forget-me-nots [h.s.]

four

Winter 2010 

I had a horrible habit of staying up later than I should. 

I could be called a night owl--I liked to be curled up watching films in the darkness of my room. The soft blue glow of the television screen filled my room. The audio was soft, and occasionally, I would rest my eyes and burrow deeper into the pillows. I had been on winter break for less than a week and I was already running out of films to watch. Each night, I was either watching a film or reading a book for leisure. 

I jumped when I heard a clatter from my balcony door. The curtains were drawn tight, and I was sure that it was just a branch striking the door from the wind. Snow was falling outside, and the icy white sheets coated my entire backyard. I liked the snow and the crisp winter air, but not in the middle of the night. 

The noise continued and I rose from my warm bed. I pushed up the thick rim of my glasses up on the bridge of my nose. My bare feet were chilled as I padded to the door and pulled the curtain aside. Momentarily, I was worried it was going to be a man in a ski mask or something; I was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar set of chocolate curls. I glared as I unlocked the door. Harry stood in the cold, arms wrapped around himself, his face red and his teeth chattered. 

"Hi Petal," he smiled mischievously. 

"How did you get here?" I gasp. 

"Climbed." He chattered. "I'm parked out front."

The cold air blew into my room, causing bumps to rise on my skin. It was a mistake to wear a t-shirt and fleece pajama pants--I was chilled to the bone. The back porch lights casted an ethereal glow on the beds of white that decorated the backyard--like thousands of  small diamonds glowing in the incandescent light. 

"What are you doing here?" I asked as I brought him inside. 

"It is time," he chuckled. 

He had small little white flurries decorating his hair and lashes. He shed his coat and draped it on the back of my desk chair. He was wearing dark colored jeans and a thick white wool sweater. He shook the snow from his hair before grinning at me, he pulled a white envelop from his coat pocket. 

"I thought we were waiting until tomorrow." I mumbled. 

"It is tomorrow," he told me. I glanced at my watch and noticed the time--technically it was morning. I locked the door once more before I crawled back into my bed and Harry kicked off his shoes before he joined me. "Come on, what do you say, Petal?" 

I sighed and leaned over to my bedside table retrieving my identical envelope. I held it to my chest as we settled on the mattress so that we were facing each other. He winked at me as we stared at the Fairchild University seal that decorated the front of the envelope. 

We helped each other with the application weeks ago and the idea of us going to college together seemed like a dream. We had been waiting to open the letters together--no doubt Harry would get in, he was on honor role and had brilliant test scores. 

The past few months, Harry and I had grown inseparable. We studied together, ate lunch together, went out to dinner with our friends--well, they were his teammates, but they had all grown on me. We became a pairing--Harry and Violet or Violet and Harry. It was both of us or neither of us, and there was no in-between. The idea of having that same friendship follow me to college seemed amazing. 

"On three?" I proposed. 

"On three," he confirmed, his dimples deep in his cheeks. We both hooked our fingers under the seam of the envelope in preparation. "One."