Kiss & Cry, Where Passion Awaits

by Lipson, Ramona

  “Do you want to go over my suggestions on makeovers for each skater?” she asked Ryan.

  “What do I care about makeovers? It’s out of my realm of expertise. I’m into wash and go,” he joked. "You go ahead and do whatever you want. To be honest with you, I’d rather not go.”

  “Please, come,” Dhalia pleaded. “I don’t want to do this by myself. You have to come.”

  “I won’t make you do it by yourself,” he reassured.

  Ryan and Dhalia went to the arena. All the skaters were present. They announced that a week from that day, the makeovers were going to take place. The skaters were excited about it, except for Scott, who appeared to be in a foul mood. She and Ryan were going to have to work on him. They were going to be spending a lot of time with him. After the announcement they allowed all the competitors to continue with their practice except for Scott and Diane, whom Ryan and Dhalia held back to talk with.

  “Our lessons with you are going to start tomorrow,” Ryan informed them. “We would like the two of you to practice stroking with each other for the rest of the day. Please focus on your precision and try to skate in proximity to one another. Be careful not to trip or spike each other accidentally with your blades.

  "You guys have to get used to skating with each other. Dhalia and I will be coaching you every free skate session without fail. Your coaching will take place on the ice, in a pool, and in the gym. If you get fatigued, it’s your responsibility to inform us so that you do not injure yourself or your partner.”

  “Sure thing, coach,” Diane said.

  “Please say that again, Diane.”

  “Sure thing, coach!”

  Dhalia liked the sound of that. It was the first time she had ever been called coach.

  Scott rolled his eyes and ran his glove through his hair, moving strands away from his eyes and skated off in a huff. Diane appeared to be disappointed by Scott’s reactions.

  “Don’t worry,” Dhalia encouraged. “He’ll be okay. It’s just a lot for him right now because Paris was sent home. Give him some time. He’ll come around to the idea.”

  Normal

  Dhalia was excited when the next morning came. Her editing with Justin was going really well, and now, she was beginning a new journey as coach. Michael was their coach for eight years and Ryan and Dhalia had such a good relationship with him. He taught them everything they knew. She was eager to develop that kind of rapport with Scott and Diane. Dhalia layered on the sweaters and donned snow pants.

  Ryan and Dhalia had breakfast early, since they had to be on the ice at 8:45 to teach footwork and stroking to Scott and Diane. She and Ryan kept their conversation light. The subject about what happened to her was quickly becoming taboo. Ryan didn’t bring it up unless she mentioned it first. That was fine by her. Deep down she knew it was the reason for the success of the show. It was only their second week of taping and they already had just over two million viewers. The show was already a hit at her expense.

  They arrived on time at the rink. The Zamboni was just pulling off, after flooding the ice. The skaters were ready to go. It was invigorating to be in a cold arena in the morning watching champion figure skaters tear up the ice. Jay and Michael stepped into the rink to coach in their skates. Sandy went on the ice, too, but she wore shoes. Matt sat in the seats, and Ryan and Dhalia stood rink side.

  The skaters stretched. The men did lunges and the girls each raised their foot on top of the boards reaching their head to their knees. After stretching, the coaches called over the athletes. Ryan summoned Scott and Diane. They skated to him. Their cheeks were pink from the cold, and their spirits seemed slightly elevated from the previous day.

  Ryan instructed, “Start forward stroking in a circle holding hands. We want long strides from both of you. Scott, you will have to adjust your speed, based on Diane’s. You can’t be dragging her.” They started stroking in a large circle close to where Dhalia and Ryan were standing.

  Scott looked really handsome. He was wearing Nike workout pants and a white turtleneck. His sport jacket was zipped closed but after stroking for five or ten minutes he got hot and stripped off his jacket. Dhalia didn’t think there was a girl in the rink who didn’t notice how great he looked with it off. It reminded her of when she saw Ryan skate for the first time. He was the only skater she knew who practiced in a wife beater T-shirt. She insisted that if she was going to skate pairs with him, he would have to lose the shirt.

