On Thin Ice

Epilogue

Once Fox and I were alone in my room, I tightly shut the door before moving to lie on my bed. Fox took the opportunity to lie on top of me, hugging my waist and resting his head on my chest while I took his hat off and let my fingers play with his hair.

"Comfy?" I asked with a chuckle as my finger twirled a curl in his hair.

"Mhm," he hummed against my chest.

"I'm gonna miss this," I said with a sigh, causing Fox to pick his head up and look at me with a strange expression.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked me, his eyes narrowing. "Our schools are literally five minutes away from each other. I think we'll manage."

Fox had gotten into Northeastern and their hockey team while I had gotten into Boston University. The schools were right near each other in the city, but I was still worried we wouldn't be able to see each other much.

"We're gonna have busy schedules," I reminded him. "It's gonna be hard to see each other."

"I'm not worried about that right now. We have the whole summer together," Fox said, placing his head back on my chest and rubbing his hand up and down my abdomen. "What I'm worried about is meeting your grandparents today."

I scoffed, tugging on his hair. "Why are you worried about that?"

"Because there is a possibility that they'll hate me," he said, his tone suggesting I should have already known this.

I rolled my eyes and lightly smacked him on the head.

"It's impossible to hate you," I told him.

"Shut up," he grumbled, his face against my chest.

It was only a few seconds later when Dad called up the stairs for the two of us to come down, letting us know that my grandparents had arrived. At the sound of my Dad's words, Fox shot up off my chest and stood next to the bed. I looked up at him, holding my hand out for him to pull me off the bed.

"Are you ready to meet them?" I asked with a sarcastic grin as Fox clasped my hand in his and pulled me to stand next to him.

Fox had a pout on his face as he picked up his hat from the bed and situated it back onto his head, taming the hair I had messed up with my fingers moments before.

"No," he grumbled.

"Why is it that you're always nervous to meet my family, yet I'm not nervous meeting yours?" I asked him, opening the bedroom door and leading him out into the hall toward the stairs.

"Because you're more naturally likable than me," Fox replied in a serious tone.

"That's not it."

I led Fox down the stairs where I heard conversation happening in the kitchen. As soon as we entered, my grandmother was in front of me, throwing her arms around me in a tight hug.

"Oh, Elijah, sweetheart, I'm so sorry we missed your graduation," Gram cried in an exaggerated tone. "Our flight kept getting delayed!"

"It's okay, Gram," I replied, returning her hug before she pulled away and went over to Fox.

"And you must be Fox," she said, wrapping her arms around him. "It's so good to finally meet you!"

I chuckled as he slowly returned the hug, his eyes darting to me. "It's good to meet you too," he said.

"Enough of that," Grandpa interjected. "Let the boys breathe."

Gram let go of Fox to place her hands on her hips as she glared over at her husband. Grandpa ignored her glare in order to introduce himself to Fox, shaking his hand.