Ice Cold

17

"Hi!" she greeted. "Are you a friend of Wren's from school?"

"Uh..." Landon started.

"Yeah, that's exactly right, Mom," I told her with a grin.

My mother might have bought that, but Dan and Mindy wouldn't, and they were already in the house. The two of them looked past me at Landon. Mindy had that soft, motherly gaze she always had as she looked at him. I turned to look at him, having to glance up because he was still on the step. His eyes were wide and his jaw was clenched. I could feel he tension radiating off of him.

What I've learned about Landon in the time that I've known him was that he hated being confronted with his past. Facing Dan and Mindy was just a huge confrontation with who he was all those months ago. The things he did to their son, the way he hated himself for it, maybe even a realization of how opposite Elijah's parents were to his own, all rushed to him now.

Landon was frozen, so I grabbed his wrist and pulled him down from the step. Mindy walked over with a soft smile and put her hands on his shoulders.

"It's good to see you, Landon," Mindy said, squeezing his shoulders. "You look good. Have you been taking care of yourself?"

Landon nodded and hummed in agreement. I watched him. I could tell it was hard for him to maintain eye contact with her. His face was trying to turn away, but his eyes stayed on hers.

"Good," Mindy said. She smiled over at me before releasing Landon's shoulders. Dan nodded in acknowledgement over at Landon while he was in conversation with Dad.

"Wren, sweetie, we're heading out to a brunch, but we'll be back later okay?" Mom said. "Will you be home?"

"I'll let you know," I told her. Mom nodded and kissed my cheek before the four of them left the house, leaving Landon and I standing side by side.

Landon's eyes were still wide as he stared straight ahead. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides.

"Are you going to stand there all day?" I asked him. I was just trying to get a reaction out of him, get him to stop looking like he was frozen in time. He glanced over at me and didn't say a word before following me into the kitchen.

He sat down at the table while I opened the fridge, taking out the eggs.

"Are omelettes alright with you? Is that something you'll actually eat? Healthy enough?"

"That's fine," he muttered.

I started cutting up some vegetables and getting the eggs ready to be cooked. I could feel Landon watching me as I cooked. I would briefly glance over and he wouldn't look away. His eyes were on my bare back as I stood at the stove.

I plated the omelettes once they were done and brought them over to the table. I turned around to pour us each a cup of coffee, scouring the fridge until I found the oat milk. I put some sweetener in mine, but left Landon's how it was after I poured the oat milk in.

"Can you put a fucking shirt on?" Landon snapped as I set the coffee in front of him.

I looked down at him, my lips tipping up in a smile. It was funny how he didn't even really try to be subtle with his attraction to me anymore. He knew I knew and it was useless to pretend I didn't.

"Sorry, is my chest distracting?" I asked him. "You can touch it if you want."

He scoffed. "I don't want to touch it."

"But seeing it makes me hard to resist," I teased. "You don't have to resist me, you know. You want me to give you a little kiss?"

"I don't want to be kissed," he snapped with more ferocity than I expected. My smile fell.