Eight Weeks (Unfrozen Four Book 2)

“I’ll move mountains if I can / just to make you understand”—For Your Love by Gunnar Gehl

Winter has ruined my good mood.

My mood was already going downhill after my childhood crush broke my heart into a million pieces using a ruler rather than a knife. Fuck, even cutting my heart up with a butterknife would have been less painful.

I know Sofia was lying, the kiss we shared couldn’t have meant nothing to her. Besides, I know when she’s lying.

Her words still sting though.

Luckily, today is Saturday, meaning there is most definitely a party somewhere. And if not, I’ll go to Brites and get the fuck wasted. I’m in need of it tonight. And tomorrow. And all the other days Sofia will be here.

I’m not saying I’m in love with her, because I’m not. One can’t just be in love with someone they haven’t seen in over a decade and had a crush on years ago. However, I am saying that I want to get to know her again. I want her in my life, steal my breath again. Dammit, I want her to steal my heart and make it hers. I want us to be us again. Just Nix and Icicle.

Guess she doesn’t feel the same way.

As soon as I get back home, I’m pleased to find my best friends—and my sister—already in the living room, having cracked open a beer or two.

It’s only six p.m., but that’s late enough to pull out some liquor and get wasted.

If it weren’t for that one little blonde girl curled up right next to Miles.

Brooklyn smiles at me as she spots me, her grin so wide, she might reach Jupiter with it. “Uncle Ron!” She jumps off the couch, running toward me. I kneel down instantly, holding my arms open for her. As soon as her tiny arms are on my torse, I close her in for a tight hug.

There’s nothing better than to get greeted by your best friend’s daughter after a day like I had. Truthfully, I’d steal her from Miles and keep her as my own child if I could. But I guess I will settle for being “Uncle Ron”.

“What are you doing here, little princess?” I ask, knowing very well what she’s doing here. Miles is here, which means so is she. It doesn’t bother me when she’s around. I love this little blonde girl more than I ever thought was possible.

I swear, sometimes I even think I’m going to be stricter as her uncle than Miles is going to be as her father. Like, imagining her being with someone once she’s old enough—nope. Not happening.

Brooke giggles, pressing her face right into my chest. “To play games with you.”

“Games?” I gasp in shock, exaggerating just a little bit for her sake. “But I’m a sore loser, princess. And you always win.”

She pulls away from the hug, tugging on my hand now. “That’s okay, Uncle Ron, I let you win this time.”

“Sofia’s not coming?” Grey asks, his eyebrows pull together in what must be confusion.

I shake my head. “I’m not sure I even asked if she wanted to. She has plenty to do with Winter and moving into the dorms.”

“I’ll text her,” Lily says, instantly taking out her phone.

“Actually, can you send me her number?”

Lily’s eyes snap toward me, as so do Colin’s. The only difference is that my sister looks at me with sympathy, my best friend wears a smug smile on his lips.

“Let me ask you something a very good friend of mine voiced that one time I asked the same question,” Colin begins, his smirk giving me an unusual intense desire to let my fist get acquainted with his face.

“You’re taking her out on a date, and she didn’t even give you her number?” The question that left my mouth when Colin asked for my sister’s number. The same that’ll haunt me now for the rest of my life. I never even asked for Sofia’s number, nor am I going on a date with her. Yet it feels like I should’ve gotten her number the moment we met at the beginning of October.

Phone numbers end up in my possession almost magically. I enter a bar and won’t get to leave said bar without a least three snippets of papers in my jeans pocket. So I’m sorry if not having Sofia’s number yet somewhat throws me off.

Colin waits a second before he continues, only so he can take in my expression a little longer. “Or maybe not, you look like you’re about to cry.”

“Are you okay?” Lily asks, tapping her hand on the couch to tell me to sit down.

I do. I take a seat next to her, leaning my head on her shoulder even though Colin is almost to growling in my ear for stealing his girlfriend for a moment. Like I care, she is my sister, for fuck’s sake.

“I’m great.”

