Ice: Part I

by Penny Hawking

  Peyton smiled and took the helmet. “Any time my radiant Ice.”

  “I gotta go.” Ice grinned, unable to stop smiling.

  “Yeah you gotta go home and do…stuff right.” Peyton answered.

  Ice nodded, still smiling. She looked down, feeling like a fool, but at least she was a happy fool. “Yeah so…I gotta go.” She turned and walked to her car. Resisting the urge to skip, because that’s what she felt like doing. Skipping through a lavender field, in the south of France with her arms spread wide. She unlocked her driver’s door.

  “Hey Ice…can I get your phone number?”

  She froze. Her smile widened across her face and she bit down on her lip to hide it. She composed herself and turned around.

  “What?” She feigned as if she hadn’t heard.

  “Phone number.” Peyton said bluntly. “Friends usually have each other’s number you know. In case they wanna call or text or something.” He sounded a little nervous.

  Peyton pulled out his cell phone, not really giving her an option to decline his request.

  “Sure.” Ice slowly recited her phone number and watched as he added it to his phone.

  Peyton saved her number and flashed one of his dazzling smiles. “Good…I’ll text you later so you could save mine.”

  She nodded and nervously got in her car.

  He waved as he sped off.

  She watched him disappear around the corner and finally allowed herself to breathe.

  “Oh my God!” She screamed. She felt so childish, but she didn’t even care. “Okay…okay calm down Ice…calm down.”

  She screamed one more time for good measure, looked in the mirror and composed herself.

  She pulled out the parking lot and drove home.

  Nothing could stop the stupid smile on her face her whole ride home. She relieved every single moment. Every touch. Every question, answer, anything that was said. She had just ridden in the back of Peyton Stones’ motorcycle.

  This could not have been real. She dreamed it for sure.

  Ice parked her car. Grabbing her bag, she ran to her front door. Realizing what she just did, she ran back to her car, and slowly walked back to her front door.

  As soon as she touched the doorknob, it was as if heavy weights were put back on her shoulder.

  The stupid smile she’d worn early completely wiped off. She sighed and opened her door.

  Ice stepped inside and slowly turned to close the door gently. Her hands shaking from the pent-up excitement.

  “Where have you been?” The voice behind her asked calmly.

  Ice was too used to this to be caught off guard. Slowly she turned to face her mom, sitting at the bar with a glass of red wine in her hand.

  “I went to the library.” Ice replied.

  “For two hours?” Melissa countered, twirling the wine glass. She crossed her legs not even bothering to stare in her daughter’s direction.

  “Yes.” Ice replied. No elaborations. Ice prayed that Melissa was a little drunk, that way she wouldn’t have to go through 21 questions and cross-examinations.

  Ice stood there silently praying, arms clasped behind her back because they were trembling so much.

  Melissa sipped her wine. A lady never drank, she just sipped. In Melissa’s case, she sipped continuously.

  “You do have a phone right?” Melissa finally lifted her eyes to glare at her.

  The question was that of a more rhetorical nature.

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Then next time use it.” She barked. She got up finished her wine and headed to the kitchen. “You’re dismissed. Get out of my sight.”

  Ice slowly walked to the stairs to go to her room. Even though every nerve in her body was telling her to run, running would have meant the end of her life.

  According to Melissa, a lady never ran.

  Ice could feel her mother’s eyes following her every step as she ascended the stairs. She fixed her posture and took on an air of royalty. She reached the top of the stairs, tempted as she was, she didn’t dare look down. She walked to her room as though she was walking the plank.

  Ice turned her doorknob. Entered her room quietly and smiled.

  She took out her phone and looked at it.

  Nothing.

  Ice didn’t even know what to expect. She didn’t know what she was waiting for. She dropped her phone on her bed and put her book bag on the table. Maybe just a hello, or an I got your number or, hope you got home safe. She didn’t know. Her heart was in a whirlwind. She didn’t know what she was doing, where this was going but she didn’t want it to stop. But maybe, she did need to calm down.

  “Just stop thinking about it.” She whispered. Ice went to her walk-in closet and slowly undressed and threw her clothes in the hamper. She walked further inside to get to her bathroom. She turned on the shower and smiled. She put her hair up in a bun so as not to get it wet. She got in the shower slowly. She couldn’t deny that she was happy, as long as she didn’t say it aloud; she could indulge herself in this one moment. Biting her lip, she closed her eyes as she let her hands wander gently over her body as she pictured them to be Peyton’s hands caressing her softly. Moving down her neck, over her breasts, over her hardened nipples, slowly trailing down her stomach and she stopped. She’d never masturbated before in her life, didn’t even know how, but she was still satisfied.

