Who: Greg & Phee Where: School + Skating Rink When: Wednesday afternoon 12/20 Status: Complete Warnings: Some lulsy dirty language
Greg had already picked out a present for Phee. It had been a no-brainer after he saw the kind of flute case she got as a replacement for the one ruined by a bunch of assholes. It had been kind of cheap, it felt temporary and Greg didn't like it. Greg knew exactly why that was. The McCarthy family was filthy rich but frugal and they made their kids work for everything they had as opposed to the Wheelers who thought nothing of spoiling the bejesus out of their younger son. Greg barely had to ask for anything. He was willing to bet James McCarthy would have bought his daughter the shiniest and most expensive flute case if he actually knew what happened to the old one but right now the man just thought Phee had been careless with it. It wasn't fair but it was ultimately her decision not to tell her parents about the bullying and Greg wasn't going to step on her toes. He could however spoil her so that was the plan.
He felt pretty smug about it and it was hard to wait to give it to her but that kind of impatience was also a part of Christmas and he loved everything about that holiday so he'd cope. He'd just spoil her in other ways until then too so that helped and her stingy parents made that even easier.
School was a total wash these days because everyone was so restless to get their winter break started and he couldn't wait to get out of there. As soon as the last period ended he was hustling through the hallways to find her, all but slamming himself into the locker next to her when he did. "Skating rink," he said excitedly. "Skates and hot chocolate, you and me, it'll be awesome. Do you own skates?" They could rent some if not and if she loved skating, maybe he'd just buy her some fucking skates so she didn't always have to wear something other people had been sweating in.
Phee generally enjoyed school, but she was in the camp that was eager to get out of there for a while for the holidays, so she was kind of checked out mentally. Finals were done, it was just a waiting game now, and the teachers didn’t seem super eager to do their jobs either, so there were a lot of videos being shown and impromptu study halls. Which Phee usually spent daydreaming about magic.
She’d been going to the Castell house every other day after school to ‘work,’ which really consisted of just playing around in the greenhouse and listening to Zania. The older woman seemed impressed with that Phee had learned how to do just on her own, and that never failed to delight her. She’d filled in several pages of her grimoire now, mostly with plant facts she hadn’t known and their general magical uses. Phee couldn’t wait to get to the actual spells.
She was thinking about said grimoire as she left her last class and headed for her locker, her head in the clouds -- or the dirt, really. It was such a neat book, she was so glad she’d bought it. Sometimes she just laid in bed and caressed the covers, relishing the feel of the textured leather under her palms. That was where she was thinking about being as she opened her locker and stuffed some books into it. Greg’s loud arrival startled Phee and she jumped, then giggled reflexively as her brain got pulled back into reality. “Oh! Um ... no, I don’t think so, not since I was a kid,” she said, giving him a smile. “But yeah, like ... now, today?”
She was so easily startled but thankfully that hadn't been a dealbreaker yet. Greg would know if it was, he had done it enough times already even if it was never on purpose. "Yeah today. Why, you have plans?" he asked and feigned a little pout that didn't come off genuine at all since he was still fighting a smile underneath it. "Ditch your plans," he added hurriedly. "Come skate with me." The last word was drawn out playfully and he inched closer to wrap his arm around her and pull her closer in a playfully possessive way. He was definitely buying her skates if she enjoyed skating, it could be their wintertime thing since she wasn't into snowboarding. He might still change her mind on that he thought, if she just gave it a chance. People kept making it out to be all sporty but it really was just falling on your ass and laughing a lot.
It was much easier to startle her when Phee was daydreaming, which she tended to do a lot, in all fairness. Those daydreams were always either about magic or Greg these days, but she never minded being interrupted by the real thing. Especially when he was being particularly adorable. Phee giggled as she hugged him back, even if his hug had been more of a clench. “I was supposed to go to band,” she said, sounding delighted already. “But we’re not really doing much this week, so ... plans ditched, I guess!” The band director might fuss at her the next time, but Phee didn’t care. Several people had been absent over the past day or two. And going to hang out and ice skate with Greg sounded way more fun. She hadn’t been ice skating since she was much younger and fairly lighter, so she was a tiny bit nervous about trying it again, but at least she had a big strong boyfriend to hold onto.
"You're good, you can do without one day of practice," Greg said cheerfully and leaned in to kiss her, keeping his hand firmly in place on that spot he so liked on her back, right above her ass where the spine curved so nicely when she stood. He felt a little guilty sometimes about how damn happy they were what with his best friend being miserable and newly single but damn, what could he do about it? Other than badmouth Hunter and try to be supportive. Not today though, today was boyfriend time! "You hungry or anything? Wanna eat before or after we go skating?" He was absolutely assuming they were going straight to the rink without going home first, they could drop off their school stuff at home after.
Phee kissed him back happily. Her stomach was getting used to being with Greg and all the physical affection, but he could still give her the flutters. She always felt ten times hotter when he had a hand on her. Phee would have related when it came to Sebastian though -- she occasionally felt guilty. Just not enough to try to tone it down when her brother wasn’t around. “I’m not starving yet, so after?” she suggested, pushing her locker closed and turning a bit. Now that they were going, she was ready to get out of the school building. “Unless you’re really hungry or something.” Which was possible, Greg did eat like ... well, a teenage boy.
