Sprigs from Ice

Part One// 14. Fresh Blossoms (b)

Astrid broke out into applause at his stunt and that drew their attention to the two intruders standing on the sidelines. David's eyes landed on me without a hint of surprise in them. For a few seconds, it was an awkward, tense stare-off until it was broken by another series of loud claps.

The boy who had been playing with David walked over, a blinding smile stark against his smooth, dark skin. "David's lovely cousin." He greeted Astrid, taking her hand in a handshake with a flirtatious wink, and then walked over to me with his hand extended. "And David's girl."

"I'm not David's girl." I immediately corrected.

His brows hopped up in surprise. He glanced over his shoulder, and when he looked back at me, there was a sly grin on his face. He took my hand in a firm grip, saying, "I'm Jonathan, and you're beautiful."

"Um, thanks." I said, my face heating up. Astrid shook her head with a small laugh.

"And it's a relief to hear you say you're not David's girl." He said and stood back, dropping my hand. "I saw your picture on his Instagram and was instantly jealous."

I laughed lightly, feeling some of the tension in my muscles dissipate. "Aren't you his friend?"

"Friend?" Jonathan looked downright offended. "Why would I be friends with someone who has such lousy football skills but acts over-confident to compensate? Someone with such mediocre looks and an even worse off intellectual capaci -oomph!"

There was a thump sound. Jonathan suddenly arched his back, his face contorted in pain. I gaped at the basketball rolling off the court into the bushes, and at David, who was coming over with a smug look as his friend hunched over on his knees, groaning.

"Talk shit about me again and it'll be that pretty face that kisses the ball next."

"Fucking prick." Was Jonathan's eloquent, pain-filled retort.

"Did your mum drop you off?" David asked Astrid, who was busily staring contemplatively at her phone's screen.

"Yeah." She mumbled absent-mindedly in response, her thumb hovering over the devices screen.

Jonathan straightened and stretched out with a pain-filled moan. "Can we go in? The sun is scorching."

"You're right." My best friend agreed and slipped her phone into the pocket of her sweats. "Five more minutes out here and we wouldn't be able to tell the difference between you and dark chocolate."

Jonathan's jaw dropped to the ground. I tried to suppress my laugh as best as I could, but a chuckle gave me away and earned me a betrayed look. He followed her with blazing indignation, complaining about how unfairly he was treated because of his complexion all the way to the screen door that led back inside the house.

Jonathan and Astrid took the light-hearted atmosphere along with them. David ran a hand through his hair, and I felt that suffocating tension from before wrap around us again. My fingers tightened on the straps of my bag. I wanted to walk away, but my legs were rooted in place. All the resolve I'd had in the car had deserted me.

"Can we talk, please?" His voice was soft, prompting me to lift my gaze off the lacquered floor and into dark, pleading eyes. "Just five minutes."

Just five minutes held promise for the various directions in which the conversation could go. I wasn't too fond of it, but if I would ever move on, I needed to do this. I found myself nodding as my resolve began to creep back, inch by inch.

"Okay."

I followed David through the screen door to the expansive kitchen, and then out onto a smaller porch, with a running Chromebook and an IGCSE English textbook lying on the glass table. I took a seat in the sofa, and almost freaked out when I felt something crumple behind me. A small white shopping bag had been lying between the cushions, and I'd accidentally sat on it.