Fire & Snow

Chapter 14

Talking to Aydan the entire night had been…. fun I guess but it was mostly weird considering I thought he of all people would call me at 12 AM. I had thought he never wanted to do anything to do with me after the whole Math thing but oddly enough, he had been trying to reach out. 

We had talked about so many things that I lost track of everything that was said. I have to admit, talking with Aydan had also been insightful and I liked it . Liked how the conversation just started flowing after the whole initial awkward start.

“I bet she can’t even hear what we saying,” I heard Chance say to Alex who then laughed. “I don’t know what has her busy lately, it’s like her body is here but her mind is somewhere else or more likely with someone else.

Alex laughed even harder at that while I glared at him. We were sat under the tree soaking up the mid-morning air and trying to relax after such a long and hard week.

Chance turned his head in my direction. “Come on, be honest with us Neva. Aren’t you thinking about someone right now?”

I wanted to deny and say I was thinking about school but lying was a long and hard process. One that was probably going to result in more questions than the truth would. “Yeah, I am thinking about someone.”

“See, what did I tell you? She was going to deny it,” Chance said as he turned to Alex. “Wait, did you just agree with me?”

I shook my head incredulously while Alex continued laughing. I did not blame him, even I would be laughing at the look that was currently on Chance’s face. It was priceless. He had thought I was going to say some silly lie and then he would call me out on it. “You should be listening,” I said with a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. “This is how you tend to get things wrong or into trouble because you did not hear the correct thing.”

Alex was now rolling on the grass silently laughing while tears rolled down his cheeks. “I. Can’t. Breath,” he said through laughs. “My. Lungs.”

I could not help but joining in on his laughter. It was contagious and even Chance found himself laughing as well.

“You have killed me,” Alex finally said as he wiped the tears that had rolled down his cheeks. He looked up and the sky and inhaled. “I can’t believe we are now sophomores and soon we will be going our own ways and doing our own things.”

I laid on the grass and folded my hands behind my head as I stared at the sky as well. It was a beautiful morning with a clear blue sky and a few white puffy clouds. “I know but that is one thing that I don’t want to think about. You guys have become like the two annoyingly weird brothers that I never had and I don’t know how I am going to manage to live without you annoying me day in and day out.”

Chance sighed from beside me. “I don’t want to get all emotional out where everyone can see me. So I will just say this,” he said but I could hear the emotion in his voice. “You guys have been the best friends that I have had in so long that sometimes I feel as though I take advantage of you.”

Alex turned his head to me and we looked at each other before we turned to look at Chance. “You do take advantage of us,” we said at the same time. 

Chance rolled his eyes and laid his head against the tree. “I know,” was all he said.

After that, we all sat there quiet. Each of us too preoccupied with our thoughts to notice what was really happening around us. We sat there for over an hour until Alex stood up and stretched. 

“I don’t know about either of you but I am hungry and my butt was starting to hurt from sitting on the grass for too long,” he said as he cracked his knuckles and stretched his hand towards me. “You coming or are you going to sit here and think about whoever it was that you thinking about?”

I rolled my eyes and took his hand. He pulled me up to my feet and Chance stood up on his own.

                                                                     **********

“I almost forgot to ask you who you were thinking about,” Chance said as we walked out of the school. “So, who was it? Was a guy? Or better yet… a girl. Please tell me it’s a girl, that would be seriously hot and sexy.”

I rolled my eyes and punched his arm. “Not funny, really is the least bit funny.”

“Aw, come on, it would be hot watching girl on girl action,” Chance whined as he rubbed his arm where I had hit him. “Don’t you agree Alex?” He turned to Alex and arched his eyebrow questioningly.

Alex shrugged, “I guess it would be kind of sexy but also weird. I mean, why would you be watching people have s*x? That is just creepy and downright freaky at the same time.”

This was why Alex was my favourite out of the two. He was more sensible than Chance at times and less whiny. 

“You are only saying that because you prefer guys,” Chance retaliated with an eye roll. “It does not count.”

“But you asked him,” I piped in as we entered the local coffee shop not too far away from the school. It was a local hangout point where people usually came to either study, read a novel, eat or have a date. It had everything from freshly brewed coffee to home-made biscuits and scones. And the best thing was that some of the students worked there and there was a student discount for all the students.

“You have no say in this Neva,” Chance said as he took a sit in the booth by the corner. “Now, Alex be a dear and go order us some breakfast.”

I sat down on the other side and shook my head. Alex sighed but nodded his head and went over to the counter to order us our food.

