Thin Ice

And With That, Penny Voices All Your Frustrations

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Excuse the mistakes

Dedicated to imallergictoidiots because she puts up with me ;)

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“You know he’s staring at you, right?”

“Yeah,” I grunted, but that didn’t make me peek over my shoulder. I could feel Dane’s eyes burning into my back from where he was sitting at his normal table, which was across the lunch room. It had been this way since Monday, and even though it was now Thursday, I had not gotten used to it.

Penny looked from Dane back to me before sighing. She ran a hand through her hair and placed her can of Coke back on the lunch table. “Tony said that practices are really awkward,” she commented quietly, and I groaned.

“Yes,” I confirmed, pursing my lips, “they are incredibly awkward, and the locker room is worse because people are trying to have conversations, but they keep looking and Dane and I, like we’re either going to start screaming at each other or jump into each other’s arms.”

“Are either of those choices plausible?” Penny asked, and I shook my head. A conflicted look came over Penny’s features, and she opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but then she stopped like she’d had second thoughts.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what Penny wanted to say, but I did know that it would bother me if I didn’t know. So, I sighed and asked, “What, Penny?”

“Are you guys, like, ever going to get back together?” she asked, and I pursed my lips. Penny wasn’t the only person to ask me this; Tony, Owen, and even Alec had come to me with the same question in almost the same exact words. Every time, I would give the same response, but it just never seemed to satisfy people.

“At the moment, no,” I stated, sitting back in my chair, “You know me, Penny. I am not a damn damsel in distress; I don’t need a guy to fight my battles for me, especially doing something I fought to do. I got on that team by the skin of my teeth, and I don’t need Dane treating me like a girl.”

“But you are a girl,” Penny replied slowly, and she pursed her lips, “More importantly, you are his girlfriend, and—”

“Were,” I interrupted, “I was his girlfriend, Penny, was.”

“Tomato, tomato,” Penny said with a dismissive wave of the hand, “You meant, and definitely still do mean, something to Dane, so how can you expect him to stand by and watch you take a cheap shot from behind?”

“He knew what he was getting into with me,” I replied defensively, crossing my arms over my chest. “Dane knew that I didn’t need him to protect me, and he knew how angry stuff like that made me, like the stuff with your dad. He knew all of that, yet he did it anyways.”

“Okay,” Penny said, sitting up and putting her hands on the tabletop, “Kels, you know you’re one of my best friends, and you know I think you’re awesome, but you are being such a goddamn idiot right now!”

“What?” I asked, completely taken off guard.

Penny let out a sound of frustration, and she pursed her lips before speaking. “Look; we all get it. You’re a badass who can fend for herself, and you worked really hard to be an Ice Devil. No one questions that, Kelsey. You’ve made your point in that regard, as well as underscored it thousands of times. However, can you really fault Dane for protecting you, his girlfriend?”