All Chapters of Across The Ice: Falling for my ex’s biggest rival: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

A week had passed since Dean and I stopped circling what we were and finally said it out loud, and the strange part was how quickly the world adjusted around it. Nothing external had changed. We were still splitting time between universities, still buried in exams, still showing up at Mercer Athletics like we had always belonged there. But the tension that used to sit between every decision had eased, as if we had stopped bracing for something to fall apart and started learning how to stand inside what we had chosen. Friday brought us back to Mercer headquarters for the ambassador meeting. Melissa ran it the way she always did, calm and precise, moving through campaign updates, sponsorship notes, and upcoming appearances with the kind of control that made the room feel smaller than it was. People listened because she made it easy to believe nothing was ever slipping out of place. It would have looked like any other corporate morning if you did not know what was coming for her in le

The invitation had been sitting on my kitchen counter for two days, cream cardstock and gold lettering that made it feel less like paper and more like a decision I hadn’t agreed to but was expected to attend anyway. It had survived coffee rings, a stack of unopened mail, and Dean’s habit of moving things just slightly out of place, which meant it had become impossible to ignore. He slid it toward me while I finished my coffee like he was passing over something routine. “Melissa called,” he said. I set the mug down without looking at it. “How is she?” “Better than expected.” He leaned back against the counter, arms folded, watching me like he was measuring how I’d take the rest of it. “She isn’t coming.” That landed quieter than I expected. Not relief exactly, but the absence of something heavy I hadn’t realized I was still carrying. “I think that’s the right decision,” I said after a moment. “So do I.” The conversation should have ended there, but Dean stayed where he was, gl

Exam season had turned the library into a controlled kind of collapse, the sort where everything looked orderly from a distance but up close revealed itself as exhaustion held together by caffeine and stubbornness. Every table was taken, every surface buried under laptops and notebooks, the air overworked, as if it had been breathed through too many deadlines and not enough sleep. I shut my textbook harder than necessary and pressed my fingers to my eyes. "If I read the words media ethics one more time, I might actually lose my mind in a very academically responsible way." Ava didn't look up as she shoved another notebook into her bag. "You've been threatening that for hours." "And I stand by it." "You need air." "I need a degree." "You need both, unfortunately." I didn't have the energy to argue, so I let her win and followed her outside. The campus felt indecently normal. Sunlight spilled across stone paths, students moved in loose clusters that suggested freedom rather tha

The last exam ended at 4:17 on a Thursday. When the invigilator called time, I didn't move right away. I just sat there with my pen still in my hand, staring at the empty booklet. Nothing dramatic happened. Just silence, and the quiet finality of being done. When I finally stood and handed in my paper, it felt almost anticlimactic, like I had been bracing for impact and it never came. Outside, Ava was waiting on the steps with two hot chocolates. She pressed one into my palm before I could gather my thoughts, and I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. "Don't ask me how it went," I said automatically. "I wasn't going to," she replied. "I was going to ask if you're still alive." "Technically yes," I said, taking a careful sip. "Emotionally, jury's still out." That earned a laugh, and we started walking without deciding where we were going. For once, there was no urgency pulling at us. Just the strange, unreal feeling of being finished. "I can't believe we only have

I suggested the double date because I wanted one last night with Ava before everything fractured into the holidays. Once we left campus, there would be no more shared routines, no accidental run-ins in hallways or late-night study detours that turned into hours. Just distance, and everyone scattering back into their separate lives. Ava was going home; Ryan had family plans before training resumed; I was returning to my father; and Dean would be dividing his time between hockey and his own family. I wanted one evening where none of us already felt halfway gone. Ava chose the restaurant without hesitation, which meant we ended up at the same small Mexican place we’d been going to since first year. “This is our tradition,” I told Dean as we stepped inside, the familiar warmth and noise wrapping around us. “Ava and I come here whenever something good happens.” “Like surviving university?” he asked, glancing around as if trying to understand how this place had become sacred. “Exactly.