Page 28 of Melt His Heart

Me: What faces!? I do not!

Carson: you either roll your eyes or squint your eyes a bit like you wanna kill me.

Me: I do right now.

Carson: awww i’ll be honored to be your first victim lmao

Carson: assuming you haven’t done that before too loool

Me: I’m going to bed idiot.

Carson: aww boo i was having fun, stay up with me

Carson: be bad for once lol

Me: Good night Carson! I’ve got practice tomorrow.

Carson: alright fine, night bby

I throw my arm across my face and bite my lip. Again with the baby thing. What am I going to do with him? I laugh to myself as I get up to remove my clothes so I can shower and really go down for the night. I shower quickly and lie across my bed, trying not to think about what it would sound like if Carson called me baby in his deep voice.

* * *

Training is going as usual, and Carson is back on away games since our dinner, but he’s still keeping his promise and texting me even if it’s just to say good night. I didn’t expect this much attention from him. I think when I was upset, it was mostly because he didn’t reply back and not necessarily because I needed him to be in constant contact with me, but now I feel like if he were to stop, I would be sad.

My skates glide across the ice as I finish up my final run-through of my program. Everything is coming together perfectly for the short. I’ve been nailing a huge percentage of my jumps, meaning the chances of me landing them in competition cleanly are getting higher.

I would be pleased with myself, and it’s great that Coach Peters thinks I’m doing amazing as well, but there’s always that voice in my head telling me to do better. I could jump higher, I could finish cleaner, I could be even more graceful.

I could score higher.

I make my way through the halls to rest in the locker room. My phone vibrates in my hand as I’m sitting down. A faint smile forming across my face when I go to check it.

Carson: i wanna go home we lost

Me: Yeah I saw. Sorry, I’m sure you guys will win the next one!

Carson: yeah…

Carson: i miss you…

He misses me…I’m glad no one else is in here with me. I probably look ridiculous. I reread the message again to make sure he really just said that. My heart thumps against my chest, and I know he’s playing around. But I want to pretend for a bit he means it in the way I think I’m starting to want him to.

Me: What? You miss being snapped at?

Carson: yeah actually lol

Carson: miss your little snark in your little brit accent

Me: You’re obsessed.

Carson: i told you i am lmao

Carson: also i got this for you! it looks like you

He sends a picture and it’s a cute hamster plushie, I laugh to myself.

Me: You think I look like a hamster?