Chapter 17

Tuesday morning I was cuddled with Linda next to Keith and Holly as we all watched the Rose Parade. It was nice, and my dad came in a few times to watch the various floats and bands play. Keith and Holly were going to go over to her house and hang out for a bit, so when they left I spent a few minutes kissing Linda and holding her against me. She asked me what I wanted to do next, and I leered at her, then said I wanted to go shopping. “What for?” she asked.

Well, I knew that Mandy’s birthday was next week, and I had an idea of something I thought she might like. What then followed was about three hours of going from mall to sporting good store, to various other places before we found ourselves out in Glendale.

We walked into the only skating rink we had found open at that time (we avoided the one on Parthenia because we knew Mandy and Peggy would be there), and it was amazing. The place was huge! We walked over to the “Pro Shop” and asked about it. It seems this was one of the oldest rinks in LA, having opened back in the ‘50s. The floor was still the original maple one, and they still had an organist that would come in and play once a week on the original organ.

We had the guy show us several pairs of skates, and got quite a lesson on how the boot, wheel, and trucks all worked together to provide different performance characteristics. Finally Linda and I decided to pool our money together and make this a joint present.

A pair of “medium-level” Reidell artistic skates with a white boot, and a vinyl carrying case to go with it. Thankfully Linda knew her sister’s shoe size. All together this set us back over $100, but we thought she would love it. Even if she decided rollerskating was more of a hobby than anything else, this way she would have a nice set of her own and not have to use rentals.

We were trying to decide if we wanted to go ahead and skate when the manager said we could go ahead, since we already dropped quite a bit on skates and it was halfway through the session. So soon with rentals (also free) on our feet, Linda and I went out to finish out the session.

Soon we were hand in hand and having a great time. Even though this was a much longer drive to get to, we had already decided that at least once a month or so we would have to come back to this rink. Eventually we headed home so we could get Mandy’s present wrapped.

Rosie saw what we had gotten Mandy and thought it was an awesome gift. Mandy was still over at Peggy’s house, and would not be back until 6. “And trust me, she is more into skating I think now than even D&D. When she asked if she could go with Peggy on Thursday, I reminded her that was D&D night. She barely paused before asking again if she could go skating with Peggy.”

We all laughed, and I told her it was not a problem since mostly we had just been giving her something to do with Linda, and her doing something else wouldn’t be a problem. We chatted for a bit then Rosie invited me to stay for dinner. So I called dad and told him I would not be home, then Linda and I cuddled on the couch and watched some TV until Mandy got home about an hour later.

And all she wanted to talk about was skating and Peggy. They had spent the day at the rink in Reseda (not the converted bowling alley but the nice one on Parthenia). It was closed for skate sessions that day so Peggy had brought along a boom box and she had spent the afternoon showing her some basic dance steps. And once she got those down Peggy started giving her pointers in backwards skating.

“It was like totally awesome! After I got to where I could go around the rink more than once without falling down, she started ‘rexing’! And she was so fast!”

After that we had to ask her what ‘rexing’ was. I had no idea that the fast backwards skating style actually had its own name. But apparently Peggy was great at it, and Linda just squeezed my hand and we both knew we had gotten her the perfect present.

And as we sat down to a dinner of meatloaf and mashed potatoes, Rosie kept grinning and letting her carry on. Finally Mandy asked if she could skip the game on Thursday, and I told her no problem. She then grabbed the phone (which had a twenty foot cord) and took it into her room and tell Peggy the news.

“Wow,” Rosie mused. “I haven’t heard one of my daughters this excited about somebody else since a certain somebody met a guy while skating, then again at a movie a few months later!”

Linda has a fabulous blush. This time it didn’t only cover her entire face, but extended down her chest. “Mom, surely I wasn’t that bad, was I?”

Rosie nodded. “You sure were. It seems that like every other time you said something it was ‘Pete this’ or ‘Pete and I that’. And the look you were giving her during dinner was the exact same look she was giving you last year. At least I don’t have to worry about Peggy getting her pregnant like I worried with you!”

