Freshly moved from Florida, Nathan Bradley finds himself feeling lost at Storm Coast Academy. Despite the new environment of the school and the small Oregon town as well as his confusing but cute roommate, it won't take much time for him to feel at...
Sometimes the world seems to pass much faster than it did when you're having a good time. As Nate furthers his friendships with Evelyn and Griffin, the leaves fall from the trees and, soon enough, snow is falling and sweaters aren't quite enough to keep you warm.
"Is this your first snowfall?" Griffin asks, walking up behind Nate as he looks mesmerized out of the window. It's been a couple months, and they've only grown to be better friends. The pizza is long off the floor, and Griffin's clothes were actually in the closet (though not on his chest), but it's still up for debate whether they're clean or not.
"Yes, actually." He turns around, and opens the rest of the curtain up so Griffin could look outside next to him. "I mean, I've seen snow before, mom took me on vacation with skiing... but..."
"But?" Griffin inquires, interested.
"It was just skiing, I never really played in it or anything."
"What! That's a shame. Get your coat on right now, mister, we're going outside." Griffin decided, opening up his closet only for stacks of clothes to fall out.
"Right now?" Nate smiles, quickly moving to grab his coat and gloves. He's so ready.
"Yeah!" Griffin pulls him out of the dorm and into the snow, where a few students have already come outside to have fun in the fresh snowfall.
"Wow, it's freezing!" Nate exclaims, grabbing up a handful of snow.
"...yeah, it does that." Griffin packs together a snowball, lugging it right at Nate.
"Hey!" Nate rubs his chest where the snow smacks him. He returns the snow he picked up, but it falls into a flurry. "Oh."
"You have to pack the snow together first, dummy." Griffin says, handing him a finished snowball. "By the way, are you coming to my swim meet tonight?"
"Yeah! I already told you I'm bringing a friend." Nate replies, "Evelyn, the girl from chemistry." He explains, taking the snowball lightly.
"Evelyn?" Griffin pauses, as if the name was familiar. "I don't think we've been acquainted. Either way, glad to have her."
"Yeah!" Nate agrees, tossing a snowball right into Griffin before they start fighting a full-on snow war. After a few more misshapen snowballs, the two of them collapse against a bank of snow with a fit of giggles.
"Your nose is so red already." Griffin points out, "Are you cold?"
"Oh, freezing! But I love it."
"Good." Griffin laughs, bumping Nate's arm with his elbow. "Hey, you. Wanna crash that igloo?" He asks, pointing towards an ice structure that a few other students were building up.
"No! I wouldn't call that an igloo, really, but they're working hard on it!" Nate protests.
"Fine, fine, they can have their fun." The brown haired boy rolls his eyes, sitting up. "Want to buy a sled?"
"Don't we have class?"
"Yeah. Wanna buy a sled?" Griffin repeats.
"...sure, let's buy a sled." Nate laughs, pulling himself up off the snowbank with Griffin's arm.
Before long, they'd both be too tired and cold to continue, finally going inside to warm up with some hot cocoa and blankets after a long morning in the snow.
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"Come on girl! We can't be late." Nate says, running towards the school.
"Look- I get that this guy is like--" Evelyn huffs and puffs, "Hot or something, but we don't have to run!"
"Fine." Nate replies, skidding to a stop. "We can walk..."
"Not that I'm not excited to meet the mystery man that stole your heart." Evelyn says as Nate blushes furiously. She'd been teasing him about this ever since she found out. "Why can't I know his name, come on..."
Nate, who didn't want to be teased even more, still refuses to tell. "You'll find out when we get there."
And a few steps later, the scent of chlorine fills their nostrils. "Found it." Evelyn says, rolling her eyes as she pushes the doors open to the pool. The room was massive, truly the pride of the school's funds.
"Wow, it's pretty cool." Nate says, glancing over to see the opposing teams grouping together. They were rooting for the boys in the purple speedos, not the red ones.
"Stop gawking. Let's find a seat." Evelyn says, dragging Nate up to the stands. They were already filling up from family and friends from both sides. It was a rather big local event, after all.
As both of them sit, Evelyn turns back to Nate. "So, who's your roommate? Come on. You've avoided it for two months, just tell me. Please?"
"Oh, look! There he is now." He says, pointing the the most familiar of the bare chests. Griffin is the tallest figure amongst the swimmers lining up, so he stood out.
"Oh my god..." Evelyn says, her face paling. "Of all the people..."
"What? What's wrong, Ev?" Nate asks, peeling his eyes away from Griffin as her tone gets jumpy. "Are you okay?"
"I- uhm, I need to go to the bathroom." With that, she rushes away before Nate can get another word in.
"Evelyn! Wait up!" Nate calls out, leaving their seats behind as she takes off and he moves after her. She was fast.
"I-I can't do this right now, Nate." She says, turning around. "If I had known..."
"Known what?" Nate frowns, his stomach turning in knots. "Ev, please talk to me."
She sighs, looking at the crowd of people in the seats who were looking at them. "Not here, please."
"I-I can't just leave Griffin..." Nate says, turning back to look at him as he swims. Griffin wants him here to support him, but something's up with Evelyn...
"Fine. Just- come over here." Evelyn says, pulling him behind the bleachers. "He's the problem. Griffin and I..." The redhead's voice is shaky, barely understandable, "...I can't do it. I can't say it." She responds, tears streaming down her face as she turns around. "Just ask him."
Nate tries to catch her shoulder, but she's already hurrying out of the building. He watches her recede into the distance, then turns back to see Griffin rising out of the water, having completed the race in first place. Wracked with indecision, Nate wipes the tears from his eyes, and hurries out of the building.
"Ev! Please, where are you?" He calls out, his tears blurring his vision. Once he rids of the sorrow caught in his eyes, he shivers in the cold, with Evelyn no where in sight. She's already long gone.
