Across the Ocean by Heather Sosbee Read Free Book Online Page B

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Chapter 3
     
     
    An annoying little electronic song starts playing loudly and we jerk apart as if we’ve been stabbed with hot pokers. We both know we were doing something we shouldn’t be doing, and we’re now acting like we’ve been caught with our hands in the cookie jar.
    “It ’s my phone. Lára is calling. They’re probably done working now. I should answer this.” He holds his hand up in a “just a moment” gesture, while backing up several feet away from me. All the heat that had been accumulating between us now evaporates.
    A chill sets in my bones in its place. I feel almost like someone poured a bucket of cold water over me . I’m starting to shiver as the heat leaves my body so suddenly. Wrapping my arms around myself to stay warm, I do my best to pretend like nothing has happened and head over to examine some more of the statues in the garden.
    Ari is making small talk with Lára, and I can hear him telling her the places he took me to. After a few moments, I hear him begin to wrap up the phone call.
    “Yeah, we’ll head your way now,” he’s saying when I finally come back to stand near him a few minutes later. “I love you too, bye.” He hangs up and slides his phone into his jacket pocket.
    He ’s looking everywhere except for directly at me, and my sinking heart tells me that now it’s time to go back to pretending there is nothing between us. He clears his throat uncomfortably.
    “We should head back now. The girls are cleaning up and they ’ll be waiting for us.” I just lower my eyes and nod my head, starting to walk back in the direction of the entrance to the garden. Ari follows, and we walk back to the restaurant in relative silence. We both are obviously feeling the strain from all of these emotions and it’s not the most comfortable silence.
    Although, it ’s really our only option at this point, I don’t think we are able to really socialize without our feelings coming to the surface. I wonder how long we can handle being around each other like this before one of us snaps. My stomach is starting to cramp a bit from the mixture of dread, guilt, and loss that’s eating at me. Suddenly, the dreary damp weather seems to match how I feel on the inside.
    All too soon, we are back at the restaurant, and I know I ’m forcing the smiles on my face and pretending everything is just fine for the sake of the girls. I give Ari a quick hug and thank him for his vast historical knowledge of Iceland. We all say our goodbyes. Emilia and I head back to her car and her apartment. She asks me questions about the day, and I tell her about everything except the almost kiss. A bit later in the evening, while my mind replays what happened with Ari, I fall into a fitful sleep.
     
    ******
     
    Ari - Present time
     
    My friend Gunnar answers his front door and lets me in. I slip my shoes off and head into the living room. My stocking feet makes light tapping sounds on the hardwood floors before I plop down onto the sofa.
    Gunnar walks past me and sits on the other side of the huge couch. This is probably the most comfortable couch ever , not to mention how awesome the whole apartment is in general. It’s the perfect bachelor’s pad.
    Against the wall to my left, there is a projector screen covering a door that leads into a room behind it. A computer is set up by the arm of the couch that Gunnar is sitting next to . It’s playing a documentary about space while connected to the projector. Lounging back, I place my left ankle on my knee and dive right into why I’m here.
    “There ’s some serious shit going on. I met Brooke yesterday.” I take a deep breath and blow it out noisily through pursed lips. Gunnar looks at me curiously, listening. “We are in such an awkward position. Everyone is aware of our past and the fact that we cared a lot about each other.”
    Gunnar is one of my best friends. We grew up together in a little town in the west of Iceland called