𝐑 𝐎 𝐌 𝐀 𝐍' 𝐒   𝐏 𝐎 𝐕

"Don't make me drag you onto this ice, Hollywood."

Standing on the iced over pond at the back of the log cabin in my hockey skates, Lia stands opposite me on the grass in her boots. Bundled up in winter clothes like the rest of us.

The redness from the cold on her cheeks and tip of her nose makes it very hard to take her seriously as while she is trying to remain stubborn, her body betrays her. Her arms are crossed like a pouting child would do, and I roll my eyes at her before crossing my own arms to mock her.

"I have nothing to hold on to. You took me once and I only have to stand on the ice at youth hockey practice." She exasperates as she holds one finger up.

I smirk and hold out my hands. "If you want to hold my hand, just ask."

She scoffs and moves some hair out of her face. "Over my dead body."

"Get your skates on," I tell her, and she glares at me once more before moving to sit down and put on the skates reluctantly. "See, was that so hard?"

She flips me off, getting me to laugh. "If I fall and injure myself, I am so ready to tell you I told you so."

Waiting as she puts on the skates, once she does, she stands up and steadies herself before walking over to where the grass meets the ice. She bites her lip in contemplation before holding out her hands hesitantly and sighing.

Chuckling and shaking my head, I take her small hands in my larger ones before leading her onto the ice, as she wobbles a little. She slowly glides a foot forward at a time as I skate backwards so we can get into the center of the pond.

"I don't know what's more worrying. The fact she's on the ice or the fact she's holding Roman's hands," Isaiah says in disbelief, and Rosalie flips him off while her eyes focus on her feet, getting everyone to laugh.

"I'd rather not fall on my ass," Rosalie explains. "And if I have to hold on to him to do it, so be it."

"This is a pathetic attempt at skating," Miles comments and scoffs as Rosalie whips her head up to glare at him.

"Do I need to flip you off—"

She stumbles as her eyes are focused on Miles, and I steady her. She grips my hands tighter as her eyes widen before I tell her. "Careful. Would you stop distracting her?"

Miles holds his hands up in surrender before continuing to skate. I lead her around the ice to get her comfortable and eventually she manages to look up from her feet without stumbling. "See, I'm a natural."

I scoff. "A natural disaster. Ok, let's get you actually skating properly this time."

With that, I let go of her hands and a hesitant look flashes across her face. I stay close by as she skates forward while I skate backwards in case she falls, but soon enough we're moving faster. The others skate around the pond and the guys end up skating around her trying to distract Rosalie.

"I'm so sending this to your dad," Cara chuckles as skates to us and begins to take a video of Rosalie skating.

"You're both showing off," Hollywood grumbles, referring to the fact Cara and I can skate backwards.

"That's the thanks I get for teaching you to skate?" I question, raising my eyebrow, and she waves me off. Eventually, we all come to a stop together and Lia holds onto Cara to be safe.

"Who out of the three of you do you think is the fastest?" Octavia questions and I immediately point to myself as the guy's point to themselves, too. "Well, there's nothing wrong with your egos, is there?"

"Please, we all know I'm the fastest," Miles scoffs as he skates backwards, doing the moonwalk.

"The fastest at tripping over his own feet," Isaiah mumbles, and I chuckle. "Even the coach calls your slow ass out in front of everyone."

"He needs glasses, I'm telling you," Miles insists, and I shake my head. "Alright, let's race. What does the loser have to do?"

"I say they jump in the lake over there that isn't frozen, naked." I shrug and the guys agree before we shake on it.

"Why are guys so dumb?" Rosalie asks and the girls shake their heads, not knowing the answer. Octavia moves before pointing her arm out straight.

"Line up here," Tavia tells us, and we all line up where she says. Me, then Isaiah, and then Miles. "Ready?" She questions and we nod. "Ready, set and go be dumb idiots."

Ignoring her remark, the three of us set off racing across the pond that isn't that big, and it doesn't take us long to get from one end to the other, with me being victorious. I pump my fist into the air as Miles groans as he is the last one and has to jump in the lake naked.

