“Alright, that’s it. I can’t take it anymore,” Ava said Friday night when she returned home from classes. I looked up from the magazine I was absent-mindedly flipping through on the settee and looked at her with raised eyebrows.
“What?”
“You’re at stage four of your moping cycle and I can’t handle it anymore. It is my duty as your best friend and roommate to correct your moping cycle.”
“I have a moping cycle?” I replied, cocking an eyebrow in amusement.
“Yes. Stage one: baking. Exhibit A, the cookies, which we have yet to get through and are probably extremely stale by now. Stage Two: silence. Stage three: stress and immersing yourself in homework. And now we’ve reached stage four. Where you convince yourself you’re okay when you’re really, really not.”
“I’m fine, Ava,” I replied, throwing the magazine on the coffee table and standing up.
“Denial,” Ava sing-songed, taking off her coat. “We’re going out tonight.”
“I can’t. I was just about to start crocheting a beanie for you. I thought you might like one. Your grandma taught me a new cross-stitch that I’m dying to try out, and you know how winter’s coming on…”
“Crap,” Ava muttered. “We’re moving through the stages quicker than I thought. Already you’re at stage five: grandma projects.”
I snorted. “Crocheting has no age limit, dumbie.”
“Lemme guess. Your Saturday night plans are bingo at the country club?”
I smacked her in the arm with a gray crocheting needle. “Shut up. I’m totally fine.”
“No. Tonight we are going out with our friends. Winter break is next week, and we’re going ice-skating. And you’re coming along.”
I looked at the thick wool mournfully. “Ava…”
“I swear to God, if you pick a cross-stitch over your friends, I will hit you,” she warned, and I sighed.
“All right. Fine. I’ll go ice-skating. But you’re buying my wool for the next month.”
“I thought I wouldn’t hear that phrase until I was on my deathbed in a nursing home,” she muttered, and I giggled.
I went into my room and applied a thin layer of makeup. I dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with a thick hoodie over the top, topping the outfit off with a thick woolen scarf.
“Oh, by the way, Chance is going to be there,” Ava said as she breezed past my door, clipping earrings into her ears.
Immediately I faltered in my tracks. “Ava…”
“Nope, you’re not getting out of this,” she said tersely, shaking her head. “He and Jamie are going with us, but the whole gang will be there, and you won’t even have to talk to him. If anything, this should help you.”
“How will seeing Chance help me?”
“Stand up strong and show him what a brave, independent young woman you are,” Ava said encouragingly.
Maybe I would’ve stayed home, but something about her words spurred me on. I wanted to see my friends tonight, and if it came at the price of running into Chance, then I’d have to take the risk. I wouldn’t have to interact with him, and I wasn’t going to let him stop me from seeing my friends. We’d both just have to deal.
“Fine,” I replied, wrapping the scarf tightly around my throat and turning to her. “Ready?”
“Atta girl!” she replied, looping an arm around my shoulders and steering me out the front door. “Consider your moping phase completed. Score for Ava.”
“I’m still making that beanie for you.”
The only response I received was a groan.
~ * ~
“You know, I think I’ve got cramps. Maybe I should stay home,” I told Ava as we pulled into the parking lot of the ice-skating rink.
She turned to me with narrowed eyes. “No way in hell, Candi. You are not getting out with that excuse. Take a Tylenol and man up! We are going in and we are going to declare independence.”
“Will Rose be there?” I sing-songed tauntingly, and her face brightened at the name of her girlfriend.
“Of course.”
“Great. So I’m going to be the awkward third-wheel,” I replied, deflating in my seat.
“No! Of course not. The whole gang will be there. And in a worst-case scenario, just talk to Jamie.”
“Who will be with Chance,” I replied, throwing her a meaningful look.
“Not necessarily. They’re not attached at the hip, Candi. You’ll be fine. It’s a couple hours. It’s not like you two were even dating. As far as everyone knows, you were two people whose chemistry just didn’t click. They don’t have to know anything else.”
