Only Fools - Chapter 28: Chapter 28

Me: Hey.
As soon as I send the text, I nearly fling my phone across my room. My heart moves into my throat and the thoughts begin.
Why the hell did I do that? She's going to think I'm so needy. I mean, she probably already has shit that she's dealing with and definitely doesn't need mine too.
Shit. What if she doesn't respond at all? That would be so fucking embarrassing. That would be her way of just ghosting me completely because I've been such a burden lately. And-.
My thoughts are cut short as my phone vibrates in my hand. As I unlock my phone and see the message, a smile of relief floods onto my face.
Margot: Hey are you feeling better?
Me: I'd like to.
Margot: And you think I can help with that?
Me: Well....
Margot: Because if I remember correctly I made you cry last night
Me: Twas a fluke.
Margot: I'm serious Aspen
Me: And so am I. That wasn't your fault in any way, and I could explain it when we hang out if you'd like.
Margot: You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to
Me: Shit. You're missing the point. I need a friend right now, Margot. And you're that friend.
Margot: Damn friend zoned yet again
Me: You know it. ;)
Margot: Well what do you want to do?
————
"Ice skating?" Margot questions me as we pull into the parking lot of the skating rink. I just flash her a smile before hopping out of the car and beginning to make my way to the building, assuming she'll follow.
It's only after we rent our skates and are sitting down to put them on that she speaks again.
"And we're here because?" Margot asks with raised eyebrows.
"We can't just hang out and do something fun together like this?" I counter. Margot quirks one eyebrow. I let out a sigh and shake my head before standing up.
"Can we just have some fun for a little bit please? Take my mind off things?" I nearly beg her to which she caves immediately as she grabs my hand so that I can pull her up onto her feet. We then waddle over to the ice and as soon as I step onto it, my stomach does a small flip and I have to grab on to the boards to steady myself. Meanwhile, as soon as Margot steps out onto the ice, it's smooth sailing for her. I scoff at the situation. Of course she's good at ice skating. What isn't she good at?
"You good over there?" she asks me with a small laugh.
"Fuck off," I tell her before flashing the middle finger to accompany my words.
"If you say so," she says with a shrug. With those words, Margot then skates off around the rink, leaving me to fend for myself against my own balance as I watch her effortlessly glide across the ice. What a bitch.
Yet I can't seem to look away from her as a serene smile dances across her face. I look down at my feet and silently wish that they quickly learn to skate like hers. However, after the span of a few minutes (though it felt like hours), Margot returns to my side after doing a lap of the rink.
"I could feel your eyes on me from the other side of the rink," Margot whispers in my ear, teasing me. I hum before looking at her as if challenging her claim.
"Must've imagined it," I tell her. She nods slowly.
"Well, then I'm going to go around one more time and see how I feel after,"
And with a last affirmative nod, she takes off again, leaving me continuing to clutch the boards for my dear life as my feet simply won't quit their assassination attempts.
Instead of watching Margot this time, I try to keep my eyes on my feet, the killers in the making. Yet after a minute or so, curiosity gets the better of me and I look up, only to find Margot skating towards me with a smirk on her face. She sends me a quick wink before she stops in front of me. What a show off.
"You want some help now," she asks me, and while my pride doesn't want to take a beating today, receiving help from Margot would be far better than falling on my ass in front of her.
"I mean, since you offered...."
With those words, I grab her outstretched hand and allow myself to be pulled away from the very outskirts of the rink so that I can skate beside my friend. However, she has to almost immediately link her arm through mine to better stabilize me so that I don't end up falling after a measly two steps.
"How the fuck are you so good at this?" I ask her, turning my amazement into spite. She chuckles as we continue to skate, my feet slowly getting the hang of it despite still betraying me every once in a while.
"Vivian started figure skating a couple years ago and I picked it up as a result of coming to the rink so often," Margot explains with a shrug.
"So your little cousin taught you everything you know?" I tease her.
"I can let go of your arm at any time," Margot tells me in a tone way to nonchalant for my liking. So I just hum in response, pretending to not be bothered by the remark.
"I guess I'll just have to pick up this whole skating thing pretty fast then so that I can get back to making fun of you, as previously scheduled," I tell her in a much too confident tone for a girl who's still tripping over her own feet.
"Yeah. That definitely sounds likely," Margot says sarcastically as she prevents me from falling on my ass for the hundredth time. I roll my eyes but know that she's right nonetheless.
"Um. I don't mean to be nosy, but you never told me what was wrong the night I had to pick you up," Margot begins a conversation that I didn't necessarily want to get into. So I stay silent, letting out a sigh before I begin to look around anywhere but at Margot.
