Scars On Ice | Charlie Conway

n i n e

Elle was torn between being pleased and alarmed when she noticed the tranquility on Aspen's face. The girl had offered her a warm smile the moment that she sat down, something that of course was not rare, but still put Elle on edge. After their phone call the night before, she was certain that Aspen would be in a horrible mood. Elle was positive that there was something she hadn't told her over the phone. She'd have to be an idiot to not have noticed when Aspen started crying, but both her own awkwardness and Aspen's stubbornness kept her from asking about it. It didn't sit right with her for the rest of the evening.

Her tension melted away as Aspen started an upbeat conversation, absentmindedly babbling about some upcoming school event that Roland had told her about. Elle had no interest in Homecoming or Sadies or Prom, but she knew that she would be attending anyway; Aspen wouldn't give her much of a choice.

"Since when do you like dances?" Elle asked suspiciously, an inquisitive smile appearing on her lips. She couldn't help but glance down at the girl's bum leg. There was no way she'd be balancing in heels, letting alone dancing in them.

Aspen rolled her eyes. "Seeing as how I've never been to one, I can't say how I feel about them one way or another," she responded. Her tone was nonchalant as she shrugged, "I just think it's cool to have something to look forward to. After all, this is the real high school experience."

The pair of girls shared a blank look before erupting into a fit of muffled giggles. Jay had been drilling the concept of an "authentic" four years of high school into their heads since they were ten. There was no doubt that he was already applying to be on every single event committee on campus. 

Elle twirled her pen in her fingers as she momentarily let her attention focus on their independent note-taking assignment. Aspen's paper had slowly but surely begun to fill up with meticulously highlighted dates and events. In stark contrast, Elle had barely titled her page, and even that was a chore. The girl considered getting to work before just deciding to do it at home. She was officially much more interested in distracting her best friend. 

She seemed to either forget or ignore the fact that Peter was sitting directly behind them as she turned her sights on Aspen. One of her eyebrows had raised, and there was a smirk on her lips. "Wait, rewind. Did you say Roland told you about this dance?" she interrogated, her gaze not once straying from her friend's face.

Aspen nodded without giving it a thought, her focus stuck on the sentence she was writing. When she finished, a look of consideration flashed across her face. She set down her pen. "I mean, he brought it up," she complied, "but... it's Homecoming. It's not like I didn't know about it. I just didn't know when it was."

Elle hummed, pressing her tongue against the inside of her cheek. "Aspen," she murmured after a painful moment of silence. Aspen turned her blue gaze to her friend, a naive expression on her face. She raised her eyebrows innocently, and Elle couldn't decide if she wanted to laugh at her or slap her. "Are you really not picking up on what I'm implying here?"

Aspen's eyebrows furrowed, and it was obvious that she was trying to piece together what Elle was talking about. Her eyes flittered around the room in a moment of distracted wondering before settling back onto her friend's face. When she shook her head, Elle let out a disgruntled huff. She contemplated whether or not it was a good idea to open this can of worms in their current setting. She decided it wasn't. "Never mind," she breathed exasperatedly, "I'll tell you later."

An angry pout settled onto Aspen's lips. "That's not fair! You can't just make fun of me for not reading your mind and then not explain it to me," she complained, crossing her arms over her chest angrily.

Elle opened her mouth to respond, but Peter's voice broke into her thought process. "Reading Elle's mind? Now I'm intrigued," he chided with a devious grin. Aspen scowled as she turned to glare at him, clearly gearing up to scold him for butting into their conversation.