  Diane was much shorter than Scott. She was dressed in tight leggings and a hoodie. The hood was left down and her dark chestnut brown hair was secured in a ponytail off her face trailing down her back. She was the one Bradley had said needed much work with Sandy on choreography. Well, now she was going to get a lot of training with Sandy, Ryan, and Dhalia. “Diane, stretch it out,” Dhalia called to her. “Extend your leg more. Higher, higher. Yeah, that’s it. Much better.” Diane was really trying hard to heed the instruction. Even stroking with a new partner was a challenge.

  Ryan took over direction. “Backwards now.” They continued going in a circle with Scott leading Diane. Their backwards stroking was stronger than their forwards. “Closer, Scott. You are too far from Diane. Diane, pick up the pace.” The pair looked tired after about twenty minutes of steady stroking. “Break!” Ryan called out. The two went to get their water bottles.

  Ryan turned to Dhalia. “How are you doing?”

  “Great,” she said. “Thanks for asking.”

  Scott and Diane skated back over after they rehydrated. Dhalia had another idea so she went with it. “Scott, your long program has a really good footwork sequence. For the next twenty-five minutes, we want you to teach it to Diane.” For almost the next half hour, they watched the two skate and then the flood began and the skaters got off the ice.

  The next session started at 9:45 a.m. The skaters' rest occurred when they were practicing their footwork and during the flood. They had to do another forty-five minutes of training before they would get a longer break.

  Ryan and Dhalia decided they would have the pair work on simple spins. They were used to spinning on their own, but with a partner it was a completely different. They were awkward. They didn’t know how to enter or exit the spins properly. Ryan and Dhalia couldn’t show them because they didn’t have our skates yet.

  Many of the spins were completely new for them so Dhalia could see this was going to take a long time to teach. Their attempts during this skating session were just terrible, and at times, Dhalia couldn’t help but laugh at their clumsiness.

  When Scott and Diane’s spins improved she was going to personally show them their first attempts on tape so they could laugh too. Dhalia kept her chuckles in check because she could tell that if she wasn’t careful, she would add to their frustration.

  Ryan looked at Dhalia when she was obviously stifling a giggle and smiled at her. “You look beautiful,” he said. “It’s so good to see you smile again.”

  She thought she saw the glint of a tear in his eye. She touched his arm and returned his sentiment. “You’re beautiful too.” She took a step back from him, afraid he would try kissing her.

  Scott and Diane came back to them and Dhalia advised what they could expect. “We will start teaching you lifts in the pool. When you develop trust and confidence, then we will try them on the ice. Side-by-side triples can be practiced immediately." They had to teach the pair to jump in proximity and with precision to one another. This too was new. The aspect they had in their favor was that they already knew how to do the jumps.

  Most of the session was spent working on spins. Then they were asked to do side-by-side single axels. This was to get the feel of how to jump only a foot or two from one another. Ryan and Dhalia were trying to work the team in slowly.

  The flood started at 10:30, so competitors had approximately four hours before they had to be back on the ice. Ryan asked if Dhalia wanted to go to lunch. She declined. A nap was much more appealing to her after a busy morning.

  The
y went their separate ways. After Ryan ate lunch, he went back to their room and watched television while Dhalia slept. She could feel him on the bed next to her. His scent was so nice and familiar. He let her sleep until twenty minutes before they had to be back on the ice.

  Ryan kissed her cheek to wake her. They looked at each other for a millisecond and she couldn’t help wonder what he could have possibly have seen in her or why he had so much patience with her. How and why he would ever take her back after she went to Bradley was beyond her. It made her sick still thinking about that ferocious behavior. Images of Bradley invaded her thoughts frequently.