“You don’t look great,” Grey remarks, instantly handing me something to drink. “Can’t offer you anything stronger before a certain kid is asleep.”

A sacrifice we are all willing to make for Miles, so I won’t complain even though I could use something stronger right now.

“Is this about Sofia?” Lily digs deeper, leaning her head right against mine like she always used to do when we were a little younger and I came to talk to her about my problems. Mostly hockey related.

“Nah. Winter. She’s out of her goddamn mind.” After everything she said in her bedroom, it’s safe to say she’s also a big reason of my current mood.

↞♡↠

Good two hours pass before Lily jumps up from her seat to run to the door and opens it, only to return to the living room with Sofia right by her side.

Our eyes meet only briefly, awkwardness taking the upper hand. I don’t want things between us to be awkward, but I can’t really help it either.

“You’re just in time. We’re playing truth or dare,” Colin lets Sofia know while pulling his precious girlfriend back in his lap, hugging Lily like she was gone for years.

“Truth or dare?” Sofia repeats, taking a seat across from me. There’s plenty of space to sit beside me, but of course she’d go as far away from me as humanly possible.

Talk about a setback.

At least we’re going to Germany together in a few weeks, right? That gives me a couple of days to… to what? Talk to her? Have her to myself with no way to escape me?

“Yes, getting Grey’s mind off of his breakup.”

Wait, that’s why we’re playing this game? I thought Brooke wanted to play it. Miles put her to sleep in my bedroom half an hour ago, and I thought we’re only proceeding to play because we don’t know what else to do.

I swear, I’m the worst best friend ever. I didn’t even know Grey and Izan broke up.

“When the hell did that happen?” I query, hearing of it for the first time in my life.

Grey shrugs. “Yesterday. We wanted to go out for dinner, and we encountered a little bit of an… Asian stereotypical racism confrontation. I don’t think he even thought about what he said, and I personally didn’t feel all too attacked, but after what happened with Lexi, I refuse to stay in a relationship that has minor hits towards racism, you know? God, it was about fucking rice and me not being in the mood for it that night, but it doesn’t change the fact that I hated the way he phrased it and—”

I lay my hand on his knee. “Breathe.” He does. Inhales deeply, exhales twice as long. “It’s okay, you know. No need to justify your breakup. If you couldn’t stay with him for whatever he said, then don’t force it.”

He nods slowly. “So yeah. I’m officially swearing off any human. I’m staying single for the rest of my life. Who knows, maybe I’ll adopt a few dogs and cats.”

Grey and swearing off dating? I doubt it. He’s a sucker for romance.

“Anyway,” Miles laughs. “Now that everyone is here, we can proceed. I think it’s only fair that it’s Sofia’s turn now. To be asked, I mean, not to ask.”

The first couple of rounds go all smoothly. We’re all having a clear head—mostly, anyway—and the questions stay as PG13 as possible, as so do the dares.

It isn’t until Colin takes out his phone, downloads a Truth or Dare app and sets it on 18+ that it takes a turn.

Miles seems surprisingly uncomfortable with that decision. He’s usually the one to live after “go big or go home”. But I suppose when half of us is drunk, two are tipsy and he’s the only sober one, I, too, wouldn’t like the idea very much.

Colin types all our names into the app, letting technology randomly decide whose turn it is. A second later, he looks up and smirks at me. “You’re the first victim,” he says. “Truth or dare, Aaron?”

“Truth.” I am not fucking with technology. Not when it comes to truth or dare. God knows what the dares will be. Could be anything from drinking a beer all at once to stripping in front of everyone and remaining naked for the rest of the game. Even illegal shit isn’t off the charts.

He rolls his eyes as he reads the question on his screen. “That’s a boring one. Are your first and last crush similar appearance-wise?”

My eyes connect with Sofia’s. The mix of curiosity and anticipation doing wonders for my dick. Never in my life has the way someone looked at me gotten me hard in seconds. Let alone an innocent look.

I grab my glass filled with overpriced whiskey and take a sip. If I’m going to answer this question honestly, I’ll need the liquid-courage. “Same person, but older now.”

