Breaking The Ice [bxb]

Chapter Thirty-One [Liam]

I've been waiting for him for what seems like forever.

Or maybe I'm just not a patient person. 

Eli finally arrives at the lake, rosy-cheeked and puffing up aor, arms bared past the short sleeves of his t-shirt and no skates on him. That makes sense. It's mid-July. The lake has long thawed and I didn't ask him here to skate.

"Hey," he greets me breathily, hands in his jeans' pockets and maroon beanie on his head despite the summer weather.

"Hey." I smile. "I was starting to think maybe you were standing me up."

He snorts. "I had to walk."

"You could've asked me to pick you up."

Eli just shrugs.

I bite back a knowing smile. "Friends give each other rides," I muse.

He rolls his eyes, shaking his head in light dismissal.

I cock my own head to the side. "We are friends, right?" I don't mean it to sound insecure, but to my ears it sort of sounds a little too much like it.

He looks at me again, hazel-gray eyes meeting mine at the same level. "Yeah, of course." He nods. "I'm not so sure how good of a friend I've been, but you've definitely earned that title."

I smile, starting to walk. Eli keeps up, walking alongside me, shoulder to shoulder but never touching.

There are a few people scattered around the lake, enjoying their morning, but most tourists take to the mountains and the shops downtown during summer time. Neither of us really talks, and I like that I can kind of enjoy comfortable silences now.

After a while, I realize that I'm just walking wherever he's going.  

"Where are we going?" I ask. I said I can handle comfortable silences, after all, not that I enjoy mindless walks with no direction.

Eli just shrugs.

He really does that a lot. Sometimes it's a nervous tick, sometimes it's just a normal Eli thing. And I like that I know that, and that I can also kind of tell the difference now.

We take a turn past some trees I'd never have gone through if I were on my own or with friends, and he keeps walking for a while — the lake hidden from our sight behind the vegetation — until I can see the water again.

No people, though.

It's like a little corner tucked away in the woods. A pocket of nature concealed from sight of regular lake visitors.

"This is nice," I tell him.

"You never been?"

I shake my head. "Have you?"

"Not so much lately," Eli answers, sitting down on the damp floor. I hesitate before joining him, because I really don't like to sit on wet things. But I'm afraid I'll look like the affected brat I've been trying to grow out of being if I just stand, so I sit down, mirroring his position with my legs folded in front of me and my knees close to my chest.

The corner of Eli's twitches slightly like he knows what went through my head, but he doesn't mention it. "Discovered this place with the guys, in freshmen year. Used to come here a lot in sophomore year," he says instead.

I narrow my eyes at him. "This was your hook-up spot, wasn't it?" I ask dryly.

He doesn't react, simply staring ahead at the blue-green water.

I gasp. "Oh, my god — it was! You and your friends bring girls here to hook up!"

He shakes his head. "Shut up."