  At the 2:15 p.m. free skate session Ryan and Dhalia got the pair to focus for ten minutes on their stroking. Then they let them do footwork together for another fifteen minutes. The rest of the time Scott and Diane worked separately on their triple jumps. If a couple didn't work every day on their jumps they already knew, they'd lose their consistency. Dhalia and Ryan continued to let them have time to practice their jumps they already accomplished for that reason alone. Pairs didn’t have to do figure eights, otherwise known as patch, so the next time Scott and Diane had to be on the ice wasn’t until 8:30 p.m.

  From 3:00 to 8:30 p.m. Dhalia worked on editing film with Justin and had her dinner with the other coaches. She didn’t think she had a minute to herself the entire day. She thought Ryan had something to do with that, but she didn’t complain. He was making sure she was okay and for that Dhalia was thankful.

  Ryan said, “I have something to show you. Let’s go back to our room. By the way, Justin spoke with the woman who runs this Village and you have a new room on this floor. I have the key. You don’t have to move if you feel comfortable in our room. I can take the new one if you want.”

  “I’m not sure yet. What if I'm scared?”

  “Then come back to me. You can stay with me forever,” he said longingly.

  They went back to the room and Ryan instructed, “Close your eyes.” He opened the door and in front of the bed were two boxes. She knew right away what they were. Dhalia squealed with delight. Their skates arrived!

  “When can we skate?” she asked.

  “We’ll go on after the last flood of the night. It will just be you and me.”

  “I can’t wait,” Dhalia said eagerly. She opened the box with her name on it. She took her boots out of the box and smelled them.

  Ryan laughed and said, “That’s just gross.”

  Scott and Diane would have the ice together alone for an entire hour. This would be the time Dhalia and Ryan would have the pair work on their throw jumps. These jumps took up a considerable part of the ice and were much safer practiced away from any other skaters.

  After the final session the skaters left the ice and it was flooded for the next day. Ryan and Dhalia put on their skates. It had been quite some time since they did their last show program together, so they started slowly by stretching and stroking in exaggerated circles together. It was like riding a bike for them, cathartic.

  Ryan left Dhalia on the ice alone for a few minutes while he went into the music room and played a slow tape of songs, ones both of them loved listening to. Singers like Usher, Timberlake, Bieber, and her favorite song by Celine Dion, “My Heart Will Go On.”

  They did their side-by-side spirals. Ryan and Dhalia stood on one foot and extended the other behind them as high as they could while his hands were touching her waist. Then they did a few spread eagles where they spread their legs apart skating on outside or inside edges like second position in ballet.

  Dhalia's personal favorite was her Ina bauer, which is a beautiful skating position where her front leg was on an outside edge and bent and her back leg was on the opposite edge and her feet were facing different directions. Ryan faced Dhalia holding her by the waist doing a spread eagle which looked like second position in ballet, then when she had her balance, she would arch her upper body backwards.

  When Ryan and Dhalia were feeling comfortable on the ice they did their most famous move, their death spirals. Ryan went into a pivot position and held her as she spun around him in almost a prone position with her head a mere few inches from the ice.

  When he pulled her back up to him, she stared into his eyes. He was so strong and handsome. He never really changed from the time they used to compete as a pair. Neither of them moved. Ryan held her close for a second, and she wasn’t scared. It was okay. It was more than okay. She was caught in the moment, and before she could stop herself, “I love you, Ryan” came surging from her lips. He closed her lips with his, kissing her before returning the sentiment. “I needed to hear that,” he confided. “I love you, too.”

  Ryan took her by the hand and they circled the ice. “Let’s do some throws,” he said excitedly. Dhalia did a throw triple sow cow where Ryan would assist her into the air and she would do three revolutions. After that they did a star lift. Ryan would hold one of her hands and balance her in the air above him. She would put the rest of her body in a star position as he glided across the ice on two feet. When they were tired, he put his arm around her and we glided around the ice a few more times. Tears fell down her cheeks. It was the first time she felt like things were going to be okay.

