𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐓 qᵘⁱⁿⁿ ʰᵘᵍʰᵉˢ

02

The two families sat at the table, everyone talking over each other in different conversations. Ellen and Cecelia were talking about shopping plans, Jim and Pete about last nights game, Jack and Luke arguing over stats and Quinn and Ivy.. where's Quinn?

Ivy slowly pushed out from her seat, the one across from hers now empty. Everyone was too engrossed into their chats to notice her leaving the way Quinn had. She had been holding back tears since she saw him at the pond earlier, she thought she was over it—she wasn't.

Walking into one of the bathrooms, she closed the door, falling against the counter as the tears finally left her eyes. She could handle it outside, but being in this house with him was too much.

A quiet knock came from behind the door, "V?"

"Go away." She knew it was him, that he was behind that door. "I don't want to talk to you." She couldn't help but to add it. Yet, the door was opening anyway.

"V, what's wrong?" Quinn stepped to her side and she moved away, shoulder pressing to the wall.

"Don't act like you don't know." She wiped her tears, lifting her head high to meet his eyes. "Please just leave me alone, Quinn."

"I don't want you to be upset.. I thought it would be okay." He mumbled, her eyes went cold and tears were falling again. "Ivy, I never wanted to hurt you. It's been—"

"Quinn, please, get away from me." She couldn't listen to him anymore, not now.

"I'm sorry, V." Quinn mumbled, leaving her to herself.

Ivy gathered herself, making sure her eyes weren't puffy, catching her breath, she walked back to the dining room. She took her seat back beside Luke, reaching for the bottle of wine to fill her glass. Luke nudged her knee with his own as she took a sip, earning a light laugh from the woman.

"Your mother would kill me." She whispered and he frowned, watching as she took a long drink of the red wine.

"Oh, Ivy, you were in Finland recently, right?" Jim asked, the young woman setting her glass down, swollowing harshly with a nod. "Did you get to see any hockey games while you were there? They've got great programs."

"Oh, no. I haven't really watched much hockey these last few years." She answered honestly, she noticed Quinn shift in his seat, picking at the salad on his plate.

"Jimmy, the girl was traveling the world, she's not gonna spend her time doing what she does at home." Ellen teased her husband, who smiled with a slight eye roll.

"Right, right. You enjoyed your trip though? We missed having you here with the boys."

"Yeah, it was incredible. I definitely missed home and Ellens cooking." Ivy smiled graciously to the woman beside her mother.

"Not mine?" Her mom joked and Ivy shrugged playfully.

"Will you be home for the summer? You could join the boys at their lake house." Ellen suggested and Ivy glanced to the three.

"Mom, Trevor would drive her insane." Jack laughed out, "I really don't want to see him try to flirt with her at the lake house."

That didn't surprise Ivy, the Hughes brothers having had a sort of protectiveness over her when it came to guys. Jack and Quinn especially, Luke was always too young to care. Jack and Ivy were in a lot of the same classes at school though, which resulted in a lot of Ivy's potential boyfriends backing out when Jack said anything.

"I've met Trevor, right? He's the one that with like the curly blond hair? Looks like the typical fu-"

"Yeah, you met Trevor." Jack mumbled, stuffing a bite of food into his mouth.

"How is he? You're still friends?" Ivy questioned, she wished she hadn't had to ask these things.

"He's great, he's playing for the ducks. We still talk all the time." Jack answered with a smile and she nodded.

"Aw, that sounds great."

—

Ivy was in her room, tucked in bed with a book in her hands. She had the heat kicked on, bundled in blankets but she was still so cold. Michigan winters were hell if the cold decided to stick—she'd forgotten about that.

In the midst of her shivers and chapter, she heard a soft tap on her window. She stuffed the bookmark between the page, turning back to the window behind her bed. It didn't surprise her when she opened the window to see Quinn.

"What do you want?" She muttered, sitting back into her bed. She was too cold to stay over the window, letting him invite himself in the way he used to.

Quinn climbed into the room, landing on the blanket beside her and he closed the window. She looked at his snow covered shoes with a glare and he got the message, kicking them off onto the floor.

"Can we talk?" Quinn sat awkwardly beside her, she always loved that about him. How he was always shy, even when he didn't mean to be.

"I let you in, didn't I?" She muttered, setting her book on the nightstand, turning to face him.

"Yeah.."

"Okay, so talk. Tell me how sorry you are. How you didn't mean it. How you never wanted to hurt me. Tell me all the bullshit." Quinn seemed shocked by her words. Ivy was always so sweet, so soft spoken and terrified of confrontation.

"I really am sorry, V. I was stupid. I thought that if we continued doing what we were that—"

"I'd ruin your career? Get in the way of you being the best?" She remembered what he said that night, before he left to officially sign his contract, the last night she saw him.

"You know I didn't mean that. Not like that." Quinn mumbled, running a stressed hand through his hair.

"But you did." She hugged her knees up to her chest, "Quinn, I was seventeen and maybe I was stupid for thinking that we could.. I don't know. I always sit and think about us and how maybe I was the idiot for thinking we were more than what you thought but it still hurt. It hurt so bad."

"It hurt me too, V. I hated leaving you like that and I wanted to stay friends but you just never answered and—"

"I couldn't. I was too scared of it."

She should've known this would happen. That the second they started talking, she would be caving. He had her hooked from a young age, such an easy thing to fall back to. No matter how bad he'd broken her heart, she was always going to love him.

"I wish I could just go back to that night, take back everything I said." Ivy rolled to her side, doing what she would've done earlier if she wasn't so angry. She let her arms wrap around his waist, head on his chest and she let a tear fall.

"You can't do that, Quinny. I wish you could but you can't."