"Nope, I'm good!" Greg said excitedly because he was unusually not hungry right now, having munched on an energy bar while bored in class. "We'll get some cocoa and see what else they have at the rink and if we're hungry after we can go to Moxie's, my treat." Sometimes he wished she got along with his friends or - correction - that his friends got along with her but it was their damn loss and they kind of sucked anyway. It would be fun to go as a group but he prefered this if he had to choose. The hallway was clearing out fast with everyone eager to get out of there and he felt like he had to shield her a bit as they walked from the people literally running by them - despite the yelling teachers behind them. He kept his arm loosely around her and let her walk along the wall, bellowing out once at someone who nearly run into them. "Jesus," he then chuckled. "I mean, I can't wait for break either but it's only Wednesday."
It sounded like a fantastic afternoon date, and Phee mentally reminded herself to text her mom to let her know she would be home late. Later than normal, anyway. She didn’t think Brianna would mind -- Phee hadn’t gotten any beef from either parent about her dating Greg, and that made her super happy. They were possibly too distracted with Sebastian being gay and all that, but it was nice to not have the conflict. She felt warm and protected inside as they went down the hallway, her arm around Greg’s back. She loved feeling his body move around, so much firmer and more muscular than her own. “I know, right?” she agreed with a laugh as they headed for the exit. “Like calm your tits, people. Two more days. Got all your shopping done?” It was a teasing, cheeky question, not really a dig for her own gift, but maybe just a little.
"Maybe," Greg sing-songed with a smirk. It was miraculously enough not snowing today and the air was so still it made for a perfect day to be out and about. It was still cold, but not freezing and that was good enough for him. "Do you want to know what I got you?" he teased. "Do you?" And god, there was that temptation again to just tell her about it and give it to her right away. That sweet, delicious torture of waiting, only as he got older he was more excited about the gifts he was giving than receiving. That was probably totally noble of him, but then he wasn't really in need of anything anymore, no one thing he was hoping his parents would give him, if the fancy struck he could just buy it himself.
Phee laughed at the teasing, because it was fucking adorable coming out of him. Who would have thought her big bulldozer defensive tackle boyfriend would be so goofy and cute? Well, Phee had thought that, because she’d known him for a big chunk of her life. Other people knew too because Greg didn’t keep his personality a secret, but still. She loved the contrast of his inside and outside. “No, shhh!” she insisted with a bright giggle, elbowing him in the side. The air outside felt kind of refreshing after the stuffy heat of the school, and she agreed that this was going to be a perfect day for ice skating. “I wanna be surprised, I was just asking!” Phee grinned at him. “Do you wanna know what I got you?”
"No!" Greg exclaimed, seeming shocked that the joke could be turned around on him. "I mean, not until Christmas!" He laughed a little, his eyes still wide with only partially feigned worry that she'd blurt it out. He hushed her gently and patted her ass, unlocking the car as they got closer. "I'm so glad neither of our families are going away for Christmas, that would royally suck this year." This way he'd get to see her a lot over the holidays and so easily because they lived close to each other. "Mom had this grand idea to go skiing somewhere in Europe or whatever and I just... Nah, man. Nah."
“Aw, you gave up Europe skiing for me? So sweet,” Phee cooed in a delighted sort of way. Because of course Greg’s whole world revolved around her, and he couldn’t possibly have any other reason for wanting to stay in town for the holidays. She was intensely grateful for that though, because who knew if this would be their only Christmas together or what. She climbed into his car, relishing the warmth from it sitting in the sun all day, and pulled her hat and gloves off for the moment. “I don’t think Trip is coming down, and mom’s not super happy about it,” she said. “But we really only do like, the big early dinner and opening presents and stuff. So I’ll have time to see you and give you your super secret present.”
"Wait, really?" Greg asked, tugging his scarf off because it was a little too hot in the car for that. "Why wouldn't he come home for Christmas? He got a girl up there or something?" Or a guy, wow would that freak Mr. McCarthy the fuck out - if both his sons were gay. It almost made Greg laugh but it was probably mean or homophobic in some way so he kept it to himself. He wanted to say he was sure Trip McCarthy was as straight as they came but he'd thought the same thing about his best friend so he clearly didn't know shit. "When you say your mom's not happy about it, is that like nice code for she's pissed?"
“I thought that’s what it meant to everyone,” she said, amused. “But yeah, she’s pissed. He’s going to his girlfriend’s family’s house or something. I dunno, he doesn’t tell me much.” Phee couldn’t help but sound a tiny bit pouty about that, but it was easy to shake off. This was going to be a good day. “Christmas has always been important to mom, so I think he knows he hurt her feelings, but that’s like, only more reason to take a year off from it, I guess. I just hope Bash isn’t too mopey.” Phee made that statement with some sympathy mixed in -- Sebastian had plenty of reasons to be mopey as of late. “I wanna get away after the whole big meal and everything, to see you. If you think you’ll be able to.” She didn’t know much about what the Wheelers did at Christmas, she was just glad he was staying in town.
"I can come pick you up," Greg said with a grin and maybe it was stupid but he didn't like his girl walking alone after dark, even if it was just within Overlook. "I'm sure the families don't care if we ditch out when all the super Christmassy stuff is over and we can hang out at my place for a while." He'd already decorated the place because to Greg Wheeler, Christmas couldn't come soon enough and now he couldn't wait to take Phee back there to enjoy the pretty lights and the romantic feel of the place. "You know my parents won't mind, I'm more worried about yours."
“I don’t care what they think,” Phee said, a little surprised at how easily that rolled off of her tongue. It didn’t feel wrong, though -- she didn’t care what they had to say about her relationship with Greg anymore. She was going to do what she wanted to do. She was being safe and not like, doing a bunch of drugs or slutting around the whole town or anything like that. Maybe working with Zania and learning some things on the sly had made her more confident, she didn’t know. But if she wanted to spend part of Christmas night with Greg, that was what she was going to do. She smiled at him as they left the school parking lot. “It’ll be awesome. I even got some cute Christmas panties.”
