haunted

chapter 5

Arabella's pov:

"So Bells how's everything going with you, lately? I feel like we haven't really spoken in a while." My sweet aunt asks me, Tuesday night, at dinner.

It was true. I had been actively avoiding conversations with Aunt Rosie for over a week now because I hated lying to her. That doesn't mean I wasn't great at it though...

"I'm great. Skating is really fun right now. We are choreographing our routines for the competition and mine is coming together really quickly." I lie to her with a wide but fake smile plastered on my face.

My words make her smile so I know I said the right thing.

"That's amazing, sweetie! You are such a hard worker, I don't know how you do it. Me and your uncle are so proud of you. Right, Ian?" She says, looking over at my uncle. He was reading his paper and obviously wasn't listening to our conversation.

But he nods his head and agrees with Rosie, failing at hiding the confused look on his face.

"Honey, you weren't even listening." She scolds him.

"I was Rosie. Of course I was." He replies, giving her, his signature smile.

I zoned out of their argument and picked at the food on my plate.

I wouldn't really call it an argument though. They were definitely the happiest couple I have ever met. Of course they have little disagreements but they were always on stupid things. And at the end of the day, they loved each other and would do anything for each other.

After a while they are laughing again and I tune into the conversation again when my Aunt starts talking to me.

"Where did you say Ryan was?" She asks.

"Round Nathan's probably." I answer.

"No they always come round here, never Nathans. So where is he?" My aunt asks again.

"Honey, she may be a clever girl but she isn't a mind reader so you can't always expect her to know where her cousin is." My uncle says, winking at me, which makes me smile.

"Maybe we need to put a tracker on that boy." Rosie suggests in a serious face. Me and Ian turn to each other with confused faces, until she bursts out laughing.

"I'm kidding. I know I'm protective but I'm not that controlling. I trust him."

"Oh my god I got scared. I thought you were going to put a tracker on me as well." I reply, laughing along with her.

"Or me." My uncle says next making me laugh even harder.

"Good idea, Ian. I might just do that." She tells him, smiling evilly.

God, I loved them. Everyday day I spent with them I wished they were my parents.

Instead I got a mother that left and a father that cared more about the hockey boys he coached than me.

The perfect fucking pair.

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Nathan's pov:

It had been two days since Monday, since I agreed to share a time slot with Arabella. And all I could think about was why the hell had I done it. Spending time with her benefitted me in no way. It actually was bad for me because it meant I couldn't use the whole rink.

But there I was, in locker room putting my skates on and then leaving to skate with Arabella Hernandez. Not argue with, skate with. Weird.

Considering I was already 15 minutes early, I wasn't expecting her to already be skating on the ice, doing her choreography to the music that was blasting.

I knew she was a good skater, probably the best figure skater I knew. But the way she was performing wasn't right, her heart wasn't in it. So it wasn't surprising when she messed up her moves and fell down. I rushed over to her automatically.

"Fuck." She shouts.

"You okay?" I ask, offering my hand to help her out. Her eyes widens as she realises I was there watching her, but that soon turns into a glare.

"Fuck off, Jones." She snaps at me, as she pushes my hand away and gets up by herself.

"That's not the way to talk to the guy that let you share a slot with him." I reply, glaring right back at her. She looks at me , almost apologetically but she it only lasts a second before she spins around and skates off. Too stubborn to apologise like always.

"You know you are never going to get that dance right." I tell her.

"Since when do you know anything about figure skating."

"I don't. But I know you. And I know that song. Even though you are both extremely annoying. It isn't you, your heart isn't in it. Choose another one." I instruct her. I can't help but smile at the annoyed look on her face. She didn't like to be told what to do and she hated it even more when it was me. But she also knew I was right.

So she not so smoothly skates over to her phone and begins to look through it. I smile even wider at her actually taking my advice and I cross over the cones she set out to my side of the rink.

After about 5 minutes of me warming around I turn around at the sound of music playing from the speakers.

I recognise the song immediately.

Haunted by Taylor Swift.

The second she started to skate I became absolutely mesmerised by her. I could visually see the connection between her and the song. How was this possibly the first time she had danced to it?

I wasn't a figure skating coach or anything but her performance looked perfect to me.

She made jumps and spins that I knew were difficult look easy.

And holy fuck I could feel the anger she had inside of her come out as she performed. She was harsh with her movements but somehow made them look graceful at the same time.

I felt honoured to be able to watch her and I didn't ever want her to stop.

But of course she did. The music came to an end and I realised suddenly that I had stood in the same spot watching her without moving, without hardly blinking. I really was mesmerised by her.

"Stop staring, Jones. You look like a creep." She tells me, smirking.

Shit. She noticed me staring. She definitely thought I was like obsessed with her or something. Which I wasn't.

Why are you blushing then, Nathan?

Shut up thoughts.

I ignore the urge to continue watching her and instead turn around to practice.

But I couldn't help glancing back at her, every once and a while.

I was completely fucked.