Strolling Down Memory Lane (Chuck)

[Chuck Miller]

Chuck winced as Mallory yelped, guilt stabbing at him. This was all his fault, if he had better balance he would never have pulled her down with him in the first place.

"I'm sorry," He mumbled in embarrassment, trying to push himself to his feet. He managed to stand, arms flailing as he attempted to keep his balance.

Fortunately for Chuck and Mallory there were a handful of employees whose job it was to skate with the smaller and less confident children. Most of them were not busy, and so, when one of them spotted them both fall she skated over to the pair.

"Need a little help?" She asked, kneeling down (miraculously, Chuck thought; who could kneel while wearing skates?!) beside Mal. "Are you all right?"

[Mallory Reynolds]

"Oh Chuck don't apologize. It's not your fault." She would argue that no matter how many times he tried to say sorry. "It was just a silly accident." A silly accident that kind of hurt like heck, but she wasn't going to say as much. She didn't need to make Chuck feel any worse.

Nursing her wrist, she peeked up at the woman who came to help. Managing a little smile, she nodded. "I'm okay!" Mostly. Sort of. She had probably just jarred it. A rest would have it feeling better in no time!

After some coaching and careful movements she was back on her feet. "Would it be a lot of trouble if we stopped for a bit? Maybe get a drink?" The rink had a small snack bar, and maybe she could subtly put something cold near her wrist.

[Chuck Miller]

"That's fine," Chuck agreed readily. Somehow rollerskating wasn't as easy as he remembered it being. Granted, the last time he had tried was fifteen years ago, and a lot had changed since then.

He wobbled back towards the edge of the rink, praying that he wouldn't take another spill.

His prayer was not answered.

Just as he reached the edge he tripped over his own feet, falling flat on his face.

His knuckles grazed the ice, and it hurt.

On the plus side, he was able to grab the wall around the rink to pull himself up and out, and then he hastily tugged off the skates -- his feet throbbed angrily at having been shoved into too tight shoes.

[Mallory Reynolds]

Oh, good. Somehow she felt like she was ruining their impromptu date by requesting a time out. But with all the trouble Chuck seemed to be having, maybe it was a good idea for both of them. Carefully, she made it to the edge and grabbed onto the wall with her good hand. She was ready to step off, but a solid thud distracted her.

Oh dear. Chuck was down again. "Oh, Chuck! Are you okay?" That looked like it had hurt. Perhaps it was a better idea to quit while they were ahead.

... Or at least without adding to any existing bumps and bruises they were leaving with.

Seeing him back on his feet made her feel better about easing off the polished wood and back onto the (relatively) safe carpet. One handed she unsnapped the fasteners on the skates and tucked them under the bench. She had hopes they would get to go back, but they weren't exactly high.

"Drinks?" Sadly not the alcoholic kind, though she could see the upside to that kind of drink at the moment. Maybe it would dull the pain in her wrist. Alternatively, she'd take anything cold. "Are you hurt at all?" It was natural for her to worry more about other people than herself.

[Chuck Miller]

Chuck flopped heavily onto the bench beside Mallory. Truthfully, his knuckles hurt, and his feet hurt, but his ego was more bruised than anything else. But instead he said, "I'm fine."

And, then, "Drinks sounds like a great idea. I'll go get them. What would you like?"

[Mallory Reynolds]

Oh good, at least one of them was feeling okay. She managed a smile at him, glad that he wasn't hurt. She reached over to gently pat his hand, careful not to touch his knuckles. "Good. Stay that way." Maybe one of them would get out of this place unscathed.

Drinks! "Um, could I please just have some Sprite? With lots of ice?" It wasn't how she usually took her drinks, but she doubted Chuck would remember that from way back when. Besides, the ice had less to do with her drink and much more with her wrist.

... Which was starting to throb. And her bracelet felt a little tighter than it had before. While Chuck was gone, she eased it off and put it on her other arm, trying not to think about it. It was probably just a good bruise.

[Chuck Miller]

Chuck limped his way towards the food counter, where he ordered two drinks. The teenager manning the food court slid over two paper cups, which Chuck brought to the drink fountain.

Which was out of ice.

He scowled at the machine, pressing the button with ferocity. It rumbled feebly, but no ice appeared.

Maybe he was doing it wrong? He placed the cup further into the machine, all the way back on the wall, and pressed as hard as he could against the cup, which resulted in....nothing.

He slunk back to Mallory, expression defeated. "They're out of ice. Do you want sprite sans ice or...?"

[Mallory Reynolds]

Mallory waited patiently for Chuck to return, though when he did, the news wasn't fantastic.

Well, fountain drinks would still be cold, right? Mustering up a smile to counter Chuck's gloomy expression, she forced a little more cheer than she felt. "That's fine, Chuck. Don't worry about it!" She could just ice her wrist at home.

[Chuck Miller]

Chuck slunk away from Mallory, back towards the drink machine. At least they had Sprite, although it didn't bubble and fizz the way he typically expected of soft drinks. He chose lemonade for himself, but whatever dripped out of the machine looked more like slightly yellow water.

He told himself that lemonade essentially was yellow water as he made his way back towards his date. He handed her the Sprite before taking a sip of his lemonade, which...was definitely water. He couldn't taste any lemon at all.

"How's your sprite?" He asked, hoping that her drink order at least was better than his.

[Mallory Reynolds]

While Chuck was away, Mallory gingerly tested flexing her wrist, wincing as she did so. Nope, definitely not a good idea. She was absolutely going to have a hell of a bruise in the morning. Maybe she'd have to look at wrapping it when she got home, if she could recall her basic first aid.

As Chuck came back with the drinks, she quickly dropped her hand back into her lap to keep him from worrying, though even the light jar made her wince again. Trying not to bring attention to it, she smiled up at him and took the drink with her good hand. "Thank you." Testing it, it was... flat, and a little watery, but at least it was cool. "It's fine. How's yours?" She wasn't about to complain about a little lack of carbonation.

[Chuck Miller]

"Fine," Chuck echoed her sentiment. It wasn't really fine, but he could hardly complain. Not when he'd dragged her out here in the first place, forced her to endure this mess of a date. Anyway, there wasn't anything wrong with water; it simply wasn't what he had wanted.

He nursed his drink in silence for a bit before he spoke again. "I think I'm a bit too sore to continue tonight."

His voice held nothing but apologies for this; he didn't want to ditch her, but at the same time he needed to retreat to lick his wounds.

"Maybe next time we get together things will go a little better..."

[Mallory Reynolds]

As much as it was clearly not what either wanted as an outcome of the night, Mallory had to agree with Chuck. It was just too bad that their first time together in forever had ended like... well. Like this.

"It's okay, Chuck. I get it. I am too." She took a quiet sip of her drink before smiling at him. "Maybe we need to try something more our own age, next time. Something a little less... hazardous."

[Chuck Miller]

"That's fine," Chuck sighed, then held out a hand towards her. "Maybe we can pick up milkshakes on the way back to your house."

[Mallory Reynolds]

Well, now she had a dilemma. Holding hands with her hurt arm wouldn't feel great, but she wasn't sure she'd have the grip to hold her drink with it either. After a brief moment of serious indecision, she transferred her cup to her other hand and let Chuck have the safe one.

Unfortunately, she was right. She didn't have the strength to hold the cup. It slipped through her fingers as she rose, and trying to grab for it mid-air just made her wrist ache more. Now there was flat Sprite all over the floor. Whoops.

Trying to make light of the situation, as well as distract Chuck, she swallowed and gave him a nervous smile. "Look, I'm so excited over milkshakes I dropped my drink." Okay, no, that was stupid. Sigh.