“You’re right,” I said resolutely, nodding my head for confirmation and opening my door to let in the brisk winds. I gritted my teeth and lowered my head against the freezing wind, sucking in breaths. “I am strong and independent. I don’t have to worry.”
Ava and I made our way into the skating rink, and I felt my heart plummet the closer we got to the doors. Before I could voice a complaint, Ava had grabbed my forearm and dragged me through the automatic doors.
Inside, the temperature dropped even more, and I shivered, despite my thick coat. Music played over the speakers, and people milled about on chairs, including our friends. Behind them was the large circular ice-skating rink, already filled with people.
I scanned our friends, spotting Jamie and a few of our other friends, but not one person in particular. Namely, Chance.
Ava immediately ran to Rose, and I rolled my eyes as she jumped into her arms and hugged her fervently. I walked to our friends, and was immediately engulfed by Leila, an enthusiastic redhead I had not seen in quite some time.
“Candi!” the fiery redhead squealed, jumping up and down. “Why has it been so long?”
I laughed. “I don’t know, Leila. Sorry about that.”
She shook her head and tsked, and Tessa and Callie, two vivacious twins that might as well have been conjoined, appeared beside her. “Heeeeeey, Candi,” Callie slurred enthusiastically, throwing one sloppy arm around my shoulder.
I almost buckled under the unexpected weight, and turned to Tessa. “Is she drunk already?”
Out of the whole group, Callie was the self-confessed party animal, and it was not really surprising that already Callie was drunk. It was Friday night, and any chance to have a few vodkas was good enough for Callie.
“I’m not drunk,” Callie slurred in reply, cutting off any reply Tessa might have given. “Unless you mean drunk on life. In which case, I am plastered!”
“Oh, boy,” I muttered.
“You’re telling me,” Tessa replied sorrowfully. “Try having to room with her and her alcoholic tendencies.”
“That’s not very nice, Tessie,” Callie said, her pink lips jutting out into a pout. “Unless you want me to tell everybody about the whiskey flask you keep in your underwear drawer.”
“That’s your flask in your underwear drawer, Cal,” Tessa replied, examining her fingernails.
Callie’s face scrunched up in thought, before she giggled. “Oh… right. That is me.”
“Are you sure she should be out on the ice?” I asked dubiously, regarding her. I was pretty sure alcohol, ice, and sharp shoes would not mix.
“I tried to make her stay and drink her sorrows away, but she insisted. I’m gonna try and keep her off the ice,” Tessa replied, ever the levelheaded one.
“Why?” Callie whined. “I am the Ice Queen! You cannot keep me away from my kingdom!”
“I forgot what a joy you are when you’re drunk,” I mused, before turning to face my other friends. “Hey, guys!”
I was met with a chorus of salutations from the other gathered people, and a smile broke onto my face. It had been way too long since we met up, and, truth be told, I was kind of glad to see them again.
“I see Callie’s as happy as ever,” Ava suddenly said, swinging into view with Rose on her arm.
“Hey, Ave!” Tessa said, drawing her in for a quick hug. “It has been way too long.”
“Rose,” I said, drawing her into a hug. “Hey.”
Rose and Ava had been dating since freshmen year of college, and it was understandable why. They had completely clicked. While Ava had long brown locks, Rose’s hair was black as night, chopped into a stylish pixie-cut. Her eyes were a deep brown, and her skin was translucently pale. She had five earrings lining her ears, as well as a small diamond stud in her nose, and a tattoo of a rose on her wrist. Right now she wore jeans and a form-fitting band shirt, a blue scarf twisted around her neck.
“Hey, Candi,” she replied, hugging me tightly. She smelled of perfume, something in between vanilla and cinnamon. “How are you?”
“I’m good!” I replied.
“Let’s get out on the ice, shall we?” Callie yelled enthusiastically, pumping her hand in the air.
