Breaking the Ice

twelve*

Beau met me outside of my place at six, as the sun dipped over the horizon.

I left a note on the counter for my mom to find before grabbing my keys and slipping out of the front door. Each step down the stairs sent a strike of nerves up my spine, and I couldn't help but wonder why I so easily gave into the text.

Finally outside, I found Beau leaning over his motorcycle outside of my building wearing a helmet, a sky blue T-shirt that hit just past his hips, and a pair of loose cargos. He held his phone in both hands, typing something, and held a second helmet between his elbows and the handlebars of his bike. As the door closed behind me with a metallic thump, Beau looked up and smiled with those twinkling eyes.

"Hey," he said, slipping his phone into the pocket on the side of his pants and holding up the second helmet. It was a pure, shiny blue. "Ready to go?"

"Go where?" But I still took the helmet and climbed on the back of the bike, holding the handles under the seat.

Beau shrugged in front of me, revving the engine and kicking off the ground. "I don't know."

And we took off into the waxing night.

*+*❅*+*

We ended up walking through desolate corners of the local college's campus. The brick buildings lined the greens of the campus, and the sidewalks were well-kept and clean. Students passed us occasionally, stacked with books or bottles, but paid us little mind.

Beau pulled a vape from his pocket and started to smoke something fruity, letting it curl from the corners of his lips. My hands were snugly in the pockets of my jacket as I watched the streetlamps come and go, one by one. Their lights glowed warmly in the chilly night, bright against the dark brick buildings lining the sidewalk.

"I'm still hungover," Beau said, his soft voice almost absorbed by the quiet cushion of the night.

I laughed airily. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he mused. "The party was good. It's nice to get drunk. Feels warm. Liberating." He paused, turning the vape in his hand. "I never partied like that before I moved. It's a weird change of pace."

"No?"

"Nah. Small school, bible-thumpy. Nobody had the balls to host anything."

"Was that your first party, then?" I asked, pulling the vape out of Beau's hands absentmindedly and taking a hit. It tasted like peaches.

"Kind of," he said, smiling into the darkness. "I used to go out back home, but not for a school party or anything. I'd sneak into bars and clubs to dance and drink, mostly."

"Ah." I shrugged, tracing the seams inside of my pockets. "Bars seem annoying. I hate drunk people."

"Oh, yeah," Beau chucked, taking the vape back from my hands and pressing it to his bottom lip. "I had to drag Carrie's drunk ass home last night. She's horrible when combined with gin, I think."

"So is my friend Iza," I said, smiling in recollection. "She was there last night, too. Hammered out of her mind. She goes here, though."

"How was the party for you, then?"

I took a soft breath, relishing the peace of the night and the comfortable company at my side. Better company than most of the party, I couldn't help but think, and discomfort clawed its way up my throat at the thought. "It was fun. I got cross-faded and stayed half the night in the rain with Iza, actually, then crashed at hers."

His gaze traced my profile. "Did you sleep with her?"

"What? No," I was quick to reply. I felt heat crawl up my neck. "She's actually the only other one who knows I'm..."