Chapter 8

"Hey." Victor said.

"Hey."

"Ready to go to the mall with me today on this amazing bicycle?"

I laughed and nodded. "Yes, I am." And so I rode in the back and he started driving.

It wasn't long. It took about 10 minutes or less. The weather was good today so we weren't freezing as much like the usual past days. Victor parked his bicycle in a bikes park while I waited for him and then we started marching to the mall.

We started to just walk aimlessly at first. Walking around the whole mall. Stopping by to look at some shops. And we mainly just kept laughing and talking.

We started heading towards the skating area. We paid and the worker gave us the skating shoes.

We sat at a bench where everyone was too busy tying up their skating shoes, not facing each other or talking. Victor and I sat beside each other and each one started taking of his own shoes, replacing them bu the skating ones. Victor seemed pretty excited because he tied up his skating shoes in a few seconds, while I took some time because I kept losing focus while tying my skating shoes. Victor stood up but never stepped onto the skating lane. I wondered for a few seconds why didn't he just go for it.

"What's wrong?" I asked him confusingly.

"I don't know how to skate. I just thought of it as a good opportunity." Victor grimaced.

"I'm not that good either, but we can help each other." I offered. Victor smiled in return, and we started to get into the skating lane.

At first, Victor kept stumbling and holding onto the fence for dear life. But later on, he started letting go a little, but still staying close to the fence. I stayed close to him just in case. And I held his hand the first first times as something to hold on to.

A few tries later Victor was a literal expert and was skating from left to right and running, he started skating at a higher pace which worried me a little since I have never tried running in skating. I would just walk in circles until I get bored and that's it.

Gabriel is like Victor, he would run very fast and carelessly until he stumbled into someone or just lost control and fell. I would laugh at him while he would try his best to get up, but the skating shoes would roll and he would fall again, making the second fall way more funnier.

The thought bummed me out a little, but I decided to try and focus on the present and Victor and forget about Gabriel for now, he can always be in my mind to think of later on some other time.

A few minutes later indeed Victor crashed into the fence and fell, the way he smashed into it made me almost fall to the ground from laughing.

Victor spreaded on the ground and only lifted his head "man, aren't you gonna your friend?" I laughed even harder and went to help him, only for my rolling skates to roll so I fall on top of him. Victor cried out a little 'Oomph' because I fell hard on him.

I was so embarassed I pushed myself to the ground. "I'm so sorry." I said. I was still on the ground. Victor laughed "Glad to know that I can count on you at anytime." I smiled. "Ok here it goes, we'll lift our upper half from the ground, and on the country of three we'll get closer to the fence and stand up, alright?"

I nodded and we indeed did lift our upper half, then we got closer to the fence and we both held onto it in a strong grip and got ourselves up successfully. We skated for a little more before we got completely exhausted and got out. We switched our skating shoes to our regular ones again but took longer to switch this time from exhaustion.

We walked around the mall aimlessly and silently. It wasn't the awkward-I-dont-know-what-to-say silence, it was the type of silence you're content and at peace with. You don't mind it because there's nothing to make the situation awkward or like you're desperate to make a conversation.

We got to an ice cream shop. I decided to go for a regular vanilla ice cream scoop while Victor got a chocolate one. We sat at the chairs that were put by the shop and started digging in. The ice cream was different and heavenly. Which is weird because I have tried this shop before and their ice cream was good. Not perfect, not amazing, not heavenly, just good.

Victor was so engrossed in his cone he barely lifted his eyes or head up, while I found it hard to keep my eyes and head down because I was so busy looking at everyone at the mall and pondering. It was crowded but fun, like having a good company. I kept looking around while occasionally taking a lick of my ice cream.

Victor finished his cone in about 3 minutes, but he waited for me to finish mine with no hint of annoyance in his eyes. He had a calm presence, calm and patient eyes. Whenever I hung out with him I always felt like I had all the time in the world to do everything because that's what he makes me feel.

After finishing the ice cream we got outside and started to go home. I rode behind Victor while he started pedalling. The weather outside was chilly, it was perfect, Victor was pedalling slowly, it was like he knew I wanted to live in this moment for a long time, and for that I was more than grateful.

When we reached my block I proceeded to thank him and exchange many smiles with him like always. I went upstairs and sat on the sat, rethinking everything that happened today.