Ice Cold - Chapter 33: Chapter 33

Wren Ridley
My feet carried me over to where Elijah was sitting without giving me a chance to really think about what I wanted to say to him. What could I say other than: please don't tell Fox?
Elijah's friends looked at me when I approached the table while Elijah was already getting up like he knew I was going to take him away.
"It appears we need to talk," I said. "Excuse us."
I led Elijah away from his friends to a table in a secluded corner. He didn't say anything as we walked together, but I heard him let out a sigh from behind me.
"This is a bit of a predicament, isn't it?" I said as the two of us sat down across from each other.
Elijah looked at me with exasperation, his wide eyes staring intently like he wanted to burn me with his gaze.
"I'm really trying hard not to be pissed off at you right now," Elijah said in a low tone.
"Are you pissed at me?"
"Kinda!" he replied.
I knew it wasn't because of the fact that I was with Landon. He didn't even know anything about what the two of us were for each other. He was angry that he was put in the position where he had to decide if he had to keep something from Fox.
"Tell Fox if you need to," I started. "But I don't think you do."
Elijah glared at me. "What's going on with you and Landon? Are you just friends or is it something more?"
We were both silent for a moment, then Elijah put his hand up to stop me before I even made the move to say anything.
"You know what, the less I know about this the better," he said. "The less I know, the less pissed off Fox can be at me when he inevitably finds out."
"So you won't tell him?"
"You're putting me in a really awkward position!" Elijah said in a fierce tone. "Tell Fox and he's going to be pissed at you when he's trying to have a better relationship with you, or don't tell him and he's pissed at me when he finds out I knew."
"He doesn't have to find out that you know anything," I told him. "You don't really know anything anyway."
"There's this thing in a relationship called trust. I know you know nothing about that, but I can't lie to him and tell him I knew nothing when he eventually finds out."
"He won't find out anything," I assured him. "There's nothing serious going on and you don't need to worry about it."
"If it's not serious, then why can't Fox know?"
Elijah knew the answer to this question, but he wanted me to say it out loud. He needed justification for keeping quiet about this for me.
"You know Fox," I started. "He overreacts. Just me interacting with Landon is enough to send him into a spiral."
Elijah groaned and put his face in his hands.
"You must hate me," he muttered.
"Surely you can talk Fox down if he does find out," I said. Fox was soft when it came to Elijah. He was practically the only person he would listen to.
"I tried telling him to move on from what happened with Landon the last time we saw him here and he wouldn't listen," Elijah reminded me. "It's like he doesn't get that Landon was pretty much in the same position as me but worse. Micah told me about how his dad outed him at church in front of everyone."
That was news to me.
"Oh you didn't know that?" Elijah asked, clearly reading the surprised expression on my face. "I guess his dad had known he was gay for a while and then something happened so his dad, like, stood up in front of the whole church asking for help for his gay son because he 'didn't know what to do' and that's when Dave told him about the conversion therapy he was trying to send me to."
Before I even had the chance to respond, Landon walked over to the table, standing at the edge and looking down at the two of us.
"Oh, hi Landon," Elijah said, suddenly looking less annoyed at the situation.
"Hi," Landon muttered, glancing over at me.
"Elijah and I were just catching up, weren't we?" I said, looking up at Landon, who was looking more uncomfortable as the seconds went by.
I looked at Elijah for him to agree with me, but he just rolled his eyes.
"I'm just going to pretend I didn't see the two of you here," Elijah said after a moment and stood from the table. "But you might want to think about what you're going to do if Fox finds out."
Elijah walked past Landon and made his way back to his friends. Landon stood there for a moment, as if stunned, before taking Elijah's spot across from me.
"I suppose we should have thought more about going somewhere so... public," I said as he sat down.
He just looked over at me, his expression serious and intense. It was hard for me to read him like this.
"I hate it here," Landon said.
"Well, we could have gone anywhere else for ice cream."
"No, I don't mean here specifically. Like here as in this town, this area."
That didn't surprise me. There was probably nothing but bad memories here for Landon. Bad memories and a whole lot of people he didn't want to run into.
"I can't fucking do anything here without worrying about who I'll see," Landon added, his hands in fists on the table.
Without thinking, I placed my hands over his, but he quickly pulled his away and shot me a bewildered look.
"At least it was just Elijah," I said, deciding to ignore that moment between us.
"Let's go," Landon said, standing from the table without even waiting for my response.
Livi had gotten her ice cream and the three of us went back out to my car. I made sure to grab plenty of napkins before leaving.
"You know Elijah?" Livi asked me past the spoon of ice cream she had in her mouth.
