Infatuation

My legs were burning from the cold soaking my jeans and they weren't the only ones, all the other parts of my body were freezing.

Jesus be damned this all just sucked so badly! How could I end up trapped in a freezer? This was embarrassing to no end, and what was worse, was that I was worried about my reputation instead of my life.

Hum, if my brain turned into vanilla ice-cream it would be permanently and I wouldn't have a reputation to worry about—I'd be dead.

I looked up when a tiny sound flooded from outside. Outside...

It had been about thirty minutes since the last time that dog-faced jerk took me out. Each time I was allowed an outing the temperature in here decreased when I was thrown back in.

My forest eyes saw the only window and breathed a little deeper when a face ended up plastered there, I could see little droplets of water running down the window, and even though I wasn't being given the best light, I saw the person's hair was jet black.

I thought of getting up just to try and bash the unbreakable window—door hinges squeaked loudly and I got up, wanting to really give those dimwits a piece of my fist—

The door came open completely—my eyes didn't have time to pop in shock.

He just came at me, or more like, fell onto me.

"Argh," I hissed with a stumble. "Jesus—crap."

My hands moved at a slower speed than usual, the coldness was getting to my muscles now, well, wasn't that peachy?

Somewhere from outside, the voice I'd gotten acquainted to—Nolan's—floated, but only for a minute, it was gone fast. Bastard.

"Aric," I called not able to withstand his body weight—it was dead weight. "Aric?" I asked, after sliding down a wall, he came along.

Compared to me, he was blazing hot, and it made me instinctively wrap him closely—anyone in my situation would do this, they'd be fools not to.

I tapped a hand to his cheek as his head flopped onto my shoulder. Every once in a while, I got the idea he wanted to come to, but there was something holding him back... maybe they'd drugged him.

How did Aric get caught in the first place, though? I'd like to know that! Aric was intelligent, he wouldn't just get caught off guard for no reason.

Tracing a redder spot on his skin—on his golden neck—there was a tiny prickle on the surface, looking like a mosquito bite. Now, I knew someone had injected him with some kind of sleeping substance.

"Crap," I muttered for the millionth time. A sleeping person in a cold environment meant death. That's what they were hoping for. "Idiot, of all the times you could've gotten caught..." It was no use lecturing him.

Aric's dark hair fell to the front, with a finger, I pushed it over. He wasn't looking peaceful like most people did when they slept. He seemed troubled, as if he knew what was happening—what could happen to him, to us.

Taking a brief stare at his bare arms, I grasped them. Pulling him closer, making him tumble a little, his head falling on my lap, covering it with as much heat as I could inside a large freezer. Soon, my hands cupped Aric's face feeling for warmth. It wasn't as cold as his arms, not yet, but it wouldn't be long before—

"...it's... c-cold..." My body jumped after hearing the whisper. When those glinting emerald irises showed between cracks, I met them. His chest fell violently fast, and rose painfully slow. My fingers left his face and hair alone, as I watched Aric's green orbs trudge around us. "...where..." That was the only word I got from the slurred voice.

"Huh..." I blinked, gathering awareness. He was staring at me, expecting me to say something.

I felt another batch of chills racking my body.

"Freezer..." I muttered under my breath, my brain catching up to the reality of our situation. "We're inside a walk-in freezer." I completed a moment later.

Aric turned his head, slowly, probably an effect from the drug, and the icy temperature wasn't helping. He pressed it into the driest zone of my body—my stomach. The thin layer of the tight T-shirt did nearly nothing to keep my skin and his apart. I wanted to push him away, or tell him off... but what was the point?

Mel and Nate had no idea of where we were—they could be miles and miles away. Even if they found out... they wouldn't make it on time.

Our future was looking so bleak... I didn't really want to die fighting or arguing. I just wanted to be still and calm. Ha, if Mel heard that she'd fall over laughing. I wasn't one for calmness, I was always a rocket ready to launch.

I'd never really been in this kind of hassle before. I had been shot, which assassin hadn't? Broken bones, sure... but this... nothing like this had ever occurred to me.

