Page 34 of Thin Ice

Boyfriend. The word hit differently coming out of someone else's mouth. At school, it was a fact. Here, on this lake, with Noah saying it through a phone while I sat on a couch I'd just vacuumed for the first time in my life, it landed heavier. Realer.

"It's a lot," I said.

"A lot good or a lot bad?"

"Both." I leaned back into the couch. "His dad's fucking evil. Wants him to basically sign his life away to the Harrington life plan. That means no rowing with Riverside and no me."

"That's crazy. I can't believe he has to deal with that. Glad I'm not rich. "

"Yeah." I rubbed my face.

"Sorry man."

"And my mom's set a place for him Christmas Eve."

"Does he know?"

"I invited him the other night. He said he couldn't promise. Then last night, after the dinner with his dad, he texted me and said he's coming."

"That's great."

"Yeah."

He must have heard it in my voice. "Liam. That's great."

"I know."

"Then why do you sound like someone told the boat sank?"

I looked at the tree. The glass heron caught the light.

"Because now he's actually going to be here," I said. "In this house. The house is bad man. I spent the entire morning in a cleaning frenzy."

"How bad?"

"I cleaned behind the toilet. I threw out a yogurt from 2016."

"Okay."

"I rearranged my mom's bookshelf."

"Okay."

"I'm not okay."

"I know." Noah's voice shifted into the gear it went into when he stopped being funny. "You're afraid he's going to walk in and see… what?"

"How poor I actually am and choose his dad's plan over me."

"That's not going to happen because he's already seen your side of the dorm room."

I smirked. "My side?"

"It's a wreck compared to mine," Noah laughed. "But seriously, Alex comes from money, but I don't think he's shallow."

"I know."

"He's gone through a lot to be with you."