Frozen

"Tell me, how did your date on Friday night go with what's-his-name?"

I sighed. "His name is Dan Jenkins and it went... okay?"

I phrased it like a question and my mother snorted. "That bad, huh?"

Understatement.

I nodded. "It was awful. His idea of small talk was shocking. He asked me if I was pla

My mother burst out laughing and I found it both amusing and a

"You just turned twenty-five, you have years yet to think of kids."

"Exactly. That's what I said, but this lad was having none of it. I bailed on him. I told him I had to go to the bathroom, then I ran for the door the first chance I got. It sucks, he seemed so normal went I met him at the bookstore, but it turned out he is a nut job."

My mother was now snorting from laughing so hard.

"It's not fu

My mother wiped under eyes and smiled. "You could tell him you got a sudden bad case of the runs?"

"Ma!"

I shook my head while she cracked up laughing at her sick suggestion.

"I'm sorry," she chuckled. "I couldn't help meself."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Where is me da? How come he didn't come around to see me?"

My mother grunted. "He has his friends around for the match, it's early kick-off."

That didn't surprise me in the slightest. My father has been a hard-core football fan for as long as I could remember, he lived and breathed football like it was essential to his continued existence. Weekends, and even some weekdays, were a time that my father cherished. It meant football time, and everyone in our household had to respect that or God only knows what would happen.

Men and their sports.

"Must be an important match for it to be on a Wednesday," I commented.

My mothered uncaringly shrugged her shoulders. "He said something about it being the last game the club was playing before taking a break for the Christmas holidays or something like that. I wasn’t really listening to him."

She never did, she hated football.

I smiled. "In that case do you wa

Smyths was a huge toy shop for children.

My mother frowned. "What did you forget to buy?"

I gasped with feigned shock, "Why would you think I forgot to buy-"

"Neala."

I groaned at my mother's motherly tell-me-now tone.

"A doll for Charli." I mumbled and avoided eye contact.

Charli was my niece. She was five years old, and was both evil and adorable, but she was also cute enough to make you forget how evil she really was. She told me a few weeks ago that she wanted a doll from me for Christmas, and I told her I'd make it happen. That was before I realised how hard it was going to be to the find the particular doll she wanted.

My mother widened her eyes. "Christmas is in six days!"

Don't remind me.

I winced. "I know, but in me defence, I ordered the doll she wanted online, but bad weather halted the order till January so I just cancelled it and got me money back. I tried other sites, but everywhere is either sold out or couldn't make any deliveries until after Christmas and into New Years."

My mother lifted her hand to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose. I'd bet my life that she wished she had something stronger than a cup of tea to drink right now.

"Nothing is ever an easy ride with you," she muttered and took a gulp of her tea.

I snorted because it was true.

"Are you saying I'm difficult?" I gri

My mother cackled, "Honey, you've been difficult since the day you were born. It's a trait you share with Darcy."

The smile that was on my face vanished and my grip on my mug tightened at the mention of his name. My mother knew good and well that any mention of him was not well received around me.

"Don't mention his name in this apartment."

My mother dramatically sighed, "For goodness sakes, Neala, you're twenty-five not five. Both you and Darcy need to get over this childish... thing you both have towards one another.

'Thing' translated into hate.

I growled in a

My mother's shoulders slumped as she sighed. "But he is such a nice young man, Neala, couldn't you just-"

"Mother! We have had this conversation a billion times before. I am never having any sort of romantic relationship with Darcy Hart, and that is it."

I had to put my mug on the coffee table across from me because I suddenly felt like hurling it against the wall. I sat back and folded my arms across my chest in anger. This sudden feeling of rage was exactly what Darcy, or any mention of him, did to me. It severely pissed me off and always in record time.

My mother watched me with a raised eyebrow and smiled at me like she knew something I didn't.

"Hmmm."

She sounded thoughtful about something.

I blinked. "Hmmm? What does that mean?"

My mother uncaringly shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing dear. I'm going to top up me cuppa."

I watched her get up and leave the room through narrowed eyes.

"'Nothing' me bleeding arse," I grunted.

She was up to something, I knew her well enough to know 'hmmm' meant she was considering something, and that worried me. I reached out and lifted my mug to my mouth and took a large gulp of my tea to calm my spiked nerves.

Darcy Hart.

I hissed at my thoughts.

I hated thinking about Darcy, talking about Darcy, looking at Darcy, and hearing about Darcy.

I simply hated Darcy.

They say hate is a strong word and an even stronger emotion, I agree with that because the passion in which I hated Darcy filled me completely. It wasn't one-sided - that man hated me just as much as I hated him, and that's how it was between us. It's how it's pretty much always been between us. We hated each other, and that was it.

The feud between us started twenty years ago, we were both five years old, and out in Darcy's back-garden with our friends. One of Darcy's then friends, Alan Pine, put his arm around my shoulder and jokingly called me his girlfriend. I giggled because I thought it was the fu

The lad just got mad.

He threw the world's biggest tantrum and punched Alan in the nose and made it bleed. The poor kid ran home crying which he had every right to do - he did just get punched in the face after all. After the vicious assault on his supposed friend, Darcy turned his rage spotlight in my direction. The eejit shoved me in the shoulder and told me to go home because we weren't friends anymore. That was how it all started - he went crazy and kicked me out of his house for something I giggled at!

He has been a dick from a young age as you can tell.

When Darcy told me to go home that day he also mentioned he never wanted to see me again, and as much as I hated to admit it, it broke my heart. We were best friends since we could walk then in the blink of an eye we weren't. I was a very emotional child, so I fought Darcy's anger and rejection with my own. I didn't cry in front of him, and I never would. Instead, I became an evil menace when in his company and that turned out to be very often.