"Wow," Greg said, eyes widening a little. "You're becoming a total rebel, I dig it." He just hoped he didn't get blamed for it if it pissed her parents off. He was pretty sure he had nothing to do with it since he was always respectful of her curfew and whatnot. Still, maybe he'd just boosted her confidence and she'd been a rebel all along. It wasn't like he'd known her that well before they started dating. He snickered to himself at her attitude, then arched a brow and gave her a quick, somewhat hungry look. "What kind of panties?" She knew how to get his attention - granted, she always had his attention but Christmas panties definitely got her a lil extra.
Phee kind of liked the idea of being a rebel. She’d always been the Good Girl, excelling in school, staying out of trouble, doing band and not having any boyfriends and whatnot. That was all still her, she wasn’t about to start stealing and smoking crack or anything, but there were things she wanted now, and she felt entitled to them. It was normal to have a boyfriend, and it was normal for a witch to learn magic. Phee didn’t feel like that was asking for much, and she was braced to tell her parents so if they started to protest. Greg’s question made her smirk, and she tossed her hair over her shoulder with an air of aloofness. “Cute ones,” she repeated, flashing a grin at Greg. Phee reached over to rest her hand on his thigh. “Maybe if you’re on the Nice list, you’ll get to see.”
"All your panties are cute," Greg said, flashing her a grin. That was a good start for the nice list, wasn't it? "I meant like, reindeers? Santas? Mistletoe?" The last made him grin even more because of the implications, not that he didn't kiss her right there all the damn time without the invitation but it was still fun. "And I'm so nice, like so nice, I'm totally gonna get to see. Right?" With how many orgasms he'd given her now he felt like he was allowed to be a bit cocky and sure of himself but he still knew it wasn't a great look so he toned it down more than he otherwise would have, not wanting to be obnoxious about it. That didn't change the fact that he knew for sure he was going to see those panties pretty soon.
“I’m so not telling you,” Phee said with a giggle, squeezing his leg. “That’s part of the surprise, duh.” She actually had several cute pairs of themed panties now, but she was thinking about wearing something a bit more special. Unless she chickened out, of course, but those feelings of insecurity about wearing sexy stuff had been fading more and more with Greg, and she thought she could really drop his jaw if she tried. It made her want to try. “We’ll see. You’ve got four days to act right.” She smirked at him for a second before turning her gaze out the front window to watch the town slide by them. “You’re good at skating right? You kinda do all the sports?”
Greg made a sound that was just a long drawn out 'eh'. "Not all the sports. I don't do twirly stuff, but yeah I'm okay, I could hockey! I stay on my feet and such but like cheerleader gymnastic professional skater stuff? Nuh-uh. That shit is crazy. No sliding around pretending to be a swan or a flamingo for me. How about you?" She'd said she hadn't had skates since she was little but that didn't mean she hadn't been skating or skiing ever since.
It was kind of nice that Greg considered figure skating and cheerleading and gymnastic stuff as sports. They were, and difficult ones at that, but a lot of guys seemed to have the attitude that if there wasn’t a ball or fighting involved, it wasn’t a sport. It was pretty sexist ... but not her Greg, which just made Phee happy. “But you’d made the prettiest swan!” she giggled. “Handsomest swan? One of those. I mean, it’s been years since I’ve tried. I could skate okay when I was like, eleven, but that was like five million pounds ago, so we’ll see. Just let me hang onto you for a while.”
"I'm good for hanging onto," Greg snickered and preened a little at being called handsome - or pretty - whichever Phee liked best. He hadn't always considered these things a sport but the one time he'd spoken up about that the angry shock on the faces of the girl he'd been talking to followed by a lecture by Jessica Wheeler had set him straight. It could be a pain in the ass to be surrounded by strong ladies but at least he learned something from it and it came in handy. Like now, making his girlfriend happy. "I won't let you fall, babe. Bet it's like riding a bike anyway and you'll be skating circles around me before you know it." He honked the horn at a couple of his team mates who had obviously ducked out early since they were this far away from school, and playfully sent them the finger, receiving back what he'd given. He just hoped they weren't gonna end up at the rink later, he wanted to focus his time on Phee.
He had that right, Greg was nothing if not sturdy and nice to hang onto. Phee thought she might just do it anyway, whether she needed the help or not. She leaned a bit to peer at who he was honking at, then smirked a bit at the exchange of fingers. Oh, boys. “Dorks.” She wondered in an amused way what Jen would do if Phee just honked and flipped her off. Phee had a similar selfish desire that nobody else they knew showed up at the skating rink. She wanted time with her man. They were getting close now, so she tugged her hat back down over her hair and pulled her phone out to text her mom and let her know she would be home late, probably after dinner. Phee’s thumbs hovered for a moment before she hit send, pondering adding some explanation or excuse, but she decided against it and just let it go as it was. If Brianna wanted to know more, she could ask.
It was telling that the team mates Greg had just filpped off were guys he actually liked, otherwise he would have ignored or quietly cursed at them. He snickered at Phee's remark and reached over to give her thigh a squeeze before starting the slow crawl of finding a parking space. It was so busy around the pier at this time of day - not to mention so close to Christmas - that it took a good few minutes before he triumphantly found one that wasn't too narrow for his Wrangler. "Nice parking, asshole," he had grumbled at a few cars as he passed them though he wasn't particularly pissed about it. It just sucked when a space was free but the cars next to it made it impossible for anything other than a bike to get in. "Here we go," he said once he'd turned off the engine and leaned back in his seat to give Phee a smile. "You look so fucking cute in that hat."
