On Thin Ice

16

I woke up the next morning with someone's hand tangled in my hair. I lifted my head slightly to look to my side, the hand pulling on my hair. Fox was still asleep next to me, on his stomach with his mouth open facing me. I gripped his wrist to remove his hand from my hair and that caused him to stir awake. He jumped back slightly when he saw me.

"I forgot you were here," he rasped in a sleepy tone. I tried not to swoon at the sound of his morning voice. "What time is it?"

I checked my phone to see that it was just past ten in the morning. I tilted my screen toward him so he could see and once he did, he stood up from the bed and stretched his arms above his head, letting out a long yawn.

"Want to get some breakfast?" Fox asked, turning to face me and nodding his head toward the bedroom door.

I got up from the bed and followed him down the stairs and into the kitchen. Fox opened up the cabinet above the stove and showed me the various boxes of cereal they had. We decided on a cereal just as someone made their way into the kitchen, grabbing our attention.

The guy that walked into the kitchen shared similar features of Fox, making it obvious the two of them were brothers. By the looks of it, they were close in age, though the guy I didn't know seemed a little older.

"I didn't know you came home last night," the guy commented, looking toward his brother with a blank expression. Fox didn't even look at him as he continued to fix our cereal with a clenched jaw.

I looked between the brothers and noticed a palpable tension.

"Oh, excuse me," the guy said to me, holding out his hand for me to shake. "I should introduce myself since I know Mr. Happy over there won't do it. I'm Wren."

I shook his hand with a slight smile. "Elijah."

When I looked back over to Fox, I saw that his jaw was still clenched and he looked as if he was trying his hardest to keep his eyes away from his brother and me.

Wren stared at his brother with an impatient look as if he was waiting to be acknowledged by his brother. I had a feeling he was going to be waiting all day for that. Just as the awkward tension between the two became almost too much to bare, the youngest boy I recognized from the family portrait scurried into the room and started tugging on Wren's arm.

"Let's go," the boy whined.

"Hang on a minute, Colt," Wren lightly hushed him.

At the sound of the younger boy's voice, Fox finally looked over to where Wren stood to see the younger boy and his jaw relaxed as his gaze softened. Colt gave me a confused look before turning to face Fox.

"Wren said he's gonna take me to the park to play basketball. Are you going to come Fox?" Colt asked his brother in a hopeful tone.

"Not today, bud," Fox denied softly, "Some other time, promise."

Colt looked slightly disappointed, but didn't say anything else.

Wren shook his head at Fox and left the kitchen table with a, "Nice to meet you," sent my way. He was out of the room before I could respond.

Colt eyed me up and down before scurrying over to Fox and stealing his bowl of cereal.

"Hey!" Fox protested.

Colt rolled his eyes. "That's what you get for not coming with us." He took a big spoonful of cereal into his mouth before leaving the room.

"What's up with you and Wren?" I asked him once we were alone.

Fox shrugged, handing me a bowl. "Nothing."

My expression showed him I wasn't convinced, but I didn't push him any further. He made it obvious by the way he looked at me that he was done talking about the situation.