I

Alexis

"It's freezing cold in here!" I complained, rubbing my gloved hands together. My friend Nathan stood in front of a tall shelf piled with white boxes, his back facing me. "It's the freezer room Alexis," he said. "You can't walk in here expecting it to be like a sauna."
"Like it isn't cold enough outside." I mumbled mostly to myself.
"I didn't ask you to come here." He said, trying to defend himself.
"No, you just blackmailed me."
He chuckled. "Look, I've almost found it, so just hang on for a few more minutes." He said putting his foot on one of the shelves to climb up higher.
Nathan was already pretty tall, but the shelves were higher than he could see. He was lean, with straight black hair that always fell just above his blue eyes. Heads turned to look at him wherever he went, partly because he was so good looking, and partly because they were looking out for themselves, hoping they wouldn't be a victim of one of his latest pranks.
I have my brother, Tyler, to thank for having a person like Nathan in my life. We met when I was 9. Tyler is 2 years older than me, and he's much better at making friends than I am. He brought Nathan home after his first day of sixth grade, and I was busy trying to avoid them the whole day. Unfortunately, Tyler makes friends with people who have characteristics similar to him, so Nathan came to me and started up a conversation. It was around the time when I was 10 that he got really close to me.
My mom had died in a plane crash on the way to a big business interview in Boston. My dad was always so busy with work since then, because he had to raise enough money for Tyler, my younger brother Dylan, and me all on his own. Tyler decided to take care of Dylan and me by himself. He was only twelve at the time, and Nathan volunteered to come over and help him. He came every day, even after I turned fourteen, and insisted that I could help take care of things at home too. By then, I pretty much called him my best friend. Well, my best guy friend, excluding my brothers.
My best friend would be Saskiya, who also happens to be Tyler's high school sweetheart, and now steady girlfriend. We met in drama club in high school. She was a foreign exchange student from South Africa, and was pretty worried about fitting in with the new surroundings and new people – which didn't turn out to be a problem because she was one of the hottest girls in school. Tall, slim, hazel brown hair, black eyes and a fair complexion. She was like a teen model – so she joined the drama club since acting is her passion. We were paired up to do a short play together, and working on it together, we became really close. I introduced her to my brother, who she claimed was extremely hot, and I knew instantly that sparks would fly. It turned out I was right, because not even a few weeks had passed by before they started dating.
The only problem was that Tyler was about to graduate and Saskiya was in the 10th grade, with me. Once Tyler and Nathan graduated, they both decided to go to Long Island University, to be close to home, but not too close. It was good for Tyler because he could visit Saskiya whenever he came home for the holidays, and 2 years later, Saskiya and I joined Long Island University too. It all worked out in the end, except now, Tyler and I are waiting for little Dylan to grow up and join college too. Well, I can't exactly call him little, since he's taller than me, but he's younger than me by 3 years, so I guess 'little' is an appropriate word. Ever since he turned sixteen and got his license this year, he insists on driving down to pick up Tyler and me for the holidays, and today was one of those days.
That brings us to the topic of the freezer room and why I was stuck in it with Nathan. He was leaving a day later since there weren't any flight tickets to San Francisco today. Since Tyler realized that Nathan was going to be alone over here, he offered to stay with him for the night and catch the train home after Nathan goes to the airport.
Nathan felt so grateful and excited he started making all sorts of plans and pranks to play, and then finally decided that they should pull an all-nighter. He was here in the freezer room looking for a tub of ice cream to have for the night. I made the mistake of asking him why they needed ice cream for an all-nighter, and he replied, "Well, we already have things that are both legal and illegal. I want something I didn't buy from someone else." I decided I didn't need to know everything my brother and Nathan did.
I was about to complain once again about it being too cold, when Nathan yelled "Found it!" and lost his balance. He crashed to the floor, a white tub which supposedly consisted of ice cream, tumbled after him, landing on his stomach and making him grunt. I walked over and kneeled down, picking up the tub of ice cream. "I will never understand the mind of a boy." I said with a sigh as Nathan sat up. "You don't have to. Just trust us." He said with a smirk on his face. "Not so easy if I meet boys like you who blackmail me into doing what they want before they even try to ask nicely." I retorted.
"You've become better with your words. I guess I must be rubbing off on you." He said raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, you wish."
"Well, I'd love to continue this playful banter, but I have to go around spreading my success." He said rising to his feet.
"Wow, I didn't think you knew what banter meant, let alone be able to use it in a sentence."