  Ryan looked at her with concern. “This is the first time I've ever seen you cry while we were on the ice together and not competing.”

  She half smiled at him. “Who needs a Zamboni when I’m on the ice?”

  “I choose to correct myself, do you remember when we bombed our program in the Paris competition? You bawled like a baby at that competition! Good times.” He was trying to get a smile out of her, and it worked.

  “I was in pain,” Dhalia argued. “My foot was sore.”

  “No, you were crying because you knew your screw-up cost us that title!”

  Dhalia recalled training so hard together, and when one of them would fall, they would know in that second they were no longer in medal contention. They always had to be good sports. They were trained to get up and finish the program no matter what, except for an injury. Inside, however, you would just feel like stomping off the ice.

  They stopped skating when they got to the boards. They put their guards on their blades and walked into the warm lounge to take off their skates. After they removed their boots, they dried their blades really well with a soft cloth to prevent rust. When their blades were dry they would put soft blade covers on, to prevent Ryan’s or hers from being damaged while resting in their bags.

  They headed back to the Village in silence. Ryan carried both skating bags. It was in that moment she realized Ryan had become her hero, he literally meant everything to her. Something inside her stopped her from telling him. She thought she was afraid she would get hurt, or she would hurt him again.

  When they got back to the Village Ryan looked at her and said, “What do you want to do?”

  She thought for a minute and staying longer in his room was imposing herself on him, so she chose to leave.

  “I’ll take the new room. It’ll be okay.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked. “I’ll show you where it is and let you in. Then I’ll get some of your stuff so you can get ready for bed.”

  “Thanks,” she said.

  They walked to Dhalia's reassigned room and Ryan left her alone with her skating bag. It was quiet there, lonely. Ryan was gone for only a few minutes, and when he came back, he had almost everything that was hers with him. She opened the door for him and subsequently started putting away all the stuff he brought over. It didn’t take her long.

  He said, “I’ll bring the rest of it over in the morning before breakfast. Remember, if you need to, you can come back to my room anytime. You have my number! I’m going to miss you.”

  “Sure. Thanks, Ryan, for everything,” Dhalia said.

  Ryan went to the door and let himself out. He didn’t hesitate. Dhalia watched him walk down the hallway back to his room. She wanted to go after him. Encourage him to stay with her so she wouldn’t have to be alone. Sh
e knew that she was just delaying the inevitable.

  The Makeover Show

  Everybody was excited on the morning of makeovers. Two stretch white limousines were hired for this episode. Justin and Dhalia would go through all the footage and decide what they were going to use. The makeover show was always her favorite episode of any reality show. She wanted theirs to be outstanding as well. She knew the changes had to be dramatic and the skaters had to be emotional.

  They had optimal weather for taping. It was unusually mild, so they all wore light jackets. The sun was shining and the chrome on the cars was gleaming. The air was filled with the fragrance of spring, and there were buds winking from the tree limbs.

  Downtown Calgary was plagued with traffic, but they were commuting after nine. They pulled up at the salon and had the camera operator jump out of the car. The cars drove around the block again so they could film the limousines pulling up to the salon. They had the competitors get out of the car and act slightly more thrilled than they really were entering the salon. Their excitement for this day from weeks past turned to anxiety.

  The head stylist, Gerard, met them at the door. The salon was modern and glamorous. Everything was black and white with beautiful chandeliers imported from Napa, California. Gerard gave Dhalia a hug and delivered really good news. “The salon is yours today! I had my receptionist reschedule all my appointments!” he said with a wicked grin. He was wearing a black suit and he had his long black hair pulled back into a braid down his back. For lack of a better word, he looked cool.

  “Oh, Gerard, that’s great! How do you want to do the makeovers?” Dhalia unzipped her jacket and went to hang it up.

  Gerard looked like he was thinking for a minute. “I think it’s best we do one at a time. We’ll start with the men. The women can go down to Starbucks and we’ll come get them when it’s their turn, unless they are already back.”