what was happening, my legs tangled around each other and I hit the floor hard on my backside, my left cheek taking the brunt of the fall.
‘Ros! Don’t move!’
I looked up from the floor to see John skating over, crashing to his knees beside me. I opened my mouth to reply but all the air, along with my pride, had been knocked right out of me and I absolutely, positively knew I was going to cry.
‘Is anything broken?’ he asked, frisking my legs with brisk authority. ‘Does it hurt anywhere?’
‘My arse,’ I choked as I fought back tears. My face was bright red and, I was quite certain, I would have a backside to match by morning.
‘Well, I don’t think you’ve broken your arse, so come on.’ He pulled me to my feet and dragged me over to the side. ‘It was a good effort.’
‘I haven’t skated in ages,’ I replied, my words coming out staccato, pinched by several sharp intakes of breath. My left bum cheek was killing me. ‘I think I slipped on something.’
‘Yeah, you did,’ he agreed, unloading me into a seat next to Lucy who thrust herself upright to grab my hands, face awash with concern. ‘Your own feet.’
My bottom lip trembled dangerously and even though I had a thousand snappy comebacks at the ready, I kept them to myself for fear of bursting into tears.
‘Are you all right?’ Lucy asked, handing me her carton of Ribena. ‘You poor thing, that looked rough.’
I nodded, sucking through the tiny straw and wallowing in her pity. ‘I’m OK,’ I said bravely, adding a sorrowful sniff for good measure. ‘Might sit it out for a bit though.’
‘Still wish I could have at least one go around,’ Lucy said, watching wistfully as our friends tore around the rink. ‘Just for old times’ sake.’
‘We can come again,’ I promised. ‘Once you’ve had the baby.’
Lucy laughed. ‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘Let’s put a date in the diary for a time when it no longer relies solely on me to exist.’
‘There’s always Dave,’ I reminded her.
Lucy replied with a look.
‘Fair enough,’ I muttered. ‘We’ll come back as soon as it gets married and they’ve left for their honeymoon.’
John stood beside us, still in his skates. With the added inches, he looked as though he was about to climb down a beanstalk. There ought to be a height maximum for men in skates, I decided. Anything over five ten was ridiculous.
‘I’ve got an idea,’ he said, quirking his mouth into a smile. ‘Stay right there.’
Carefully, he padded over to the check-in desk, pointing back at me and Lucy as he turned his sleepy smile on the girl behind the counter.
‘What’s he doing?’ I wondered aloud as she nodded eagerly and disappeared into the little room where they kept all the skates.
‘Maybe he’s asking if they’ve got kneepads for you,’ she replied. ‘Or a nice helmet.’
I narrowed my eyes and slurped through the straw until her carton was empty.
‘Here we are.’ John returned to our spot with a proud look on his face and an ancient wheelchair in his hands. ‘Let’s go.’
‘I fell on my bum,’ I said, shifting in my seat to test said body part. Nope, too sore to sit on. ‘I don’t think I need a wheelchair.’
‘It’s not for you,’ he replied pointedly before nodding at Lucy. ‘It’s for you. Hop in and I’ll take you round.’
Lucy clapped gleefully, transferring herself into the other chair and cheering as John pushed her onto the rink. Propping my chin up in my hand, elbow on the table, I watched them circle the floor, Sumi, Jemima, Adrian and the rest hooking onto John’s waist in a long conga line of skating-rink goodness.
‘Ros!’ Sumi wailed. ‘Get your fucking arse back out here.’
‘It’s my fucking arse I’m worried about!’ I shouted back, blanching as a woman and her young daughter walked by. The little girl’s eyes bulged and she grinned. ‘Sorry,’ I said, apologizing profusely to the mother and forcing myself to my feet. ‘Very sorry.’
With an awkward limp, I shuffled back onto the rink and waited for them to circle back around.
‘Watch out!’ yelled Adrian at the back of the train. ‘Here we come!’
I reached out my arms and grabbed hold of him around the waist, squealing with laughter as I was pulled along by my friends.
‘Feels like we were just here yesterday,’ Adrian shouted over his shoulder.
‘I know,’ I replied, happily clutching his belt loops and ignoring the throbbing pain in my left hip as we