Frozen Barriers (5 page)

Suzanne looked thrilled I suggested such a thing. “That would be great, Jeremy. If Emily really needs to leave then that will work out perfectly. Are you sure you don’t want to stay, Em? I mean, if not, it was really fun this afternoon. It’s just too bad we don’t get to hang outside the rink more often. And, I still need to teach you more about wet dreams.” My soda went spewing all over the table as I had a choking fit. Josh patted me on the back, trying to help me out.

“I told you she didn’t have a filter,” he said. “On that note, Emily, the ride back to your house still stands if you want to go.”

Emily stood and thanked Suzanne for a great time. She was about to give her some money for lunch, but I quickly grabbed her hand from her purse, and her eyes shot up to mine.

“I’ve got this, Barbie.” I threw a twenty onto the table and waved bye to the other two as I escorted Emily out to Josh’s car.

In my brother’s old Honda Accord, Emily buckled in and advised me where she lived in Andover. I started toward her house, and she cleared her throat, a sign she was uncomfortable sitting in the car with me.

“Why do you keep calling me Barbie?” she asked quietly. I chuckled to myself because she clearly had no idea who I was.

“I must have really made quite the impression on you if you don’t remember me.” She shook her head as she stared at me in utter confusion. “About four years ago, you were coming in for a dress rehearsal or something, and you were dressed in some crazy frilly getup with sparkles and nonsense. I was just finishing hockey practice at the Forum when you came out of nowhere, and I ran right into you, knocking you on your ass. I called you ‘Barbie,’ and when I bent over to try to help you up, you were so pissed you stormed off. I remember watching your practice session with my mom afterwards and thinking with your costume, makeup and hair, even at such a young age, you reminded me of a Princess Barbie doll. It kind of stuck, I guess.”

She chuckled, and I felt as though I had butterflies in my stomach.
What the hell was wrong with me?
Girls never had that effect on me. Somehow this chick had worked her way around my finger, because I was pretty sure if she said jump, I’d ask how high.

“Oh my gosh! That was you? I was so mad at you for knocking me over that day,” she said. We were maybe five minutes from Emily’s house when she quickly suggested, “Perhaps you ought to drop me off at the end of the driveway.”

“Emily, I can drive you up to your door, a few more feet won’t run the gas tank dry.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just I was supposed to be out with Suzanne, and it might upset my mother if I show up with you,” she timidly said.

I understood then. I remembered how her mom was and agreed, even though I wanted her to speak up and fight for once instead of getting trampled again. “Fine, but on one condition.”

“What’s that?” she questioned hesitantly.

“If I drop you off out here, you have to at least take my number and call me when you get home.”

“Are you serious? You want me to call you when I get home when you are dropping me off at the end of my driveway?”

“Yeah, you can never be too careful. Plus, if you went missing between here and there, that will all be on me, and I don’t really want to be the one who lost Emily Cameron.”

She chuckled softly and glanced up at me shyly. “Give me your number, but you are totally being ridiculous and stop it with the Barbie name. I’m not eleven anymore.”

“No, Emily, you are definitely not eleven anymore.” With that slip of the tongue, I caught a slight blush creep across her cheeks as she looked away.
Why the hell was I flirting so much with her?
Clearing her throat, she pointed out that her parents’ house was coming up just ahead. Pulling up to the end of her driveway, I parked outside of a large gate. “Look, if I can’t see the house from here, how am I really supposed to know you got home okay?”

“Jeremy, really, it’s right there. Nothing is going to happen, but for the sake of making you happy, I’ll call you the minute I get inside.”

With that, I gave her my cell number as she plugged it into her phone. Emily grabbed her bag and moved to open the door, but turned around to face me before leaving. “It was nice meeting you, Jeremy. I really appreciate the drive home and thanks for lunch.”

“It was nice to meet you under different circumstances, Emily. I know Suzanne can be a bit much at times, but hopefully, we can all hang out again sometime soon.”

She opened the passenger door and stepped out of the car, leaning over before shutting the door and giving me a nice view of her great rack. I chuckled to myself because she clearly had no idea she was flashing me.

“I hope so, too. It was fun to be away from the rink for a while with new people.” She shut the door and quickly stepped through the gates and down the dimly lit driveway.

I wondered if she’d actually make good on my request for a phone call, so I waited it out for a few minutes. I mean, how long did it take for someone to walk the length of a driveway? If this were my house, I’d already be calling her. Clearly, we came from two completely different lifestyles, but somehow I had a feeling she was not all that happy living in hers.

About ten minutes later, my phone lit up next to me. Seriously, any longer and the neighborhood watch women would have been calling the police because I was sitting in my brother’s old Accord on the street.

“Hey, Barbie.”

“Stop calling me that! How did you know it was me calling?” she said quietly.

“Um, well, let’s see. The only person I’ve been waiting for a call from is you and considering I no longer see you walking down your driveway, I’d assume it was either you calling or my brother looking for his car. But, my brother comes up on my caller ID as “Shithead,” so it had to be you.”

