On Thin Ice

50

Once we got Landon onto the bed, he turned his back to us and brought his knees up to his chest. My gaze lingered on him for a moment before following Micah out of the room and back down the stairs.

"Make sure he stays here," I said once we were back in the living room. "Don't let him go with them tomorrow."

Micah nodded, a worried expression on his face. "I'll try. I don't know if I'll be able to stop him if he actually wants to go."

I didn't say anything because I knew he was right. If Landon truly didn't want our help, we couldn't stop him. The sad part was I knew Landon didn't actually want to go, but he had at least somewhat convinced himself that he should.

"That was intense," Ian said once we were back in the car on the way to my house.

"Yeah," I responded in a sigh, my mind clouded with mental exhaustion.

My head hurt as I thought of the events of tonight. The last two days were overwhelming and all I wanted was for nothing to be going on in my life.

"So I," Ian started, stuttering slightly, "I, uh, I applied for some scholarships. I have scouts coming to some practices and games once we can play."

It seemed out of the blue that he was bringing this up, but I knew why he did it. He was taking my mind off of everything that has happened. Ian wasn't an overly emotional person, but he could read the emotions of others well.

"That's great, Ian," I said, trying to sound as enthusiastic as I could at the moment. I was truly happy for him and wished for him to succeed.

"Fox has been bugging me to do it," he mumbled, leaning his head against the window. "I think he wants me out of my mom's house more than I do."

I couldn't help but smile at that.

"He loves you," I said, glancing at Ian briefly.

He gave me a look that I couldn't quite decipher and nodded his head before I took my eyes off him.

I felt a little lighter by the time we got back to the house. I was able to calm down on the short ride home and talking to Ian helped dissipate the heavy feeling in my head.

When we entered the house and went up to my room, I didn't expect to find Fox sitting on my bed. My eyes widened when they landed on him and I couldn't help but let them linger on his injuries.

"I thought I broke up with you," I said, causing Fox to stand from the bed and roll his eyes at me.

"Shut up," he replied before looking over to Ian. "Is everything okay?" he asked him.

"You guys broke up?" Ian asked, ignoring Fox's question.

"No," Fox said at the same time I said, "Yes."

Fox glared at me, shaking his head.

"See, this is why I came over here," he started with a stern tone. "You left my house all sad looking and I knew you'd go back to thinking like this if I let you leave."

Ian looked increasingly uncomfortable as Fox and I shared glares.

"I'm going to let you two fight this out on your own," Ian said, backing away toward the door. "I'll just go bother Josh."

Ian shut the door behind him, leaving Fox and I standing across from each other in my room. Fox's eyes narrowed at me as I sat down on the bed.

"How did you even get here?" I asked, briefly looking down at my hands in my lap and then back up at him.

"Wren dropped me off," he answered. "He said he had somewhere to go anyway."

"Okay, so why are you here?"