“Mom!” Now I was wondering how far down that blush went. Could a person’s toes blush? After a little more teasing and talking we helped Rosie clean up and do the dishes, and I asked Linda if she wanted to go see a movie with me. When Rosie asked what movie, I told her that one of the malls was doing a special holiday showing of Fantasia and she thought that sounded great.

“In fact, I would ask if I could join you, that was one of my favorite movies as a kid. But I don’t want to leave Mandy alone. And I think it would take a bulldozer to get her off of the phone just now.”

We all laughed, and after helping Linda put her coat on we headed to Northridge. We held hands and Linda cuddled against me, and thought the movie “was like totally awesome!” She asked me if I had that movie on tape and I sadly shook my head. “I actually checked around, and that is one Disney has yet to release on videotape.” I took Linda home and we made out in her room for a bit before I said goodnight to everybody and headed home.

I handed dad the copy of all the paperwork and the guy’s business card and he said he would send them off to the lawyer when he had a break. Then while I was chatting with Holly at school during lunch, JD came and joined us. “Man, we finished the adventure and everybody loved it!” he said, handing me another page and a half of notes. He said the final battle was much better balanced than the earlier version, and they couldn’t wait for the next Chapter. The three of us continued to chat until it was time to go back to class.

As I was heading to the parking lot after school I passed Peggy and waved. She smiled at me and waved back, saying she was going to band practice. I told her to have fun and would see her that weekend.

Thursday a few people comment on Mandy not being there, but when Linda explained she had a new best friend and they were skating, they understood. At thirteen almost fourteen, interests and passions can change quickly.

On the way home we pulled into Van Nuys Park and after kissing for a little bit, the four of us just cuddled and chatted.

“Man, so Mandy jetted out to go skating with Peggy? Maybe her conversion to D&D didn’t take after all,” Keith mused. “But hey, we’ll see. I often wonder how Peggy does it all though. She practices with the band one to two nights a week, skates about as often if not more. And she has High School band, and she’s part of the school jazz band. Whenever I see her, it’s like she’s going from one place to another.”

Linda asked if she had a boyfriend and Keith shook his head. “Naw, her parents are really old fashioned like that. They’re from Korea, but really nice people. They’ve come to our concerts a few times. She told us she’s not allowed to date until she’s sixteen. Sixteen, can you believe that! I wonder if getting her into so many things so young was a way to help keep her distracted when she became a teenager.”

Both Holly and Keith thought the skates were a terrific present though. “Ya know, there’s one thing ya gotta admit about those skater girls. All that time skating gives them really nice legs and tight butts.”

“Oh, and I don’t have nice legs and a tight butt?” Holly said it archly, but I could see the grin on her face. Keith spent the next half hour trying to dig himself out of that one. Finally it was time to take everybody home.

The next day after school I met the girls at school and took them home as had become my Friday routine. I dropped them off then headed home so we could do homework and get ready for that evening. I went home and knocked out what I had left as fast as I could, showered and changed, then went to pick up the girls.

But first I went to pick up Peggy. She had called me on Wednesday and confirmed that she could go skating with us, and she gave me her address so I could pick her up. She lived on the edge of Van Nuys near Reseda, so I drove over to pick her up, then bring her to Linda and Mandy’s apartment.

“Pete, you didn’t have to pick me up yet, you could have gotten me on the way to the rink!” she exclaimed. “This way you are driving back and forth, why?”

I told her that by agreement with Linda and Rosie, since Mandy’s birthday was next week, we could give her presents to her that night instead of on Monday. I told her that this was a surprise for Mandy, and that she would probably want her there when she was opened her present. She raised her eyebrow at me, then said OK. She said she had not gotten Mandy a present, and I told her it was not a problem, she barely knew her after all and likely had no idea it was her birthday.

When we got there and were let in, Rosie finally met Peggy for the first time. For some reason, I guess Mandy never mentioned her friend was Asian, but I guess Rosie had no problem with that and just smiled.