The nice part about being a passenger was not worrying about parking. Phee wasn’t looking forward to that aspect of having her own vehicle. She was content to wait, grinning a bit at Greg’s more colorful language. Then she had to giggle at the compliment. She never got tired of hearing them, no matter what they were about. “You look so fucking cute with that face,” she countered. Now that they were parked, Phee unbuckled her belt and leaned over the console so she could kiss him in a better fashion than they could do in the hallway at school. It was tempting just to stay in the car and make out, but there were enough people here that there were probably kids all over the place. Plus, she did want to skate. “Thanks for kidnapping me and making me miss my extra curricular activities,” she murmured close to his lips, smiling again.
"Thanks for not putting up a fight," Greg countered with a snicker. "You're like a princess who actually likes dragons so I didn't have to do any of the hard work." He wasn't a dragon and she was a witch but he still like the metaphor because she was totally his princess. Of course if he was an actual dragon, kidnapping would be a lot easier what with the picking up and flying away instead of struggling through a crowded high school hallway and now his brain was just doing that nonsense thing again so he tried to let it go. "Did that even make sense? Point being, you're a princess and you're being super cooperative so thank you for that. Or maybe I saved you, maybe band is the dragon."
“And you’re my knight in shining armor?” Phee asked, amused by Greg’s whole train of thought. She didn’t mind being at the center of it as a princess, though. “I’m totally cool with you being a dragon though. Just like, a friendly one. Oh! Will you start calling me khaleesi? That would totally be hot.” She grinned at him and sat back, reaching for the door handle. They could stay in his car all day flirting, it was time to go do something fun. Fun that hopefully wouldn’t end with Phee falling on her ass.
Greg laughed as he got out of the car, winding his scarf around his neck. "You know what," he told her when they converged by the trunk. "I can be both. I can be your dragonborn paladin in shining armor, how about that?" He grabbed her hand and grinned, glad she wasn't the type to roll her eyes at his dorkiness. "Do you want me to call you Khaleesi? Because that would make you my mom if I'm a dragon and I'm not into that."
Phee was definitely not one to judge when it came to dorkiness. She thought it was awesome, honestly. It made him so much more interesting than your standard jockish white boy. Amongst other things. “Gross!” Phee said with a hearty laugh, shaking his hand around with hers. “She’s their adopted mom, which is ... okay, not better.” Phee tittered. “So I’m good with dragonborn paladin. Do you look like a dragon, or more like a man? Is your dick normal? I guess I’m telling on myself that I don’t know what dragonborn means.”
"I guess like a were-dragon?" Greg guessed, pulling out his phone to do a quick image search for one of those things. It depended on the artist of course but most of them looked like dragons with humanoid bodies. "You know, I've never thought about what their dicks would look like," he admitted. "I think I'd like to just keep mine, I don't think you'd be happy if it was like scaly or something.”
She peered at his screen with a grin, and while everything she caught a glimpse of involved full armor, she was sure there was art of scaly dick somewhere. The internet was full of such weird stuff. “Okay were-dragon sounds pretty awesome,” she said. This entire conversation was just ridiculousness, but there was nothing wrong with that, and it was kind of nice to just be giggly and stupid. “Your dick is pretty awesome just the way it is, so I can live with that. Just as long as I get to ride around on you when you’re a dragon too.”
"You can ride on me however and whenever you want," Greg said with a tacky grin but he couldn't keep from laughing for long. He meant it of course, absolutely, but it was such a lame thing to say out loud how could he not laugh? "I bet we could find pics if you're really curious," he added as they started toward the rink and this time he was absolutely joking. He definitely didn't need to be searching for dragon dicks on his phone, his search history was weird enough as it was.
“Oooh,” Phee cooed, and then giggled as a bit of a flush crept into her cheeks. Dirty jokes and innuendo had taken on whole new meanings now that she’d joined the ranks of the sexually active. Dragon dicks aside, she’d definitely enjoyed riding Greg so far. “Hard pass, thanks,” she replied with a grin, slipping her arm through Greg’s as they walked. “I am perfectly happy without visuals in my brain.” When she thought about dicks now, Greg’s was the only one that came to mind, and Phee was content with that.
Greg was grateful she didn't want to look one up since he wasn't overly interested in seeing it either. Sure, he was curious, just not curious enough. "Same," he agreed with a grin and it was probably time to stop talking about weird shit like that since they were entering the rink and there were other people around. It took a little while to get skates for Phee and make it out onto the ice since there were people ahead of them in line but time just flew when they were together so this wasn't really a problem. Greg hadn't brought his own skates today so he rented a pair too, determined to start keeping his skates in his car at all times now but nobody had told him the rink had opened up again! He'd had to hear about it like a pleb at school today so he was woefully unprepared. He got black ones, she got white ones which was totally cute he thought as they started strapping in.
Phee had thought she had heard the rink was up already at some point, but it hadn’t pinged very hard on her radar. Now that she was actually there and tying the boots tight next to Greg made her wonder why it hadn’t. They weren’t even on the ice yet and she was having fun. She had a feeling that even if she did fall and bust her ass, it wouldn’t be a big deal, they would just laugh it off. It said a lot about how comfortable she was with him, she supposed. “Okay, help me up,” she said once they were both ready. Phee held her hands out and giggled a bit as Greg pulled her up to her feet. She held onto him as they hobbled to the ice. “I’ll try not to take you down with me if I fall.”
