A Year of Winter

nine

 December 1st, 2012

“Come on, Henry. You can’t stay inside all day.”

I sighed into the phone, looking outside from my window, wrapped in a cocoon of blankets, a book propped up on a pillow in front of me. A single beam of light wafted in my room, almost blinding me. I winced, “But I’m so content with sleeping the day away.”

Noelle laughed, “I don’t care. We’re going somewhere, and that’s that.”

At the sound of that, my ears perked up. I sat up straight, and eyebrow raised, “Is…um, Andrew coming?”

Noelle sighed, “No,” she mumbled. “He got caught up at practice. And I don’t want to go to another one of those this week, you know? So it’ll just be you and me.”

My eyes widened at the sound of that. Quickly, I leapt from my bed, grabbing my shoes and a jacket as I fled from my room.

“I’ll pick you up in five.”  

❄

“What d’ya want to eat, hon?”

I looked up from the diner’s menu, meeting the eyes of a middle aged waitress with curly blonde ringlets, pulled back into a ponytail. Her fingers, manicured and chipping, drummed against her notebook impatiently, chewing her gum loudly enough to get me to pay attention. I looked back down at the menu, adjusting my glasses so that the words weren’t so jumbled up. I coughed, “Oh, um, I’ll just get a cheeseburger.”

She nodded, scribbling down my order, “Cheeseburger it is.” She said with a nod. She turned to Noelle, grinning, “And for your little lady over here?”

I felt a blush rise to my cheeks, and scrambled to excuse her, “Oh, um, we’re not—well, what I mean is she’s not—”

“—I get it, I get it,” the woman said, nodding, though she didn’t seem to. Once she’d finished, she smiled at both of us and walked off, behind the counter to lean over and give the cook our orders.

Noelle turned to me, her grin spreading like a wildfire. She chuckled, “Don’t sweat it, Henry. It’s alright.”

Still feeling nervous, I nodded, trying to hide the undeniable blush I was sure had begun to hint something on my face that I couldn’t keep a secret. Instead, I bent my head down and took a long sip from my water, hoping Noelle might bring up something else in conversation.

“So, Henry,” she finally said, looking up with a grin. I looked at her, and felt myself smile right back at her. Her face was unnaturally warm and glowing given the considerably freezing temperature outside; perhaps some of the reason she looked so alive was because of the warmness of her chocolate eyes, or the huge maroon scarf she had wrapped around her neck, matched with a black overcoat she wore even indoors.

She breathed into her hands, warming them before she went on, “It’s been a while since it’s been just you and me, huh?”

I nodded at her. It hardly ever seemed like there was a time when Andrew wasn’t in the picture, and there wasn’t that invisible yet undeniable wall between me and Noelle. But I wouldn’t have known it by looking at her, because her smile and the way her face lit up by the sheer prospect of friendly conversation made it seem as if nothing had ever happened.

“Yeah, a while,” I said with a nod, leaning back in my seat. Out the window, I could see snow gently fall to the ground, coating the streets and the tall buildings along them.

Noelle traced my gaze to the snow, and smiled even wider. She giggled, and when I turned around to look at her, she was in hysterics. Confused, I tilted my head, as if looked at her from a different angle might clarify things.