"I don't want to jump in that lake. It will be ice cold. Do you know what that will do to my down there area?" Miles points to his dick and we all roll our eyes.

"Well, it can't get any smaller," Cara comments, and we all laugh.

"Seriously? I have to jump into a lake naked and you take shots at me when I'm down?" Miles questions and she shrugs. "Ok, you're dead."

Miles skates over and before she can even skate away, he wraps her in his arms and swings her about as she screams. Shaking my head, my eyes land on a patch of ice with a crack in it that wasn't there before as we checked for cracks before we even stepped onto the ice.

"Guys, everyone off the ice," I tell them all and they look at me confused, before I point to the crack.

Isaiah curses. "Shit, okay, everyone off now!"

As fast as possible, we all head off the pond since it doesn't seem as safe as we thought. Once off, I turn back and see Lia slowly skating over. "Hollywood, get your ass over here."

She throws her arms into the air. "What do you think I'm trying to do—"

The next few moments go in slow motion. The ice begins to crack under the weight of the ice skates. Her eyes widen and she remains as still as possible. Our eyes also widen in disbelief and in a matter of seconds, the ice breaks.

Lia falls. A scream tears through her throat as her body collides with the below freezing water below and her hands manage to grip onto the surrounding ice, clawing at it so she doesn't fall in.

Shouting comes from us. "LIA!"

Before thinking twice and not giving a thought as to the ice crumbling before my own skates. I shoot onto the ice and quickly slide onto the floor of the ice as I grip her freezing cold hands.

Pulling her out is harder than it should be, but considering she has skates weighing her down in the water and the ice provides no friction, so I'm moving about. The guys skate over and grab her other hand before we all pull her out of the water.

Her shivering body crushes against my body as I bring her to me and wrap an arm around her waist, while resting the other under her legs as I lift her up to carry her in my arms. She curls into my chest for warmth as her pale hands clutch my own jacket. The guys and I skate off the ice.

"Tavia put the fire on. Cara make a hot drink and warm up some hot water bottles too," I instruct before carrying Rosalie into the cabin. Everyone else follows behind and once we're in, the girls get to work with the guys helping. While they do that, I carry her through the cabin and into the room she is sharing with Cara. "Rosalie, you need to get out of these clothes and into dry ones."

She nods in agreement and points her shaking hand to her case that lays open on the floor. Walking over, I pull out some dry clothes and underwear for her before getting an idea.

Telling her to remove her clothes, I run to my room and grab one of my hoodies that will be bigger on her and therefore warmer. Getting back into her room, I see she's managed to remove her hat and coat, but her hands are shaking so much she's struggling with everything else.

"Help," She stutters, and I nod before placing the hoodie down and walking over.

I take off her ice skates first before getting her to stand. Taking off her pants, jumper and top, she now stands in her underwear and when I motion to them, she nods her head, allowing me to take them off.

Unclipping her bra and helping her step out of her underwear, I grab the dry clothes. Helping her put everything on. Once the hoodie covers her, she rubs her hands together and I place my hand on the small of her back leading her to the living area of the cabin.

Sitting her down in front of the fire, Cara places a hot water bottle on her stomach and Tavia wraps the blanket around her. We leave the hot drink on the side, so she doesn't burn her hands with the fact it's steaming and let it cool down first.

We get as close to the fire as safely possible and I wrap my arms around her and lean her against my front for some extra warmth as she sits in between my legs.

I look at everyone and we all share the same relieved yet worried look.

𝐑 𝐎 𝐒 𝐀 𝐋 𝐈 𝐄 ' 𝐒   𝐏 𝐎 𝐕

"How are you feeling?"

Roman questions as he walks back over to where I sit in front of the fireplace with a mug in his hands. Hours have passed and my shivering has stopped, and I've returned to my normal color.

Even though I only fell for maybe thirty seconds before I was pulled out, the water was below freezing under there. I give Roman a small smile as he sits back down with me and he hands me the mug that is hot cocoa with marshmallows on top when I look at it.