"Try to take me down!" Greg said eagerly. "I'll show you how hard it is." It wasn't so much of a challenge as it was a promise that he wouldn't fall easily but putting it that way was more fun. That way if she fell she could play it as a challenge accepted. He hadn't been skating for a while but he was still steady and it took only a few seconds before he was feeling that confident, grinning at his girl as he let her hold onto him.
The challenging tone made Phee laugh, but thankfully that didn’t make her too wobbly as they got onto the ice. It wasn’t like she’d never ever skated before, but the last time she had she’d been quite a bit smaller, so it took her a few minutes to feel like she wasn’t going to completely lose her balance every other second. Gripping Greg’s arm definitely helped her feel steadier. “Okay, I think ... I got this,” she said after a while, grinning. It was challenging, but it was still fun. Phee turned her skates to put a bit of distance between them, moving her grip from Greg’s arm to his hand instead. “Just don’t go fast!”
"S'cool, I'm chill. We can go fast later," Greg said with a wolfish grin and for now he was okay with going slow. The scraping sound of skates against ice was nostalgic and gliding along with his favorite girl was fucking fantastic. Definitely more fun than doing it alone. He pulled her closer for a second when someone in front of them fell on their ass and they narrowly escaped falling too. "Wish we could come here after closing," he murmured so only Phee could hear him.
Even though she was staying upright okay on her own, Phee did not mind the help with avoiding other people falling. Besides, she enjoyed it anytime Greg pulled her into his bulk. “Me too,” she agreed with a soft laugh. Phee grinned then and gave him a sly sort of sideways glance. “And I mean ... we probably could.” It wasn’t like there were fences around the rink or anything, and it wasn’t a permanent structure. The pier had gates, but those could be easily bypassed. She doubted they guarded the place that well.
"We definitely could," Greg agreed and wondered how many other people had the same idea. Hopefully not many. Not that being out alone after dark was a fantastic idea in Point Pleasant but he hadn't really seen any horror movies that happened on a skate rink. "You wanna try sometime?" he asked and thought maybe during the holiest of the days of Christmas people might be least likely to go out.
For the moment, all the weird scary shit about Point Pleasant didn’t seem to matter. Phee just liked the idea of sneaking off somewhere risky and romantic. “Sure!” she said brightly, flashing Greg a grin. “Since I’m apparently turning into a rebel or whatever.” It would be twice as cold at night and maybe kind of scary in the dark, but she felt like she would be totally fine with Greg there. “This is fun for now, though,” she added, just so he knew she didn’t think it was lame or something without that element of danger. Getting more confident, Phee skated a little faster.
Greg thought he should give her skates for Christmas too, even if he'd already bought her gifts. They wouldn't be able to rent skates in the middle of the night so it was just practical and now he knew her size. He grinned to himself as he picked up the pace to stay by her side, impressed with her wild spirit. Growing up he'd always just thought of her as a good girl, someone who liked to read and study and rolled her eyes at his antics but things had changed so much and he'd been so wrong about her. It was fantastic finding out just how wrong. "This is fun," he agreed and it was fucking romantic too.
Greg hadn’t been too far off base, as Phee had lived a pretty obedient, quiet life until recently. She’d been trying to teach herself some magic on the side, of course, and she’d had a rich inner fantasy life, but she mostly had been that quiet good girl. And she still was most of the time. This is what people meant when they said someone had blossomed, Phee supposed. She was in the middle of blossoming. And discovering that antics were much more fun when you were involved instead of just watching. Phee’s stomach felt happily fluttery as she skated around the rink with Greg, gaining some speed and more confidence as she went. She almost slipped a few times, but his strong arm was always there to steady her. Even though it was cold, the wind started to feel good against her face. It was a workout, but a really fun one. Once her legs started feeling really wobbly, Phee pulled Greg over to the side to hug the wall for a moment, and pulled him down for a breathy kiss. “Why don’t we have a hockey team? You should totally be on it.”
She was absolutely right and not just because he was good at skating. Greg had a knack for very physical and competitive sports, if there was a hockey team he'd be the first to line up to get injured on the ice. "I know right!" he exclaimed as she pointed it out. "We totally should have one, our school just sucks." They didn't have a swim team either, Hunter Barrett had complained about that a few times during his short stay, so of course the school wouldn't set up a good place to practice hockey either. "I'd much rather play hockey than basketball." She knew him so well and that made him smile and kiss her again. "You should be in a roller derby team or something, I bet you'd kick ass and you could come up with a cool, sexy name. Like Ruthless Red or something." He'd heard some really awesome ones but he couldn't remember any of them or think of a really cool one in the moment. "You can skate," he added with a nod to explain the connection there and maybe it would just be sexy to see his girl laying the hurt on some other girls.
It was kind of late in Greg’s school career to be petitioning for a hockey team at Chamberlain High, but Phee kind of wished that they’d had one. She kind of found all of the hockey pads and sticks and stuff hot. Plus they tended to fight, and there was something sexy about that, underneath all of the eye rolling toxic masculinity bullshit. She hummed into the kiss and then laughed at what he said, her cheeks flushing with surprised pleasure. Phee had never pictured herself on a roller derby team, but she’d always admired those women. They seemed like such badasses. “I’m better on wheels than on ice,” she said, grinning at him and linking their fingers together. “You think I’m ruthless, though?” The question was teasing, there was nothing ruthless about her and Greg probably knew it, but it was kind of fun. “Will you be my personal cheerleader?”
