A Beautiful Dark

machine as if nothing was wrong. “How’s the game?”
    “It’s good, um . . .” Suddenly I felt stupid. “I just came in for some ice. I didn’t mean to crash the party.”
    Asher eyed me skeptically. “Ice? For your hot chocolate?”
    My face burned. “It’s really hot, okay?”
    I stepped between them, noisily grabbing a handful of ice from the ice machine. Asher watched me speculatively while Ellie crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.
    “Skye?” Ian stood in the doorway of the vestibule, holding our mugs. When he saw me with the ice, he smiled. “Too hot?”
    “Why is this such surprising news to everyone?” I said, my voice rising. “It’s called hot chocolate!” I walked over to Ian to plunk the ice into the mugs, but before I had a chance to take more than a step, the ice melted in my hands, dripping sadly through my fingers and onto the carpet. “What the hell!” I could feel tears beginning to prick my eyes, and I had no idea why. I vowed I wouldn’t lose it right here in front of everyone.
    “Um, you were taking a long time, so I came to see if you needed help.” Ian’s eyes flicked from Asher to Ellie and back to me. “Whoa, your eyes just did that silver thing again,” he said quietly.
    Asher looked at me sharply.
    My heart pounded.
    “Is everything okay?” Ian asked.
    “Oh, everything’s fine .” Asher jumped in, his eyes flicking back and forth between us. “So are you two . . . ?”
    “What? No!” I cried, noticing too late that Ian had stayed quiet.
    An awkward silence hung in the air.
    “Yeah, so I’m going to bring our mugs back to the table,” Ian said, not bothering to hide his discomfort as he turned around and left. I had to do something about this.
    “Sorry to interrupt,” I said pointedly, looking from Asher to Ellie. “Feel free to go back to whatever it is you were doing.” I walked out of the vestibule to follow Ian. As I neared the end of the hallway, I heard, “Skye, wait!”
    “What?” I wheeled around. Asher jogged to catch up with me.
    “What’s going on?” He shoved his hands in his pockets.
    “What do you mean?”
    “What was that back there?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Skye, seriously. Why are you so upset?”
    “I’m not upset.” I said it too quickly. Asher looked at me strangely, and I knew I’d been caught in a lie.
    “Could have fooled me. You know, if you don’t tell me, I’m going to have to make my own assumptions.” He gave me an evil grin. “And they won’t be good.”
    “Well . . .” How was I going to explain myself out of this one? Even I didn’t know why I was upset.
    “Yes?” he prodded.
    “Well, I just—I don’t understand. I thought you were . . . you know . . . but now you’re flirting with Ellie—” I stopped and looked up at him. His eyes were soft and brown and warm, and I was more confused than ever. “Look, I don’t know what I thought, never mind. I’m just tired.”
    “You slept the whole way here.”
    “You noticed?”
    “I notice everything about you.”
    My breath caught in my throat.
    “Don’t try to distract me,” I muttered. “I’m still mad.”
    “Wait—that didn’t make you jealous back there, did it?” His eyes were twinkling.
    “Are you doing this on purpose?”
    “Huh,” he mused. “Imagine that.”
    I had to get out of there or I was going to truly make a fool of myself.
    “I have to leave. Go back to Ellie.” I pushed past him and headed down the hall.
    “Skye, come on!” He shouted after me. “I’m kidding!”
    But I was already on my way back to the seating area. Ian was in his spot, his elbows on his thighs, his hands clasped around a mug as though it was a life preserver, his eyes on the floor like he had laser vision and could create a hole to fall through. I tapped his shoulder. When he looked up, I could tell that he wasn’t happy to see me.
    “Let’s go get some air,” I said. I was relieved when he didn’t make an excuse not to come with me.
    We grabbed our jackets and headed out to the wooden deck. I could feel Devin watching me with curiosity as we walked past.
    Once outside, I inhaled deeply. The sky was dark now, and the tiny lights flickered across the face of the mountain, a mirror image of the stars above. The lights from the lodge reflected off the snow, creating a halo around the deck. Beyond that, shadows and moonlight cast a blue glow.
    “Ian—”
    “Don’t say anything.”
    “We’re