When the Ice Breaks

VII

Isabel

I woke up to the sun peeking through my window. I groaned and tried to roll over, but when I did I was met with a certain red-head. Chloe. I poked her in the back and she rolled over. "Hi," she groaned out.  I winced, my head was pounding. I turned away from her and I heard her laugh. "First hangover in a while huh?" she laughed. I threw a thumbs up and I heard her laugh again while she got out the bed and went to my bathroom. I lay there not moving for what felt like forever until Chloe brought me water and aspirin. I sat up and took the pill and sipped on my water. "Is my mom here?" I asked with my eyes closed. Chloe sighed, "No, she has a big case and won't be around much. She left you like $100 for food," Chloe said. My mom was a really big lawyer. One of the top ones in the country, but if you're number one it means you're not home as often. When I was younger it was okay because she would just take me where her case was. By the time I was nine, I had already been to all 50 states twice. "Cool..cool," I muttered. Chloe was the only one who knew about my lie, she was like a sister to me. She gave me a sympathetic look which I despised, so I got up and went to my bathroom. Chloe tried to follow but I shut the door in her face. I slid on the floor and silently sobbed. I could hear Chloe on the other side of the door but eventually, she left. All I wanted was someone to stay.

I was sitting at my kitchen counter when someone sent me a video. I didn't know the number but was curious so I opened it and was immediately mortified. It was me, drunk off my ass, doing body shots off of...STELLA! "Oh my god," I muttered immediately standing up to throw up. I sat on my bathroom floor puking up whatever was left in my stomach. I couldn't stop watching the video. I didn't even remember doing it. "Oh god, Stella probably thinks I'm a weirdo," I thought to myself. I didn't realize but I had staring crying at the thought of her not wanting to be..my trainer anymore. She was becoming someone to me and I didn't want to lose another person again. 

The rest of the weekend was uneventful. Following Saturday morning, I cleaned my room and did homework for the rest of the weekend. However, every time my phone would ping I would immediately check it to see if it was Stella, which it never was. I had no idea how Monday morning was gonna go and I was terrified. I thought to myself if I avoided her then maybe she wouldn't say anything. Monday morning I awoke and got ready for school. I wore an old band t-shirt with bell-bottom jeans and grabbed my jacket from the closet. I walked downstairs half expecting my mother to be there but she wasn't. I rolled my eyes got in my car and drove off to school. 

I followed through with my plan of avoiding Stella, which was no easy task. While we didn't have any classes together they were all right next door so I would stand behind a wall until I saw her walk into her class. Or during lunch instead of sitting in the senior section, I ate in the library. When the last bell rang I rushed out before anyone else and immediately got in my car. As I was about to take off I heard a knock on my window. I turned and of course, it was Stella. She was standing there with a sour look on her face. Her wild curls were tamed under a black beanie. I rolled it down. "Hi, Stella," I said looking anywhere but her eyes. I heard her sigh heavily. "Look, I have practice, and after I think we should talk. If you don't mind waiting or meeting me there," She said looking directly at me. I nodded, "yeah, I'll wait," I said. She nodded and walked back into school. Oh fuck me, I thought.

The entire time I wanted for Stella was so nerve-wracking. Every thought ran through my head. I was panicking. I slammed my hands down on my steering wheel, "FUCK!" I cried. Some people gave me weird looks but I just smiled and laughed it off. An hour later Stella emerged. Her  face had a slight red hue to it. She walked up to my car. I saw she had all her stuff which meant I was driving. I unlocked the car and she entered. "Hey," she breathed out. I looked at her and smiled slightly. "Where to?" I said a little too cheerfully. She gave me a perplexed look and put the directions in my phone. 

When we arrived I saw it was a cute little drive-up restaurant. I parked in the back and a woman came out to take our order. We sat in silence while we ate. Once finished I sat there looking anywhere but the passenger side. "Isabel," she said. The way she said my name made me shiver. "Yeah," I replied. She sighed, "look at me," she pleaded. It was like I was in a trance and I slowly turned my head to her face. "Why did you avoid me today? Did I do something? I thought we were over that avoiding each other BS," she said. I opened my mouth but she continued. "Like I don't get you, one minute you're screaming in my face, and then we're laughing while practicing and then you're fucking doing body shots of me. God you're driving me fucking insane Isabel and I don't know how much longer I can last," she said dragging her hands down her face. My ears pinked up the minute I heard "body shots" and I looked away. I heard her sigh again, "I don't care about the shots, I care about you, what the hell is going on?" she said softly. I looked down in my lap, "I don't know. Everything is different now. I have these feelings and I don't know what to do and you're not helping," I said defeated. "What kind of feelings?" she asked almost scared. I had tears in my eyes now. "F..feelings for you and not in a friend way," I said in almost a whisper. I heard her inhale and a tear slipped out of my eye and rolled down my face. I was waiting for her to call me weird and a slut but all she said was, "Do you trust me?" I nodded and she said again, "No you have to say it." "I trust you," I replied. I heard her mutter something but I stopped paying attention when I felt her hand on my cheek turning it towards her.

 Green met Blue and it was like who was going to go first but she did and she leaned in and softly kissed my lips. I felt a jolt of energy rush through my body and kissed her back. She had moved her hand now to the back of my neck where she held me firmly in place. she pulled a small part of my baby hair which made me gasp allowing her to slide her tongue into my mouth. I had kissed a lot of men before and none kissed like her. My tongue almost immediately fought hers and it was different. She didn't just lay it in my mouth but she moved it around. She had turned so her body was facing me and she was leaning over the middle console. Ehr hand hand now moved into my hair and she ran her fingers through it. I didn't know where to put my hands so I put them behind her neck letting my fingers rest on her nape. I felt her smile on my lips almost laughing. We pulled apart gasping for breath and looking at each other. I turned towards my seat and put my hand up to my lips which were very swollen now. I looked at Stella and she had almost a proud look on her face. We didn't say anything until I spoke up, "Can we do that again? Like right now," I laughed. She nodded smiling and leaned in going right back to where we left off.