Ice Cold - Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Wren Ridley
"So when were you going to tell me you actually got with Landon?"
That was the first thing James said to me when he woke up the next morning. He was barely even coherent, still groggy from sleep and hungover.
I didn't even bother responding to him, and by the time I looked at him, he had already rolled over and started snoring again. I shook my head and directed my attention back to the book I was reading.
It was only eight in the morning. James probably wouldn't be up for another four hours. I found myself wondering when Landon would be awake. And what time his friend was leaving. Who knew what would go on with the two of them alone in his room. I didn't like the thought of it.
I gave it another hour before I got up and got dressed to head to Landon's dorm.
It was strange, feeling like I had to see him, but I didn't question myself. It had nothing to do with the fact that he had some guy in his room, possibly in his bed. Or maybe it did.
The drive to Landon's dorm was a short one, and there was no one walking around the campus as I pulled in, so I knew I'd possibly have to wait a while before someone was leaving Landon's dorm so I could get in the door.
Luckily, I only had to wait a few minutes before a group of girls walked out and held the door open for me and I made my way to Landon's room.
I knocked on his door as soon as I walked up to it, then waited a few moments and knocked again. I could hear Landon curse from behind the door before he ripped it open with a murderous glare.
His glare softened into a look of confusion as soon as he saw me. He stood there, topless, with a hand on the door. I looked past him to see his friend sitting up in Kyle's bed, then I brought my gaze back to Landon and grinned.
I leaned forward and gave him a chaste kiss.
"Good morning," I said as I pulled away.
"What are you doing here?"
"Is it a crime to want to see you?"
He narrowed his eyes at me, clearly not believing in my intentions.
"Well, are you going to let me in?" I asked, looking past him.
He stepped aside, his eyes still narrowed.
"I guess I have no choice," he said, shutting the door after I walked in.
"Good morning," the friend said, getting out of bed.
I nodded at him. "Hello."
"Are you joining us for breakfast?" he asked with a smile, looking over at Landon.
"I suppose I am," I replied.
Landon looked between us and let out a sigh before going to his closet to pull out a shirt.
"I'm going to get ready in the bathroom," the friend said before leaving the room.
"You're being weird," Landon said as soon as he was gone, pulling the shirt on over his head.
"I don't think I'm being any different than usual," I said.
"You're acting like you think there's something going on with Micah and me." That was his name. How biblical.
"I don't think that at all," I told him. However, the look on his face told me he didn't believe me.
"I thought we got all our jealously out last night," Landon said.
"Hm," I hummed, bringing my arms in to circle around his waist.
"Hm," he mimicked. "Have nothing to say about that? Are you speechless for once?"
"Not quite," I replied. "I know there's nothing going on with you two."
"Is that so?"
"Considering the fact that you looked like you wanted to beat me up last night for even talking to another guy, I would say you're not keen on sharing," I told him, earning a sheepish look from Landon. "And I'm not either, for the record."
"Good thing Micah is straight then," Landon said, narrowing his eyes at me.
"We don't know that."
Landon rolled his eyes, trying to move out of my grip. But I kept him up against me, pulling him closer.
"Are you going to let me finished getting dressed?" he asked, but didn't make another move to step away from my grasp. Instead, he leaned in and rested his face against my neck, giving me little kisses up to my jaw.
I didn't know if I'd ever get used to Landon's affection. He gave it out so rarely that it was like a new experience every time, one that I wanted to hold onto, to never let go of.
I couldn't even spend too much time enjoying the feeling of Landon's mouth on my skin before Micah opened the door and Landon sprung away from me. Landon had his back to the both of us, shuffling through the bottom drawer of his dresser to change into some jeans. He stayed right where he was to change his pants, not bothering to hide himself from Micah and me.
"So, where are we going?" Micah asked when Landon turned around. "Any good breakfast places around?"
Landon glanced at me before looking at Micah.
"I figured we could go where Wren and I usually go," Landon said, his voice trailing off. "It's a coffee place, but they have breakfast sandwiches and baked goods."
"Sounds good to me!" Micah replied, grinning at the two of us. He shared a look with Landon that I couldn't quite decipher, but by the look of embarrassment on Landon's face, I could guess that it had something to do with our situation, that Micah knew just what Landon and I were to each other.
Landon nodded his head toward the door and the three of us left the room to head out to my car. Micah walked in front of us, so I took the opportunity to put my arm around Landon's waist, letting my graze over his ass. He looked around the hallway as if worried for a moment that someone would see us, but then he relaxed. There was no one around, and even if there was, I wasn't sure if Landon would pull away from me anymore.
"You're being handsy," Landon whispered, leaning up to my ear.
