This City Is as Cold as Your Heart

For the next month, Ville was constantly in and out of the house. With the band, without the band, he was always around. I’m pretty sure my dad gave him a key to our house. I tried to avoid him as much as possible and he could tell, both Ville and my dad. Of course, my dad being my asshole dad had to bring it up right in front of Ville.

“Why don’t you like Ville, kulta? Is it because you have the hots for him?” He asked jokingly, giggling to himself. If only he knew how true that was. Ville choked on his water. My face burned red as I stormed up to my room and slammed the door.

Ever since that day Ville has been hanging around trying to talk to me, but I always give him the cold shoulder. I was still super embarrassed by that day. He probably thinks I’m a spoiled brat who really likes to slam doors.

It had now been a week since that day and I noticed that Ville was around less. It was safe for me to come out of my room these days, or so I thought. Of course, he’s here today. Fuck.

“Hey.” He said as I grabbed the cereal from atop the refrigerator.

“What are you doing here?” I asked snottily.

He flinched, “Working on vocals. Why do you hate me so much?”

I groaned inwardly, “I don’t hate you Ville.”

He laughed, “That’s a shocker. You could’ve fooled me.”

I sat down at the table, ignoring him and hoping he wouldn’t continue the conversation. Just then my dad walked in, “Ville you’re here!” then he turned to me, “kulta, I need you to go to the grocery store, we’re out of milk.”

“No we’re not, I just used it.” I looked at him incredulously. I took a bite of my cereal to prove the point.

“It’s spoiled, go get a new one.” He said.

I spit the cereal straight out. “Ew, really?”

“Yes, also, bring Ville with you. You know, so you don’t get kidnapped or something.” He said before walking away.

I couldn’t believe him. I never bring anyone with when I go to the store, why would he care about me getting kidnapped now? He’s such an asshole. He’s probably doing this just to get Ville and I to talk. The milk didn’t even taste spoiled!

“Well, you heard him, let’s go.” Ville said, holding the front door open.

I sighed, and grabbed my backpack off the floor. This will be interesting.

We walked a few minutes in an awkward silence. Ville then pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one, taking a long drag before turning to me, “you smoke?” He held the pack out to me and I internally struggled with whether I should take one or not.

I took a deep breath, “Sure do.” I grabbed one from the pack and looked at it weirdly not quite sure how to go about smoking it. It couldn’t be too hard, I’ve seen my dad do it many times over my thirteen years of life.

He laughed before holding out the lighter, “Need this?”

I nodded, “Thanks.” I lit it, holding my hand around the flame to block the wind. I took my first drag and tried to repress the urge to cough.

“Are you okay?” Ville asked, patting me on the back.

I flinched a little. “I’m fine. I just haven’t smoked in a long time.” I lied. I’m getting pretty good at lying these days.

He nodded, “I started smoking around your age. Such a nasty habit, but I love it too much to quit.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. He thought that this was a normal occurrence for me but it was actually my first cigarette, I didn’t know how to contribute to the conversation.

I was scared to take another puff, so I just held it between my fingers as we walked.

We walked in silence again until we got right outside the grocery store, then Ville turned to me with a weird expression on his face.

“You know I told him to do it,” He said, looking down at the cigarette in his hand. Examining it like he’d never seen one before.

I looked at him curiously, “Told who to do what?”

He sighed, “Your dad. I told him to send us to the store.”

I gasped, “Of course you did! I knew the milk was fine! But why?”

“I wanted to talk to you about the other day. When your dad-“

I cut him off, “Yes, I know what you’re talking about.”

“I know your dad was just messing around with you, but did he happen to hit the nail on the head? I’m just wondering if that’s why you started ignoring me all of a sudden.” Now he looked up at me and I turned my head to avoid his gaze. My cheeks were burning up and my heart was pounding.

I didn’t know what to say, so I just nodded.

He continued to stare at me as I looked at the entrance to the store like it was super interesting. I couldn’t take the silence, so finally I said, “Yes.”

“Yes what?” He asked, his head turned to the side in confusion.

I finally brought my gaze back to the handsome man’s face, “He was right.”

The next thing I knew, I was being pulled into a warm embrace. I was confused, but also enjoying the moment way more than I should have. I took a deep breath, his cologne and smoke mixing together to create the perfect scent.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed, Melena. You don’t have to ignore me.” He said, his voice right next to my ear.

“But you’re-“

This time he cut me off, “I’m nothing. I’m a human being just like you are. We have feelings we can’t necessarily control.”

I fell limp in his arms and just gave into the hug.

“Age is but a number,” He paused and I had a mini freak out thinking he was going to say he felt the same way, “We can still be friends.”

My face fell and I released myself from the hug, “Yeah, friends, that would be nice.” There I go lying again.
“I hope you’ll stop ignoring me now that we had the chance to talk.” He said, putting a hand on my shoulder and smiling.

I put on a fake smile and nodded, “We should get the milk and go back to the house before my dad worries.”

He agreed and we did just that.