I’m not sure if Sofia’s reddened cheeks are from alcohol or if she’s blushing because she knows very well I am talking about her. Either way, she looks amazing. But as it seems, she always does.

“What a surprise,” Lily chirps then sighs deeply.

It’s the kind of sigh I can feel in my bones. It’s like she feels all the frustration I do, only that I might feel it a million times more intense.

Everyone’s looking at Colin as he lets the app choose the next victim. It so happens to be Sofia. She chooses truth, just like I did.

“In your opinion, who’s the hottest person in this room and would you make out with them or not?”

I had my eyes on her when I answered my question, now Sofia has her eyes on me when she answers hers. Torturing me when she takes a little too long to answer. “I’ll have to go with the second hottest because the first one is in a happy relationship.”

Colin smacks his hand against my back, laughing loudly. “How badly did that bruise your ego?”

Too fucking much. “Not at all.” My jaw tightens as Sofia smirks at me, then has the audacity to keep her eyes locked with mine while taking a sip from her cup. It’s like she can see right through me, knowing her words affected me more than I am admitting.

“Please,” Lily says. “You almost cried when Winter told you she’d choose Colin over you if he was interested.”

I did not. I was pissed because my girlfriend—mind you, at that time we were an actual couple—straight up told me she would rather be with my best friend if he would have wanted to.

“Answer the actual question, Icicle.”

Mischief gleams in her eyes when she says, “Grey. He’s the second hottest, and yes, I’d fuck him if I had the chance to.”

Grey leans back in his seat, one arm resting on the back of the sofa behind me. “By all means, Sofia. I’m down if you are.”

What the hell is happening?

Drunk Grey really is a whole other version of him. One that’s thinking with his dick rather than his brain.

Colin proceeds with the game, most definitely sensing that I’m about to explode from all this.

I have never felt jealousy, ever. And if that thing will always feel like I want to rip my best friend’s head off only because Sofia chose him over me, then I wish to never experience it ever again.

Miles is the next victim. Dared to kiss one person in the room he feels would be an awesome kisser. It’s one of the less bad dares. Not ideal, but it could’ve been something worse.

However, Miles is not stupid. He looks at each of us for a second, going at this logically. Something the rest of us lack right now thanks to the alcohol.

If I would have gotten this dare, you best believe my lips would be attached to Sofia’s right now. And for the rest of our li—Fuck no. Don’t go there.

Sofia is the only option for him though, so I’m not sure why he takes so long to decide. If he chooses Lily, Colin will throw his fists. Or the couch. Since Sofia is single, there won’t be anything thrown his way when he kisses her.

Except for my whole entire body, maybe. If I can’t restrain myself.

Expecting Miles to turn toward Sofia, I already dig my fingers into my thighs, waiting for me to go off like a bomb. But then Miles shrugs, turns toward Grey instead, cups Grey’s face with his hands and pulls him in for a kiss.

My mouth falls open, so does Colin’s. I was expecting everything. I was counting on Miles backing out of this, him kissing the only woman I have ever had genuine feelings for, or fuck, Miles trying to kiss himself using a mirror. But I was not expecting him to kiss Grey.

And I definitely wasn’t expecting their kiss to last as long as it does.

We play a couple more rounds after that but then Miles decides it’s time for him to leave and get Brooke to sleep in her own bed rather than mine. Before he goes to get upstairs Miles mumbles something about him not wanting to ruin my night.

Not quite sure what he means by that, but I sure hope to find out.

Once Miles and Brooke left, that stupid app decides to come up with worse dares. Dares like “Striptease for Grey”.

Guess whose dare it is. Right, Sofia’s.

Now guess who does not like the dare at all. Right, me.

Colin turns on some music at the same time as Sofia gets up and makes her way around the coffee table to Grey. As soon as she stands in front of him, every single brain cell of mine screams at me to do something.

So I get up, throw Sofia over my shoulder, and carry her upstairs into my bedroom, despite her efforts to get me to let her down.