"Fuck yeah," Greg said enthusiastically. "I'd cheer you on in anything, babe and yeah, I think you could be ruthless if you wanted to be. You're stronger than you look." He knew very well that a sports persona didn't always mirror the real person underneath. He didn't really like to bowl people over but that's what he was famous for on the field. He wouldn't really call himself ruthless in his life but he was when playing and he could easily imagine Phee getting into the spirit of it too. To be fair he was mostly just imagining her in a sexy outfit and roller skates, the actual game play didn't really matter in that fantasy of his.
That was the kind of compliment that made her feel like she was glowing. Like, who else’s boyfriend called them strong? “I’d totally be Poison Ivy then,” she said, still smiling enough to make her cheeks hurt a bit. Poison Ivy was definitely ruthless, and good with plants, obviously. With the way she was feeling lately, Phee thought she could probably bowl some bitches over on a rink ... or maybe she just had a fun fantasy of what it was like in her head. Phee didn’t even think there were any roller derby groups around, so it didn’t really matter, but it made her feel pretty awesome that Greg had that sort of faith in her. She leaned against him and turned her face up to kiss him again. “Wanna race this time?” she asked him with a smirk.
"Like, race-race? Or the kinda race where I let you win?" Greg asked cheekily, to tease her and fuel her competitive spirit. They hadn't really competed in anything so he had no idea if she was a sore loser or not. He was, but it was different with a girlfriend doing something fun than it was playing some serious game. Still, he didn't really want to find out and he didn't want to be an asshole winner either.
Phee scoffed through her grin and hit him lightly in the chest. “A race-race, duh,” she insisted. She was probably going to end up on her butt, but her pride wouldn’t allow her to accept some pretend race. She would cheat, however. “Ready? Go!” Phee said really fast, and pushed off of Greg to skate off ahead of him. She wasn’t entirely steady, but at least she didn’t fall immediately, so that was something. Giggling and not daring to look behind her, Phee tried to build up some speed.
"See, I knew you would do that," Greg sighed as he hauled ass after her, smacking her ass when he caught up. "You're terrible! Your roller-derby name will be Cheating Ivy!" He swerved not to hit a kid coming at him with a deer in the headlights expression and fell behind again but was quick enough to catch up. "One round? I'll decimate you," he called out to Phee as he passed, glancing back but only quickly since he didn't want to crash into anyone.
Phee gave a squeak at the ass-slap, and she wobbled but wasn’t thrown too off. It seemed to be easier to keep her balance when she was going faster. There were enough people on the ice to keep them at a somewhat-reasonable speed, but Phee thought she caught a couple of dirty looks from mothers with their kids. Teenagers, being rowdy and ruining everything. She didn’t care. “Move your feet, not your mouth!” she called back to Greg, amused even though she was losing. She tried to catch up, and got within range to grab the back of his coat and hold on, giggling as she widened her stance and leaned forward to not get in the way of his skates.
"Cheating Ivy," Greg hollered back, laughing hard enough that he almost lost his balance. He didn't even notice the dirty looks, he was having fun and by the time they reached his goal he almost crashed into the wall. By some small miracle neither of them fell on their ass and he turned to wind his arms around Phee protectively to keep her upright if needed. "You're terrible," he told her and his face was burning with the cold by now. Going fast just made it so much colder he just knew his cheeks were as red as Phee's were. "I totally win."
If there was anything better than feeling Greg halfway catching her, his arms strong and supportive, Phee didn’t know what it was. Well, the orgasms maybe topped that list, if she was honestly thinking about it, but the sense of security that came from having a strong boyfriend was deeper than she would’ve thought. She clung to him too, giggling and breathless, not looking ashamed of herself in the slightest. “Yeah okay, but you love me anyway,” she said before she gave the words much actual thought. It was just bullshitting, but Phee realized what she’d said a second later and her eyes widened. Oops. “I mean, uh ... yeah, you know what I mean,” she hurried to add.
They weren't at the stage where they said they loved each other and Greg honestly didn't know when that stage happened or when it was appropriate or any of that shit. Then again he was pretty sure nobody knew that but the word didn't make him feel panicked, it just... sounded right. So he just grinned knowingly and nodded. "I know what you mean," he said, amused and feeling a little warmer suddenly. "You may be a cheating vixen but you're my cheating vixen." He didn't want to get too serious about it but it sounded right. When he thought about Phee he always imagined a future and maybe that was naive and overly optimistic but so fucking what? He pictured her going to college somewhere and he'd do his EMT training wherever that might be. He'd be a fireman and she'd be some scholarly genius type of gal and they'd live together and be an amazing power couple. With a shit ton of plants that nobody understood how they managed to keep alive and thriving this well. They'd get married and Bash would be his brother for real. It was a family thing, so yeah, he was pretty sure he loved Ophelia McCarthy, whatever the fuck that even meant.
It was weird how being in love wasn’t nearly as intimidating as admitting to it, was it? Phee knew how she felt, but she so wasn’t ready to say it out loud, especially not to the boy who’d had like a hundred girlfriends before her. She was blushing hard but it was hard to tell with the flush that was already in her cheeks from the activity out in the cold. Phee was ridiculously relieved when Greg didn’t make a Thing of it, and the way he smiled at her made all of her insides feel fluttery and melty at once. She had no idea what the future would hold, and she didn’t dare think about it much, but Phee hoped Greg would stay a part of hers. “I can accept that,” she said, rolling with it even if she felt a little out of control of her mouth. “But I’ll never like, cheat on you, just ... at you? Is that a thing? I super dig the word ‘vixen’ though, I’m gonna work that into my derby name somehow.” Phee pressed her lips together for a beat, looking at Greg’s eyes, then popped another kiss against his lips. “Ready for a hot drink? I’m freezing and my legs are like, warning me.”