Once we had our jackets off Linda told Mandy to sit down, and there was a special present she was allowed to open early. Linda then went into her room, and brought out a box. Peggy looked at me with that raised eyebrow, and I just smiled and nodded. I’m sure she was well aware of what normally came in a box that size.

Mandy tore off the paper, then once the box was opened looked a little confused when inside was a pink and white vinyl bag. But the moment she pulled it out she seemed to know exactly what it was. She gave Linda a huge hug, then carefully unzipped it.

And screamed as she pulled out the skates. She then jumped up and gave me a huge hug, almost bouncing as she did so. Then she gave Peggy a hug, bouncing and saying she had her own skates. Then she went to hug her mom before going sitting on the couch again to examine them closer.

Peggy came up next to me and looked closely at the skates. “Hmmm, Riedell’s, that’s a nice choice. Can I ask how much?”

I softly told her what we had paid for them and where we got them as Mandy was trying them on. They were a perfect fit, and Peggy said that was a really good set. “Even if she practices two times a week with me, it will take her at least a year until she is ready for even the amateur level local competitions. Even if she goes past that to wanting to do couples skating or more regional events those will be fine. And after that she can use those for practicing and get a better pair for actual competition use. And as her feet grow, with those it’s worth just replacing the boot instead of the entire skate.”

I looked over, and asked her how many pairs of skates she had.

“Hmmm, I guess it’s five now. One is only for competition though. Then I have one in a locker at Parthenia, and another in a locker at another rink in Northridge, and I keep an old pair at school in case I want to mess around or skate home. And one more pair that I keep at home in case I go to a different rink. But I have maybe ten old pairs there, ones I have mostly outgrown. I was thinking of giving her one of my old pairs with a new boot, but this is better than any of those. The only ones of that quality I have would be too small for her, even with a new boot.”

Soon the skates were back in their case, and we were driving to Parthenia as Peggy and Mandy chatted in the back. We all had fun, and after skating the first couples skate with Linda, we ended up changing partners as Mandy joined me and gave me another big hug and kiss. “Oh thank you, these are like so awesome Pete! They’re like so much better than those rental skates I always used before!” She then seamlessly turned around and took both of my hands in hers as she started to skate backwards.

I had to admit, I was impressed. I’d been skating for years and I could still never do that. But she had picked it up on just a single day of instruction with Peggy. Although she ruined it a bit as when she tried to turn back around at the end of the couple skate she fell on her butt.

And as had become our custom Linda and I held hands all during the regular skate. Later on when they had a trio skate I begged off saying I needed a break as the three girls then skated around holding hands, with Mandy in the middle. I watched the other skaters after I came out of the bathroom, and realized I was there with the three best looking girls in the place.

When their skate ended Linda came over to use the restroom herself, and I watched Peggy giving Mandy some more instruction in doing crossovers until she came back. Taking my hand as she said “Ready for some more?” she took my hand and we headed back out again.

At the next couples skate it was my turn with Peggy. She smoothly came up and took my hand in hers as Linda joined her sister. “Those are really good skates you guys got her Pete. I had to help her adjust the trucks a bit, but now they seem perfect. I think those are going to bring her a long ways in improving. House skates really suck the big one!” she said with a giggle.

“Well, Linda and I noticed how much she loved skating with you that first time, and she really seemed to want to improve. It just seemed like a perfect gift. Even if she decided competition’s not for her, this way she has a nice set even for weekends.”

“Oh, I hope she sticks with it. She really is improving fast, especially for one starting this old. And I’m having fun teaching her. Although if she keeps improving at this rate she may need more professional coaching in another six months or so. But we’ll have to see how that goes then.”

“How much are lessons?”

“Well, that depends on how she gets them, and how much private coaching she needs. I only get coaching now a month or so before a competition mostly, and I get it with the group I’m in. That is one on one, and I don’t want to think what my parents pay for that. But most rinks have semi-group lessons for around $40 a month. That includes two and a half hours of lessons, normally four or five people per group, once a week. She’ll get around 30 minutes or so of personal attention each week, and it includes a three hour open skate session right afterwards.