Ice Cold Love

Part 25

warning: language

Ronan's POV

"What are you smiling at?"

I slammed my phone face down onto the bench as Mason leaned over my shoulder, trying to get a glimpse of what I was doing.

"Nothing," I muttered and bent down to undo my skates, beads of sweat sliding down my temple as I did. Today's practice was tough; Coach worked us extra hard, the way he always did before a big game. Tomorrow's game was important, and winning with a good lead was essential to qualify the team through to the next stage.

After Conner's temporary suspension, things had settled down. My teammates finally seemed to accept me as their captain, none of them showed any open opposition to it, and in truth, they had no reason to. Coach Daniels managed almost everything, leaving me to shoulder a lighter than air burden. The boys didn't have anything to complain about since I wasn't doing much to begin with.

The most I'd done was instruct a few practice drills when Coach needed to leave early, and in one game I was left to choose the shifts in the last period while Coach Daniels took an interview; even then I didn't change anything and just gave the players whatever insights and encouragement I could before they skated off.

Mason stepped around me and tried to grab my phone. I already anticipated that he would try something of the likes and snatched it back before he could get a better grip on the device. The grin he shot me was taunting.

"If it was nothing, why'd you react like that?" he questioned, an eyebrow quirked knowingly. I tried to school my features, but my hands twitched, wanting to give him a shove. He knew exactly what I was doing, he just wanted to annoy me for the sake of his entertainment.

"Like what?" I asked and glared, daring him to elaborate.

His returning smirk was somewhat provoking, but he waved a hand in surrender. "Never mind that," he sighed as he took his usual seat on the bench opposite me, "When are you planning on asking her out?"

The sudden question had me at a loss for words, and my hesitation warped Mason's features into incredulity. "Don't even try to tell me you don't like her, you dimwit. You've spent all week doing nothing but text her and smile at your phone like an idiot."

"It's not like-"

"Shut up Ronan, it absolutely is like that. You're an absolute dumbo if you're still in denial. And you wanna know something?" Mason leaned forward, not bothering to wait for me to reply, and whispered, "If you're not going to make your move, someone else will. So, get your head out the bloody gutter and do something, yeah?"

As if the universe wanted to further emphasise Mason's point, my phone vibrated. I didn't need to check it to know that it was a message from Amelia; we'd been in the middle of a conversation before Mason decided to hand out his words of wisdom.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but he's right," Hunter called from further down the row of lockers. I hadn't even realised that he was there, or that he'd heard anything. "Seriously, you too?!" I asked him and threw my hands up.

"We're doing you a favour, buddy. Thank us later," Hunter claimed solemnly and gave me a small smile as he finished packing his things. I realised then that I, on the other hand, was still in my damp kit and should probably change. Regardless, I picked up my phone to check Amelia's messages.

A: 3 classes down, 1 to go

A: worst til last though, let's see if I kill Professor Gill this time

Today she was having one of her long days, the ones that where she was constantly running around. She had told me all about how much she hated Professor Gill, so I wouldn't be surprised if one of these days, she snapped at him up and down. It was amusing to imagine the scene, and I dwelled on the though a few moments before Mason interrupted. Again.