“Okay, Ice Queen,” Tessa replied with obvious adoration in her tone. “Let’s get you on the ice.”
~ * ~
After we’d rented out our ice skates and tied them up, we took to the ice. Tessa had managed to pacify Callie with a plate of nachos from the rink restaurant, and she sat at one of the tables munching contentedly on them as we went onto the ice.
Soon Ava had skated off with Rose to have their own romantic time, and I stuck to the side, clinging on for dear life. I wasn’t the best ice skater, and while I could hold my own on the ice fairly well, the worry of falling and injuring myself was constant at the back of my mind. Instead I chose to people watch, and my eyes scanned over all of the different faces, ages and people skating around. The bunch of little kids laughing as they skated, the loved-up couples, and the group of teenagers. All with different stories to tell and different lives to go back to. It was kind of surreal.
“Awkward third wheel?” a voice suddenly asked, and I spun around to see Jamie had appeared beside me, his green eyes twinkling mischievously, the way they always seemed to.
I looked around, realizing that the rest of the group had all split off, the couples pairing up—including Tessa and her boyfriend Grayson, who were now heatedly making out at the barrier. A few of the girls were hanging out together, but mostly we’d split off in chunks to do our own thing, which seemed to always happen at social gatherings.
“I don’t trust myself not to fall and crack my head open,” I confessed with a smile. “I’ve opted to people-watch instead. Much safer.”
“Oh, yeah?” Jamie replied, casting a glance around. He knew how much I loved to people watch, and often joined in for the hell of it. He pointed to a girl with curly brown hair that was laughing with her boyfriend. “What’s her story?”
I pursed my lips, scanning her appearance. She wore black gloves and a purple velvet trench coat, as well as a beanie. “She’s a narc,” I replied.
Jamie burst out laughing. “Oh, really?”
I nodded. “Uh-huh. She’s working undercover with the police. Her boyfriend is part of a big drug ring, and she’s been sent in to seduce him and make him confess that he’s a secret drug lord. See that big trench coat? She’s probably hiding wires in there. And I’ll bet there’s a secret camera hidden in that brooch on her lapel that the agents can look through.”
“Fair enough,” he acknowledged, nodding along and scanning the rink. “And him?”
He was now pointing to the boyfriend, who had a look of intense concentration on his face as he tried to master the ice skates. “Drug lord. Got caught up in the wrong circles in high school. Now he’s part of the mafia. She’s his next victim.”
We spent the next half-hour doing that. We’d point out people to each other and make up stories about why they were there and who they were. Jamie had a really good imagination, and his stories were always hilarious, totally unbelievable things that seemed almost possible with him.
“Come on,” Jamie said, holding out his hand for me to take. “Let’s skate.”
“I think I’d severely injure you,” I admitted, casting a wary look at the ice. “Not sure I wanna risk that pretty face of yours.”
He grinned and shook his head. “I think I’ll take the risk. Seriously. Let’s go.”
After a moment of deliberation, I took his gloved hand, and he drew me onto the ice. He held onto my hand and led me around the rink, teaching me little tricks on how to walk and the best way to glide through the ice and how to optimize maximum friction and traction between the ice and the metal skates.
“How do you even know all this?” I asked, shaking my head at him in wonderment. “You’re a Floridian. Shouldn’t you only know things like what the best brand of flip-flops are and how to make your own ice-cream?”
He tsked and shook his head. “I never took you for a stereotyper.”
“Pretty sure that’s not a word, James.”
“Ooh, the full name comes out,” he said tauntingly, raising his dark eyebrows at me. “Tell me this, Candicesia.”
I burst out laughing, and clapped a hand over my mouth. “Candicesia? That’s not my name. You do realize that, right?”
He grinned and spun me around suddenly, and I almost lost my footing, letting out a startled squeak. He grabbed my waist and pulled me back just in time, a pout on his lips. “That was for being mean to me.”
“How old are you, five?”
“And a half,” he returned easily, making me roll my eyes at his familiar antics.