“You treat him as though he is your slave. You do know he has feelings right?” I asked Chance once I knew Alex was not in hearing range. “The guy tries so hard to make you accept him the way he is but it seems you prefer giving him a hard time and that just isn’t cool. It really is a shitty thing to do to someone.

“I don’t treat him that bad, I just like teasing him. It’s fun and you should really try it sometime,” Chance replied with a shrug. “And the best thing about this entire thing is that he does not mind all that much.”

I wanted to say more on the matter but leaving it alone for now was the best thing to do.it saved me time of finding valid arguments when why what Chance was doing to Alex just was not fair.

We waited a bit longer for Alex to bring the food and I grabbed my phone from my pocket and turned it on. I little part of me had hoped that maybe Aydan had texted me but there was nothing, which was a tad bit disappointing.

“Why so glum chum?” Alex asked while he placed our food on the table. “Who broke your heart so I can find them and beat them for making my beautiful snow sad.” He sat down next to me and grabbed a waffle from the plate along with an eye and a sausage.

Chance burst into laughter at that. “You? Beat someone?” he asked and laughed even more at his own question. “This is hilarious, really is the best thing I have heard all morning.”

“Stop being such a prick,” I said in Alex’s defense as I took some waffles, sausage and some bacon. “You need to learn to chill and stop being such a freaking prick to Alex to the time.” I poured myself a cup of hot chocolate and blew on top of the cup. 

Chance poured himself some hot chocolate and took a sip that only made him scream in pain as the hot liquid burned his tongue and throat. “f**k, why the hell did you not tell me that it was hot?” he said as he trying fanning his tongue with his hands.

I silently laughed to myself while I continued blowing on my cup. “I thought you would have figured it out,” I replied.

“I hate you,” he said as he took his cup back and gulped down the contents.

We ate in silence after that without anyone saying anything and it felt peaceful until Chance opened his mouth.

“You never did tell us who you were thinking about,” he said whilst wiping his mouth with a napkin.

I placed my cup down and took the last bite of my waffle. “I was thinking about mum and my sister,” I said in response. I know I was lying but there was no way I was going to tell them that Aydan called me at midnight and we talked up to 3 in the morning. That would bring up questions I was not yet ready to answer.

“Then why did you not just say from the start?” Chance asked.

“Because it’s none of your business.”

“Touché.”

                                                                              **********

I had an exhausting day but it was fun nonetheless. Chance, Alex and I decided to hit the arcade after eating and we played some games before I realised just how much of a good gamer I was. 

Chance had whined the entire time when he kept on losing to me or coming out in last place, which was hilarious considering he kept on losing to me and Alex, something that he would never be able to live down. His own words.

It was past 11 PM and I was so tired that I did not even want to shower but just sleep though I knew I had too. I looked around the room and missed Kylie’s presence even more when I noticed the empty and well-made bed with the empty desk. I should have been used to being alone in the room now but I still was not. I still felt as though I needed Kylie around even though she was awfully loud and sometimes liked prying in people’s personal business without a care in the world.

Taking my clothes off, I wrapped a towel around myself and prepared to take a shower when my phone rang. I searched for it and my heart almost skipped a bit and not for the reasons that I liked him but more of the fact that I liked talking to him. Two very distinct things.

I sat down on the edge of my bed and pressed the answer button.

“Hey!” I said and hoped my voice did not sound like a dying cat because Chance had once told me that I sounded like a dying cat on the phone.

“Hey, how are you?” Aydan asked and I could hear a smile in his voice even though I could not see him. It was one of those automatic things that you could easily tell.

“I’m okay and how are you?”

“I’m good. How was your day? Had fun?”

“You play video games?” there was disbelief in Aydan’s voice.

“Started today and turns out I am a natural at it.”

There was a bit of silence on Aydan’s end but I could hear background noise. “Cool,” came his reply. “What do you play?”

“Mostly fighting, shooting and racing games,” I replied. “What is that noise?” It was kind of distracting and annoying.

“I’m playing FIFA.”

“Okay, this late, why?”

“Because it’s FIFA and I can play it any time of the day.”

“Are you playing alone or with someone?”

Aydan cursed on the other end. “Shite, sorry about that. I almost lost.”

“Do you want me to hang up so you can play?” I asked. I did not want to be the reason he lost and then blamed me for it.

“No, if I wanted you to then I would not have called,” Aydan replied and then cursed some more. “I want to talk to you.”

I had no words for that. What do you say when the school’s hottest and most popular guy tells you he likes talking to you?