I could feel Aric's soft exhale over my skin. It was the warmest thing around, it was welcome and enjoyable in the middle of this winter-cube. I was sure he could feel my chest heaving, too.

A thought from moments ago—when I'd seen Aric sleeping—came to mind and this time stayed. I'd slept with him a few good times now—three—if we were being exact. The whole ride was amazingly great, but that wasn't what I was thinking about. It was the afterwards—the morning after. I'd never seen him sleeping, not by lack of opportunity. All those times, I had been the first to wake up. But... I'd never stayed. Didn't so much as glance at him—not even when a weird tingly feeling in my stomach dared me to. When I did get that feeling, I'd run out the room. Now, I was sort of wondering what he looked like asleep.

I got the sense that if I closed my eyes, the eyelids would be stuck together—that was how cold the atmosphere felt.

I could feel my breath chilling my lungs. It was growing harder to breathe, it hurt. My eyes wandered off. Taking my surroundings in, I'd lost count of how many times I'd done it, but it was the last thing I had.

My hand moved from Aric's shoulder to his back pocket. There was shifting from the boy in my lap, I said nothing retrieving the Samsung.

"Reception, please let it be reception—please, please..." my fingers shook slightly. There was nothing, nothing but the sound of a phone crashing to the floor with a clack. "It's official... we're doomed."

I could hear my Aunt scolding me, arguing that I should give up. She was like Melissa, she didn't want me inside the Hive. I didn't get why, I mean, she was one of them. Why couldn't I be, too? Now, I wished I'd listened to her... I wished I'd done something different with my life—that I hadn't quit College on the first semester.

I wanted more from life.

I choked a breath—his eyes bored into mine, grinding into them with intensity. Aric used my arms to support himself, then sat beside me with a huff, proving his effort was too much right now.

His head turned to me as his arms fell to his sides. His eyes lingered, and maybe it was just from the cold but I found myself deeply involved. I could see Aric's will growing weaker and weaker by each passing minute, somehow his gaze held more meaning than any words he could've spoken.

My eyes flickered briefly.

"This..." I wheezed. "Is... your fault." I coughed shortly. "If... if... you h-hadn't gotten c-caught..." I exhaled tipping my head into the freezer's wall. I couldn't finish. There was no use, my heart wasn't into it.

There was something close to a laugh mixed with a cough. I though I'd seen some of that glow in his eyes return...

"...you..." I frowned, scooting closer to him, leaning my head on his round shoulder, so I'd hear better. "...for you..." He whispered. "It's your... fault..." Aric seemed to bit out with a last reserve of strength.

My lips pressed together—there was a burning in my throat all of a sudden, and... and I didn't know why I was feeling like this—not for him. I didn't feel anything for the guys I slept with, they were just one-night stands. That's all—

One-night stands.

That's what I always had, I never had sex with the same guy more than once. I never wanted to, but Aric was different. I told myself it was just because he was there. It didn't change the fact we'd done it three times and I stayed until morning.

Aric rested his black haired head on the wall, for a moment he was quiet.

"Aric?" My voice rasped. I waited a while. "Aric?" I began to lift my head from his shoulder.

"I'm tired..." He confessed softly, I couldn't even hear his accent now.

My head tilted, I turned on my side, facing him. Aric's eyes were closing. With both my trembling hands framing his face, Aric pushed them into slits.

"You have... to keep your e-eyes open." I stated with a sad expression. "You—you can't die... n-not before I do..." he parted his lips, and I saw his Adam's apple bobbing harshly as he swallowed cold saliva. "Because..." I smoothed my shaking thumbs over his strong jaw line. "I d-don't want to be alone, so... don't die before me."

Aric took a sharp, intake of cold air, forcing his eyes to open. He studied me with a worn out gaze. I didn't know if it was because of our dead-end situation... maybe I'd lost sense of reason...

I leaned in, pressing my lips to his; feeling their coldness as well as their fullness. There was a small response, not like all the times before though, this one was slow, not fast and hard. Our faces parted, we admired each other for a long time. Watching as both our skins grew paler, sweat dripped from our foreheads.

I don't know how, but Aric's arm simply showed up against my waist, tugging me to him. My hand dropped to his chest just to feel him breathing.