Iced

Sunlight burning into my eyes woke me up the next morning. I made a little sound of annoyance and rolled over into a hard body. I couldn’t bear the idea of opening both of my eyes, so I opened one just enough to see out of. Mikey was sprawled out on the other side of the bed, mouth wide open and arms above his head. A soft snore escaped his lips and my instant reaction was to hit him.

Grunting, Mike’s eyes popped open and looked at me.

“What the fuck do you want at this ungodly hour?” he managed to say, his words hoarse.

A surge of excitement flooded through my body as I realized what would be happening that day.

“We’re moving today!” I squealed, sitting upright.

Mikey just blinked at me before letting out a loud groan and slamming his pillow into my body. I widened my eyes in an act of shock, feigning innocence as I rolled off the bed and onto my feet. I could feel his eyes on me but I just fiddled with my phone, which was resting on the dresser across from the bed.

I turned and launched myself at him merely a second later. He yelled when I landed on top of him and dragged him off the bed and onto the floor.

“I hate you,” he managed to choke out between laughs. I giggled and moved off him.

“Seriously, let’s go Mike. I wanna eat breakfast and then move in.”

Mike tugged on the collar of his shirt but stood and followed me downstairs. The second I stepped into the stairwell the smell of bacon hit my nose. Mikey made a noise of appreciation behind me and pushed down ahead of me. I trailed slowly after him, peeking around the corner to see him and my mom chatting in the kitchen.

She was smiling at him over her shoulder, hair pulled into a loose bun on the back of her head and a pink and blue striped apron around her neck. My dad was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in one hand and a pencil in the other. His glasses were slipping down his nose as he stared at the crossword puzzle in the newspaper.

I couldn’t help the sigh that escaped my mouth. I had always been close to my family and leaving to go to school in California had been very difficult. I remembered having cried so hard before I got on the plane and left. My dad had been crushed that I hadn’t stayed in Massachusetts and gone to BU, while my mom was happy that I was following my dreams.

I stepped into the kitchen and my mom’s eyes immediately turned towards the doorway. We had gotten in late last night and she was asleep when we came in. A smile broke out on her face and she placed the spatula in her hands down on the counter.

“My little girl,” she mumbled as she crushed me in a hug.

“Mama, I missed you,” I whispered.

I don’t know how long we stood with each other, but I know that my mom was trying to hide her sniffles and tears. When we finally broke apart her eyes were red. I laughed and snagged a piece of bacon off the plate.

She chuckled and shooed me over to the table, following over with two plates of food: one of bacon and one with pancakes on it.

“Gluten free?” I asked as I stole a pancake before my dad could even blink. I knew he would have devoured them if I didn’t get one in time.

I quirked an eyebrow as she shook her head no. “I can’t not eat wheat Lo. It was just a phase.”

“An awful phase,” my dad muttered.

My mom scowled at him but I knew she was happy to be done with her extreme health food obsession. She took a seat across from my dad, and I smirked across the table at Mikey. His face was stuffed full with food and he looked so pleased.

By the time we were finished eating it was nearing ten. Mikey and I excused ourselves to get our bags and get dressed. It was winter in Boston, which I had to remind Mikey of once again as he pulled on a pair of cut off jean shorts.

We bundled up and dragged our bags downstairs to the door, where my mom and dad were waiting for us. They helped us pile the bags into my dad’s car, but when we went to get in he shook his head at us.

“Oh no. Sloane you think you can get away with leaving Boston so easily. I want to see how much you remember of the city. It’s been a while, I hope you remember how to use the T.” My dad chuckled and my mom rolled her eyes. She mouthed that it was his idea and I had no doubt that it was.

When they pulled away from the curb I started to drag Mikey down the street. I was visualizing the map of the T's stops and which lines would get us to Huntington Avenue.

“We just have to get on the T,” I mused. Mikey looked at me with his eyes wide. “Oh come on,” I moaned.

As he whined, I searched for the nearest T station. I grinned when I saw the red line and dashed towards it.

“Let’s go Mikey,” I called over my shoulder.

Grabbing his arm, I weaved through a group of students standing at the edge of the sidewalk. They were waiting for the pedestrian crossing light to come on. Clearly they didn’t know Boston like I did. I looked both ways twice before dragging Mikey across the street with me in a half-walk/half-jog move.

When we were safely on the other side, Mikey ripped his arm out of my grasp and said, “You’re going to get us killed.”

We rode the red line until the Park Street stop, where we switched to the green line. I was so pleased that I still remembered how to get around using the T. When I was in high school I used to take it all the time. My friends and I would go shopping and this was the easiest way to get between Chinatown and Copley.