"He's dating my brother," I replied, handing her a napkin to which she took and put around her cup.
"Oh right," she said. "I've heard about him."
I would have laughed at her response if Landon wasn't looking so gloomy beside me. He sat in the passenger's seat with his arms crossed over his chest and his head leaning against the window. His sister didn't seem to even notice his sullen mood. Or she was just used to it.
"When are you going back to school, Landon?" Livi asked him. That was enough to get him to sit up and pick his head up to look at her.
"Tomorrow," he answered. "I have practice. And a game on Saturday."
"And then you'll be back for winter break?" she asked.
"For some of it," he said. "I'll still have hockey."
Livi let out a sigh before shoving more ice cream into her mouth.
When Livi was finished with her ice cream, we dropped her off at her friend's house. Landon got out of the car to say goodbye to her. The two of them talked for a couple minutes and shared a hug before Landon got back in the car. I waited until Livi was inside before pulling away.
"Now what?" I asked him.
"I don't know," he said. "You can drive me back to the Hanson's."
"If that's what you want."
He still looked so grumpy, and I could tell he didn't really want me to drop him off, so I just drove. I didn't care where we were going. I could just drive around for hours and it wouldn't bother me.
"Why were you so worried about Elijah telling Fox about us?" Landon asked after the two of us sat in silence for a few minutes.
Because I didn't want my brother to hate me more than he already did.
"I would rather not deal with Fox's overreaction," I told him. That was partially the truth, at least as much as I was willing to give. He seemed to accept that answer anyway.
I pulled into a parking space right outside one of the nature trails and parked the car. Without warning, I unbuckled my seatbelt and climbed over the center console to Landon, placing myself on top of him with my legs staddling his.
Landon's eyes widened. "Are you crazy?"
"No one's going to see us out here," I assured him. "And you definitely seem like you need some cheering up. You're awfully grumpy tonight."
Landon's eyes traveled down my torso then back up to my face. I smirked at him, placing my hands on his shoulders and leaning my face down closer to his.
"I'm not grumpy," Landon grumbled, his hands moving to grasp my hips.
"You are," I said, my mouth traveling to the sensitive skin on his neck.
He took in a sharp breath as my lips touched him. I moved my mouth over his skin, hoping to get a reaction out of him. His hands gripped me tighter as I sucked on his skin, bringing one of my hands to the back of his neck to pull him closer to me.
Landon let out a shuddering breath as my teeth met the most sensitive part of his neck. His hands fell from my hips and came up to my face, pulling my mouth onto his.
His hands cupped my face roughly. I grabbed onto one of them and moved it to rest on the side of my neck, holding it there for a moment so he would get the idea. Landon put a little pressure there, causing a sound of pleasure to escape my lips as I opened my mouth wider for him.
Eventually, Landon's mouth moved to my neck, kissing, sucking, and nipping at the skin. I was blissed out, thinking of nothing other than Landon and his mouth on me.
It wasn't until after I dropped Landon off and got home that I noticed the marks he had left on me. Normally, this would piss me off. When I had been hooking up with James, it was a strict rule not to leave any marks, but with Landon it was different. I didn't mind the bruises if they came from him.
It was just going to be a pain in the ass to hide them from my family.
***
The next day, Mom and Dad drove Fox to Providence early so that he could make it for the morning skate with his team at Brown's rink. The rest of us stayed home for a little while longer until it was closer to game time before we piled into my car and drove to Brown.
Luckily it was cold enough out for me to justify wearing a turtleneck, so the hickeys from Landon went unnoticed.
"Wren, turn the heat on!" Fawn exclaimed loudly from the back seat. She sat in the middle and leaned forward so that her face was in between Robin and me.
"The heat is on," I replied.
"Well, it's not reaching back here!"
"We're going to cook up here if he turns it up," Robin said, turning to face her. "Huddle together and use eachother's body heat for warmth."
Fawn smacked him on the shoulder and leaned back in her seat. She was the only one complaining, but that was typical. Colt was leaning against the window with his face buried in his phone, headphones in and drowning out the rest of us. Raven was reading some romance book with a half naked man on the cover. It seemed that the only thing that passed the time for Fawn was complaining.
"This is sexist," Fawn grumbled, causing Robin to let out a shocked laugh.
"How?"
"It just is!" she said. "Women always have to be cold so men can be comfortable."
"What are you talking about?"
"There is actually a study about how office temperatures are based on male preferences, often leaving women cold and uncomfortable at work," I added, earning a look of confusion from my brother.
"Okay, but this isn't an office building," Robin replied.
