The early morning darkness made me want to crawl back into bed and hide under the covers. Coach Silva had made it clear to the team that the bus would be leaving at six AM and no later. We had a seven hour drive ahead of us, so we had to get on the road early.

"Elijah, you awake?" Dad asked through my closed door.

I opened the door to see him standing there with a tired expression.

"I'm going to drive you and Josh so you don't have to leave the car at the school for three days," he explained with a yawn.

I nodded and followed him down the stairs to the kitchen where he had prepared some eggs and toast for Josh and me.

"I packed you guys some snacks too," Dad told me.

"Thanks Dad."

Josh pattered down three steps and into the kitchen to meet us. His hair was a mess and he had tired bags under his eyes but I was sure I didn't look much better.

After eating and grabbing our things, we went out to the car and Dad drove us to the school where the bus was already waiting.

"Bye boys. Good luck," Dad said as we gathered our things. "I love you guys."

"Love you," Josh and I said in unison as we began to make our way to the bus.

"Elijah," Dad called out, causing me to turn back to him.

"Yeah?"

"If anything happens, call me," he said. "Call me whenever you need to. Or want to."

I nodded. "I will."

We said one last goodbye before Dad pulled away and I made my way over to the bus where most of the team was already sitting. Fox stood outside the bus with the coaches but his eyes were glued to me when he saw me approaching.

"Good morning," Coach Silva greeted. "You can put your gear in here and go take a seat."

I threw my bags into the storage compartment of the bus, making sure to grab a water and a snack before entering the bus to find a seat. Most of the guys were already sleeping, Josh included. The team had rented a coach bus since the ride was going to be so long, so most people were sitting alone since there were enough seats.

Once the last of the guys arrived, Fox finally got on the bus. He made his way to where I sat, sitting in the seat beside me. I noticed I had left a few marks on his neck from the day before, but I didn't mention it to him.

"Surprised you don't want to sit alone," I teased, remembering the last time we had taken a bus and sat together.

"It's cold on here, I need your body heat," he said with a close lipped smile.

"Is that so?"

"I could sit somewhere else, if you're gonna annoy me for seven hours," Fox replied.

"Hm, you can stay," I told him, scooting slightly closer.

"That's what I thought," he said, bringing his body closer to mine.

"How's your hand?" I asked him, looking down to where his injured hand rested on his leg.

"It's fine," he mumbled, sounding as if he was annoyed I even asked.

"You're cranky when you're tired," I pointed out, causing him to shoot me a glare.

It didn't take long for the entire team to fall asleep. My head was resting against my small backpack that I had put up against the window. The bus was cold, but next to Fox, my body was warm.

It must have been hours before I woke up, cracking open my eyes to see the sun had risen and the bus was stopped in a parking lot. I lifted my head slightly and that was when I realized Fox's head was nuzzled into my neck, his warm breath hitting my skin.

"Boys, let's go!" Coach Silva exclaimed, causing Fox's head to pick up and look around as if he had forgotten where he was.

Luckily, the two of us were in the last row of seats and the rest of the team had been asleep, so we weren't spotted in our close position. The bus had stopped at a rest area and when I checked the time, I realized we had been driving for four hours already.

Fox and I followed the rest of the team off the bus and into the rest area. We entered into a food court, some of the team already lining up while others headed straight for the bathroom.

"Are you hungry?" Fox asked in a raspy tone, arching his back in a stretch.

"Not really," I admitted. "But I probably will be later."

"Might as well get something then," he said, nudging me with his elbow and motioning for me to follow him.

I remembered Dad had given me some snacks, but I wanted to save most of those for the hotel.

Fox and I got in line at some fast food place and got breakfast sandwiches before heading over to a table where our friends sat. Alex was in the middle of telling the group how he was getting ready to ask this girl Beth out. None of the guys looked like they believed him.

"I swear I am!" Alex insisted, taking a bite of his veggie burger.

"You've been saying this for months," Ryan pointed out.

"No, I've been talking about getting with her for months, which I already did," Alex replied.

"So what's the point in asking her out?" Jude asked in a confused tone. "If you've already had sex with her?"

