Fire & Ice, page 13
I snapped, settling into texting with a heavy sigh. I don’t like when we do this. Please don’t contact me again unless it’s with an apology. I’m upset with you and I don’t feel like I recognize you anymore.
She replied with a facepalm emoji, and then, fine, I don’t care, and then—proving ever so well that she didn’t care—again two minutes later with, this is what I mean, that girl is rubbing off on you, and then apparently I was a masochist, because I kept watching them roll in. apparently any girl can get you to do what she wants if she bats her eyelashes at you, and then, enjoy your party, and right after, tell her I said hi.
I pulled up her contact and changed her name in my phone to “do not reply.” And it took everything in my goddamn power to put the phone down gently and not throw the fucking thing across the parking lot.
And what I did not need was the—undignified way I jumped when someone tapped on the glass, and I looked over with my heart in my mouth to where Primrose stood next to the car, her expression drawn tight with worry. I felt a little sick. How long had she been standing there waiting for me while I couldn’t see anything outside my phone?
I unlocked the doors and rolled down my window, trying to put on a smile as I put my hand to my chest. “Jesus, you about gave me a heart attack.”
“Sorry. I just got here and I didn’t realize you were focusing on something until I was tapping the window scaring you to death.”
That soft, gentle tone in her voice said she knew full well how much I was boiling over right now. I didn’t want to be this around Primrose… I forced my smile harder. “Hop in. Glad to see I’m not the only one obnoxiously early.”
“I was cycling between thirty different outfits when I saw your car outside and figured that was my sign to stop overthinking it.” She stepped away from the window, and I took the opportunity to breathe while she walked around the car. Cass was somewhere else. That was a later problem. For right now, it was just me and Primrose for an hour before we really needed to go to the hotel.
Just me and Primrose. That was all I really wanted right now. Especially when she stepped into the car and I caught sight of her in a forest-green trench coat closed as a dress over dark tights, her hair pulled back into a simple but elegant twist—all subtle sophistication without being overly formal. And very, very attractive.
“You like the look?” She twirled a strand of loose hair around her finger. I didn’t realize I’d been staring… I looked away.
“It’s a gorgeous coat. I love that color on you.”
“Are you… okay? You sound so tense.”
“I’m fine. Do you want to go and get there an hour early?”
She sank across the center console and rested her head on my shoulder, and she slipped her hand down to squeeze mine, and—instantly, the anger boiling noxious in my gut settled down. One little touch from Primrose was all it took. I wish I could be surprised… “No,” she said. “I want to be here with you and help you feel better. What happened?”
“Ugh… I don’t want to bother you…” I should have pulled away, but my body betrayed me—I sank into her instead, resting my head against hers. She fit so perfectly against me…
“You’re never a bother.”
“It’s… it’s Cass. My friend, Cassandra, you met before. Well, I don’t know if I can say friend anymore.”
She squeezed my hand. “You had a fight?”
“Over text. Just before you got here. She was being snarky and passive-aggressive again, and I told her that wasn’t acceptable and to… not contact me again unless it’s with an apology.”
Primrose pulled away, turning to me with an incredulous look. “You told her that?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, looking away. “Uh-huh. And she gave me a bunch of snarky messages in reply.”
“Oh my god, Giselle, that’s so… brave of you.”
I snorted. “Brave… I’m just hiding from dealing with her anymore. She’s probably going to complain about me to my parents, and it’ll come back to bite me.”
She took my hand again, squeezing it, and the way she was looking at me like I’d done something amazing was kind of just… kind of making it hard to kick myself to death right now. “I mean, maybe it will. But that’s something to deal with later. What’s more important is that you set boundaries and said no and you’re sticking to it. I think that’s really impressive. Especially when it feels like it sucks so much.”
“Yeah, well…” I sighed, hard, scratching my head. “All it means is that I’m a shitty friend, because I’m kind of hoping she doesn’t apologize so that I can just stick to it and I don’t have to keep being on call for her, keep getting guilted over not helping her study…”
“You don’t have to be her friend if you don’t want to. Friendship should feel good to both of you.”
“Ugh.”
She shifted back across the center console and pulled me into an embrace, her head on my shoulder again, and it was embarrassing how much I’d already missed having her there. “I’m sorry it sucks. What can we do to make today better?”
“I need to grow up and deal with it, that’s what we need.”
“That’s overrated. How about we go get dessert for breakfast before the event instead?”
I paused. “You know? That actually sounds great.”
She squeezed me one more time before she pulled back, eyes sparkling. “Dessert for breakfast it is, then. I know a place… Ava likes it.”
“Oh, something she likes. That’s weird.”
“I know, right? It’s because it’s all sugar, and butter, and exactly what we need right now.” She had her phone out, typing the address into directions before I could even come up with any protest excuse about how she didn’t need to trouble herself for me, because… because she’d just say anyway that she was offering. And that it was okay for me to say yes if I wanted to, and I did want to.