"I'm just saying, she's not wrong."
"Alright, alright," Robin relented, turning the heat up. "I will turn it up just for you, little Fawn." Shocker. Robin was not one to deny his siblings anything.
The rest of the ride had a lot less complaining, and by the time we reached the ice rink, it was almost game time.
Our parents were already in the stands, saving a row for the rest of us. When we found them, Dad was sprawled across three seats while Mom had put each of their jackets and her purse in three others.
Dad was decked out in Northeastern gear. He had a zip up sweatshirt, a t-shirt under that, a hat, and even a small flag. Mom's attire was simpler, just a quarter-zip with a Northeastern logo in the corner.
"You guys made it!" Dad exclaimed, standing up. "Good thing too because that was getting really uncomfortable."
Mom kissed each of her children on the head as we filed into the row and took our seats.
"Wren, sweetie, if you want to go sit with some friends that's okay. Don't let us keep you," she said as I sat beside her.
She was just bluffing anyway. Mom wanted us all to be together to watch Fox play like we used to. I didn't even know if Stella and James were in Providence. They could have each gone home for Thanksgiving. I doubted Stella did since she chose a school so far away from home to have an excuse not to have to go visit.
"I'll stay here," I said. Mom smiled and tossed an arm around me, squeezing me into a hug.
Sitting next to Robin during this was a big mistake. He was loud an obnoxious, bumping into me whenever he stood up when something he found exciting was happening. I could barely follow along with this, not because it was difficult, but because I found it so boring.
Fox was playing well apparently, and my whole family stood up when he scored a goal. Mom was gripping my arm every time Fox was even on the ice, either out of nerves or excitement.
Robin let out a loud 'boo' when Fox got sent to the penalty box during the last period.
"Bullshit call!" he exclaimed.
"What happened?" I asked, looking down at the ice in confusion.
"Guy got caught up in Fox's stick and they called him for tripping," Robin explained, shaking his head with irritation.
Okay, whatever that meant. I assumed tripping other players wasn't allowed and warranted a penalty, but what did I know.
When Fox got out of the penalty box, he immediately got a breakaway with the puck. My whole family stood in anticipation, and when he scored yet again, a chorus of cheers came from all of them. Even Colt seemed like he was into the game and I didn't think he liked anything other than his phone and his video games.
Fox's team ended up winning, which probably wasn't all that difficult for them. I wasn't sure that Brown had a great hockey team, not that I followed it that closely.
"Oh, that was such a good game!" Mom said happily as we walked out of the stands and toward the exit.
"I'm still mad about that bullshit call on Fox, but at least he scored because of it," Robin said, walking ahead with our mother.
Once we got outside, we just stood around waiting for Fox. Our parents wanted to bring us all out to dinner and had made reservations at a place not too far from the rink.
"Oh, Wren!" Mom called out, grabbing my attention away from my phone. "Isn't that your friend over there?"
Dread was what I felt at that moment. There was only one 'friend' from school that my mother had ever met and it was the last person I needed walking over here when Fox was bound to show up at any moment.
"Landon!" she called out, waving at him.
"Mom, wait," I started, but it was too late. He saw us.
He saw my mother waving at him to come over, and against his better judgement, he did. Most likely to avoid seeming rude to my sweet mother, but part of me wished he just ran away. He said something to the guys he was with, presumably guys from his hockey team, and started walking toward our group.
Robin glanced at me with wide eyes, but didn't say anything. Even Fawn looked over at me with a sort of panicked expression.
"Landon! It's good to see you again," Mom said with a kind smile.
"Yes, you too, Mrs. Ridley," Landon politely replied.
"Sweetie, just call me Vanessa," she said. "We're about to head out to dinner. You should come with us! We never get to see any of Wren's friends."
"Oh, that's alright. I wouldn't want to intrude."
"You wouldn't be intruding! Please, I insist."
"Mom," I started, hoping to move this along before Fox showed up.
But of course, it was too late. Fox stood at the other end of the group, throwing a murderous glare Landon's way.
At that point, I really didn't know what to do. He had seen him. And sure, I could probably find some way to explain this away if our mother wasn't so insistent on Landon coming to dinner with us. If he had just been passing by and being polite, this could have been explained away in few words.
Fox's glare seemed to grow darker, and it was like he knew this had something to do with me because he turned that glare on me.
And our parents, being oblivious to this, greeted Fox with smiles and rounded us up to the cars so we could go to dinner. Mom walked beside Landon, leading him to my car like she was afraid he would escape if she strayed too far.
All I could feel was Fox's fiery glare on the back of my head as we went to the car.