally? A sledgehammer?"
Rebecca giggled at that, and suggested, "Why don't we take a break for a little bit." The others agreed, so they went over to the snack stand.
As they proceeded, Jim apologized, saying, "I can't really hide anything from her. Besides, the situation just felt so weird at the time, I needed to talk to someone. And I figured I could tell Katie how awesome a girl I was with."
Seeing the smile and blush that graced Rebecca's face, Katie replied, "I'm glad you told me what you did, even if it most of it doesn't really make much sense to me. But you still haven't told me who is responsible for the appearance of either of you."
"You know I can't tell you that!"
"I know," she agreed. Turning to Rebecca, she said, "So what's it like, with Kim?"
"It's pretty strange. It feels kind of odd every time I see her, but the longer we're together, the more natural it seems. At least until the next time we meet up. But at least my feelings for Kim don't change."
Now it was Jim's turn to feel embarrassed. Katie rescued him by saying, "You two do seem awfully happy. I was skating around for about twenty minutes without you all noticing, even when I got right in front of you. Finally, I just gave up. Anyway, I'm really happy for you both. I'll leave you two some privacy now. Have fun." And with that, she left.