Primrose put her music on for the drive, playing Florence and the Machine and mouthing along to the lyrics, and I wasn’t sure there was much more healing than that. Of course, I was summarily proved wrong—the tacky-cute diner place in a strip mall just outside of town, with the air smelling like cinnamon and pancakes as soon as we got inside, was even more healing.
And Primrose was a celebrity here, too, because the hostess with a frilly, branded pink apron lit up at the sight of us and turned to the back as she took out two menus. “Primrose is here! She’s got a date!”
“Uh—” I started, putting a hand up, but Primrose just laughed and pushed it back down.
“Let them get excited. They do this every time I come here with someone.”
Well… it wasn’t like I minded being Primrose’s date, but… we weren’t. Right? It was feeling increasingly like we were, but we… weren’t… I didn’t think so.
Jesus, I was a mess.
The waiter didn’t do anything to embarrass me, thankfully, and we got messy monkey bread that might not have been the best choice before a formal business occasion, but Primrose’s bright, shining face of delight when they brought it out was something I’d have ordered this for any day. We polished it off quickly, Primrose straight-up moaning when she ate it and me trying not to think about how she moaned, and we washed it down with cheap coffee that I could still taste a little once we were back out in the car, but no amount of trashy coffee could have killed the glow I had as we started for the hotel.
“Thanks,” I said, as Primrose was halfway to getting her music on again. She gave me an odd look, blinking fast.
“For the music?”
“Sure.”
“What? For what?”
I kept my gaze on the road ahead, trying to suppress a smile. “For the music.”
“Oh my god. Giselle! You have to tell me!”
I didn’t tell her.
Chapter 18
Giselle
The hotel was gorgeous, and I kind of didn’t mind coming once I was here, the event space dressed up nicely and people from my father’s work who I hadn’t seen in ages greeting me with warm smiles, and I just did everything I could trying not to be weird bringing Primrose in.
But Primrose fit in naturally, smiling warmly at people and shaking hands, making small talk with the best of them, and we always talked about each other as friends, but I was feeling further and further from that—and I felt like none of the people there believed it either.
Least of all my father, who came over with a warm smile not long after we’d gotten inside, and I saw him give Primrose the elevator eyes, scoping her out. The look on his face said satisfied.
“Giselle, I’m so glad you could make it today,” he said. “This must be Primrose?”
I stood up taller, gesturing Primrose to him. “Ah… yes. My friend from university, Primrose. Primrose, this is my father.”
Primrose gave him the brightest, cutest little smile as she stuck her hand out for a handshake. “Mister Lawson. It’s so nice to meet you, sir.”
“Please, just David is fine.” He took her hand—he was the kind of weirdly tall that men in business usually were for some reason, six foot two, and Primrose’s hand looked tiny in his. He’d dressed sharply, in a crisp and clean suit, his salt-and-pepper short beard carefully manicured today. “I hear you and Giselle are good friends, but she was evasive on how exactly you even know each other…”
Primrose laughed. “We met on the ice rink… I was in such a sorry state she took pity and helped me not crack my skull, and it’s quite a bonding experience to make sure somebody’s skull stays in one piece.”
“She’s exaggerating,” I said. “Although… not by a lot.”
Primrose laughed, giving me a good-natured push on the shoulder. “You’re supposed to lie and say I’m not too bad.”
My father smiled warmly. He seemed in a better mood now that the event was actually running and we’d made attendance… of course, it helped that Primrose just had a way of getting anyone to like her, I think. “Giselle’s quite the performer on the ice,” he said. “If you’ve ended up with her as a personal teacher, you should consider yourself quite lucky. But I might just be making myself the dad at the sporting event pointing and saying that’s my daughter.”
Primrose shrugged. “I’d do the same thing. I already do the same thing! I go to the rink just to watch her practice, and I’ll point to anyone nearby and say that’s my friend.” She squared her shoulders, standing up straighter. “Mister… David. Do you mind if I get a little bit nosy? I looked up some things about your work while I was snooping things about your daughter, and I ended up down a rabbit hole late at night…”
He laughed warmly. I wondered what it meant that I never got as nice a version of my own father as Primrose, a woman who had just met him, did. “I have to deliver an address to the room in half an hour, but until then, I’m all ears.”
Primrose looked like she’d positively burst from excitement. How she managed to gather this much excitement for these kinds of things… “Have you worked at all your operations outposts? No, let me just get to the chase. Have you worked at the one in Switzerland?”
Oh, Primrose was good. Dad could talk for ages about Switzerland. I knew even before his eyes lit up what we were getting into.
He only left begrudgingly after a solid twenty, twenty-five minutes of rambling, leaving me alone with Primrose, where I nudged her side.
“Great work,” I said, mock-sarcastically. “Now my father’s never going to stop talking to me about you.”
“I got excited. I think it’s cool.”
“It is.” I relaxed into a smile, settling one hand into my pocket. “It’s a beautiful place.”
She turned to square her shoulders with me, her jaw dropping. “You—you’ve been, too?”
“Didn’t know you were such a Switzerland fan.”
