Ice.

Chapter Thirty-Five.

Avery

"When do you leave?"

I put the books down to the side and lean my elbows on the counter, putting my chin in my hand. "After school Thursday."

"That's so exciting," Maureen grins, fixing the magazines on the other side of the counter. "The Draft is on Saturday?"

"Press is on Friday," I explain, smiling to myself as my mind starts to wander to the weekend we're about to have. "Saturday and Sunday is the Draft. But if he's getting drafted, it'll probably be on Saturday."

"Wow," she leans on the counter now. "You're dating an NHL player. That's absolutely insane."

I roll my eyes, trying to stop my stomach from doing flips. "Well, he's not one yet." I can't bite back my smile as I put my head in my hands for a second. "But I know."

She looks off into the distance and sighs dreamily, "Oh, to have a prince charming."

I'm about to deny the fact that I have a prince charming, but it suddenly hits me that I kind of do. Finn is as close to a prince as you can get now-a-days. He's kind and charismatic, handsome and willing to stick up for me. He's kind of perfect. He's my perfect prince.

I laugh it off anyway, deciding to tread in some water I probably should steer clear of. But I don't tend to go down the smarter roads as of late, so I guess this isn't a surprise. "So.. What's been going on with you and James?"

She laughs lightly, but it's almost humorless as she shakes her head. She picks up the books by the register as she says, "It's not going anywhere." Her eyes meet mine as she shrugs, "He's not over you, you know."

"Oh, Mo. I'm really sorry," I sigh deeply. That just made an enormous wave of guilt crash over me. What the fuck is going on with him? "I just don't get it. I don't understand why he's choosing now to do this."

"I think he still thinks he has a shot, Avery," she says cautiously. "He knows you used to like him so he thinks you may still do."

How does he know that I used to like him? I mean, I guess I've told him that if he asked me a few months prior, my answer would of been different. But shouldn't that of told him that my answer is going to stay the same now? I said, to his face and on numerous occasions, that I was not going to leave Finn. That I love him and that he missed his chance.

Also, since when do boys like me? This never used to be a problem.

"Did you tell him that I liked him?" I ask, my brows still dipped. I want to get to the bottom of this so we can move on. "I'm not going to be upset if you did."

"No, I didn't," she promises. "He told me that he knew when you did. Something about how you always acted around him." She sighs deeply before she continues. "Listen, I don't like gossiping but I feel like you have a right to know this stuff. He said that it basically happened overnight. One day you were 'normal' and he knew you still liked him, and then the next Finn was walking into the store and you were all over him. He said that your relationship can't be serious because it happened so quickly. He thinks you're just caught up in the idea of who Finn is," she raises air quotes and speaks in a British tone to mock James, "'With his dodgy nice hair and athleticism.'."

My jaw clicks in annoyance as I look away from her to try and straighten out my thoughts. So, not only does he not respect my relationship enough to leave it be, but he doesn't respect me enough to think that I'm with someone for more than their looks or job. That's so infuriating. He doesn't know anything about my life. And he definitely doesn't know a damn thing about Finn. How dare he take away who Finn is because he's attractive and an athlete. How dare he make it seem like the only reasons I'm with Finn are based off of his looks. That I'm that shallow.