Skating With Hearts

I should’ve trusted my gut. That tight pull in my chest that told me, Don’t go. The ache behind my ribs that whispered, Stay home, Sky. But I didn’t because again, like last night, Caleb had texted me to come. “Come tonight. Please. Let’s have a do-over.”A do-over. As if all the damage from last night could be erased by a kiss and a shallow apology. As if I hadn’t cried myself to sleep questioning whether the person I loved even liked me anymore.Still, there I was—again—walking up the steps of another off-campus house with my long braid swishing down my back and a sinking feeling in my gut. As usual, the house throbbed with bass-heavy music and the drunken energy of twenty-somethings trying to forget their midterms, their loneliness, their lies.Red solo cups littered the porch like fallen soldiers. People spilled onto the lawn, smoking, laughing and slurring lyrics to songs that didn’t mean anything. I hated it already.The second I stepped inside, the heat and noise swallowed me

I saw her the second she walked into the backyard with tense shoulders and arms crossed over her chest like an armor. Her eyes were fixed on her phone as if it were the only thing keeping her from unraveling. The wind tugged at her braid and the edge of her hoodie was tucked tightly into her palm like she needed to hold on to something—anything—just to stay standing.Skylar. She was a like storm dressed in silence tonight. And damn it, how I noticed everything when it came to her.I always had noticed her. Even before her world cracked open like a raw wound under the weight of Caleb’s ego and betrayal, I had noticed her Back then, when we were just teenagers hanging around ice rinks and parking lots, she was chaos and sunshine and sarcasm wrapped in one impossibly magnetic girl. I still remember the summer she followed Ethan to practice every day and tried to skateboard to impress us and then busted her wrist on the second day and made me sign her pink cast with glitter gel pens she

I shouldn’t have said yes to the plan!This was the thought that kept orbiting around my mind like a satellite the second the door to my dorm room shut behind me and the weight of what I had agreed to minutes ago crashed down on my chest like a freaking grand piano. I stood there frozen, my fingers still wrapped around the knob, staring into the dim room like it was suddenly unfamiliar.Fake dating Ryans Maddox.My brother’s best friend.The boy I should have stayed ten zip codes away from.Fucking unbelievable!Still, it had been very much clear that we had both agreed to the outrageous deal. That we had just made the most crazy decision.Let’s do it.” I had told Ryans with anger in my heart as I thought about my face that had been clumsily photoshopped onto a girl screaming at a cat on Caleb and Tara’s shared burner account.His brows had lifted as he asked, “Do what?”“Fake date.” I had said again. Why did I not think about ridiculous it was right then and there was crazy. Adrenal

It was almost midnight when the knock came.Soft. Hesitant. But firm enough to jolt me out of my sketching haze.I stared at my dorm door like it had personally offended me.Everyone knew I hated unannounced visitors. I lived on the third floor, far from the main staircase, and only a masochist or someone with a death wish would dare knock on my door this late, especially when I was designing.I padded across the room in my oversized socks, heart thumping a little harder than I wanted to admit.When I opened it and saw Ryans Maddox standing there, bruised and sweaty and scowling like the universe had personally wronged him, my stomach dropped.His right cheekbone was swelling. His bottom lip had a thin cut. His hoodie—black and damp—clung to his chest like he’d just showered and not bothered to dry off. His hair was a wild mess, curling at the ends and dripping slightly.“What the hell happened to you?” I asked, too stunned to mask the worry in my voice. I was also too stunned to ask

“Start talking,” Ethan snapped at me again with his arms folded across his chest like a human barricade while his eyes darted between me and Ryans. “Now.”Behind him, Ryans stood like he was bracing for a hit on the ice with his shoulders squared, jaw tight and gaze fixed on me. He didn’t speak, just waited as if he was letting me take the lead in this case. And it was crazy because my tongue had apparently turned to mush.“Ethan,” I took a deep breath and said carefully, as if coaxing a snarling dog. “Let’s all just take a deep breath.”“I’ll breathe when someone tells me why the hell my best friend keeps having issues with Caleb and why I am hearing some funny rumour about you two lately! Are you guys really dating?!” he thundered, pointing at Ryans like the very sight of him offended him. “What is this? Some weird, post-Caleb rebound thing? Is that what this is?! Because I swear to God, Sky—”“Shit…Ethan, would you keep your voice down?” I hissed, slamming the door shut before one