"Really?" Landry asked with a grin, raising his eyebrows at me and clearly not believing what I said. "You're not texting some girl from back home?"
"No, it's my sister," I lied. I felt slightly guilty at using Livi when I hadn't heard from her in a little while. I tried not to let my mind dwell on that.
"Oooh, a sister," Jacobs, another one of my line mates, chimed in. I narrowed my eyes at him.
"She's fifteen."
"Oh. Nevermind," Jacobs replied, looking apologetic while Landry let out a loud laugh and slapped him on the back.
Another text notification lit up my phone.
From: Wren
Isn't the premise of the game to get the puck in the net?
To: Wren
Are you texting me just to irritate me
From: Wren
I do enjoy irritating you, though it's a lot more fun doing it to your face.
This time I did feel myself start to smile and I wanted to punch myself for letting myself get amused at Wren, to feel happy that he was texting me. This was the sort of thing I wanted to avoid, but of course, Wren was impossible for me to avoid.
From: Wren
When will you be back? So I can properly irritate you.
To: Wren
Not until tomorrow night
From: Wren
How unfortunate.
I was trying to think of a response when another text came through from an unknown number.
From: Unknown
Landon it's livi going to call u
I got up from the table just as my phone started to ring. I waited to answer it until I was out of the room and on my way toward the elevator to go back up to my hotel room.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Hey!" Livi replied.
Relief rushed through me at the sound of her voice. I tried not to think too much about why she didn't contact me for a little while. She was only fifteen. Time got away from her. It didn't mean anything bad had happened.
"What's up?" I asked her, stepping into the elevator. "Everything alright?"
"Eh, it's been okay," she said. "Mom grounded me and took away my phone because she thought I wasn't focusing enough on skating, so I stopped going to practice until she ungrounded me."
"And things with Dad?"
"Still an asshole," she responded. "But he's not so bad with me. Not like he was with you. He said something about you the other day."
My eyes widened as I stepped out of the elevator and walked toward my room.
"What?" I asked. I found my room and unlocked the door before stepping inside and going toward my bed. I sat down, awaiting Livi's answer.
"He was talking to Mom about me and my skating and said something like 'Landon was like that at her age. He was losing focus. Olivia is not losing focus.' And Mom got super upset. They act like you're dead or something."
YOU ARE READING
Ice Cold
General Fiction[boyxboy] Wren Ridley is always two steps ahead of everyone, or so he thinks. His life seems out of his control when he starts having feelings for someone he knows he shouldn't, someone who he's better off avoiding at all costs. Landon Reilly is st...