While we were on the green line, Mike preoccupied himself with trying to learn the map of where the green line went, along with all its stops, but it was to no use. He grunted and slouched down onto the seat next to me.

“This is insane,” he muttered, and pouted in my direction.

I patted his arm and laughed. “You’ll get it in no time, I promise.”

The subway car pulled to a stop and I stood, rushing to the exit before all the other passengers could.

“Starbucks?” I asked once we were safely across the other side of the road, much to Mikey’s relief.

He nodded and we walked into the tiny Starbucks nestled between two boutiques. There were a few people in line in front of us, but that just gave Mike time to rant on about how unsafe he felt in Boston with me leading the way. He didn’t like my impulsive, “running across the street and thinking it’s okay” way of moving.

“Hi, how can I help you?” the barista asked, giving me a small smile once we stepped up to the counter.

I rattled off our orders to the blonde girl, who shakily wrote them on two cups.

“And what are the names on those?”

“Sloane and Mike.”

“Alright they’ll be ready in just a few minutes.”

I thanked her and headed over to the side to wait.

“Are you excited for our first show Mikey? Can’t believe we’re starting it off tomorrow night. It’s going to be amazing. And we get to cover a hockey game?” I sighed happily. “Wow."

Mikey rolled his eyes. “I still don’t get the appeal of hockey rinks. They smell disgusting. Not like a good ol’ game of soccer. You get to be in the fresh outdoors while watching the best sport.”

I narrowed my eyes at that, making him raise his hands up. “Just stating my opinion Lo, don’t give me that look.”

I laughed as the barista stepped up to the counter.

“Mike and...” she paused, eyebrows scrunching, “Sloane?”

Mikey stepped forward to grab our drinks, passing me my iced latte immediately.

“No way,” I heard someone say. “Sloane Sullivan? Is that you?”

I turned, my eyes scanning over the little crowd of people in the cafe before landing on a pair of bright green ones. I couldn’t help the smile that broke out onto my face. I passed Mike my drink just as the man stepped forward and snatched me into his arms.

“Johnny!”

My feet lifted off the ground and Johnny squeezed me tight, his large arms easily holding me up. He put me down a moment later, only to wrap me back in a hug.

“Sloane holy shit,” he laughed. “Congratulations!”

I paused, that certainly had derailed my train of thought. “For what?” I asked, furrowing my brow.

“The promotion. They were talking about it on ESPN last night. I can’t believe you’re finally back.”

I grinned up at him and rested my head against his chest. He chuckled again, pressing his lips to the top of my forehead. My body relaxed visibly in his arms. It felt so natural to be this close to him, after all, we had dated for three years and been friends even longer. Johnny and I had broken up right before college. It wasn’t a messy breakup but it was necessary considering I was going across the country for school.

I pulled away, suddenly remembering to introduce the blonde in front of me to the blonde behind me. “Johnny this is Mike. Mike, Johnny. Johnny and I have been friends for forever,” I decided to leave out the part about us dating, figuring that Mike would question me about it later. “Mike and I met in college. We work together now.”

Johnny shook Mike’s hand and they exchanged a few friendly, yet awkward, greetings. Johnny turned his attention back to me, ready to ask more questions but I beat him to it.

“So how’s hockey been going? I haven’t been keeping up with the Eastern conference as much, but now I guess I’ll have to catch up.”

Johnny shrugged, “You know it’s good. I’m happy, we’re all happy.”

“We’re?”

“Yeah. You know Nick, Harry and I got drafted to the same team?” I shook my head. “It’s cool. At BU they liked our senior year line and played us that way straight through. I guess the NHL guys liked it too and someone kinda made sure we all stayed together. Weird, isn’t it?”

I nodded, mumbling an agreement.

“In fact, Harry’s supposed to be meeting me here in a few minutes before practice. You wanna say hi?”

I caught Mikey’s eye and he shook his head, pointing towards his watch.

“I actually can’t Johnny. Mikey and I are moving into our new apartment today. My parents are there now, so I want to catch them before they leave.”

Johnny pouted and I snorted. Same old Johnny. He handed me his phone from his jacket pocket, and I started to put my number in. I couldn’t help but admire the man he had grown to be. He had certainly filled out since high school. He had grown a few more inches, probably pushing him over the 6’ mark, and from all these years of hockey his muscles had gotten larger. But behind the strong jaw and body was the same Johnny I had dated. He hadn’t changed one bit.

“I’ll text you. We can hang out soon, catch up for real. This doesn’t count.”

I laughed, earning a wide grin from Johnny.

“I’ll catch you later Lo.”

Mikey and I left Starbucks and headed up Huntington Avenue to our new apartment. And I swore that when we left I saw a flash of the curly haired boy I met in high school.