"Oh my God," Josh said, shaking his head. "Did you seriously just ask that?"

Alex shot Jude a glare. "Because I like her."

"Jude just doesn't know what it's like to get a girl," Liam joked, earning an eye roll from Jude.

"I know better than you do," Jude shot back,

The guys exchanged more banter that I really didn't pay attention to until they brought Fox into their conversation.

"Fox, what about you? Getting back with Claudia?" Liam wondered, everyone's attention turning to Fox.

He gave them all a strange look, shaking his head. "No."

"Looks like you're getting with someone," Liam teased, gesturing toward his neck and causing a chorus of laughs from the guys. All Fox had to do was glare at them and they stopped.

"Doesn't she have a girlfriend now?" Ryan asked the group.

"Holly," I answered, a squeamish feeling travelling through my stomach at the thought of Fox going back to Claudia.

"Right, I knew that," Ryan said.

"Oh, Elijah, this reminds me," Alex said, looking straight at me. "Have you fucked Trevor yet?"

This earned him glares from Fox, Ian, Josh, and me.

"Will you shut up about that?" Ian snapped.

"I just want to know!" Alex defended himself, holding his hands in front of him. "I ship it!"

"What the hell does that even mean?" Fox spat in a harsh tone.

I placed my hand on Fox's leg under the table. I didn't know what had possessed me to do it, but he seemed to relax at my touch.

"It means I like them as a couple and want them to be together," Alex explained, seemingly not noticing Fox's agitation.

"It doesn't matter how many times you ask me that," I told him. "It's never gonna happen."

I couldn't tell if I said that more to convince Alex or to reassure Fox.

Luckily, the conversation shifted and after finishing our meals and going to the bathroom, we were ushered back onto the bus. Once the coaches accounted for everyone, the journey started again. When we were on the road, I plucked my headphones out of my bag and plugged them into my phone.

"Wanna listen?" I asked Fox, offering him one of the earbuds.

He nodded, his lips quirking up slightly as he took it from my hand and placed it in his ear. I shuffled one of my many playlists and Fox let out a scoff as Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift blasted into our ears.

"What?" I asked.

"You have the same taste in music as my fourteen year old sister," he said with a deadpanned look.

"You cannot possibly judge that after hearing one song," I told him, squinting my eyes in annoyance. "Admit it, you think it's catchy."

"I will not."

I chuckled, leaning back on the headrest.

Fox continued to complain about my music taste, but never moved to take out the earbud. I even caught him bobbing his head to a song he swore was stupid.

"Why is it called Sunflower, Vol. 6?" Fox asked, pointing at my phone screen. "Where are one through five?"

"How am I supposed to know that?"

It didn't seem like it had been three hours since we stopped, but apparently it had since a few moments later we were pulling up to a hotel that was just across the street from the rink we would be competing at tomorrow.

"Listen up!" Coach Silva demanded, standing at the front of the bus. "I have to check us in, I will give you your room assignments and then you can have some free time until dinner at six PM."

There was a chorus of cheers from the guys at the mention of free time. Any time we didn't have to be on a strict schedule, we were happy. We all filed out of the bus into the cold northern Maine air. I was beginning to regret not bringing a heavier jacket.

I followed closely behind Fox after getting our things from the storage compartment, hurrying into the warmth of the hotel. After Coach had gotten our keys, he announced the room assignments which were the same as our last trip.

"I get the window bed," Josh said as he and Ian walked ahead of Fox and me.

"Josh, I swear to—" Ian's threat was cut short.

"Why don't you guys just share?" Fox asked in a bored tone.

My eyes widened at what that meant, that we would be sharing a bed. It wasn't like both Josh and Ian didn't know about the two of us, but it was still so strange and new.

Josh and Ian both turned to give Fox shocked expressions, the two of them obviously not knowing that they had the same knowledge about the two of us. Well, Ian clearly knew more.

Fox moved ahead of them as we got to our room, opening the door and letting us all in. He and I put our things by our bed while Josh and Ian fought about who got the side of the bed closer to the window.

