Thin Ice

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JULES CHAPTER

Some people call me a workaholic.

I don't have a job but what they're referring to is figure skating.

I guess I can be a perfectionist at times but it only means I want the best out of myself. By being like this, my friends tend to get a little.. annoyed with me but I can't blame them.

"Jules, you haven't hung out with us outside of practice and school in almost two months," Kiara begins.

"We get you've been busy focusing on your routine but come on girl," Faye adds. The two of them raced out of the locker room after our practice to corner me in front of my car. They aren't wrong when they say I haven't been spending time with them. It's nothing against them but I've just been so focused on this one thing that I'm not making time for anything else.

"I guess y'all are right," I state as I let out a sigh. Admitting how much time I've been spending at the rink somehow made me feel heavy.

"We're always right," Kiara announces with a cheeky smile.

"What plans are you thinking about?" I question the two of them. The two look at each other with a similar smile. "What?" I repeat.

"Alex is throwing a little party and-,"

"No," I cut Faye off.

"Oh come on!" She continues with a whine. She crosses her arms and leans back.

"Alex never throws just a little party and I'm not in the mood to hangout with a bunch of people right now," I continue as I try to open my car door but Kiara stops me.

"Please," Kiara pauses. "We really just want to hangout with you," she finishes with a sad frown. She gives me puppy dog eyes which remind me of how young and manipulative she can be.

"Fine," I finally agree. The two of them silently celebrate with each other due to my response. "But I'm not drinking," I state to let them know beer pong is off the table.

__________________________________

I was right, Alex never throws just a little party.

Alex's house is lined up with people and cars, it looks like the whole school is here. I wouldn't be surprised if that was actually true.

As I make my way into the booming house with Kiara and Faye, they lead me over to where everyone else is.

As I begin to spot some familiar faces, I realize we've reached the rest of our group.

Faye meets with Alex and they walk off into the crowd, Kiara spots Andy and joins his team at beer pong, and I'm left alone.

I look around to try and find someone, someone in particular but can't seem to lay my eyes on him. It'd be surprising if he didn't come tonight but he's most likely around here somewhere, he never misses a party.

I decide to travel back to the kitchen to look for something to snack on but everything looks pretty trashed in here. I know I'm not staying later to clean this up but I feel really bad for whoever has to.

I spot a bottle of water on a tall countertop and go to reach for it but at the same time, someone else does.

"Oh, you can have it," the familiar voice states. I turn to smile at the tall figure but instead am met with someone who I wouldn't expect to run into.

"Thanks," is all I mumble. I reach for the bottle and quickly turn away.

"Wait-," he calls out. I let out a sigh and turn around to meet with him again. "Can we talk?" he questions with a soft smile. My eyes roll over his face and think back to the last time Kent and I talked.