Ice Cold Love

Part 26

Shoutout to official_bluesette ! An amazing creator, go check out their work in their profile!

Warning: language

Amelia's POV

Conner's new way of tormenting me was deliberately being unfashionably late to our lessons. If he was aware of this, he didn't acknowledge it in the slightest.

He completely ignored the venomous glare I pinned him with as he threw his bag down and took a seat opposite me. When he grunted in greeting as he leaned down to get his things, I lost the tiny bit of patience I had left.

"Conner! What the fu-"

"Please don't," he cut me off, his voice raspy, "I can't Amelia, not today." When he finally met my gaze, I was at a loss of words. The baseball cap he was wearing casted a shadow on his face, but it didn't hide the nasty bruise on his cheek, or the cut on his lip. A quick glance at his tightly fisted hand revealed that his knuckles were split.

"You're hurt," I heard myself say, the words leaving me before I had time to even register wanting to say them. My instincts took over, and I felt as though I was running on autopilot. First aid. Antiseptic. Bandage.

There was a first aid kit at the library's entrance. I grabbed the whole thing and took it back to where we were sitting. I felt Conner's eyes follow me, and when he realised what I was doing, his protests fell on deaf ears.

"I don't need first aid, I'm fine," he tried to tell me.

"You're bloody and bruised, Conner. Shut up," I whispered back at him. A million questions ran through my mind as I applied a cotton ball soaked with antiseptic to his bloodied knuckles. What happened? He was still suspended form the hockey team, so how did he get injured?

I wracked my brain for possible explanations, but I couldn't come up with anything in his favour. Maybe he just acted like an idiot to the wrong guy. Maybe someone finally decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. Maybe he was just stupid.

But I had a feeling there was more to the whole thing than met the eye. Conner didn't offer an explanation, and as worried as I was, I didn't have it in me to ask for one.

Worried.

I was worried about Conner Bryans, the guy that still haunted me in my nightmares. If someone told me this day would come, I would have laughed in their faces and smacked them upside the head.

When I finished bandaging his hand, I found a cotton bud and, after applying some disinfectant, lightly dabbed the cut on his lip. Conner hissed softly, flinching away from my hand. I realised then how close we were. Our noses were almost touching, and his breathe fanned my jaw and neck.

When I glanced at him, I realised he was already watching me. I almost gasped at how much pain and hurt and sadness I saw in his icy blue eyes.

Conner snatched the cotton bud from my hand, breaking me out of the trance I was in. I blinked myself back to reality as he picked up the discarded cotton balls and threw them away. When he came back, he didn't give me a chance to think about what I should do or say. He wordlessly picked up his bag and left.

****

I shot out of my seat and cheered when the final buzzer went off, indicating the end of the game. On the ice, Ronan and his team celebrated, giving each other shoves and pats on the back. Some of them even started a pile up.

"They qualified! I knew they'd do it!" Veronica squealed and engulfed Lily and I in a bear hug. I hugged her back with just as much enthusiasm, even though the camera around her neck was threatening to crack a few of my ribs.