Ice Cold Love

Part 27

Warning: language 

Ronan's POV

One week. For a whole week, Amelia hadn't talked to me. Well, not properly at least. I'd tried texting her multiple times, but her replies were drier than the Sahara and as rare as a blue moon.

I was so unsure of how to feel. After my qualifying hockey game, I planned on asking Amelia out, and I would have gone through with it had her mother not called before I could say anything.

I still had no idea what was wrong. All I could remember was the panicked way she spoke into the phone, with wide eyes and trembling hands. Amelia had been too far away for any of us to catch snippets of her conversation, but she had vigorously shaken her head at the end of it.

Veronica, Lily, and I were locked in a distrustful battle of who knew what, and we constantly accused each other of knowing what was wrong. Veronica claimed that because Amelia and I constantly texted and talked to each other, there was no way I didn't know. I believed that since the three girls lived together, Amelia might have shared something with them that they were simply refusing to tell me. Lily thought that because she was so busy, Amelia had probably spoken to me or Veronica.

My head throbbed as I wrote out the answer to the last question of my supply chain mid-term. The only thing that got me through the exam was the decision to hunt Amelia down after it was done. Veronica told me that Amelia would finish her last mid-term at the same time I finished mine. I fully planned to sprint to the 'psych ward' and demand an explanation from her, or maybe just make sure she was alright because God damn was I worried about my girl.

I scribbled down the rest of my answer and slapped the exam booklet shut. It probably would have been better if I re-checked all my answers, or at least made sure my writing was legible, but I didn't have it in me to care; one bad mid-term wouldn't kill me. I was practically running out of the exam hall with my bag open as I tried to shove my things into it. I didn't have a second to lose.

I felt her before I heard her. Her presence was calming, like the sky suddenly clearing in the middle of a storm. My head snapped to her as she spoke.

"Someone's in hurry, huh?" She asked, her amusement slipping into her words.

I took in the bags under her eyes, her hollow cheeks, her messy hair, her small lopsided smile, and I don't know what overcame me. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation from studying so much this week, maybe it was my frustration at not knowing what was wrong, or maybe it was my concern for Amelia, I wasn't sure, but one second I was hunched over my backpack, the next I was engulfing her in a hug.

I didn't give either of us enough time to process what happened; the moment I realised what I was doing, I let her go.

There was an awkward silence that hung in the air between us, but I didn't mind it at all because I was so relieved. She was alright. She was here. She was whole. She was talking to me.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I looked down at her. "Sorry, I was ah- just really missed you," I said as I felt my cheeks slightly heat up. Amelia seemed to snap out of her shock at my words, and I think her smile widened by a fraction.

"Oh, of course. I mean, who wouldn't miss this?" she joked, her hand going up and down. It was then I realised that she was holding a coffee cup in her other hand.

"Ah shit, did I spill your coffee?" I asked her and took a step closer to make sure she hadn't burnt her hand. God, I was such an idiot sometimes.

"First of all," she started, a smug look overcoming her features, "It's tea, not coffee. Second of all, it's not mine, it's yours. Only someone with tastebuds as terrible as yours would choose tea over coffee."