“So, where’s Chance tonight?” I asked casually, looking around the rink as if he might suddenly appear out of the shadows.
Jamie’s expression faltered slightly, but he never missed a beat. “I was wondering how long it would take you to bring it up.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He shrugged easily, and led me around the edge of the rink, where I was beginning to get the hang of things. “Nothing. It’s just that I know what’s been happening between you guys the last couple of weeks. I was just wondering how long it would be before you mentioned him, that’s all.”
“Why isn’t he here?” I persisted.
“He was all for it,” Jamie said. “But then—never mind.”
“No, what? Tell me.”
He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. “It’s just, he asked who was going and I mentioned you were gonna be there. Then he remembered he had an assignment due for class. No biggie.”
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that assignment was nonexistent and the only reason he didn’t turn up was because he knew I was gonna be there. Despite the fact I’d been avoiding him for the past two weeks, it still kinda stung a little to know I was the reason he was staying away from a perfectly good night out with friends.
“Oh,” I whispered, lowering my eyes and nodding. “Okay.”
“Don’t take it personally,” Jamie said earnestly. “Really. Chance is just like that sometimes. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
I forced a smile, though it probably looked more like a pained grimace. “Right. Me too.”
We continued skating, but I couldn’t get the thought of Chance out of my mind. Was he avoiding me on purpose? Part of me wanted to believe that maybe he really had just forgotten about an assignment that was due, despite the fact it was only one week until winter break, and I didn’t know of anybody who had assignments due now.
I stuck by Jamie’s side most of the night, occasionally meeting up with people and talking with them about how they were and what they were up to. When the night was winding down, Chance was almost pushed completely to the back of my mind, and between the easy banter that always came between Jamie and me and the nonstop conversations with everyone else, I was feeling a lot better than I had the last few weeks.
“Well, I’m calling it a night,” Tessa said, yawning at about nine-fifteen. “I better get Callie back to the dorm before she strips down and performs the Macarena on the table again.”
“That was one time,” Callie muttered, rubbing her eyes like a tired toddler.
“You have to admit, the fluent Spanish singing was quite impressive, though,” Jamie chimed in to the conversation. .
“Seriously, let’s go,” Tessa said, giggling and tugging Callie’s sleeve, as if this might suddenly spur her into action.
“But why?” Callie whined, stomping her foot like a petulant child and pouting. “I was just beginning to have fun!”
Tessa grinned. “Come on, Cal. Let’s get home. I’ll even let you watch that Spanish soap opera you like.”
The rest of our friends began to depart soon after, and I hugged them goodbye tightly. “You heading back to the dorms?” I asked Ava with raised eyebrows when everyone else had left. Ava stood hand-in-hand with Rose near the doors.
“We’re actually going to catch a midnight screening of the new horror movie,” Ava replied with a grin, shrugging. “Sorry, Candi. Jamie, can you drive her home for me? We’re taking the car.”
He shrugged. “No worries, sis. Catch you ‘round.”
Jamie and I made our way out of the rink after depositing the skates back at the rental table with the weedy teenage clerk, and walked slowly towards his silver car. It was even colder now as it approached nine-thirty, and I shivered in my coat, tugging it tightly against me to maintain as much body heat as I possibly could.
We hopped into the car, and Jamie hastened to turn on the heater, immediately warming the inside of the car. “You’re a lifesaver,” I said as my teeth began to chatter. I did not handle cold well.
“Fun fact: I actually am,” Jamie replied with a chuckle, shoving the key into ignition.
I cocked an eyebrow, searching his expression to determine if he was serious or not. When his face remained straight, I almost choked. “Seriously?”
“Uh-huh,” he replied proudly, pulling out of the parking space and onto the road. “I got my lifesaving license senior year of high school.”
“Wow, you really do fulfill every Floridian stereotype I can think of,” I joked. “Lifesaver, green eyes, sporty... What more could you want?”
“I know, I know. I’m the perfect guy,” he replied.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, okay.”
