Cold as Ice

On Monday morning, instead of hearing my alarm go off at six-thirty, I was woken up by a body slam.

I'd been in the state that was half-way between asleep and awake - just dozing, until I heard a deep growl, and was crushed by a massive body.

With a scream, I jolted completely awake and looked around. The only thing I could see from my spot underneath my attacker was a toned shoulder, and wild black hair that tickled my nose. Johnny.

"Good morning to you, too." He said.

I freed one hand from underneath my blankets and slapped it against his bare back. "Get off of me, Johnny."

He turned his head to look at me and smiled pleasantly. "I didn't hear you say please."

I sighed. "Please."

His smile became teasing. "What if I don't want to?"

Though I was tempted, I wasn't going to smile back at him. "You have three seconds."

"You are absolutely no fun at all, you know that?" He rose up onto his elbows, leaning over my face. "Completely hateful."

"I'm hateful and no fun because I don't want your ten thousand pound body to break my back?"

Raising one eyebrow, Johnny ran his tongue over his lower lip, and nodded once. "For your information, I weigh one-fifty." For emphasis, he flexed all of the muscles in his arms and torso. Everything from his delts to the line of his boxers tightened and creased ever so slightly, showing off his substantial physique. Butterflies fluttered inside my belly as Johnny waggled his eyebrows at me. "Pretty impressive, huh?"

"You're average, I guess." I lied, shrugging. "I've seen better, I've seen worse."

"You haven't seen better anywhere around here." He said.

"You think too highly of yourself." I rolled my eyes, and digging my other arm out of the blankets, folded both across my chest. Which now that I thought about it, was in Johnny's plain sight, bared by a low cut black tank top. "Can you get off of me now?"

I noticed his eyes wander downward, linger for a second, and then flash back up. A grin played on his lips. "Do I really have to?"

"It would be great if you did."

With a sigh, he got up. He looked down at me with his arms hanging loosely at his sides, his body angled toward the door, and shook his head. "Hateful."

I grabbed a pillow and threw it at him, but he had already slipped through the doorway. I blew my bangs out of my face in a sigh and looked at my alarm clock. It was seven exactly, so I had an hour to get ready. An hour, until I had to go to school and face my English exam.

After pulling on some loose jeans and a vibrant Van Halen hoodie - which was Johnny's, and I didn't understand why it was in my room, but hey - I ran a flat iron through my hair and pulled it back into a ponytail, and went downstairs. I joined Johnny and Ash in the kitchen and reached into the cupboard for a bowl.

"Excited for exams, little sister?" asked Ash as he flipped through a binder and ate cereal.

"Completely," I said with no enthusiasm, and sat down between the two of them, "aren't you?"

"Well, I think I'm going to throw up." He replied.

"Yum," said Johnny as he folded a slice of toast in half and shoved it into his mouth. He suddenly looked over at me and narrowed his eyes. "Hey!" He exclaimed through his mouthful of toast. "Thath muh Vmm Hamm swehhuh. Wrr duh hull'd you gu' uh?" Which translated into: That's my Van Halen sweater. Where the Hell'd you get it?

I smiled at him. "It was in my room."

He swallowed. "What was it doing in there?"

"Nothing. It's a sweater."

Smiling, he shook his head and picked up another slice of toast. "Ash, your sister's being a smart-ass."

"You're a smart-ass yourself." My brother said, not looking up from his notes.

I stuck my tongue out at Johnny.

Johnny bit the corner off of his toast and spit it at me, but instead of letting it hit my cheek, I batted it with the back of my hand and sent it flying back at him. It landed on his plate and I crossed my arms. Johnny looked down, then up at me with a blank face. It broke into a smile and he shook his head at me. "Well played."

I smiled back at him and took the cornerless toast from his plate. "Why, thank you."

All three of us piled into Johnny's car, and we drove to school. Once we were inside, we met up with Bailey, Kyle and Jen at the board displaying Exam schedules. I was the only one in Advanced English, so I wasn't in the same room as any of them - in fact, we were in exact opposite ends of the building. But Johnny's Trigonometry exam was in a room pretty close to mine, so he walked with me.

I stopped in front of room 327 and sighed. "Well, here goes nothing."