"I'll stop if you want me to," I told him.
He didn't respond, so I left my hand where it was. I only released him when we walked out of the building and Micah turned to look at us, asking where my car was parked.
The drive to the coffee shop was short, but it took me a moment to find a place to park. I ended up having to parallel park a little way down the road, and the three of us walked to the coffee shop.
It was a little busier than it usually was with it being a Sunday morning. The line for the counter was all the way to the door.
"So, what should I get here?" Micah asked the two of us. "Any suggestions?"
"I've heard the lattes are good," Landon told him with a shrug. "And the croissants."
I grinned at him, remembering the time the two of us sat in here eating croissants together.
"Wren's probably had more here than I have," Landon said, the two of them glancing at me for an answer.
"They make good breakfast sandwiches," I said. "I usually get a spinach, feta, and egg whites wrap."
"I think that's what I'll try," Micah replied. "And maybe a croissant too or a danish. I have a bit of a sweet tooth."
It was interesting to see the difference between Micah and Landon and the way they ate. Both of them were D1 athletes that had to adhere to a specific diet, yet one of them caved to their sweet tooth and the other ate like food was only a means fuel their body. It made me want to treat Landon to all the sweets, find something he really liked instead of just eating to survive.
Landon brushed the back of his hand against mine as we moved up in line. He didn't want me to grab his hand in this place full of people, but he was still showing me affection even if it was small.
We eventually got to the front of the line and Micah went ahead and ordered. As he ordered his food and drink, an idea occurred to me.
"I'll have two croissants, two spinach, feta, and egg whites wraps, and two caramel lattes," I said when it was my turn to order. Anthony wasn't working, so I wouldn't be getting my favorite customer discount.
I felt Landon place his hand on my shoulder as I went to pay.
"What are you doing?" he asked. I glanced over at him as I tapped my card on the terminal. His expression was hard and serious, like I had done something to piss him off. I was always doing something to piss him off, so this look was a familiar one.
"I ordered for you," I said, moving off to the side once I was done paying.
Landon followed me, letting his hand fall from my shoulder.
"I don't want you buying me shit," he said in a low voice. "I can pay for it myself."
"You can buy next time," I told him.
Landon let out a sigh, biting on his bottom lip.
"What the fuck kind of drink did you even get me?" he asked with a glare.
"A latte, of course."
He let out another sigh. "You're unbelievable."
"Thank you."
"That wasn't a compliment."
I grinned at him, and I could tell he was having a hard time pretending to be mad at me.
Micah found us a table, which wasn't mine and Landon's usual since it was already occupied, but we still sat how we usually did. I was facing the door, Landon was directly across from me and Micah beside him. We all sat down after we got our orders, and I watched Landon intently, waiting for him to try the latte.
"Will you stop fucking staring at me?" he snapped, causing Micah to jump a little bit in his seat.
"Try the latte," I said, motioning toward the cup in front of him.
"I'm not going to like it."
"You will," I assured him. I wasn't actually sure that he would, but I had a suspicion that Landon had a secret sweet tooth that he hadn't discovered yet, one that he was never allowed to find.
"My latte is really good," Micah said. "It's hazelnut."
"Go on," I encouraged Landon.
He looked between both Micah and me, glaring at the two of us.
"Both of you stop fucking staring at me," he said, grasping the cup in his hand.
Neither of us listened, waiting for him to finally take his first sip. Landon slowly brought the cup up to his mouth and took a sip of the latte, his face giving away nothing. He took a second sip before placing the cup back down, and that was how I knew he liked it.
"So?" Micah asked with a grin.
"It's fine," Landon casually replied.
"He likes it," I said, smirking at him.
Landon rolled his eyes and took another sip of the latte.
"I'm so glad we got together this weekend," Micah said to Landon. "Really."
"Me too," Landon agreed.
"We probably won't get to see each other again until Thanksgiving," Micah continued. "Unless you're spending that at Wren's."
Landon's eyes widened.
I laughed. "I don't think so."
Landon frowned at me and Micah had a look of confusion on his face. That was how I knew I had said the wrong thing. But I didn't know what else he wanted me to say.
"Oh, well, maybe you could join us at some point," Micah offered, Landon's mouth still turned in a frown. If eyes could frown, I would say his were doing just that.
I shrugged, not knowing if Landon would even want that.
We all finished a few minutes later and got up from the table to go. As we stood, Landon made eye contact with someone who had just walked in. I recognized him as one of the people I saw Landon with that night he got left alone at the bar. I could feel the anger radiating off of Landon as the two of them glared at each other. Clearly, there was something going on between the two of them.
