On Ice

OI Chapter 14

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

I awoke with a start, my heart beating a rapid tattoo in my chest when an unfamiliar alarm started blaring. My first instinct was to reach toward the nightstand and start slapping for the snooze button, but a heavy weight pinned me to the bed. Muted grey light filtered through a bedroom window that I instantly realized was not my own. And then the events of last night came back to me and for a moment I felt that happy warm bubble expand in my chest, before the memory of Russ’s furious face burst it. Kale groaned, his head pillowed on my chest, so the sound was a bit muffled and the vibration made me feel tingly. He rolled away and the sound of the alarm died, leaving silence in the room. I rolled and rose on an elbow to see him sitting on the edge of the bed, elbows on knees scrubbing a hand over his face and then through his hair. He glanced over his shoulder at me and smiled, but I didn’t like it. It looked sad and guilty.

The brief part of the morning I spent with him was filled with tense silence and sad smiles. There were a lot of things floating through my head that I wanted to tell him, foremost that I loved him, but I’d open my mouth and see that expression on his face and close it again. He’d showered while I’d dressed, despite his better efforts my phone was junk and when he’d led me from his house, I kept getting this heavy feeling low in my belly. I didn’t want to go back to Russ’s house. The little scene from last night kept replaying in my head and I wasn’t sure if I could bear to hear anymore. Kale had insisted that it was time to face the music, but his tone was off. Staring back at his cosy little house, I couldn’t help but feel that I’d rather stay there and never leave.

However, the real world beckoned, Kale had practice to go to, I had school to attend. He’d placed my helmet on and he’d stared down at me like he was trying to memorize my face. Something wasn’t right and I couldn’t figure out what had changed. On the back of Kale’s motorcycle I’d clung to him like I never wanted to let go. When he pulled up at the curb of the house, I’d reluctantly released him and gotten off the bike. I pulled off my helmet and held it awkwardly, searching for something to say to ease this weird tension between us. When I couldn’t think of anything, I shoved the helmet at him and turned to go up the walk.

I was fumbling with my house keys when his arms wrapped around me from behind. He pulled me tightly against him and buried his face in my neck. My keys fell to the ground, forgotten as I turned in his arms. His hands cupped my head and he stared into my eyes for so long, I felt lost in the teal depths of his. When our lips touched I felt gooseflesh rise on my arms and I instinctively rose on my toes to get closer. My hands curled into the leather at his shoulders and for a moment, the horrid end to our evening together disappeared as did the strange uneasiness of the morning. I felt my pulse jump and my heart thundered in my ears. Everything was hazy and unfocused, except for the two of us and I felt faintly dizzy.

The loud intrusive clearing of a throat had us jerking apart like kids caught with their hands in a cookie jar. Over my shoulder, I saw a red faced Russ framed by the front door, his arms crossed over his chest. My little moment of euphoria was quickly ground beneath the heel of Russ’s unforgiving stare. Returning my attention to Kale, I found that he was staring right back at my brother. A crease formed between my eyebrows as I watched the two, having some sort of staring contest. Finally, Kale nodded his head moving with just the briefest of motions before his gaze dropped to mine. What the hell is going on? What was that all about?

“Get in the house Calla,” Russ ordered.

I ignored him. Something was going on and as it involved me, I wanted to know what it was. Kale grinned down at me, and it wasn’t sad this time nor did it have a trace of guilt that I’d seen in his earlier ones. He dropped another kiss on my lips, a chaste one and gave me a squeeze. His attention never faltered from me as he backed down the walk, his naughty grin still in place. He winked at me as he got on his bike and just before he drew his helmet down, he called to me, “And I’ll be seeing you Calla!”