"We're here for two nights, switch off dumbasses," Fox snapped, throwing himself down on the bed. "If it's actually that important. I don't understand the fucking obsession with the window."

I chuckled and sat beside him on the bed while Josh and Ian eyed us from the other side of the room. It was like there was a challenge to see who was going to address the elephant in the room first.

"You two have a staring problem?" Fox asked, raising an eyebrow. They both continued staring, only Ian's face turned into a sneer.

After a few more moments, they sat on their bed and we decided to watch TV until there was a loud knock on the door.

"Open up!" Ryan's voice called out.

I got up to open the door for him, revealing him, Alex, Jude, and Liam.

"Get ready and let's go!" Ryan commanded.

"Go where?" I asked.

I let the four of them into the room and they stood in front of the beds.

"There's a frozen lake not too far from here," Ryan explained. "We're going skating."

"We're going to be skating the whole time we're here and that's what you want to do with our free time?" Ian questioned.

"The whole team is going," Ryan said. "Most of them are already there."

Eventually, Ryan convinced us and we had grabbed our skates and followed him them out of the hotel. He wasn't kidding when he said it was near by. We just had to walk a little ways through the woods behind the hotel to make it to the beautifully frozen lake, surrounded by trees with a view of mountains in the background.

"Wow," I commented in awe.

"Well, it's definitely not just some stupid pond," Fox said from beside me.

"Definitely not."

The trees were decorated by the snow and the frozen lake looked blue from the reflection of the sky. The mountains in the background added to its picturesque look. There were already guys from the team, and some others, skating around.

"The ice looks good," Josh remarked.

He was right. It looked smooth and void of imperfections.

We all dropped our shoes off near our teammates' and shoved our skates onto our feet before gliding out onto the ice.

"We should play chicken," Ian suggested.

"No," Fox immediately denied. "If any of you idiots get hurt out here, that's on me, so keep the injuries to a minimum."

"You just don't want us to beat you again," I teased, a grin taking over my face.

"I can assure you, that's not it."

"Sore loser," I playfully muttered, skating away from him.

I skated closer to the middle of the ice, away from the others, gazing ahead as the sky turned from blue to pink as the sun began to set.

"I am a sore loser," Fox said from behind me.

I turned to look at him, giving him a coy smile. "I know you are."

Fox just stared at me with an unreadable expression. The sunlight illuminating his face made him look like he was glowing.

I spun around once and laughed as I turned my gaze back to the sky.

"Doesn't this look so cool?" I asked him.

"Yeah, it's cool," Fox agreed, clearing his throat.

I had to force myself to keep my eyes off of him. He always looked good, but this lighting against his skin was driving me insane.

I slowly skated backwards, moving away from him when suddenly an out of breath Alex came up to us.

"One of you race me," Alex commanded, leaning over with his hands on his knees.

"You look like you're about to fall over," I pointed out.

"Yet he'd still beat you in a race," Fox retorted.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm not slow."

"Both of you race me then!" Alex said, grabbing onto our wrists and pulling us along.

Alex led us over to the rest of the group and told Ryan to go stand at the 'finish line' while we lined up, getting ready.

On Josh's command, we pushed off and started our way toward Ryan. I pumped my legs as fast as I could, determined to catch up to Fox. I easily passed Alex, though he had already been tired so it wasn't that hard. Fox was only a few feet ahead of me as I reached out, grabbing onto the back of his sweatshirt. He cursed at me, trying to shove me off, but I wouldn't budge.

My grip on him tightened as I tried pulling him backward but he had still made it to Ryan with me behind him.

"You fucking cheater!" Fox exclaimed, spinning around to face me.

I laughed at him. The cold air had turned his cheeks and the tip of his nose pink, making him look absolutely adorable and impossible to take seriously.

"You won anyway," I told him.

"I want a rematch," he challenged.

"Why? You won!"

He didn't say anything, and instead, motioned for me to follow him back to the other guys. Alex decided to sit our next race out.

"You better keep your hands to yourself," Fox warned, pointing his finger at me.

I exaggeratedly sighed. "Fine."

Josh counted us off again and the two of us set off.