"Much better, thank you," I say before picking off a few of the small marshmallows and popping them into my mouth. Instinctively leaning back into his chest like before, he doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around my chest once more.

We sit in silence, watching the fireplace as the flames flicker. The silence between us is a new one. There's no tension, it's not unbearable, it's not the silence we have after we've argued. Instead, it's comfortable. Something that the events of today have caused. Thinking of today makes me sigh.

"Are you doing okay? It must have been scary," Roman asks as he rubs my arms and I nod my head as it rests on his chest. A few tears escape my eyes, and his hold tightens on me. "I got you."

A few tears escape my eyes for the next few moments as I gather my thoughts. The rest of the cabin is silent. Only Roman and I here as everyone else have driven out to pick up some food. After the events of today, everyone has opted for a relaxed bringing in of the New Year.

"You really know how to scare a guy, Hollywood," Roman comments, and I laugh lightly. "I think you shocked the hatred right out of me."

I shake my head, laughing, and I turn my head to face him with a smirk. "Might change your mind after I tell you I told you so."

"I'll let that one pass, considering what you've been through. I deserve that." He throws his head back in defeat. "Think you've officially put me off skating on a pond ever again."

"There's me never skating ever again. See, bad things happen when I skate," I admit with a pout and he nods in agreement. "Thank you, though."

He looks down at me as I take a sip of my hot cocoa and his thumb wipes away some whipped cream from my nose before questioning. "What for?"

"Managing to get me out so quickly. It could have been a lot worse," I tell him, and he fixes the blanket that falls off my shoulder.

"I'd rather not face the wrath of your dad and brother...or your mom. She sounds scary from what you've told me," He hums, and I roll my eyes at his evasiveness. His eyes soften as he looks into mine. "Don't worry, I don't want you going anywhere just yet."

As I smile, his eyes flicker down to my lips and I lean up, connecting our lips in a soft kiss. Pulling back, he places some hair behind my ear and before we can speak, light shines through the cabin, notifying us our friends are back. I lean back against him sipping my drink and not seconds later, everyone strolls in carrying bags of takeaway food.

"We're back!" Cara announces before bounding over to Roman and I. "How are you feeling, babe?"

"A lot better, and really hungry too," I say, before eyeing the food and Cara chuckles before everyone brings the food over. We open all the containers and Miles hands out some plates as we begin to put the Chinese takeout on to them.

"You gave us a fright out there, Lia." Miles nudges my leg, and I chuckle.

"I should get a thank you off you considering you no longer have to jump in the lake naked." I point to him, and he holds his hands up in surrender.

"I don't think I've seen Roman ever skate so fast, even in a game." Isaiah throws a smirk his way.

"Who else would I argue with?" Roman shrugs and I pinche his leg as he flinches. "See."

Fireworks going off gets our attention, and we all look at each other before getting up and heading outside. I keep the blanket around me and as soon as we're outside, we see fireworks in the sky and a countdown being shouted from another cabin a few doors down.

Roman wraps his arms around me from behind as I lean back into him and listen to the countdown as we watch the fireworks. Getting to one there's a loud cheer, while the rest of us watch in silence and Roman kisses my head.

"Happy New Year, Hollywood."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

𝐀 𝐔 𝐓 𝐇 𝐎 𝐑  𝐍 𝐎 𝐓 𝐄

「 I loved writing this chapter!! It was such a cute one and we get to see Rosalie and Roman with a little bit of care towards the other and attentiveness. Thoughts? It was their first kiss without any hate!!

Q: how are we finding the pacing in terms of them going from rivals to lovers? Is it natural? Of course this book is a slow burn romance in case anyone thinks the book has moved really slowly, which is what I intended. I was always very worried with this specific chapter and trying to make the book as naturally progressive as possible with this trope. This is my first time writing a rivals to lovers book.

There is a change to the update schedule for next week. Monday's update will be on Sunday instead, so in two days and Friday's update if not up Friday will be on Saturday. 」