Off the Ice | ONGOING

08.

CHAPTER EIGHT

ELIAS REED

The doorbell rings as soon as I finish fixing myself up a small sandwich. Already knowing who it is, I call out the words 'come in,' and in a matter of seconds Rowan is entering through my front door with an annoyed look on her face and her backpack swung over one shoulder

"Did you seriously leave your front door unlocked?" She asks me bewildered as she kicks off her shoes. "As much as I hate you, do you know how incredibly unsafe that is?"

I take a bite out of my food before facing her. "I left it unlocked only because I knew you were coming." I answer ironically as I chew through my food. "I'm not that much of an idiot."

She gives me a look like she doesn't quite believe me before locking the door and making her way to me. She drops her bag on top of one of the barstools and sits on another. "Where's Aidan?"

I finish up my sandwich before putting the empty plate in the sink and making my way to her. I stand on the opposite side of the island from her. "He's out doing something, why do you ask?"

Rowan makes a humming noise, completely dismissing the topic. Figuring out that it's best to not elongate the conversation any further, I grab my laptop from the coffee table in the living room and go back to the original place I was standing.

"You know you can sit, right?" She asks me with a tilt of her head. "I won't bite."

My head clouds with confusion. I narrow my eyes at her. "Why are you acting all nice to me all of a sudden?"

Her cheeks tinge pink with embarrassment as if she's been caught. "If we have to get through this project we may as well call a truce, no? There's no point in arguing- we're not going to get any work done that way."

I nod my head in agreement. "Look who has finally matured." I comment sarcastically as I take the seat next to her. "Never saw this day coming."

She mumbles the words 'shut up' as a response before reaching for her backpack. She pulls out a notebook and flips through the pages until she finds the one where there's a list of things written down in her neat, precise handwriting.

"I made this list over the weekend while you were gone." She explains as my eyes wander down the page. It goes from her favorite movies, books, television shows to her favorite foods, games, as well as things to do. "I know this won't be the only thing that I will be telling you but it's a start."

"Yeah, okay." I remarked as I continued to read through the list. Once I'm done I look up to see Rowan's gaze intently focused on me. I clear my throat as I refocus my attention to my laptop screen, pulling up the google document that I made the last time we met.

"Professor Collins left us a bunch of sample questions to start from if we have trouble trying to figure out what to ask. Do you want to start there?" I suggest as I bring up the questionnaire sheet.

Rowan nods her head as an answer. "Yeah, I saw that. The questions are definitely a good intro."

We begin with the first question on the list, 'what are your hobbies?'

Rowan goes first and I write things down as fast as I can as she rambles on about the things that interest her and what she likes to do for fun. She loves reading- hence her job in the library, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends but it's important for her to have her alone time as well, because without it, she's in her own words a bitch.

When my turn comes up I tell her how my one and only hobby really is hockey- how it's always been that way for the past ten years when my dad bought me my first stick. I told her about all the memories I have because of it when I was younger- from playing on a little league team to signing with a Division 1 team. I try my best not to ramble too much but I'm sure I fail horribly at that when I see that Rowan has stopped typing, and instead she's just listening.