She flushed, looking down. “Just… I’ve never really gotten to travel. Getting to go abroad has always been a big dream…”
Oh, god, I just wanted to wrap her up in a big hug and fly her anywhere in the world she wanted. Dammit, I was in deep. “Switzerland’s a good choice,” I said. “Once you make your dream come true, if you do visit Switzerland, I’ll give you some recommendations. Mountain lake skating there in the winter is breathtaking.”
Primrose looked at me like I was speaking the language of angels. “Oh my god, that sounds so romantic. Just… take me with you the next time you go.”
Romantic? Take her with me? Ugh… I swear, she was trying to kill me.
And maybe I could kill her back. Besides, she was cute like this.
I relaxed, sinking into one hip, my hand in my pocket. “Sure. Pull off your first axel and I’ll take you.”
“Uh—” It worked wonders. She stammered without words, her mouth moving, blinking fast, before she flushed suddenly deeply. “You’re… you are joking, right?”
“Nah. It takes a long damn time to learn the axel, though, I’ll have you know. But since you’re serious about wanting to learn… sure. Pull one off and we can go.”
“The—we don’t—you don’t actually have to do that,” she said, blush deepening. “I was just being annoying. You know that, right?”
I raised my eyebrows. “You don’t want to go?”
“No! I mean, I do. I just... um...” She scratched her head. “I still think you’re just messing with me.”
“Up to you to show me if I am. Stick with it long enough to land an axel and I will mean it.”
She laughed nervously, and she folded her arms, giving me what I think was an attempt at a stern look but was just a cute red-faced pout. “I’m never getting off the ice, if that’s the case. I’m going to practice jumping until my legs don’t work anymore.”
I couldn’t help a smile just about bursting over my features. “Remember to give yourself proper recovery time. It’s an important part of growth.”
“What defines the one axel, specifically? If it’s clumsy and off-balance but I still land it, does that count?”
“FSC rules. Just land it and don’t touch the ice with anything but your skates.”
“And I don’t have to be able to do them consistently, just—”
“Just land one.”
“Can we go back now? I want to hit the ice.”
I laughed. I’d really been afraid she’d think I was a sicko for actually inviting her. But apparently I was brave today. “Easy there, tiger. We only just got here. Still got plenty of time here to work that charm of yours on everyone in this room.”
She laughed nervously, scratching the back of her neck. “I don’t know about charm… I just get excited.”
“Nothing more charming than that.”
“Do you speak a Swiss language?”
I cleared my throat. “I speak just enough German to disappoint my father actively instead of passively.”
“You speak German?”
“Just a little… I mean, enough to get by in Swiss Germany. And up to you if you count Swiss German as real German. Residents of one country will fight you whatever your answer is.”
“Oh my god,” she laughed, eyes sparkling. “How do you not have girls just… lining up around the block for you?”
“Er…” I looked away, suddenly much less cool. “Dunno, really. But I haven’t seen the line. Must be somewhere else.”
“Seriously. Dream girl material.” She spun on her heel, saving me before I actually died on the spot. “Well, let’s go talk to more of your friends so we can clear up here and get back to the ice, okay?”
I could work with that.
∞∞∞
Primrose really could make friends with anyone. She was engaged in a conversation with a family friend’s son that looked like they were having the time of their lives when, if someone asked me at gunpoint, I wouldn’t have been able to name one thing they might have had in common to talk about, and I found myself just admiring her from across the room as the event wound down, and it was there that my father spoke from next to me.
“Your friend is quite the extrovert.”
“She’s got a knack for making people like her.” I sipped the coffee out of the little paper cup I had, and I had bad timing, because I choked on it when my father said what I needed him not to.
“If you are dating, you can tell me.”
I cleared my throat hard and managed to swallow the coffee. “We’re not dating. Sorry to… disappoint you?”
He swirled his own coffee cup, looking across the room at her. “She’s charming. And clearly fits in here.”
“You just like her because she wanted to talk about Switzerland,” I deadpanned. He gave me a wry smile out of the corner of his eye.
“And I hear she has an offer to visit, herself.”
So he’d been eavesdropping. I played it cool, shrugging. “I like the place. I know I’ll visit again at some point. Wouldn’t mind taking her with me, especially once we’ve been friends long enough she’s learned an axel.”
“So long as you improve your German.”
“I know. I’m working on it. Where I can.”
He paused, and I already knew what direction he was going just from the awkward tension he had before he voiced it. “Is she… Primrose, I mean. She’s also…?”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “She doesn’t speak much German either. Any, even. I look like I speak German in comparison.”
“You know what I mean.”
“You can say the word gay, Dad.” I shrugged, downing the rest of my coffee. “I don’t know. You could ask her.”
He sighed, and he finished his coffee too, tossing the cup into the trash. “I’m glad you made it. I was starting to wonder if you were turning away from the business.”
I pushed my hands into my pockets, hunching. “I’ve just been all over the place lately… a lot of events going on, a competition coming up soon. You can thank Primrose for helping me work out up from down, honestly.”
He gave me a tired smile. “That’s business. Sometimes you’re swimming, sometimes you’re drowning. You get used to it.”
“Business has been good, though?”