  Ice quickly finished her shower and wrapped her towel around her. Heading back to her bedroom, she noticed her phone’s light blinking. Her stomach did somersaults as she sat on her bed. She nervously touched the screen of her phone to reveal a text.

  Hope you enjoyed our ride

  Thanx for laughing. Ur cute

  Let’s do it again

  Peyton

  Ice fell back on her bed and read the text five more times.

  “Yes.” She said softly closing her eyes, with the biggest grin on her face.

  Touch

  (Ice)

  “Yeah…and his dumbass had the nerve to call me, talkin ‘bout oh I miss you and shit.” Joanna said rolling her eyes.

  Ice shrugged. “You have kind of been using him and then dropping him whenever you feel like it.”

  Joanna smirked. “Exactly using him and then dropping him…key word dropping.”

  Maddie giggled. “Jo, you can’t have it all okay.” She said adjusting her purse. “Just because you want something, it doesn’t necessarily mean you need to have it.” Maddie turned and put a binder in Ice’s locker. “For example, just because you like ice-cream, it doesn’t mean you have to eat it every day of your life.”

  Ice nodded and closed her locker. She put her book bag on and adjusted the strap

  Joanna snickered. “The only person eating anything was him…if you get my drift.”

  “Jo!” All three girls exclaimed.

  Brooke got red, Maddie covered her mouth to appear shocked and Ice shook her head.

  “What?” Joanna asked feigning innocent. “What can I say? Tyrone knows how to use his mouth…and his tongue…and his---”

  “Stop that’s enough. I think we’ve heard more than we wanted to know about Tyrone and his skills.” Ice said leaning against the locker.

  Ice turned slightly to notice Brooke do the same and gave her a small smile.

  “If you liked him so much why’d you break up?” Brooke asked.

  Joanna rolled her eyes at her. “First off, I don’t remember addressing you …secondly I have a reputation to uphold.”

  “A reputation to up-whore.” Maddie said winking at Joanna.

  “Girl you know.” Joanna said as Maddie and her linked arms with each other.

  Ice smiled and looked down at her feet. Her friends were silly. They talked a big game, but they were too snobby to sleep around as much as they said they did.

  “Talking about whoring…Fuck me.” Joanna said staring down the hallway lustfully.

  Ice’s body tensed up. She didn’t need to look up to know whom Joanna was talking abou
t. She noticed Brooke shuffling her feet. She looked at her and smiled. Brooke just grabbed her arm.

  “Anytime, Anywhere, Anyhow.” Maddie replied giggling.

  Ice felt as though she could no longer breathe as well. She refused to look up. Maybe if she kept her head down he wouldn’t notice her and spare her the embarrassment of doing something stupid. Yet deep inside, she was aching to look up, just for a quick glance. Brooke murmured something and let go of Ice’s arm, but Ice didn’t catch it, she was busy trying not to anticipate his arrival.

  She felt his presence and confirmed it by staring at his black Chucks.

  Ice slowly lifted her head and stared right into those bluish grey eyes, which seemed to be smiling back at her.

  “Hey Ice.” Peyton said smoothly, pulling down his big headphones and letting it rest around his neck.

  “Hey Peyton.” Ice replied, surprised that she could even utter anything, as there were no coherent sentences running through her mind.

  Peyton smiled as he ran his fingers through his hair and stuffed his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

  She watched him not sure if he knew how utterly enticing what he just did was.

  “Did you get my text?” He asked cocking his head to the side and staring her straight in the eyes.

  She nodded, and then remembered to speak.

  “Yeah, thanks. I was going to text you back but then I got sidetracked.” She said fiddling with her fingers unconsciously.

  “Cool, not a problem…” He nodded. He looked down at his feet too and then back up at her face.

  “So, you finished the stuff you had to do at home,” he asked.

  Ice nodded. It was somewhat unnerving the way, he kept staring at her. His eyes seemed to be looking right into her soul. Every time she looked away, she was drawn right back to those mesmerizing eyes. And his presence. God is presence was making it hard to breathe normally.

  “Okay…well I guess I’ll see you around.” Peyton said gently touching her arm and then turning to leave.

  “Bye.” Ice whispered, putting up her hand. Peyton nodded and walked away, putting his headphones back on.

  Ice knew they were watching her. She knew the questions were gonna start pouring.

  She looked at her friends to see their mouths gaping. In any other circumstances, this would have been considered funny. But she didn’t dare laugh.

  She smiled sheepishly. “Guys?”

  “What the fuuucckkk?” Joanna asked in amazement.

  “What?” Ice asked pretending not to know.

  “What was that?” Jo asked pointing in the direction in which Peyton had walked away.

  “That?” Ice asked pointing in the same direction. “That was Peyton.” She said shrugging it off.

  Ice secretly liked watching her friends look at her in disbelief; it just emphasized how little they truly knew about her even after 10 years.