"I'm so ready for a hot drink," Greg agreed enthusiastically and he kept one arm around her as they skated to the exit. "Just so you know, I wouldn't cheat on you either," he told her, his voice a little softer. "So you know, that's not something you gotta worry about or anything. Not that you would, I mean, maybe, but you don't have to." Maybe it was bold to declare that sort of thing, he was sure a lot of people who cheated had never meant to, he just couldn't imagine a scenario where he would do that. Loyalty was so important to him and he wasn't trying to score with as many girls as he could for some notches on his bed post or anything, so why bother? It just seemed stupid and risky.
Phee looked up at him and paused at the edge of the rink to plant a kiss against his cheek. It wasn’t a thing she had worried about, not after the first little while of getting to know Greg more intimately, and even then it had just been a flicker of self-doubt. She trusted him, and he wasn’t a good liar, so Phee didn’t think he would cross any boundaries like that. It was still sweet of him to say so. “I don’t worry,” she assured him. “I trust you. Plus, I know you know that if you did, I would totally give you dick fungus and nobody wants that.” Phee flashed him a wicked grin and stepped out of the rink, holding onto him as they waddled to the closest bench to get their skates off.
"Well shit," Greg sighed when he plopped down next to her. "I hope that if you hear a rumor about me cheating on you you actually double check with me first - before you give me dick fungus." He gave her the saddest pout he was capable of at the moment, which wasn't very sad since he was invigorated and perky but it was a decent enough try. "'Cause you know they'd be lying, people suck." There were actually people he knew were eager to see their relationship fail because they were spiteful and lame but he wasn't about to bring that up with Phee. If she didn't know already he didn't want to worry her with it. He doubted they'd actively try to make it happen but jesus, who even knew.
“I would never give dick fungus without verification,” Phee said, sounding mock-offended that he would think so. “People do suck though, and I trust you more than people, so ...” She shrugged as she bent down to untie her skates. Greg had already had her back against some shitty people, so of course she would prioritize him over them. Maybe that was foolish, considering he would be the cheater in this hypothetical, but whatever. Phee didn’t think it was a thing she would really have to worry about, sure they would break up for some other reason, like her still being in high school and Greg being ready to move on or something. But whatever, she wasn’t going to fret over it today, everything was too fun and nice.
"Responsible dick fungus supplier," Greg said shrewdly, nodding in emphasis. His lips twitched as he kept his grin at bay, focusing on getting his skates off like this was just a very normal conversation they were having. His expression got a little pinched and amusing as a result and he could feel it in the strain of his cheeks and chin. "Can you skip out on dinner? I figured we could order something at my place." Maybe that was hoping too much, they were almost on a break but parents still saw this as a school night which was totally unfair. It made him wish her parents were as chill as his because Phee was a whole lot more trustworthy than he was.
Phee snickered, not fussed with trying to keep any straight face, and dipped her hand into her pocket to pull her phone out. Her mother hadn’t texted her anything that seemed upset, so that was a good sign. “I think so, yeah,” she told Greg, flashing him a bright smile. “That sounds awesome.” Takeout and snuggling and maybe more than that sounded pretty damn perfect to her, honestly. They might not be officially out of school yet, but it still felt like winter break had already started. It wasn’t like she had homework or anything. Phee would just be sure not to stay too late and risk a grounding. This day had just turned really awesome and she wanted to keep it going.
It was tempting to go straight home when she answered but Greg really did want some hot cocoa so he squashed the urge for now. It was still early, they had a little time to spend. They needed a little energy to burn while they waited for their food anyway. There was something really romantic and fun about drinking hot cocoa out in the cold though Greg wasn't sure he'd enjoy it quite so much with someone else. “Take-out or home delivery?" he asked her when they were sated and ready to get out of there. "We can stop somewhere on the way."
Sipping on hot cocoa warmed Phee up a bit and was really nice, standing around and people-watching with Greg while they did so. Her mom would probably tut-tut at her indulging in hot chocolate, but oh well. “Take-out works,” she said to Greg as she tossed her empty cup into the trash can, sounding chipper about it. “Want like, Thai?” There was a pretty good place on the way -- good for Thai food in the super-white northeast, at least -- and it was always tasty and not too heavy on the stomach or bad-breath-making. Because she was sure there would be making out after dinner.
Greg had been ready to rattle off some options so he was pleasantly surprised when she made a suggestion of her own and one that he was totally down with. "Sounds great," he said, grabbing her hand before heading toward the parking lot. "Oodles of noodles, a blimp full of shrimp. I can dig it." He wasn't picky tonight, he just wanted nutrition in his body to get him through the night and hopefully he would need the stamina because he was still feeling pretty energetic.
The blimp part made Phee laugh, and it felt really good. She was feeling even better by the time they made it back to Greg’s house, with a bag of fragrant food on her lap. She’d made sure to text her mom to let her know not to wait on her for dinner, just so nobody could complain that she was irresponsible and not checking in or something. Phee was glad it wasn’t a long walk from the car into Greg’s portion of the house. She’d gotten warmed up in the car and didn’t want to be cold again. “So does your mom like, ever cook and stuff?” she asked as they started to shed coats and settle in. Phee sounded more curious than judgemental -- she knew her family was a little old fashioned sometimes.