"....was it about your mom?" she asks me. Letting out a sharp breath, I shake my head.
"Fuck.... no, it wasn't about her. And I'm sorry about last night. Seriously. My uncle said some shit at the family dinner and I guess that just made me more sensitive to it. And then you brought it up and...." I trail off as tears well in my eyes. I just want this week to end.
"Did you want to talk about that?" Margot asks me softly.
"What?"
"Hey. You won't tell me about whatever shit happened at the gala, so I'm just dealing with one trauma at a time right now," Margot says. I laugh softly at her statement before beginning to nod.
"I mean, there isn't much to say about it. Dad's family was trashing our mom for walking out on us and Alex and I defended her like always," I tell her with a shrug.
"You two defended her?"
I let out a bitter laugh at her words.
"Yeah. It confuses our relatives too,"
"It's just.... she left you," Margot says softly.
"But things were so good before then. I think Alex and I just hold out hope that will be reason enough for her to come back. Though it's rather useless if I'm being entirely honest. We don't even know why she left so hoping that she'll come back...." I trail off as my mind begins to be clouded with other thoughts. I think back to the times in which Ivy gave me hope that we could happen. And maybe in a perfect world, a fairytale, these instances of hope would mean something. First off, Ivy would come running back to me and tell me that she was just confused when she kissed Jax and really wanted to be with me. Second, my mother would make a reappearance in my life. She would explain why she left and have a completely valid reason. Then she would tell me how much she regretted leaving us anyways and how much she loved me. And despite how much I hate it, just the thought of these situations coming to pass provides me with more hope.
Hope is like a drug. It provides me with a high that I can't stop running back to despite the results that occur because of the crash down.
"Hey. Are you ok?" Margot asks me as she pulls me over to the side of the rink and then stops skating so that she can actually look at me. I sniffle slightly, but nod my head. While I might not be ok, there was a strange weight lifted off my chest by telling her everything I did. I might not be ok right now, but I might just be on the road to getting there. So I tell a white lie.
"Yeah. I'm fine," I tell her.
"Bullshit," she states. I raise my eyebrows at her, challenging her statement.
"Bullshit," she repeats, though this time it's more pointed of a statement. I just tilt my head as if urging her to elaborate.
"You won't tell me everything right now. That's fine. And we may have not known each other for an incredibly long time yet, but I can tell when you're lying and I can tell when you're not ok,"
"Now that.... that's bullshit," I tell her.
"What part of it?"
"That you can tell when I'm lying,"
"Oh. So you admit that you're not ok right now?" she asks with a smirk, probably believing that she just got me to admit something that I didn't want to.
"I actually don't admit that because I think that would fall under the 'lying' category, personally. If I remember correctly, I verbally said I was fine. Maybe I lied about it, maybe I didn't," I challenge her further. Margot nods slowly at my words.
"Alright. So let's test that out. Tell me something about yourself. It could be true or it could be a lie, and we'll see if I can tell," Margot suggests, a competitive spark in her eyes.
"Fine, just give me a second to think of something. And don't look too far into that. I have a terrible memory,"
Margot smiles at my words before nodding.
"Ok. When I was younger, I had a small American flag that I would carry around everywhere I went. One time, when my dad and I were on a car ride, I dropped the flag out of an open window and forced my dad to turn around and get it. Truth or lie?" I ask, a smirk toying on my lips. Margot stares at me for a moment as if picking apart my story one word at a time.
"You've got a 50/50 shot here, May,"
"Fine. Lie," Margot says confidently. I roll my eyes at her, causing her to smile in response.
"So I got it right?" she asks me.
"Yes. Fun fact, that was a story about my brother. But still, that was only a one time thing. You had a 50/50 chance,"
"Then try again," Margot says with a shrug.
"'Happily' is my favorite song by One Direction,"
"Back on the topic of that band again?"
"You stalling?"
"I don't need to when I know the answer. True,"
I stare at her for a minute in slight shock though I try not to show it.
"Actually, it's a lie," I attempt to lie to her.
"No. That was a lie," she says confidently.
"Well, there's no real way of you know thing then," I say with a shrug.
"Sure," she says with a smirk before she grabs my hand and pulls me along as we resume our skating. So we skate for a few minutes in silence, not exactly sure what to say to each other. That is, until the clear karma for lying to Margot comes for me.