  “No shit Sherlock.” Joanna said scrambling to Ice’s side.

  Ice took a step back as she saw Joanna’s face lit up with a big smile. She put her hands on Ice’s shoulder.

  “I never thought I’d see this day. My little Iceberg, all grown up and fucking the hottest guy on the planet.” Joanna said giving her a big hug.

  Ice was in shock, she swore she saw genuine tears in Joanna’s eyes. “Jo we’re just friends.” Ice said pulling away.

  “What?” Joanna asked looking down at Ice with a look of disgust. “What do you mean you’re just friends?”

  “I mean we’re friends, you know like a boyfriend…a boy that’s a friend you know a guy friend…you know like you guys but a guy.” Ice started to babble.

  Maddie put her hands on her hips and smiled knowingly. “Hun, that’s not what we saw.”

  “Yeah.” Joanna agreed.

  Joanna walked over to Maddie and touched her shoulder. They both looked at Ice with a pleased expression on their face.

  “He wants you.” Maddie said.

  “Wants you bad.” Joanna added.

  “What?” Ice said shaking her head. She gave a nervous laugh. “We’re just friends.”

  “Uh-huh.” They both said in unison, not believing her.

  “I’m serious; yesterday he just asked if he could be my friend and that’s all.” Ice said trying to prove a point.

  “He asked to be your friend?” Maddie asked in amazement.

  Ice shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t know--”

  “Are you bullshitting me right now?” Joanna asked. “He comes up to you and asks to be your friend and you’re in denial that he wants you!”

  “Not every guy that asks to be your friend is looking for sex.” Ice said crossing her arms defensively.

  “But he wants something.” Maddie said. “Did you see the way he was looking at you?”

  Ice rolled her eyes. “How was he looking at me?”

  “Like he wanted to take you to the storage room and fuck your brains out.” Joanna said.

  Ice wasn’t going to deny that she liked that idea. “Guys stop. He just came to say hi.”

  “Yeah, say hi and undress you with his eyes.” Joanna retorted.

  “Yeah he came over to say hi. He stared into your eyes the whole time and then he just had to touch you all gently and whatnot before he left.” Maddie said.

  “He just said hi.” Ice said exasperatedly. She closed her eyes.

  “So, why’d he touch you?”

  “To acknowledge me.”

  “He acknowledged you already by saying hi. Do you know what him touching you means?” Joanna asked.

  Ice sighed. “What?”

  “It means please Ice, let me fuck you.” Joanna said seriously.

  Ice smiled and Maddie laughed.

  “You’re crazy.” Ice said as the bell rung.

  “Yeah, I’m crazy now, but when you come up here your back all hurting ‘cause Peyton gave you some, I’m gonna see who you gonna call crazy.” Joanna said starting to walk alongside Ice.

  Ice smiled. “Not gonna happen. Besides I have a boyfriend.”

  “Who Michael?” Maddie asked.

  Ice stopped walking and put her hand on her hips. “Yeah.”

  Maddie and Joanna looked at each other and turned to her. “Fuck Michael.” The said in unison.

  “Wait actually no, don’t fuck Michael.” Maddie said shaking her head.

  “Yeah, please fuck Peyton hun.” Joanna finished.

  They looked at each other and laughed again. The three girls resumed walking to class.

  “See you at lunch babe.” Maddie yelled as she and Joanna entered their class together.

  Ice stood in the middle of the hallway staring after her friends in utter shock. She smiled and shook her head and resumed walking, and then she stopped and looked around. Brooke seemed to have disappeared right when Peyton showed up.

  The bell rang.

  She was late again.

  **

  Lunch couldn’t have come soon enough. Ice was exhausted. She didn’t think she could take any more of this thing called school. She just wanted to graduate so she could get away. Far away. Far away from this town and far away from her mother.

  Ice was sure the first dimension of hell was in a high school cafeteria. She made her way through the bustling crowd of hungry teenagers. She heard a couple people here and there say hello, not really knowing whom so she just smiled in the general direction of the voices.

  “Fuck you.” A kid pushed his friend jokingly.

  “Fuck you.” The person said pushing him back and making him bump into Ice and almost send her flying across the room.

  He grabbed Ice’s waist and blocked her fall. “Sorry sweetheart…it’s this asshole.”

  Ice nodded and tried to control her breathing as she moved away from him.

  She needed air, and she needed it now. She picked up the pace to get through the crowds. She maneuvered around so that nobody would bump into her. She was overacting, she knew she was, but if somebody touched her again, her cl
austrophobia would come into full effect

  “Hey Ice…I was wondering---” She heard an excited boy’s voice.

  She groaned, it sounded exactly like Damien. Her stalker since 7th grade Darryl. Ice shook her head and didn’t turn to acknowledge him.