“Hey, do you wanna get coffee?” Jamie asked suddenly, turning to me.
I turned to the clock and peered at the blue numbers. “If you know a café that’ll be open at nine-thirty, then sure. I’m up for it.”
He started driving down the highway and back toward campus, and I enjoyed the silence in the car. We enjoyed similar music, and it was nice to just have a relaxing drive without Ava’s excited chatter filling the space. Jamie and I enjoyed similar things, like music and silence.
When he pulled into the Coffee Star, the café on campus, I was surprised to see all of the lights still on, creating a bright, warm atmosphere. “Jesus, I didn’t know they were open so late,” I said, unbuckling my seatbelt after he’d turned off the engine.
“Only on weekend nights,” Jamie replied, coming around and opening my door for me. I thanked him and stepped out, and we eagerly made our way into the café. Now that the cold had settled into my bones, I was looking forward to a nice macchiato with extra foam and soymilk.
What I wasn’t looking forward to—or expecting, really—was for the café to be completely deserted and lifeless. And for the only other person in the café to be Chance, dutifully working the counter.
I froze by the door in shock, as did Jamie. Chance, having finished mopping down the bench and being alerted by the jingle on the door, looked up expectantly, and his jaw slacked when he saw us walking through the door. His brown eyes darted down, and, with a jolt of shock, I realized why.
Jamie and I were holding hands.
It was something neither of us seemed to have noticed up until that moment, and immediately I dropped his hand, shoving it into my coat pocket as color bloomed on my cheeks. Holding hands with a boy. That was a first. Even in a non-romantic way.
Jamie seemed a lot more at ease than me, and moved forward effortlessly, recovering from the awkward situation. “Hey, Chance. I didn’t know you were working tonight.”
Chance cleared his throat, and it took him a moment to speak. When he did, his voice sounded a little strange. “Oh, uh, yeah. Drake called in sick and I took over his shift for him.”
“Oh, cool,” Jamie replied slowly. “Can I get a caramel frappé?” He turned to me. “Candi? What would you like?”
“Just a macchiato, please,” I replied, trailing behind Jamie and trying to figure out what to make of the situation. I wracked my brain for some excuse of why I had to leave, but it seemed my brain had gone completely dead. What was a quick and easy escape from this torture?
“Sure,” Chance replied, forcing a smile and turning around. I wanted to make some kind of joke to alleviate the tension, but nothing came to mind. I was completely helpless to get myself out of the situation, and the awkwardness in the room remained stifling.
The next two minutes were filled with complete and utter silence, before Chance turned around, looking considerably more composed than he had minutes before. “There you go,” he said, handing over the two steaming cups of coffee. “Five bucks.”
I pulled out my wallet, but Jamie’s hand on mine stopped me. “Don’t worry, Candi. I got this. Consider it recompense for spending the evening with me.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I replied with a smile, turning my attention away from my wallet and back to Jamie.
“Fine. Consider it Floridian manners,” he responded, handing the five-dollar bill over while I giggled.
Chance passed us our coffee and wiped his hands on his coffee-stained apron, before turning around and promptly disappearing into the kitchen without another word. I frowned, feeling a flicker of hurt wash over me. Wow, I’d really screwed things up between us, hadn’t I?
“Hey, come on,” Jamie said gently, taking my hand and leading me to a booth up the back.
“Maybe I should go,” I whispered, looking at the coffee cup as I slid into the booth across from him.
“Look, just ignore him, okay? Pretend he’s not there. Please,” Jamie said pleadingly, his green eyes wide and earnest. “I swear I didn’t know he was going to be here tonight. But maybe this is a good thing.”
“How?” I replied, my voice coming out higher than I intended.
“Ave was telling me about your moping cycle,” he responded, and I rolled my eyes. Trust Ava to do something like that. “Maybe this is a good way of getting over him. Establishing a common ground between you two and making it easier to get along with each other.”