I can see the scene unfold before my eyes and yet there's nothing I can do about it. As the kid comes racing towards me, having been thrown off track by his friend who I assume he's trying to skate faster than, I can't even respond quick enough to move out of the way. Yet Margot somehow must sense the trouble too as her hand slips down to intertwine with mine before she yanks me out of the way. And while this prevents me from being run into, I completely lose my balance as a result and end up falling on top of her. I wince slightly, afraid I might have hurt her, but chuckles from the girl underneath me cause for me to open my eyes.
Her brown eyes stare right back at mine and the smile vanishes from her mouth once she realizes the position we're in, my hands having caught me resting on either side of her head, and our faces mere inches apart. My cheeks heat up in embarrassment before I push myself off of the girl.
"Sorry," I whisper to her as she sits up beside me.
"Maybe it's time we take a break?" she suggests as she pulls herself to her feet before helping me to mine.
————
As I take a sip of the cherry icee I bought from the food stand, I can't help but notice how Margot's staring at me with a curious look in her eyes.
"What? Cant take your eyes off of the beauty that is Aspen Grayson?" I jokingly ask her to break the silence. She cracks a smile at my comment as she rolls her eyes.
"Why did we come here?" she asks me.
"What do you mean? Ice skating is a fun activity. Does there have to be more?" I counter.
"With you? Yes," she responds. I merely shrug as I opt to ignore her and instead take another sip of my icee.
"Dude. You can barely stand on the ice, much less skate. Unless you have some type of embarrassment kink-"
"Shit, Margot. No. It's just.... My mom used to take Alex and I ice skating every year on the day after Christmas, and I just keep the tradition going...." I explain to her, leaving out the part where Ivy is usually the one who keeps the tradition going with me.
"Shit...." Margot trails off.
"Mhm,"
"You do this every year and you're still that bad at ice skating? I would've thought this was your first time out on the ice.... ever,"
I scoff before hitting Margot on the arm to which she flinches and jokingly rubs her arm in response.
"You don't have to be a dick," I remind her.
"Only for you, babe," she tells me with a wink, earning yet another smack on the arm from me before we both break out into laughter. However, my laughter is cut short as I look up at the entrance of the ice rink.
Ivy walks into the building with her younger siblings in tow most likely already giving them the ground rules for hanging out at the ice rink. My heart clenches at the sight of the girl as I force away any tears that threaten to surface.
"What's wrong?" Margot's voice brings me back to reality as I shake my head.
"Aspen," Margot grabs my wrist on top of the table, which forces me to look at her.
"Can we go?" I ask her, my voice cracking slightly with the request. Margot stares into my eyes for a moment as if trying to decode what's going on.
"Yeah. Sure," Margot says, nodding her head as she gets up from her seat, then grabbing both pairs of skates.
"I'll return these. You wanna wait here?" Margot offers. I give her a thankful smile in return before nodding. It only takes a few minutes for Margot to return the skates and find her way back to me and I nearly jump out of my seat, ready to leave before I'm spotted.
As I slide into the car, I can't help but let out a sigh of relief.
"Ok. What the fuck was that?" Margot asks before she closes the door behind her.
"I...."
"You what?" Margot asks, worry seeping into her voice.
"I saw someone there that I don't necessarily want to see right now. That's all. We don't need to make a big deal about it or anything," I tell her.
"Aspen. You can tell me," Margot offers.
"I don't have to tell you everything!" I yell, blowing up slightly. Margot's eyes widen at my outburst, but they quickly soften as I let my head fall forward so that my forehead rests on the top of the steering wheel.
"Shit. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," I tell her, not bothering to lift my head up.
"Wow. This is the second time we've almost gotten into a fight in two days we must be going for a record," Margot says sarcastically. I let out a groan before picking my head back up so I can look at her.
"I'm sorry. I promise you'll know everything soon. I'm just not ready right now," I tell her as the tears that had welled in my eyes begin to slide down my cheeks.
"Shit, dude. You don't have to tell me at all if you don't want to. Ever. I just want to help you," Margot says as she wipes away my tears with her thumb.
"Thank you," I whisper to her.
"You don't have to thank me. That's what friends do,"
I smile at her before nodding in response and starting the car.
"Where are we going now," Margot asks me, furrowing her eyebrows.
"You'll see,"
————
"The park?" Margot questions me as she raises an eyebrow. I nod in response before getting out of the car.
"Damn. And this one doesn't even have a playscape. What are we gonna do? It's cold and there's at least two feet of snow," Margot says.
"Have you never played outside in the winter when you were a kid or something?" I ask her in slight disbelief.
"Of course I did," she scoffs before turning around to look at her settings.
"Plus there isn't even anyone here. I mean, the park is probably closed or something," Margot tries to reason further.