Johnny smiled at me and put his hand on the top of my head, ruffing my hair. "You'll do fine. You're an English geek anyway, you'll ace this thing."

I swatted his hand away and fixed my hair. "Wish me luck anyway."

He took my chin in between his thumb and index finger, and slowly pressed his lips against my cheek, whispering, "Good luck, Kid."

As he began to pull away, I stretched onto my tiptoes and tried to kiss his cheek, but ended up kissing his smooth jawline. I dropped back down onto my feet, and watched a group of guys including Cayden Nicols walk by us, glaring murderously at Johnny, who just laughed.

"Good luck to you, too." I said.

"I don't need it." He winked and turned away, walking down the hallway behind the group. I noticed Cayden had a funny kind of strut. It looked like he was on a mission, or like he had to go to the bathroom really badly. But Johnny just took his sweet time with his hands in his pockets, smoothly strolling along like he was the center of the solar system.

I realized that I probably looked like an idiot, standing in the classroom doorway smiling to myself. I dropped my smile and shook my head, entering the class to find a bunch of eyes on me. I awkwardly took a seat next to a girl named Kendall.

Kendall pointed toward the door, biting her lip. "Was that Johnny Frost?"

I sighed. Did everybody have to know who he was? "Yes, that was Johnny Frost."

"Are you dating him?"

"No!" I exclaimed, covering my face with my hands. Now, everybody was looking at me. I sank down into my seat. "I mean... no."

"You should." She smiled at me. "You'd be a cute couple."

I gave her a weird look. "We would?"

She nodded. "Everybody thinks so, you know, since that thing at formal."

The girl in front of Kendall joined the conversation. A pretty blonde girl with braces, named Carrie. "Yeah. And since then, nobody's sticking around Cayden. He has, like, two friends - and that's it. Even Claire doesn't talk to him anymore."

Kendall nodded again. "I heard he's even getting kicked off the hockey and basketball teams. The principal found out about how he and those two gorillas went after Johnny, and he was pissed."

"Apparently Cayden was planning on going after him again... but nobody will go with him." Carrie sighed dreamily, casting her eyes to the ceiling. "I wish Johnny would fight someone over me."

"You're lucky." Kendall told me, resting her head on her hand.

"But... Johnny's a jerk." I said.

"That's what makes him so hot." said Carrie.

"That's what makes who so hot?" Miss Sullivan came in the classroom and tilted her head slightly.

"Johnny Frost." Carrie and Kendall said dreamily. I rolled my eyes.

Miss Sullivan laughed and tossed her long, shiny blonde hair over her shoulder. Johnny loved Miss Sullivan. Or at least he loved her size-seven curves, and the fact that she was twenty-five. "Johnny Frost." She said, and shook her head. "He's pretty handsome."

"Yeah, when he's not trying to crush every bone in your body or spit his food at you." I said. "He's evil."

"Oh, Avery." She smiled at me. "He only wants your attention."

"You make it sound like he's a three year old." said Kendall.

"He is a three year old." I told her.

"The sexiest three year old I've ever come into contact with." said Carrie.

"Girls," Miss Sullivan said as she dropped exam booklets onto each desk, "I'd hate to stop your conversation, but we have to write this exam."

I sighed and looked down at the booklet. At least it wasn't Trigonometry.

I got to leave as soon as I finished writing, so I handed in the book and ran out of the classroom. Johnny was leaning against the wall with his ankles crossed, looking down at his phone. I took mine out and quickly texted him I see you.

The chorus of Love Gun by KISS blared from his cell phone and made him jump. He slid the phone open and read the message, then looked up at me. He smiled and looked back down, texting me back.

My phone vibrated, and I opened the message from him. You dig?

I rolled my eyes and walked over to him, slipping my phone into the pocket of my - er, Johnny's - sweater. "Let's go eat."

He pushed away from the wall and put his phone into the pocket of his leather jacket. "How'd your exam go?"

"It was easy, actually. How was yours?"

He snorted. "Trig? Piece of cake."

"Since when were you smart?" I asked. I fell easily into step with him as we wound our way through the hallways, heading for the cafeteria.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't just ask me that question." He said. Suddenly, he stopped walking in front of the lounge.

