They greeted each other clumsily, unsure whether to shake hands or hug. Waiting in line for their skates was awkward, Jace trying to make small talk and Ben trying to find a part of himself that wasn’t feeling bashful. Now Ben was eager to get out on the rink, just so they would have an activity to distract themselves with.
“Are you any good at this?” Ben asked as they were pulling on their ice skates.
“Oh, I do all right.” Jace finished tying his laces and looked to Ben’s. “Wait. You missed a rung and the tongue is stuffed in. Here.”
Like a father helping his child, he stooped, untied Ben’s skates, and then laced them up correctly. When finished, he smiled and offered his hand. Ben accepted it and hobbled with him to the edge of the rink.
“I really can’t ice skate at all,” he said. “I did once when I was eight, and all I remember is falling on my ass until I finally gave up.”
“You didn’t have me then.”
Jace’s eyes twinkled as he led Ben out onto the ice. Ben started slow, keeping a white-knuckled grip on Jace’s elbow. Less than a minute later his legs were slipping out from under him. Jace caught the back of his jacket before he could fall and allowed Ben to steady himself on the wall of the rink.
“You have to move your legs like this,” Jace explained, showing him the odd diagonal movement needed to propel forward.
Over the next twenty minutes, Jace patiently coached him. Ben began to get the hang of it. The ice skates weren’t so different from his old Rollerblades, really. Another twenty minutes later and he was really enjoying himself. He still wasn’t confident enough to let go of Jace, but then he didn’t want to. Ben released his death grip on Jace’s elbow and took his hand instead. He noticed that while Jace was slender, there was a lot more muscle than it appeared. His hands weren’t boney and cold. They were strong and warm.
“This is nice,” Ben said as they made their way around, hand in hand. “Anywhere else and people would be staring at us, but here we have a reason to hold on to each other.”
Jace smiled at him. “I have to admit that was part of the plan,” he confessed, “but I don’t need a pretense to hold another guy’s hand in public. Let people stare if they want.”
“Where were you when I was in high school?” Ben sighed.
“I was wondering that myself. You look much younger now that you aren’t suffering through a late flight.”
“Oh.” Ben wasn’t sure if this was good or bad. “I just turned twenty. You?”
Jace exhaled dramatically. “A little bit older than that.”
“Thirty?” Ben asked in shock.
“Hey!” Jace let go of Ben to express how offended he was. Ben’s arms pinwheeled for a second before Jace came back to stabilize him with an arm around his waist. “I’m only twenty-six!”
“Well, you were the one acting dramatic about it,” Ben teased. “What do you like better anyway? Younger or older?”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s the personality that counts. Mind if I do a couple of rounds on my own?”
“Sure.”
Jace parked Ben somewhere safe before gliding away. He moved gracefully, navigating skillfully past slower skaters and travelling in sweeping arcs. Ben watched him, admiring his skill while taking the chance to check out Jace’s body. His frame was tall and his shoulders broad, but it was hard to tell more with the thick winter clothing. More than Ben’s curiosity was becoming aroused.
Ben struck out bravely on his own, determined to do at least one round under his own power. Jace nodding approvingly as he swept by, showing off by skating backwards for a few strokes. When they met back at the entrance to the rink, their stomachs grumbled in unison. Carpooling in Jace’s practical silver coupe, they drove to a seafood place not far away.
“My legs are really starting to hurt,” Ben winced as they sat down at the table.
“Wait until tomorrow,” Jace informed him. “You’ll be walking bowlegged all day.”
“Because of the skating you mean?”
“Of course,” Jace replied innocently.
Their order was taken by a disgruntled waitress who rightly felt it was much too soon to be returning to work after Christmas. They sipped their drinks when she brought them, making eyes at each other and often smiling without reason.
“So I take it you’re still in college?” Jace asked.
“Yeah, up at Columbia College in Chicago.”
“How do you like it?”
Ben shrugged. “It’s all right.”
“I couldn’t wait to get out,” Jace said. “The only good thing about college was having four extra years to figure out what I wanted to do.”
“I didn’t know flight attendants went to college,” Ben said, considering too late how it might sound, but Jace didn’t appear offended.
“It’s not a requirement. It’s just that-- Well, what do you want to be when you grow up? What’s your major?”
“I have no idea,” Ben chuckled. “It changes on a daily basis.”
“There you go. Paying tuition is just an expensive way of buying time.”
“So I take it you didn’t always want to be a stewardess?” Ben taunted.
Jace smiled. “I originally wanted to be a nurse.”
“That’s cool. What changed your mind?”
“I started to doubt that I’d be able to handle the job emotionally. In the long term it either depresses you or you become numb. I didn’t like the idea of either happening.”
“Hm.” Ben eyed the plates of the other diners, impatient for his own to arrive. “Can I ask you a very direct question without you getting mad at me?”
Jace cocked an eyebrow. “Sure.”
“How come flight attendants always act so pissy?”
“Was I so terrible to you?” Jace laughed. “No, I know what you mean. The reason we act a little, uh, irritable sometimes is because people misunderstand our job. Everyone thinks that we’re the waiters and waitresses of the sky, when we’re not.”
“You’re not?”
“Not at all. Our primary duty is to ensure the well-being of the passengers. There are a number of safety checks and procedures that we are responsible for, and I don’t just mean the emergency demonstration that everyone ignores. Ensuring the health and safety of every passenger is a flight attendant’s primary function. It’s much more than just food service, and there are a great number of unsung heroes who have saved lives because of the skills required for the position.”
“Wow.” Ben had to respect Jace’s passion for his job. “I didn’t know that.”
“The first-ever stewardess was a nurse,” Jace continued. “Ellen Church. Before her there were only stewards, and they really were just errand boys. Ellen Church realized that a nurse had a number of skills useful in an emergency, and the rest is history. Reading her story is what made me want to be a flight attendant. That, and the travel.”
Plates appeared on the table, barely noticed through the conversation. Jace spoke more about his job and the long miles involved before asking about Ben’s life and discussing the different possible options for his future. Ben had never dated someone as old as Jace, and he was finding the stability of his life comforting. Guys around his own age were just as confused as he was about the future. Jace had figured out what to do with his life, something Ben admired greatly.
They talked for hours, even after the food had disappeared, until Ben announced that he had to make his way home. Jace paid, citing that it was a crime to expect a college student to afford anything, and drove Ben back to his parents’ car. They stood beside the vehicle, making small talk as they both wondered how the goodbye would work.