"Nah. Alex and I used to do this all the time. Park closes at ten. It's eight o'clock,"
"Do what all the time?" she asks me as she spins back around to look at me, leaving me the perfect opportunity to throw a snowball at her face. It hits her with a satisfying crunch and I can't hold in my laugh as she wipes the snow off of herself.
"Are you okay?" I ask her between laughs. However, my laughing stops when I get hit directly in the face with snow.
"You wanna play, Grayson? Game on," Margot says, barely giving me a chance to wipe the snow off my face before she begins to pelt me with snowballs. So with wide smiles, we begin to throw snowballs back and forth at each other, then commencing a true snowball fight.
It isn't long before we begin to run around, using my car as a shield against each other, only running out from behind it to collect more snow.
"Ow. Shit! Aspen," Margot's voice resounds from the other side of the car. Almost instantly, I drop whatever snowballs are in my hands so that I can run over to her to see what's wrong. When I get there, she's sat on the ground, with her hand over her eye.
"Fuck. Are you ok?" I ask her as I crouch down in front of her, trying to get her to move her hand away from her eye so that I can see it.
"No. It's fine. I'm probably fine," she says as she begins to rise up from the ground, still holding her eye. I stand up with her, clearly worried about my friend.
"I am so sorry, Margot. Is it-"
My words are cut off, however, as Margot grabs my wrists and slams my back into the car, successfully pinning me.
"Shit," I say under my breath.
"Got you," she says with a smirk. I hum in response, desperately trying to think of ways to escape so that I don't lose the fight.
"Just admit it. I win," Margot whispers to me.
"Never," I say back with a smirk. It's then that I begin to notice how close we are and my cheeks flush in response. Margot seems to notice it as she backs away from me and clears her throat.
"Tie?" I ask her awkwardly, extending my hand so that we can shake on the agreement. However, instead of a handshake, I'm met with a snowball crashing on top of my head.
"I don't lose," Margot states before walking around me to slip into the passenger seat of my car. With a sigh, I brush whatever snow I can off the top of my head before walking around to the drivers side and getting in. Once I start the car, I immediately move to crank the heat up as high as possible in an attempt to defrost my hands.
"Cold hands?" Margot asks me.
"No shit, Sherlock,"
Margot rolls her eyes before grabbing my hands and beginning to rub them with hers in an attempt to heat them up. I smile at the gesture, and after a couple minutes, my hands nearly feel back to normal. I pull my hands away from her's before rethinking the action and then placing the palm of my right hand against her left.
"My hand's so small," I say with a small laugh.
Margot folds the top of her fingers over mine with the trace of a smile on her face.
"Oh goodness. We're comparing the size of our hands. Are we flirting?" Margot says jokingly.
"Of course we are," I say in response. Margot laughs as she gives me a look filled with slight curiosity. She draws her hand back away before looking out the window.
"Ready to leave?" I ask her. The only response I get is a nod and I'm forced to tell myself that she's probably just tired so that I don't automatically assume I'm somehow now a terrible friend.
The ride back to Margot's house is mostly quiet, outside of the couple times I decide to sing along to the song that comes on to the radio. And I surely don't miss Margot's smile when those times occur.
As we pull into her driveway, I let out a sigh before turning to look at her.
"Today was fun," I say awkwardly, breaking the silence.
"It was," she says with a smile. I nod my head, not sure what else to say.
"Um.... I think Harrison and Raider wanted to hang out tomorrow. It'd be pretty cool if you came," Margot offers with a shrug.
"I don't want to impose or anything...."
"On what? Me being a third wheel?"
I smile at her joke before nodding my head slowly.
"I mean, if you're sure that it would be alright then I'd be down for it,"
Margot smiles at my words before nodding. I'm not sure I ever really noted how great a smile this girl has, but she really does.
"Great. I'll text you details once I figure them out," she confirms with me. I nod rather absentmindedly.
"Bye then?" I say as more of a question.
"Bye," Margot says with a small laugh as she takes off her seatbelt and opens the car door. However, she pauses for a moment before turning back around to face me.
"One more thing," she says as she scoots over closer to me.
"Your right eyebrow raises slightly when you lie. You might want to fix that.... or just stop lying to me," Margot whispers in my ear before exiting the car, leaving me in a slightly stunned silence before a small smile makes its way onto my face.
It's then that I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket.
Ivy: Hey, I was at the ice rink today but didn't see you. Did you skip out on tradition?
Me: Sorry. I went earlier with Alex and forgot to tell you.
Ivy: Oh, I have to tell you about something. But I need to help get the kids to bed right now. Later?
Me: Later.