"Who was that?" I asked Landon as soon as we were outside.
"He's from my hockey team," he muttered, following behind Micah back to my car.
"And you two don't like each other?"
"Why would you think that?" he asked.
"I could tell how angry you were when you saw him," I said, raising my eyebrows at him. He should know by now how well I knew him.
"It's nothing," Landon said, not even looking at me. "Just drop it." Well, that was not at all suspicious.
I dropped it for that moment, driving back to Landon's dorm for Micah to get his things. Then, I drove the two of them to the train station so that Micah could catch the train back to Boston.
I watched as Landon got out of the car with Micah while I stayed parked in front of the doors of the station. The two of them exchanged some words, then shared a tight, long hug. Longer than I liked, but I pushed that to the back of my mind. Micah sent one last wave toward me before heading into the train station.
Landon got back into the car and buckled up. I turned to him, staring at his expression, trying to figure out what he was thinking.
"What?" he asked when he noticed my staring.
"Do you want to come over?"
Landon nodded, and so I brought us back to my dorm room where James was still asleep.
Landon scoffed, shaking his head when he saw him.
"I thought he'd be awake by now," I said, going over to my closet and pulling out Landon's hockey sweatshirt I had taken from him. I threw the sweatshirt on and walked back over to Landon, who was now sitting on my bed.
"I think I'll have to steal one of yours," he said. "If you're going to keep mine." He took one of the strings on the front of the sweatshirt, looping it around his finger.
I shrugged. "I wouldn't mind." I leaned forward and placed my lips on his.
"Well, well, well," James said from behind us, sitting up on the bed with his arms crossed.
I turned around with a blank expression.
"Glad to see you're alive," I said. "It's about time you woke up."
"Don't try to make this about me," James retorted. "When were you guys going to tell me you were together?"
"Whenever it became your business."
"It is my business!"
"How exactly?"
"Because we're friends and I'm nosy." He said it like it was the obvious answer. Because, of course, I should have known that James had to know when I decided to be with someone.
Landon hopped off the bed, moving to go sit at my desk.
"Who else knows?" James asked, jumping down from his own bed.
"I don't know," I told him truthfully. Any number of people could know, especially with the way we behaved at the club the night before.
James shook his head, muttering something under his breath as he got his shower things together. He threw a towel over his shoulder and left the room. Landon scowled at the door where he left.
"He's just being annoying because he's nosy," I told him.
I could tell by the look on Landon's face that he was thinking about my history with James, thinking that James would still want to hook up with me even though he knew that I was with Landon, that I possibly wouldn't say no.
"Stop," I said, standing in front of Landon and blocking his view of the door.
He looked up at me from where he sat at my desk.
"Stop what?"
"Stop thinking about me and James," I said. "There is nothing going on and there won't be anything going on."
Landon seemed to relax a little bit at my words. All he needed was the reassurance. I could relate to that.
Before either of us could say anything else, my phone started ringing. I somehow must have put the sound on because my phone was usually on silent. I pulled the phone out of my pocket to see that it was my brother Robin calling. I wouldn't normally answer, but Robin was the type to spam my phone until I picked it up. It was easier to just get it over with now.
I held my finger to my lips, signaling for Landon to be quiet before answering Robin's FaceTime.
"What's up," I answered as Robin's face came up on the screen.
"Hey! You answered!" he exclaimed.
"Didn't feel like having two hundred missed calls on my phone."
Robin laughed. "You know me so well."
"What's up, Rob?" I repeated, hoping he would just get to the point.
"So, I just booked my flight for Thanksgiving, which was a shit ton of money on Dad's travel card."
"Okay, when are you flying in?"
"That Wednesday afternoon. I was hoping you could pick me up. I'm flying into Providence."
"Sure."
"Cool, thanks. Anyway, what's up? Anything going on?" he asked.
"No, not really." I just wanted to speed this up, but he loved to stay on the phone for hours.
"What's with that sweatshirt?" Rob asked, squinting at the screen. "Providence College Hockey?"
"Thrifted it," I lied.
Robin laughed. "You're so full of shit. That looks way too new to be thrifted and you don't even like hockey."
I snuck a glance at Landon who was staring at me with wide eyes.
"Well, I don't know what to tell you," I said to Robin. "But I gotta go."
"I see, don't want to talk to your big bro," Robin said, feigning like he was upset. "I'll see you soon then. Only two weeks away."
It didn't dawn on me until then that Thanksgiving was so close. It was only two weeks until my whole family would come to Providence to watch Fox play hockey, that I would have to watch Fox play against Landon and possibly try to beat the shit out of him.
All we had was two weeks before we had to see how this would play out.