The Ice Prince

Chapter 32

Arnold led us to his quarters, which were above the freezer. It felt like a country cottage, because the bare brick wall continued as his kitchen wall, although he didn't need the kitchen for anything much anyways, considering that the actual Jerry's kitchen shared a wall with him and he got his meals from there. But it was good that the kitchen existed. Because extra food for two hungry teens would have definitely raised eyebrows in the Jerry's kitchen, so it would be much less suspicious if I cooked here instead.

Then we were shown into the spare room, where I saw, for the briefest of moments, the photo of a smiling young girl of about four or five, and a woman who was most definitely her mother, both with their arms around a younger, less tired-looking Arnold Wood. I had never known him to have a family. He noticed my gaze and just said "Emile and our daughter, Willow. I lost them both in a car crash." And then his kindness to me made sense, from back when he'd employed me. I'd told him about Mom, and it must have reminded him of his wife and daughter, who, guessing from his age, would now have probably been as old as Alyna, had she survived the car crash.

"Willow Wood." I smiled. I knew he didn't want sympathy. It is an untold contract between broken people, and I valued it then, and will continue to value it forever.

He smiled back, relieved that I hadn't said 'I'm sorry' or something like that. "It was a private joke of sorts. Emile felt so sure we were going to have a baby boy, she'd decided on the name 'William'. I told her we'd change it to 'Willow' if it were a little princess. She agreed, because she was too sure. We didn't even let the doctors reveal the sex of the baby, because we wanted it to be a surprise. I won the little bet and named our little one 'Willow', and Emile made sure she call her 'Will' and never 'Willow'. At least not unless she was really angry at Willow for being naughty. Then she'd call her by her full name, which Willow secretly enjoyed."

I could see he felt good, recounting old memories.

Then we were all quiet for a while, and I just had to thank him. He waved off my thanks and told me to sleep it off. I was clearly missing school now, and he just said "I expect you to be ready at work on time." And he smiled back at me, leaving the room and closing the door behind himself, as Hayley and I lay down to rest.

"Does your shoulder hurt?" I whispered to Hayley. I felt bad that I hadn't exactly paid attention to it for so long.

She shook her head and said "It'll be alright. Just a dull pain..." and she scooted closer. "What about your bullet-hole?" She asked back, joking and serious at the same time.

"What bullet-hole?" I asked, and we laughed. I just managed not to wince as we laughed, but it was worth seeing her smile.

After a while, I found her in my arms, her warm, pliant body against mine, resting her head on my arm. We kissed briefly, and it felt so wonderful, so real, so necessary, it convinced me that she and I belonged together. Her urgency in the way she responded to my kissing, the way she leaned closer and her fingers tangled in my hair, all of it told me that she felt the same. A fierce joy burst forth, and I couldn't help wanting to freeze this moment in my forever.

Then there was a quiet gap. Not awkward in the least. I could hear her breathing and her heart beating out the same crazy tempo as mine. And then she whispered "I guess I'm going to sleep with a guy for the first time."

And we just smiled at her innocent joke, and fell asleep just as quick, too tired to worry about anything.

When I awoke, it was 10 am. I could imagine Justin teaching in the school, and Leia making goo-goo eyes at him. I put the image out of my head as I extracted myself from Hayley's embrace, quickly filling up the space between her arms with one of the fluffy pillows. I could also imagine how hungry she would be when she awoke, so I went to the kitchen to potter around and whip up some breakfast, when I realised that there was nothing I could cook. So my only option was to pilfer something quickly from the Jerry's kitchen, and I nicked the first thing that came to my notice. Thankfully, it was a quiche, and nobody would miss a day-old quiche which was anyways dying to be eaten. Or at least that was what I told myself.

So I heated it up, as I promised myself to get some supplies for the kitchen, as soon as I could. It smelled edible enough, and the aroma woke Hayley, whose stomach was rumbling. We went to the bathroom, and thought we'd have to make do with our fingers, since we didn't really carry toothbrushes while fleeing, but Hayley remembered the backpacks Rey Beauchamp had given us.

He'd actually thought of toothbrushes and toothpaste and floss, even mouthwash and face-wash and what not, and a first-aid kit, pain medicines extra. He'd literally packed in a pharmacy and provision store, perfect for a runaway couple. I felt so lucky to have a doctor for a friend, he'd also remembered to pack in a razor for me. And even a packet of tampons for Hayley, who blushed as she spotted me reading the label, and stuffed it back in, hastily.

I managed not to laugh at her expression, and then shrugged, to let her know that it was okay. Come on, I have a twelve-year-old sister. I've seen her through her first period. It's okay. I thought, and apparently she read my mind, because she shrugged it off as a no-biggie herself. And this was our first awkward moment, which wasn't so awkward at all.

After we brushed, I pulled the quiche onto the table, and we finished the whole thing up between the two of us, and we still had the audacity to laugh at the empty pie-dish, wishing that it re-filled itself. Okay, not really, that would've been creepy, and we couldn't really have finished another entire quiche, but it was still fun to wish for more.

"Dr. Reynold Beauchamp is an angel!" I proclaimed as I shaved, and Hayley looked on shyly. She laughed at my announcement, agreeing with it, nodding in approval. It felt good to have these semi-normal moments, where we could actually be a cute couple just having fun, and not a pair of runaways with not one but two gangs behind them.

Hayley was busy playing on my phone, which had miraculously managed to have juice left in it for so long without charging, when I told her I'd be going out for the day.

"Don't go. Stay with me." She pleaded, most unlike a Fireball of a girl I knew. It felt kind of cute too. I would've stayed if I could, but we really needed some supplies, and I had two gangs to deceive. Her pout almost melted a heart most people wouldn't have believed I had. But I knew she was strong, so I had to go. She'd understand. She did.