I'm Not Your Ice Queen [Sufin, FinIce, SuIce]

{ 17. Phone Call }

Matthias sits with us at a little table in a corner of the food court, still bubbly as ever, even while he eats his pizza. I share a huge thing of cheesy fries with Nora, who seems to be just as excitable as Matthias now.

"-and after that, I fell off the stage, and I landed all weird.. It hurts just thinking about it!" Matthias laughs, leaning towards Nora as he finishes recounting the tale of his broken wrist. I had figured it was because of drumming too much, or something like that, but it was just because he's clumsy. Which makes more sense, I guess.

I sigh, stuffing more fries in my mouth.

"Tias, do you have the time?" Nora asks, smacking the table like she's just remembered something.

"Uh, yeah!" He digs out his phone after shoving the rest of his food in his mouth. "It's 4:23!"

Nora purses her lips. "Huh.. We should be off." She tugs me to my feet, taking a few fries from the dish. "You have my number, yeah?"

"Yes!" He grins, waving his phone. "I'll text you!"

"Okay! We'll hang out again later! Bye!" She waves, then starts walking, pulling me along.

I lean into her as soon as we're out of Matthias' view. "Why'd ya wanna leave?"

"I wanna call Tino. It's been on my mind all day.." She suddenly looks antsy.

"Nora.. Don't get so excited. We don't know what he'll say. Has he ever even shown any interest in you?"

She shrugs, jamming her hands in her pockets. "He asked me out once.. Senior year. I told him no, because I thought it would be weird. And.. And I didn't believe him. I thought.. There was no way he'd ever like me back, because he never acted like that towards me. And now that I think about it.. Maybe that's why he left."

And now she's quiet.

"Sor-"

"But it isn't about him! This is about you. I don't really care about him. I just want you.." She mumbles, squeezing my hand. "I love you."

"I-I love you too.." I say softly, hugging her close.

"Good." She giggles, swinging our hands back and forth. "I had a lot of fun today! I'm kinda glad we bumped into Tias too. I never really got to talk to him.. I was screaming internally!"

"I bet." I grin, then pause. "He's sort of annoying though, don't you think..?"

"Oh, very annoying. Sometimes it's kinda cute though. He's like a little puppy." She laughs.

"Is he your favorite member of their band?"

"Of course! Tino's in second place." She laughs. "Then Eduard, then.. In very last place.. Lukas." She sticks her tongue out. She and her brother had the worst sibling rivalry in history.

Okay, well, sort of. I mean, he's really weird. He doesn't say much, like.. Nothing at all. But after a while, he kinda warms up to you. I get on pretty well with him. But she doesn't care for him, or act like she does, because for some reason he really insists that she calls him 'big brother'.

Which is pretty weird, honestly. But I don't question it. Deep down, she loves him. But it is pretty funny to see them fight sometimes.

"Lukas plays the guitar, right?"

"Yeah, and he's horrible at it." She scowls.

"Uh.. He seems pretty good at it. That's why he's in a band."

"He's OKAY at best." She huffs, pursing her lips. "Anyways. To the car!" She shoves me outside, and I quickly zip up my coat. "It's so COLD--"

"Agreed!" She grabs my arm, running with me through the falling snow, which seems to be light snow, luckily.

We get in the car, and she quickly starts it, running the heater. I hold my hands in front of it, sighing heavily. "Ahhh.."

She drives off, anxiously tapping her fingers on the wheel. "As soon as we get home, we're calling Tino."

I roll my eyes. "Alright. If you say so, I guess we have to."

"We do! I want answers!"

"Alright. I know.. Just don't get too excited, okay?"

"I won't." Nora takes a deep breath.

I grab the water bottle that's in the console and take a huge drink, leaning back into my seat as Nora cranks up "Lay All Your Love on Me". As soon as I put the bottle down, I start into the refrain softly.

She's quiet, and I stop singing after a minute, noticing that she's listening.

"Why'd you stop?"

"I'm not good. It's embarrassing." I mumble.

"Shut up!" She laughs. "You're kidding, right? You're so good, you put Agnetha to shame!"

My face flushes. "Nora! Don't say that!" I like the compliment, but Agnetha Faltskog is my favorite singer, so I'm also incredibly offended she'd say I was better than her.

"It's true!" She grins.

I bite at my lip. "Thank you.."

"Sing again. I'll sing with you." She skips to the next song, Waterloo, and I happily start singing again.

Nora's version of singing is more like screaming, but I appreciate the offer. It's kind of funny to listen to her sing.

We get home right after that, and Nora grabs my phone from my pocket as soon as we step inside, shoving it into my hands. "Call him!"

I roll my eyes. "Okay!"

I sigh, dialing Tino's number. She's too excited about this, honestly. I don't know how he will react.

"..ah, hello?"

"T-Tino, hi.."

"Birgit! Hello! How are you?" I smile. His voice is terribly cute, and he sounds so happy.

"I-I'm fine.. T-there's somethin' Nora wanted to talk to ya about, actually."

"Hmm? Well, erm, put her on then!"

I glance at Nora nervously, before handing her the phone.

"Tino?" She's speaking quietly.

I can't hear what he says next, but I hope whatever it is, whatever his answer might be -- that he doesn't hurt her.