"Sometimes," Greg replied, not bothered by the question. "Not really a lot after I moved out - or down here. We're pretty independent people! She'll text sometimes and ask if I want to eat with her if she's in the mood to cook but sometimes we just get take out together. She cooks a lot more when dad's home so I mean we could go upstairs and there might be food. I just don't wanna." He stopped his rambling and grabbed the bags of food, carrying them to the living room. "She was always really happy when your mom let me stay for dinner and she didn't have to cook, when we were little, I mean. She's lazy."
It sounded both so foreign to Phee and so appealing. That kind of freedom and privacy would never happen in her house. Her parents were always up their asses, and she couldn’t even imagine her mother leaving them to fend for themselves for dinner. Phee was kind of envious, but at the same time it was nice to still have things handed to her, she supposed. Once she got her shoes off, she followed Greg and plopped down on his couch, bouncing a little. “Always a hot meal at the McCarthys’,” she said with a little laugh and an eyeroll. “Even if my dad’s like, never there. So really, you weren’t usually an extra mouth to feed, you know?”
"Phee, babe," Greg said seriously. "I'm pretty sure I eat twice as much as your dad does so..." He was half kidding but not really, the McCarthy parents were health freaks and their dinners while nice were usually so healthy it verged on boring. Greg didn't mind healthy, there were times when he was very conscious of his eating habits because it was game season and he needed to be strong and fit but all the time? No thanks, not at all. He unbagged the food and started lining up the containers on the table then bounced off the sofa again to go get drinks.
She had to laugh at that, because it was probably true. Their parents had tried to instill good eating habits in them from an early age ... it was another reason Phee sometimes felt like a disappointment. She’d still ended up fat. But Greg never made her feel that way, so eating pizza and Thai over at his house was liberating in how relaxed she felt about it. While he got up, she rearranged and took the lids off of everything, unwrapping the plastic forks for them too. She was hungry now that she was warmed up, and everything smelled delicious. “So how’d your finals go?” she asked when he returned to the couch.
"Eh," Greg said as he brought back drinks for them after checking what she wanted and making sure he had it. "I'll graduate but they won't be demanding my presence in Yale or anything." He needed to graduate but he didn't need to keep his grades insanely high or anything since he wasn't going to college so he wasn't worried about it. "How about you? Your grades aren't dropping 'cause I'm keeping you busy, right?" He plopped down next to her again and set the glasses on the table before pouring them some soda.
“Well they’re missing out, then,” Phee said first, nudging Greg with her elbow once he sat down again. She tried not to feel selfishly glad about that, because it meant he wouldn’t be dashing off to some faraway Ivy League school, but Phee couldn’t help it. Just a little. “I did pretty good. Algebra II was kind of crappy, but I like, expected that.” She picked up her glass once it was full to take a sip. Thai food and non-diet soda? Her mother would be appalled. That just made it taste better. “But no, nothing’s really changed, grades-wise.” She gave him a little smile. “Just other ways.”
Greg found the remote control and turned the TV on, finding something nicely braindead for background noise before he started eating. He settled in nice and close to Phee, mindful of her space but still; he liked to have their knees touching at least, a solid reminder of her presence. "I bet you'll get awesome grades and next year you can choose whatever school you want to go to," he decided. "You're hella smart, Phee."
Phee was always content to touch him somewhere, like he grounded her. It was comforting. She let out a pleased little laugh at the compliment, feeling her cheeks flush a tiny bit again. “Nah, I’m just ... a dork, I guess,” she said, grinning and shrugging one shoulder. The idea of picking out a college after she graduated -- which she would of course do with honors, because she was hella smart, it was just weirdly embarrassing to hear from her boyfriend -- seemed so surreal it was hard to think about. “I dunno, we’ll see.” She stuffed some food into her mouth.
"Isn't the definition of dork someone hella smart?" Greg asked and hell, maybe he was wrong but he was pretty sure that was it. Or was it nerd? "Either way, you're a hella smart dork. I'm like... medium smart dork so count yourself lucky. Or unlucky? If we end up living together one day you'll be stuck with the book keeping." He huffed with amusement and started shoveling food in his mouth with a content little groan. It tasted really good and was just the right temperature at this point so the eating was good.
Her brows raised as she looked at him, oh so casually eating like he hadn’t eaten all day, her heart doing a skippy little thing in her chest. It was the first time either of them had said something like that, though Phee knew that Greg didn’t plan to go to college or move anywhere else after graduation. He wanted to be an EMT, which Phee thought was awesome and perfect, and she was secretly, guiltily glad he wasn’t interested in higher education. Not that she expected them to still be together by that point, it seemed far away, but who knew, right? “Guess I better get my algebra in line, then. You’re better than medium smart,” she told him, bumping their shoulders. “School isn’t everything.”
"Hey, nothing wrong with being average smart," Greg pointed, bumping her again. "Not when most people are just really fucking stupid." She couldn't argue with that, she was smart and she watched the news and heard people talk at school. Insanely stupid sometimes. "I think being super smart must be really lonely actually, so average? The best, really. But I'll try and keep up with you." He winked at her before shoving more food in his mouth, then laughed and reached for the remote to up the volume on a funny segment on TV.
He kept up with her very well, in Phee’s humble opinion. Or not so humble, since hers and his were the only ones that mattered. Smiling, she settled back with her food, leaning in against Greg’s side a bit more while they ate and sank into just chilling in front of the TV. It was a nice end to a really nice day, and Phee intended to enjoy every second she had left before she had to go home.