Fox was faster than me. I knew it, he knew it, everyone knew it. He was probably the fastest guy on the team. But that didn't make me any less determined to beat him, even though the view from behind him was impeccable.

In my pursuit of beating him in this race, I had moved too quickly and slipped, sending myself flying forward. I slid on my stomach as Fox made it all the way to Ryan. I was met with laughs coming from the team. I couldn't keep myself from chuckling as I continued sliding.

Fox turned and instantly laughed at my position, placing his hand on his chest as he started skating toward me. I flipped myself over, lying on my back as Fox leaned over me.

"Are you okay?" he asked, chuckles between his words.

"I would've won," I said which just caused him to laugh harder, holding a hand out to me which I gladly took.

"Sure you would've," he sarcastically replied as he heaved me off the ice. He held onto my hand for longer than he should have, but my hand turned to ice as soon as he let go.

Fox's mouth closed but his lips quirked up as he motioned for me to follow him away from the crowd as they decided who would be the next to race. We skated side by side and I felt the heat of his gaze on my face.

"Hey," he said, stopping me. I turned to face him, lifting my eyebrows in question.

Fox let out a breath, a cloud forming between us before disappearing almost as soon as it came. He moved closer to me and I stayed put, my mind turning blank as I stared at his rosy face. He was closer than he should have been.

"Would it be bad if I kissed you right now?" Fox asked in a hushed tone.

My breath hitched in my throat and it seemed as if the world had stopped around us.

"Everyone would see," I reminded him. I didn't want him doing this if he wasn't ready. I didn't want to be something he regretted.

He nodded. "I know."

I let out a shaky breath.

"Would it be bad?" he repeated.

"If you're not ready for it," I answered. "If it would make you hate me."

"It won't."

"But are you ready for it?"

He paused for a moment, his eyes searching mine, before nodding.

"I am. I want to," Fox assured me.

"Then it wouldn't be bad."

That was all it took for him to cup my face in his cold hands, his lips caressing mine apprehensively. He had never kissed me softer than this. It was like he was assuring me, pouring happiness into me as his life changed drastically at this moment. His kiss warmed my skin, making me forget about the bitter cold around us. I felt the warmth in my bones.

He pulled away for a moment and looked in my eyes. I was worried I would see panic, but instead I saw comfortable determination. He pressed his lips back on mine, neither of us daring to look back at the faces that were surely staring at us.

I kissed him back harder, giving him back some of the reassurance he had given me and letting him know he was safe with me.

We pulled away again. His lips were slightly swollen and his body was rigid as he kept his back facing the rest of the team. I took the first look at them so he wouldn't have to. I glanced over his shoulder and the sight was comical to say the least.

Everyone on the team, except for Josh and Ian, had stopped what they were doing and froze in place, their mouths hung open and eyes bugging out of their heads.

I patted Fox on the shoulder and gave him a tight lipped smile.

"You have to face them," I said in a soft tone.

"I think I'll just stay here," he said.

"No."

He sighed, but ultimately turned around and shot a glare at our teammates.

"What?" Fox snapped, grabbing onto my hand and leading me back toward the group.

I could tell he was tense as his grip on my hand tightened. Considering his attitude at the moment, I was glad that he wasn't running from me in regret.

"Uh..." Alex stuttered, his eyes glued to our intertwined hands.

"What Alex?" Fox snapped again.

Alex's eyes shot up to Fox's face. "N-nothing, I'm just—"

"Just what?"

"Surprised?"

Fox's stare was unamused as he glanced at the rest of the group.

"We just didn't expect that," Ryan interjected in an even tone.

"Okay," Fox said with a shrug. He started leading me off the ice, telling the rest of the team it was time to get back to the hotel for dinner.

"Are you okay?" I asked him as we exchanged our skates for our shoes.

"I'm fine," he assured me, kissing my forehead as he stood. I grabbed onto his hand, noticing the scabbing on his knuckles.

We walked hand in hand back to the hotel, the rest of the team following behind us and undoubtedly whispering behind our backs. Once we entered the hotel, I saw the group of people I was dreading. Micah was the first to see me and his eyes widened at my hand in Fox's as he rushed over to us.