"Need I remind you that I am in my third year of college while you are only in your first."
"That doesn't make you a teenage version of Einstein. That just gives you the feeling of superiority."
"Whatever. Let's just get out of here." He finally gave up.
He stretched out a hand toward me and just as I reached out to take it, he said, "Oh, I'm not helping you up. I was expecting you to hand over the ice cream." I glared at him and he started to laugh. "I may not be Einstein," He said, "But I sure know how to pull people's legs." He reached down further and grabbed my hand. I pulled myself up with his help and handed him the tub of ice cream. We sneaked out of the cafeteria, managing not to get caught by anyone, and headed to The Coffee Bean, the café inside our campus.
Once we arrived I looked around and caught sight of a familiar pair of eyes. They were the same sea green that I saw when I looked in the mirror or when I looked at Tyler or my mom. Tyler seemed to be concentrated on his conversation with Saskiya. Nathan and I walked over to them and Tyler ruffled my hair once he turned his gaze to me. "Hey Lexi, hey Nathan." he said.
When I was born, Tyler wasn't able to pronounce Alexis, so he started calling me Lexi. The name kind of stuck and even Dylan calls me that now, but my brothers are the only ones that call me that. Well, the only ones allowed to call me that. "Hey Tyler." Nathan said and then looked to Saskiya. "Husky!" he shouted. Saskiya rolled her eyes. "Hi Nathan." Husky was the name Nathan came up with for Saskiya since he assumed that Saskiya was the name of a Siberian Husky. The other reason Nathan calls her Husky is because she has a deep, husky voice.
I looked at Tyler with irritation. "I'm 19 years old, Tyler. When are you going to stop ruffling my hair?"
He chuckled. "Whenever you grow taller." I took after my mother's side of the family, where everybody is short and thin, with jet black hair. Tyler and Dylan however, took after my father. Tall and lanky, with light brown hair.
"That excuse is getting old." I said taking a seat in front of him. Nathan pulled up a chair beside me.
"Well, it still amuses me so I think I'll keep it as an excuse until I find something more interesting."
I didn't know how to reply, so I stayed quiet. Nathan broke the silence. "So, I got the ice cream."
Tyler perked up. "You did?" Nathan nodded. "What flavour is it?"
"I don't know," Nathan admitted. "I decided to open it in your presence."
"Well then what are you waiting for? Open it!" Tyler said, clearly excited. Like me, Tyler was addicted to sugar. He could go a whole week on just sugary junk food. Nathan set the tub of ice cream on the table and opened it to reveal the green colour of pistachio flavoured ice cream. Tyler nearly banged his head on the table. As much as he loved sugar and ice cream, this was one of the flavours he couldn't eat since he was allergic to nuts.
"Great," Nathan said. Saskiya tried to reassure Tyler, "Don't worry, it doesn't taste that good anyways." Tyler lifted his head to meet her gaze. "I'm not worried about that. Now we don't have any ice cream for tonight."
Nathan jumped in. "Yes we do. I'll just go and grab another tub."
"No, you already went once. Why go through the trouble again?"
"Relax. I hate pistachio anyways. I can't believe people consider it as a flavour of ice cream. It shouldn't even exist. I'll be back soon, and don't worry, I'll check the flavour before I bring it this time." Nathan closed the tub of ice cream and stood up.
"Do you want me to come?" I asked.
"Jeez Alex, I know you can't stay away from me, but try and restrain your feelings," he winked at me. "I'll be back soon." He spun around and jogged to the cafeteria. "I don't think I've met anyone with a bigger ego than his." I said, mostly to myself. Saskiya chuckled. "So, Dylan's coming today right?"
I nodded. "He should be here soon, if he hasn't already arrived."
"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Tyler said. "I think he's here. I saw his friend Brandon trying to pick up some freshman girls."
"Where did you see him?"
"Somewhere near–" He was cut off by a loud sound.
"What was that?" Saskiya asked.
"I don't know," I said. "It sounded like a–" The sound came again.
It was a gunshot.
Tyler, Saskiya and I ran to the glass door of the café to peer outside. There was nobody with a gun to be seen, but everyone else was running around, looking for some place to hide. "We need to get out of here. The café's huge glass windows will let anyone see us." Tyler said pulling the door open. We started to run toward the nearest building, which happened to be the boy's dormitory.
Suddenly, I was filled with concern. I thought about calling out to Tyler, but I saw him a few feet away, holding Saskiya's hand and leading her to the dormitory. They were almost at the door. I decided to run off and find Dylan myself.