thin ice // mitch marner

CHAPTER 35

Anna had left for her late night class about an hour ago, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I had an early morning class today, then I came back to my room to do some homework. I had wanted to talk to her about all the events that had gone down yesterday at Auston's apartment, but I never had a moment alone with her to do so. She brought her new boy Luan to our room, and I was a bit uncomfortable talking about the situation since I had never met him before. He did seem nice enough, though.

I was tired out, and wished I could stop having 8am classes. Usually I'd wake up an hour early and have just enough time to get ready. Today, I woke up at 7:40 and had no time to get ready so I had to run to class. I showed up in sweatpants, a parka, and one of Mitch's hoodies; not a good look.

Currently, I was working on a mock statement of application for my marketing class, however I was too tired to focus. It was already late afternoon, the early morning really sinking in right about now. I shut my laptop screen and lay back on my bed, falling asleep. I hadn't gotten much work done all day, my mind not being able to move away from what happened at the apartment yesterday. I couldn't stop thinking about Auston and how worried I was with what he did. What the hell did this mean for us now?

I was woken up by a loud banging on my door. I groaned, and looked up, the noise wouldn't stop. I slowly sat up and rubbed my already-forming headache. I shuffled over to the door just as the knocking stopped. I opened the door slowly, rubbing my eyes.

"Hi!" It was Mitch. He saw my distraught face, laughing as he wrapped his arms around me and spun me around.

"Are you okay?" He laughs again, closing the door as he plants a quick kiss on my cheek.

"I just woke up." I say, rubbing my head.

"I can tell, I was knocking for forever." He walks over to sit on my bed.

"I'm sorry." I smile. "Early class, lots of homework." Tons on my mind, I think, but can't say out loud. Even seeing Mitch right now made me feel guilty.

"Nice sweater." He comments as I walk over to sit beside him. I was still wearing the damn sweatpants and his hoodie.

"I was in a rush this morning, I'm sorry." I say, giving him a sheepish smile.

"So you wore my sweater to class, interesting." He nods slowly.

"Nobody noticed, or said anything, don't worry." I assure him. I put my laptop down and throw my books on the floor, crossing my legs to sit closer to him.

"I'm just teasing." He smiles. "We had practice this morning. Big game tomorrow." He comments.

"Oh." I did not want to talk about the game, or the team, or practice, because I knew that all of this would point back to one thing—Auston.

He starts telling a story about something funny that happened today in practice, but I couldn't pay attention. I was staring at his lips, staring at the wall, staring at anything. I felt really bad.

"Nat, are you okay?" He interrupts himself to ask me, looking concerned.

"Yes." I instinctively say, taking his hand in both of mine. "Keep talking."

I try harder to pay attention this time, but my mind tunes out the second he mentions Auston's name. I felt so bad about this whole situation.

He uses his thumb to slowly rub my hand. "How've you been?" He asks, now turning the conversation towards me.

"Fine." I answer. I felt guilty just talking to him.

"Then what's wrong?" He says.

"Nothing." I shake my head. "Can we go somewhere?"