All Chapters of Black Ice: Chapter 41 - Chapter 46

~PARISH~After the kiss, silence weighed heavily in my living room, so much so that even the soft music in the background seemed too loud. No one moved. No one spoke. Alan sat frozen with his eyes fixed on the floor, his chest still rising and falling too fast. Toby looked like he had forgotten how to breathe, his pink lips slightly parted and his hands gripping the couch cushion like it was the only solid thing left in the world. The rest of the group stared at them with wide eyes, the earlier laughter completely gone.I knew I had to fix it before the moment turned into something none of them could laugh off.I clapped my hands together once, hard enough to make a few people jump, and let out a bright, exaggerated laugh that sounded a little too loud on purpose. “Okay, okay, settle down!” I said, grinning as I looked around the circle. “Those were the most dramatic thirty seconds of Truth or Dare I have ever seen in my life. You two looked like you were filming a romantic movie

~TOBY~I woke up the next morning with the feeling of Alan's lips still on mine.For a few seconds I just lay in bed staring at the ceiling of my dorm room, my heart already beating too fast. The soft morning light came through the thin curtains, but nothing about the day felt normal. I sat up slowly and pressed my fingers against my mouth without thinking. The skin there still tingled, like the kiss had left a mark only I could feel.I dropped my hand and tried to breathe steadily. 'It was only a dare. Parish had said so. Everyone had laughed about it afterward. But my body did not believe that.'My body kept remembering the exact moment Alan's mouth met mine, the careful way he had leaned in, and the way I had stopped being afraid for those thirty seconds.Getting dressed felt strange. I pulled on my shirt and noticed my hands were not steady. When I brushed my teeth, I caught myself staring at my own reflection and touching my lower lip again. The memory played over and over—A

~THIRD PERSON~Toby noticed the change before anyone explained it to him. One day Alan had been beside him at lunch, walking him home, sending short messages that made the day feel less heavy. The next day those things simply stopped. At first Toby told himself Alan was only busy with hockey. Then the silence stretched across two days, then three, and the careful excuses he made for Alan began to fall apart.He sat alone at their usual cafeteria table and stared at the empty seat across from him. The sandwich on his tray stayed untouched. Every few minutes he checked his phone, hoping for a message that never came. When a group of students walked past laughing, he curled his shoulders in and tried to become smaller. Without Alan’s steady presence, the old feeling of being invisible and unsafe crept back into his chest.At night in his dorm room Toby replayed everything. He remembered every quiet conversation by the lake, every time Alan had waited for him after work, every soft s