I nodded. Jamie was a lot like Ava in the advice department, and I was glad for it. I needed all the help I could get. “You’re right. It’s not like we were ever dating, anyway. It shouldn’t matter if he’s here.”
He slapped me on the back gently and enthusiastically. “Atta girl!”
“You are just like Ava,” I said, shaking my head at how alike they were.
“Except I’m way hotter than my sister,” he replied, shaking his head gently and taking a sip of his frappé.
“Okay, sure,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “But you guys are seriously like the same person.”
“Well, we do both like chicks,” he responded easily.
My jaw dropped, and a small laugh escaped me. I was caught somewhere between shock and surprise. A small giggle bubbled out of me before I could stop it. “Jamie!”
“What?” he replied, chuckling. “It’s true.”
“I cannot believe you just said that,” I said, shaking my head ruefully at him. “Ava would kick your ass if she heard you say that.”
“I’m only speaking the truth,” Jamie replied, earning a slap on the arm from me. This then caused him to spit some of his caramel frappé out in shock, which landed on the polished table and near me.
“Ew, Jamie!” I cried, shuffling back in my chair and checking to make sure none of it had landed on me. “That was disgusting!”
“That was your fault!” he replied, acting offended at my reaction, as if I was the one in the wrong. “You hit me!”
“Yeah, but you deserved it!”
He stuck his tongue out childishly in reply, and I giggled. “Are you seriously sticking your tongue out at me?” I asked.
There was a moment of silence, and slowly his tongue retracted back into his mouth. “Maybe.”
“There is no way you’re twenty-two,” I replied.
“Good thing I’m only twenty-one, then, isn’t it?”
“Oh, shut up.”
“You.”
“No, you.”
“You.”
“I am not having this argument with you,” I told him, feeling like I’d gone out to have coffee with a child. Though this was pretty much how every conversation with Jamie went.
His eyes crinkled as he smiled, staring at me. “You know, it has been way too long since we’ve gone out,” he told me. “This sounds weird, but I kinda missed you, Candice.”
“I’m a very missable person,” I replied.
“Not a word.”
“Is so.”
“Is not.”
I rolled my eyes and chugged down some coffee, needing some extra caffeine to get through the night with him. “You wanna know something, Jamie?” I asked, staring at the coffee lid.
“What’s that, Candi-Cane?”
I looked up and bit my lip. “I kinda missed you, too, Jamie.”
He looked down, his long eyelashes causing shadows to form on his cheeks, and he dropped a shrug. “Must be my Floridian charm.”
“Oh, definitely.”
This was the thing I loved about hanging out with Jamie. He was like a cool older brother that you could banter with. He got you, and he was always trying to lighten the mood and put a smile on your face.
He drained the last of his coffee and put it down. “Damn, that was good coffee.”
“I don’t care what you say, you fit every Floridian stereotype there is.”
“You mean, I’m sexy, charming, sunny and strikingly handsome?” he replied.
“Pretty sure three of those mean the same thing.”
“Yeah, I’m a triple threat. Hot, hot, and… oh, would you look at that? Hot.”
I stood up and wiped my hands on my thighs. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I don’t think I can handle another second with you.”
“Well, if you wanted to take it to the car, all you had to do was ask…” he trailed off, and his eyebrows wiggled suggestively.
“You are such a perv!” I said, hitting him on his bicep.
“Ooh, feeling up my muscles, are you?”
I dropped my hand and laughed, shaking my head. “You are impossible, Jamie Donoghue.”
We reached the door, and he opened it for me. As I stepped through into the cold winds, I felt Jamie stop behind me.
“See you later, Chance.”
I spun around to see Jamie nodding to Chance, and he inclined his head back as he wiped down the counter again. A small smile adorned on his lips, but his eyes weren’t on Jamie.
They were on me.
~ * ~
I love Jamie so much! I think he’s my favorite character. What do you guys think?
Vote, comment, add and fan.
Thanks for reading! :)
xXx