She chuckled. “You are a strange one, Jeremy Page. Did you really wait out there this entire time?”

“I’m a man of my word. If anything were to happen to you on my watch, I’d be devastated. I’m glad you made it home all right, though. Call me if you are ever at the rink again. Maybe I can show you some new moves.”

“Only if you wear one of my frilly outfits and a whole lot of spandex,” she retorted with a flirty attitude in her voice,

“I look forward to your call, Emily. I’ll see you around.”

“Sure, Jeremy. Thanks again for the ride. Bye.”

With that, she hung up, and the line went dead. I turned on the engine and started to drive off when my brother called me.

“Dude, where the hell is my car? I’ve been waiting at Mom and Dad’s for thirty minutes now, and Courtney is driving me nuts with the Spice Girls movie!”

I knew exactly what movie Josh was talking about, and Courtney had it playing all day and night, but so long as I had my earplugs in at the house, it wasn’t so bad.

“I just left Emily’s house, and I’m on my way home now.”

“Please tell me you didn’t do anything in my car, Jeremy,” Josh said with a hint of curiosity.

“Dude, the girl is hot, but seriously, unless global warming occurs anytime soon, that’s one ice princess who will never give me the time of day, let alone use your backseat for a make-out session.” Although, in the back of my mind, she really was fun to be around and I would have liked to see what made her tick inside. Something told me there was more to her than what was on the surface. Hopefully, she’d call me, and I could make good on that deal. I could do more than make her blush if she caught me wearing anything in spandex.

2013

It is my day off from training and the rink. I’ve made plans at the spa for a mani-pedi and then I’m heading over to the gym for a quick Barre and yoga class. At least I’ll be able to take away a little bit of stress while I’m there. In a couple of months, my training will be probably every day, as my mother will require me to prepare for the US Nationals. Everything will be riding on my placing, considering this year’s competition will be held in Boston. Mother says Daddy has donated a lot of money toward the advertising for his company and how it would look good for the family if I were to medal in my hometown. No pressure on my shoulders at all. A part of me would like to just stick it to them and not place in the top ten. That would really piss them off to no end. But, at the end of the day, who am I kidding? I’ll end up making them happy, even if it means I’m not.

I’m wrapping up at the day spa and trying to keep my nails from hitting against anything when I hear someone shout my name. “Oh my gosh, Emily Cameron! Is that you?” I turn my head in that direction only to see Suzanne walking toward me. I smile politely, as it’s been at least eight years since I’ve seen her. As she approaches me, she hurriedly strides up looking me over. “It is you! It’s been so long. I can’t believe how good you look! What on Earth are you doing up here?” She was always one for being overly dramatic.

“Hi, Suzanne. It’s nice to see you, too. I was just in the area, so I drove up to see about getting a mani-pedi.” I wave my nails at her. “It’s my only day off for a while, so I needed some time to de-stress.”

“Oh! That’s right. You’re still competing. I thought I read somewhere you were a top contender for this year’s Nationals, right?!”

I sigh because this is all anyone knows or asks about me. Never does anyone ask me what I want to do or like to do besides the skating career. “Yeah, I’m still skating. You know my mother. She’ll never let me do what I want, so I’m still training like crazy and competing at least five months out of the year.”

She must sense my sadness because she immediately slaps her hand on my shoulder and looks me in the eyes. “Well, we need to totally catch up. I was about to go grab a quick bite and drink across the street. Come join me. I’m not taking no for an answer.”

As she’s grabbing my hand to drag me out the doors, she’s chatting on the phone with someone, but as I look at the time on my phone, I realize there is no way I’m making it to my gym class on time. So much for my day off.

Suzanne and I walk across the parking lot to the Ninety-Nine restaurant. As we walk inside, Suzanne drops her phone back into her bag. We walk past the hostess station and down the back to a table where two guys are sitting with another girl. The girl looks up and smiles at Suzanne before bringing her into a huge hug. Suzanne whispers something into her ear before leaning over to one of the guys whose back is toward me. I wonder if I’m crashing this lunch, but she did say she wanted to catch up, so I’m pretty sure she thinks her friends won’t mind me being here with them.

Once Suzanne turns back to me and waves me over, the guy she was talking to gets up and faces me. It’s when I meet his eyes that I realize they are the only eyes that have ever had an effect on me. Those eyes that caused my heart to flutter and my hands to sweat from being so close so long ago. He moves over to me, allowing Suzanne to move into the booth and me to sit next to her.

As I make a move to slide in next to her, he leans down to my ear and whispers, “Hi, Barbie. You never called me back about showing you my moves.” A ripple of something goes down my spine as I look up to him with my mouth hanging wide open in shock.

He’s no longer that high school senior; he’s a tall, lean mass of pure sex on a stick, and if I thought he was hot back then, it’s going to be torture trying to get through lunch with him sitting beside me. At least this time around I have my own car to get me home.