I stopped too, and looked up at him, confused. "Uh, why are we stopping?"

He looked down at me. "The cafeteria's closed, remember?"

I pouted. "I wanted pizza."

"I have a car." He said.

"You'd take me to go get some pizza?"

Johnny shut his eyes and shook his head. "Heavens, no. I just thought I'd remind you that I have a car because I felt like it." He opened his eyes, rolled them at me, and put his hand on my back. "Come on, let's go get your stupid pizza."

"What about everyone else?" I asked as we walked outside, glancing back over my shoulder. "They're all still writing their exams."

He made a pfft noise. "They should've finished faster."

"Shouldn't we at least ask if they want anything?"

He shrugged and unlocked his car. "Fuck 'em."

"Boy, you're nice." I said as I opened the door and fell down onto the leather seat. "You know what? I was talking about you earlier."

"Oh?" He fired up the engine and looked at me. "Good things or bad?"

"Well, two girls tried to tell me to go out with you."

His eyebrows went up and he cocked his head slightly. "And...?"

"They also told me that Cayden's getting kicked off of any team he's ever played with because of that fight. And apparently, he was going to come after you again, but nobody wanted to fight you, and he didn't want to fight you by himself. He's not that stupid."

He smiled and drove out of the parking lot.

When we got to the small pizza place downtown, we got a booth in the corner and ordered a pizza with the works and a giant vanilla milkshake to share. Johnny had already eaten four pieces, and I was only on my second.

"Cayden must have wanted you pretty badly if he's still pissed off enough to fight me." He said.

"He's just upset because his life's falling apart." I took a bite of my pizza. "I can't believe I let him kiss me."

"You let him kiss you?"

"Well... it just kind of happened." I wrinkled my nose. "Obviously I regret it now."

"Can I ask you something?" He leaned forward and drank through one of the two straws in the milkshake.

"Sure." I also leaned forward and took the other straw.

He smiled at me and swallowed, letting go of the straw. Licking his lips, he leaned on the table. "Whose kiss do you like more?"

I swallowed my milkshake before I could choke on it, and gave Johnny a weird look. "What?"

"You heard me." He cocked his head. "Between mine and Cayden's, who has the better kiss?"

"I don't kiss and tell, Johnny."

"Why not?" He pouted slightly. "I need to know this."

I sighed. "Why?"

"Because," he raised his eyebrows. "I just do. It's an ego thing."

"I'll only tell you if you tell me something first."

He lowered one eyebrow, keeping the other up, and chewed on one of his snakebites. "That depends on what it is."

"Tell me why you kissed me the first time."

An old waitress walked by and smiled at us.

Johnny looked at me and shook his head. "I kissed you the first time because it just felt like I should. You know... when you just know something is going to happen?"

"That doesn't make any sense." I finished my second slice and picked up a third. "What made you feel like you should kiss me?"

He sighed. "It was dark, and quiet, and you were playing with my hair..." He glanced to the side, and then back at me, sighing again. "And you looked pretty."

"Thank you." I said.

"Whatever." He picked up a slice of pizza and scarfed half of it in one bite. Johnny ate like a lumberjack. He was never full, and he'd eat pretty much anything. "Now," He said, rubbing his hands together. "Answer my question."

"You." I told him.

"Me?" Johnny looked confused, but then realized what I had said, and smiled widely. "I'm a better kisser than Cayden?"

"Though I never thought I'd say it, yes. He doesn't even compare."

"Really." He raised an eyebrow.

"Don't let that go to your head, Johnny." I leaned forward to take a sip of the milkshake, but Johnny beat me to it and snatched both straws with his tongue, wrinkling his nose at me. "I dislike you." I told him. "Just so you know."

He stopped drinking for a second. "You don't dislike me." He said, and licked a bit of whipped cream from his lower lip.

"I do sometimes."

"I don't dislike you." He said.

"You don't?"

He laughed and shook his head no. "No, silly. I hate you."

Scowling, I threw a piece of pepperoni at him and he caught it between his perfect teeth.

My scowl stretched up into a smile and I shook my head. Why did he have to be so cute?