Page 20 of Frosted Hearts

"What's the plan for tonight?" my sister asks as I help her unpack her bag into the dresser in her room.

"You can't seriously be bored already? We just got here," I sigh, putting her last folded long sleeve into a drawer. "We can find some board games to play for a bit and then ask Steel what the plan is. How's that sound?"

"What's for dinner?" she asks from the doorway, already ready to head downstairs.

"You can't seriously be hungry now? We just ate an hour ago," I huff, placing her duffle bag in the corner of her room so it's out of the way.

"Noooo, I just want to be prepared," she laughs. "Now, let's go slowpoke."

"You go ahead and see if you can find out from Steel where the board games are. I'll be right behind you," I answer, already knowing this is going to be a long week with her if we can't figure out a way to entertain her.

Slipping my cell phone out of my back pocket, I turn it on to see how many missed messages I have. I know Morgan is probably blowing up my phone trying to get hold of me, and despite Steel's warning, I can't just leave her in the dark. I'm just going to send one quick text, then turn my phone back off and it should be fine.

The second my phone turns on, I have six missed calls and about thirty text messages from Morgan freaking out. She knows I don't answer my phone a lot when I'm at my father's house, but she must have suspected something was wrong when I haven't answered her all day.Shit!

Me: Hey Mor! <3 I'm okay, everything is fine. Just some family stuff going on. I'll message you when I can but I'm going to be gone for about a week. Don't worry about me and make sure you stay out of trouble since I won't be at school to watch out for you. Love you Bestie!!

Quickly I turnthe phone off as soon as the message is sent. I put it back in my pocket and walk out of the room my sister will be staying in. When I make it downstairs, I hear Grace and Steel talking about which board game is the ultimate one. It sounds like neither of them wants to agree and is about to battle it out soon if I don't intervene.

"Need some help?" I question, rounding the corner of the stairs and entering the living room where both of them are standing. Grace is holding Villainous in her hands, and Steel is holding Clue. Both of them spin to look at me before turning back to each other.

"Illeana will agree that Villainous is better than Clue," Grace continues the argument, now putting me on her side without my input.

"No, your sister has some class and is definitely going to agree that Clue is the far superior game," Steel retorts, arguing with a twelve-year-old. I'm not sure which is worse, the fact that he is standing there arguing with Grace over a game or the fact that I think I'm going to sit back and watch this play out. It could be entertaining.

They both turn to look at me once again, this time waiting for an answer. Shaking my head, I spin on my heel and head toward the kitchen. I need something to keep myself busy and separate from their debate. If Steel wants to stoop down to Grace's level, then he is more than welcome to.

"I can't believethat you didn't take my side on the game debate. You're my sister. You're supposed to take my side," Grace complains as she goes around her room, getting ready for bed. After walking away from them earlier, I walked around the kitchen and explored what sort of food and snacks we had. After I wasted a few minutes and decided what we could make for dinner later, I joined them back in the living and told them we could play both games, and it seemed to settle the debate for a little bit. All through dinner, they were still debating the logistics and which game was better, and it was exhausting. I've never seen someone keep up with Grace the way that Steel managed to do so. I was thankful when it started getting late and could send Grace to bed, so I didn't need to listen to their debate anymore.

"Sorry, but I was not getting involved, and I still won't. That is between both of you. Get your butt in bed, and we will comeup with something to do tomorrow in the morning. I'm just downstairs if you need me, okay?" I explain, worried about her. Grace rarely ever spends the night somewhere that isn't our house. She's used to her surroundings, and when we do sleep in hotels, we're sharing a room. I can't help but be a little worried about her.

"I'll be fine, Illeana. You don't need to worry so much about me," Grace complains and rolls her eyes.

"It's my job to worry about you," I retort from her doorway. "Goodnight, don’t forget to let the bedbugs bite."

"Night and I won’t," she answers as I shut the door behind me.

When I make it downstairs, Steel is sitting in the oversized armchair next to the window in the living room. It's in the perfect spot to see me reach the bottom of the stairs. Stopping, I look at him for a second, thankful he's distracted by flipping through channels on the television. Going down the last step, I turn to head down the hallway toward my room. Curling up in some comfy pajamas and a good book sounds like a great way to spend my evening. I didn't get to finish reading the book on my Kindle from earlier and I really need to know howRejected Darknessis going to end.

"Illeana, wait up!" Steel calls out. Behind me, I hear him shuffling to get out of the chair. Pausing in the middle of the hall, I turn to see what he wants. Hopefully, it's not something that is going to take too long. I'm at a really good part of the book.

"What's up?" I ask when he comes to a stop a few feet in front of me.

"I was wondering if you'd like to watch a movie with me. You can choose the movie of course and I could make us some hot chocolate to go with it." He hesitates, almost shuffling his weight between both feet nervously. It's weird and not like him at all. I'm slightly afraid that he's up to something.

It wouldn't be rude to turn him down, would it? I could just say that I'm tired and don't want to. But I also kind of want to. One of my favorite things to do during the holiday season is to curl up and watch a Christmas movie with a big mug of hot chocolate. Every season, I manage to watch about twenty or more movies thanks to Hallmark and Lifetime playing five new movies every weekend. Maybe that's what we should do. I should make him suffer and watch a cheesy Hallmark movie. I doubt he will last through the whole thing. This could be fun.

"Do you have Hallmark?" I question, crossing my arms over my chest as I create a plan in my mind.

"No idea, but you can see," he shrugs, a small smile appearing on his face as he watches me.

"Okay, let me get changed, and you can make the cocoa. I like extra marshmallows." Turning away, I walk the next couple of steps into my given room and open my suitcase. I haven't quite gotten around to unpacking yet, and it looks like I'm not doing it tonight. Oh well. Opening the bag, I only have to push a couple of clothes to the side to find the pajamas I packed. They are my favorite Stitch ones with flannel pants that show Stitch in a Christmas hat, and there is a matching spaghetti strap tank top as well. For a second I debate if I want to put them on or just wear some sweatpants. Fuck it, this is me and we're living in this house together for a week he might as well start to accept me as I am. I don't want to keep playing the part my father expects me to play. He isn't here, so I may as well be myself and comfortable.

It doesn't take long to change clothes and put on some big fuzzy socks to boot. My feet are always cold, no matter the time of year. I must have perfect timing because when I step into the kitchen the milk is beginning to boil and Steel is turning it off to begin pouring into both our mugs.

"I’ll bring these in; the remote is on the coffee table. Go choose a movie." He doesn't look up as he speaks, too focusedon his task at hand. This better be some damn good hot cocoa. I fully expected it to be made with just some hot water, I did not expect him to even know how to make cocoa with milk.

Doing as suggested, I go to the living room, grabbing the remote off the table to begin flicking through the channels. Just my luck, there's no Hallmark, or at least not that I noticed right away. Damn, that sucks. Alright, new plan. I know there are some cute movies on Netflix, and I did see them loaded onto the main television screen. Thankfully, once the app starts, it's already logged in. Looks like it must belong to Emma because I see accounts for her, Trevor, and Alexis.

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