By the time Aaron slid on his knees to hit his ending pose, his chest was heaving as he gasped for breath. While he hadn't taken an actual break at the end of the season, he had lost a lot of stamina while he had been rehabbing his hip.

He had a lot of work to do in the coming months to get to the point that he would be ready for competition no matter what Gerald said that morning. He was already constructing a training to do list before his breathing had slowed at all.

The sound of Elise's applause dragged his thoughts back to the present. When he looked up, she was grinning from ear to ear. She must have enjoyed what she had seen.

That meant he had skated as well as it had felt to him while he was performing.

That belief was confirmed by Gerald agreeing to letting him use his choreography for the next season. That was one goal accomplished for the day. But Gerald still didn't believe he could do slow choreography for himself.

For all her words of support, it seemed like Elise agreed with him.

"So you like the song. But is it the best song for you?" Elise asked, her eyes drilling into him.

The question almost felt like a physical blow. Without intending to, he recoiled from the boards, hurt crossing his features before he could hide it. "I thought you were supposed to be helping me," he accused. 

"I am, Aaron," she replied, the intensity in her gaze fading into thoughtfulness. It truly looked like she believed every word. "Think about the answer to my question. Is it the best song for you to use?"

The look on Elise's face was enough to drain his ire. He still pushed away from the boards without a word to take a few laps of the ice. Skating was how he thought best, and he would rather remove himself from the conversation for a moment before he said something he would regret.

Vaguely, he heard Elise and Gerald talking at the boards, but with the ice under his feet, he could focus on considering their concerns. 

When he and Gerald were talking about his music, he always was told 'no' without any explanation. With Elise present, he was given the reason behind the refusal.

Not that it made him less determined to use the slow piano piece. Usually he tried to choose songs that hadn't been used by other skaters, but this was a piece that he enjoyed hearing. He wanted the chance to make it into a beautiful performance.

But they both had a point. 

It was something he needed to consider carefully. At least he still had time to make a decision without having to worry about running out of time to finish his programs.

The next time he looked over to the boards, Elise was standing there alone looking tired. He slid to a stop in front of her, looking around for Gerald. "Did Coach call practice for the morning?"

Elise laughed, reaching out to ruffle his hair playfully. "He yelled to you before he left. Didn't you hear him?"

"Nope," he admitted, smiling. As embarrassed as he was to have missed Gerald leaving, he was happy the discussion of his music choice was done for the moment. 

"Do you have some time? I don't have class until after lunch, so I have time to grab a coffee if you'd like. We could keep working on catching up."

Elise kept her eyes on him as he moved to take off his skates, turning so she could keep leaning against the boards. "You might not have class, but I've got an assignment due this afternoon. I have some finishing touches to do."

"You're taking classes? I didn't know that. What are you studying?"

"I'm just taking an introductory art class," she admitted, playing with the hem of her coat. "I couldn't handle a full class load on top of my recovery, but I needed to do something to get ready to be a student starting the fall semester. I'll be the freshman that is older than the rest of my class."

Aaron looked up from his skates to offer Elise a smile. He only hoped that would help calm the nerves of telling him about something that seemed to embarrass her. "Everyone has to take their education at their own speed, especially when you have a busy schedule outside of classes. No one should blame you for taking a more non-traditional approach for college."

Elise plopped down on the bench close enough to bump their shoulders together playfully. "Why Aaron...Is that you being a reasonable and supportive? Would you even speak up if someone was bad mouthing me about my class schedule?"

"Of course," he answered defensively. Rather than get upset about a question that hadn't needed to be asked, he let out a breath and returned his attention to his skates. "What else do you have planned for the day?"

"Just homework and then the lecture this afternoon," Elise answered. She took a moment to lean against him comfortably. "There is something I want to talk to you about before I leave though."

Aaron peeked curiously over his shoulder at her.

"Remember how I said Mom has a new boyfriend?"

"Yeah. You mentioned it when you were busy embarrassing me and Dad," he answered. Being reminded of that conversation was a bit irritating.

"They spend Sundays together. Mom calls it their date day. If you'd like, we could spend that time together too. We would have the house to ourselves if we want to watch movies, or work on homework together, or whatever we want to do. I could even make us lunch or dinner sometimes if you'd like."

"Sunday?" he asked, trying to remember what he had scheduled that day.

"Yep, any Sunday that you might want to spend together. Bryan might even let you borrow his car."

Aaron laughed as he finished wiping down his skates so they could get stowed away in his bag. Then he started pulling back on all his layers for his run back to his dorm. "I do have a car of my own Elise."

She joined in the laughter, moving to kiss his cheek before they stood. She was obviously favoring her right side, but smiled brightly anyway. "Sunday. You still remember where my house is?"

"I do," Aaron answered, pulling her into an embrace without any warning. He wasn't ready to say goodbye just yet, but knew that he couldn't keep her too much longer. "And we can always talk before then too."

"Sure, just let me know when we can talk. You have a busier schedule than me."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they started walking for the door. "What time do you want me to come on Sunday?"

"In the afternoon? I can make dinner and see where it goes."

"It's a date. I look forward to it, Princess." When they left the building, Aaron stopped long enough to brush a kiss to her lips instead of just saying goodbye. He just hoped she would accept it after their almost argument earlier.

Immediately, Elise's face lit with a bright smile and she nearly bounced on her way to meet her ride. The sight made him grin as he took off at a run to get on with the rest of his day. He found himself looking forward to Sunday for the first time since it became the day he didn't have ice time.