Ice Cold

46

Landon Reilly

From: Unknown
landon it's livi. happy birthday!!! i hope i see you today<3

I had nearly forgotten about my birthday until I opened that text from Livi. I was so caught up with worry about what would happen at her skating competition today that it had slipped my mind. It wasn't like I had ever done much celebrating for my birthdays. My parents had thrown me parties in the past, but it was all just a front for everyone we knew. I never cared much for birthdays.

Wren was sitting at my desk, typing away on his laptop when I rolled over in bed to look at him. He was already dressed and presentable like he had been up for hours, though I knew he hadn't been. I had woken up briefly when he had gotten out of bed, craving the warmth of his body against mine.

I watched him for a moment, then he turned like he felt my eyes on him.

"You didn't tell me it's your birthday," he said. He said it in such a casual way that I couldn't tell if it had even bothered him or if he was just pointing it out.

"How do you even know that?"

"Olivia," he replied, which was all the explanation needed.

I let out a sigh. I had forgotten that the two of them talked to each other.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Wren asked.

"Because it's not a big deal," I replied, getting out of bed and walking toward my closet.

"I could have gotten you something if I'd known."

"I don't want you to get me anything," I said, pulling a shirt out of the closet. "I don't even know when your birthday is. It's not like we've talked about it."

"It's May 29th," he said. "You know, we could celebrate today instead of going to that competition. I'm sure Olivia would understand."

I shot him a deadpanned look then threw on my shirt.

"You think you're going to outsmart me and make me think that I don't want to go," I started. "But it's not going to work, so you might as well stop trying."

"That's not what I was trying to do at all," Wren lied.

I knew him better than that. Wren had made it very clear that he didn't want me going to Livi's competition. Wren was good at making his opinions known. What he wasn't good at was being subtle.

It sort of warmed my heart that he wanted to protect me from seeing my father. I had never really had anyone care about me in such a way, but it felt nice. It made me want to hold onto him, squeezing him tightly to physically show my appreciation for him. But his insistence could also be annoying, especially with the way he tried to outsmart me any chance he got.

I wanted to support my sister, even if it meant putting myself in a bad situation. It was probably the guilt that made me so insistent on showing up for Livi. I was guilty because I hadn't been around much lately, hadn't talked to her much. I was also guilty because I hadn't been to one of her competitions in over a year, and she specifically asked me to be at this one. I couldn't say no to her even if I wanted to.

"You can stay here if you don't want to go," I suggested, knowing he wouldn't agree to that. Sometimes I just liked to argue with him a little.

Wren shook his head at me with expression that told me he thought I was being crazy.

"Let's start getting ready then so we can grab breakfast beforehand," Wren said, standing from the desk as I finished getting dressed. I did my morning routine, then the two of us got into Wren's car to go get breakfast.