Kiss My Ice

2|3

23.

"How did things go with Aiden at practice yesterday?" Lucy wondered out loud, taking a sip of her iced latte. I eyed her skeptically, my brows furrowed to a pout. Aiden was an unwelcome topic of conversation.

Lucy took amusement in my clear lack of enthusiasm of her subject choice. She smirked.

I dropped my gaze to the lid of my coffee cup, twirling the straw with my finger. "I didn't go," I admitted quietly.

I spent hours giving Lucy every detail of Aiden's surprise visit to my house the other day. She knew that I felt myself becoming more comfortable around Aiden, which made me panic more. Lucy should have known that I was going to chicken out.

"You are such a child."

My lips pulled into a further frown. It wasn't childish of me to skip out on yet another practice with Aiden. I was just hesitant. Aiden knew how I felt about the kiss, but I didn't have a clue about how he felt. In more ways than one, that gave him the upper hand in our dysfunctional rivalry. If he knew that I was starting to feel things other than hatred about him, well I had a feeling I would never hear the end of it. So no, that didn't make me a child. It made me hesitant.

I set my drink down on the coffee table in front of us, finally lifting my gaze to meet Lucy's infamous mom stare. It was a look that I had grown to hate. A look that told me she thought I was being overdramatic. She gave me this look a lot.

"Stop that," I mumbled, feeling fidgety with her eyes boring into me. "I just don't know what to say to him. We aren't friends. It's weird."

Lucy set her drink down next to my own, freeing her arms to cross them over her chest. "You need to buck up and just deal with it. Talk to him."

"I will... next week."

She huffed. "You are seriously pathetic."

I bit back a small snicker. "Says the one that can't talk to any guy."

Lucy's arms fell back to her sides. "If I had a steamy make out session with someone, I wouldn't be afraid to talk to them."

"It's more complicated than that and you know it."

If it were any other guy that I made out with, things would have been different. I was not the kind of girl that normally was afraid to confront again. If I liked someone, I had no issues letting them know. But things were different with Aiden. He was a hockey player that hated me, and I hated him.

"I don't get what the big deal is. Who cares that you two didn't get off on the right foot? It seems to me that feelings have changed for you both."

I bit my lip. "I don't know that he feels any different."

Lucy leaned forward, collecting her coffee. "Are you serious? Zoe, he came to your house to check in on you and make sure that you were okay. I don't know about you, but to me that screams someone who cares about you."

My apple watch vibrated against my wrist, indicating a new notification. I glanced down, welcoming the distraction from conversation. It was a text from Brendon.

Meet at the rink in an hour. We have a surprise.

I furrowed my eyebrows. What kind of surprise could Brendon and the guys possibly have waiting for me at the rink? That felt like some kind of trap.

Lucy noticed my confusion. "Who texted you?"

"Brendon." I bit my lip. "He wants me to meet them at the rink in an hour."