A Tale of Two Skates

      “Tobias Briere you did not just do that.” I sank back down on my chair, throwing my controller on the table.

        “Oh shut your mouth Camryn Thompson, you’re just a sore loser.” He teased with a wild grin on his face. I had been hanging out at Tobias’ all day; I was lonely at home since everyone was gone for the weekend. We had been playing on his PS3 for the past couple of hours and I have recently discovered video games are not my strong point.

            “Yoo hoo, anybody home?” A voice called out from the back door.

            “That’ll be my mom.” Tobias said in a hushed whisper, getting up off the couch. I took a deep breath in, trying not to be too nervous. “It’ll be fine.” Tobias reached for my hand, almost as if he was reading my mind.

            “Hey mom,” Tobias started to say.

            “Tobias can you grab- oh, who’s this?” She asked smiling wide. I could see the resemblance between her and her son, it was kind of scary how similar they were.

            “Mom, this is Camryn, my girlfriend.”

            “H-h-hi it’s n-n-nice to meet you Mr-rs. Briere.” I stuttered out, silently cursing myself for how nervous I was getting.

            “Call me Laurie. It’s a pleasure to meet you too Camryn, I’ve heard so much about you.”

            “Hopefully all g-good.” I said uneasily, sitting down on the barstool in the kitchen.

            “Not to worry Camryn, nothing bad. Would you like a coffee?”

            “That’d, that’d be lovely.” I smiled, trying to get more comfortable. Tobias sat beside me, draping his arm across the back of my stool. Laurie placed the mugs in front of me, pouring the steaming strong smelling coffee to the rim. She sat down across from us, a mug in her own hands.

            “So Tobias tells me you own the local rink?”

            “Yeah, um it’s uh my dad’s, but my whole family works at keep keeping it running.” By accident I took too large of a gulp, the coffee burning down my throat.

            “That must keep you busy,” Laurie’s laughter echoed through the empty house.

            “Just a bit,” I chuckled, looking down at the table. Tobias must’ve given his mom a look, because she cleared her throat, getting up from the stool.

            “Well I’ve got a few things to do before Allie and Jasmine come home, so I’ll leave you two by yourselves for a bit.” We nodded, our stools scraping against the floor as we left the kitchen. When we got up to Tobias’ room I fell face first unto his bed, groaning.

            “Uh Cam, what are you doing?” Tobias asked a strange look on his face. I turned over, crossing my arms over my stomach.

            “Why am I so bad at this!” I whined, stretching my voice.

            “What do you mean?” Tobias laughed, dropping onto his bed beside me. I rolled away from him, speaking into his pillow.

            “IsuckatmeetingnewpeopleI’msoawkwardanduncomfortable.” I sped through my words before I could stop myself from saying them.

            “What was that?” Tobias cuddled up to me, speaking right near my face. I sighed heavily before answering him.

            “I suck at meeting new people. I’m really awkward and uncomfortable and I make everything uncomfortable, and I’m sorry.” I sighed again, “I even stuttered for shits sake, I thought I got rid of that years ago!”