Broken Ice

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ahhhhh! 400+ reads! Thank you guys so much! Thank you especially to those who have commented and voted, you guys are amazing. :) I hope you guys will stick with my story and share your thoughts with me! This is more of a filler chapter to establish the foundation for future interesting chapters so I apologize if it's not as exciting as the previous ones were. Enjoy!

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Nicolai's P.O.V.

"Dude, you're doing it again."

I felt a sharp jab in my side, making me jump out my daydream. My head snapped to meet the guys' curious eyes.

"Huh?" I sounded so stupid, but I didn't know what was going on.

"You were doing it again," Tommy repeated, raising his eyebrows at me. "Doing what?"

Jake waggled his eyebrows suggestively at me. "Staring at Thea."

I scoffed at his accusation. "I was not staring at Thea." The guys started laughing. "Man, you literally zoned out staring at her dreamily for the past ten minutes. We even took a picture of your face. It was priceless," Aiden said, showing me the picture of me practically drooling at something in the distance. Most likely Thea. Damn, I looked like a stupid lovesick puppy. Except, I was definitely not in love with Thea. We were just friends after all.

Sure Nicolai, if that's what helps you sleep at night.

"Is there something going on between you and her?" Jake stared at me curiously. The other guys stopped jeering and teasing me, sitting silently and waiting for my response.

"No, of course not," I responded, shaking my head at their absurd question. The guys, with the exception of Jake, nodded their heads in satisfaction at my answer. Jake, however, just remained staring at me skeptically, not believing me.

Why doesn't he believe me? What I said wasn't a lie. There really is nothing going on between Thea and I.

"You know we wouldn't judge you if you did hook up with her," Johnny commented. "I mean, she's freaking hot. I definitely would bang he--"

"Shut the hell up," I snapped angrily, cutting him off. "Don't talk about her like that."

"Jeez, sorry dude," Johnny muttered. I ruffled my hair, focusing my gaze on my half-eaten lunch.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a certain look of understanding pass between all the guys like they were having some type of secret conversation with their eyes. Their eyes would flit back and forth between me and each other.

Finally fed up with their secretiveness, I questioned," What? What's with all the looks?" I took a turn to look them all in the eye, waiting for someone to give the jig up.

Jake was the one who broke the silence. "Nothing man."

"You guys were giving me strange looks. That definitely was not just 'nothing'."

Tommy sighed, standing up to throw away his trash. He stopped to look down at me, almost surprised at my cluelessness. "It was seriously nothing. You're just being paranoid," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. With that, all four guys went to go throw away their trash and go to class. I was left in their wake, staring incredulously at their retreating backs.

What the hell just happened? What was with all the secret looks and mystery. They were hiding something from me and I wanted to know what it was.

I shook my head, clearing away all my confused thoughts. My eyes found Thea's figure again. I could tell, even from this far away, that she was biting her lip anxiously as she read a book. Her eyebrows were furrowed, something she always does when she's confused or completely engrossed and focused on something. Just like me, she was sitting by herself at a white, circular lunch table. I offered before to sit with her at lunch, but she kept refusing, claiming she sees me enough as it is. I can't seem to understand how she's so comfortable with being alone. From what I've heard, she was completely alone, until I forced my friendship on her. I couldn't imagine being so alone, so caged in my own personal bubble.