Laying Low in Hollywood by Jean Marie Stanberry

concentrate on the basics for now, we’ll get to that eventually,” I told him with a smile, though secretly, I doubted I would ever get to jumps and lifts with this team.  If we made it through the first elimination, it would be a freaking miracle.
     
       “I’m glad to see you’re finally smiling.  You’ve got a beautiful smile,” said Ron, flashing me a stunning smile of his own.  I’m sure I blushed.  I had to admit, Jorge had been right, Ron Brannon was very attractive, and a little bit of a flirt, it seemed.
     
       “Thank you,” I told him, I looked away, suddenly embarrassed.  My heart was faltering at the unexpected compliment.  I was suddenly fighting tears, it was what Greg had always told me, back when Greg still thought that I was attractive.  Greg had always loved my smile and my eyes, somehow it hadn’t been enough, though.
     
       “I guess you don’t have much to smile about, getting me as your athlete.  I guess if you were lucky you would have gotten a hockey star, then at least the guy knows how to skate,” said Ron, flashing me a sly smile.              
     
       “I’m sorry if I seem moody, really, it’s not your fault.  I guess I haven’t had much to smile about lately,” I told him ruefully.
     
       “I probably wouldn’t be smiling either, if I had just been informed that I had to teach a guy with my abilities to ice skate.  I mean hell, I never even put on skates before,” he told me with a little laugh.
     
       “Actually, getting you as my athlete was the luckiest thing to happen to me in a long time,” I told him.
     
       “How do you figure?” he asked, giving me a quizzical look.
     
       “Well, when the show airs and everyone sees the clips of all our practices and you falling down on your butt today, they are going to be completely amazed with my coaching talent when you and Elena actually win the competition!”  I told him, giving him a coy smile.
     
       “Well at least you have big ambitions.  Either that or you’re completely delusional,” said Ron, laughing.
     
       “Everyone has a dream right?  It’s not any different than when you played football, just keep looking ahead to the Super Bowl,” I told him with a smile.  I was smiling because he was attractive and for some reason, I couldn’t wipe the sappy smile off my face, not because I actually thought we had a chance to win this competition.
     
       He laughed and smiled back me.  I struggled, almost uselessly to focus, I had to admit, I was completely mesmerized by his charm.  I could definitely see why Jorge thought that Ron Brannon would grab female viewers for the network, he was completely adorable!
     
       I had almost completely forgotten about Elena.  In a few moments, Elena skated over to us and looked at me expectantly.  Of course, she was bored.  She had essentially been skating by herself the entire time, while I struggled to keep Ron upright on his skates.  I gave her a wry smile, as I was feeling bad for ignoring her.
     
       “I can go?  We are done?” she asked, peering at me expectantly.
     
       “We are done, go on,” I told her, waving her away.
     
       “Okay, bye bye,” she said, stepping off the ice and putting her skate guards on.  Before I realized it, she was gone.
     
       “So what now?” asked Ron, looking at me expectantly.
     
       “Well, I guess I’ll see you back here tomorrow,” I told him with a little shrug.  I wasn’t sure what to tell him.  I thought it was best if I got him off the ice now, before he got hurt.  Besides, the network was supposed to get us access to a gym with mats and weights, but as of yet, that hadn’t happened.  Not that it would do my team any good at the moment anyway.
     
       “So that’s it, we’re not going to skate any more today?”  he asked, he seemed to be completely perplexed by the fact that I was ending practice for the day.
     
       “No,