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Chapter 15- December Dance

Ten days later, a choice was made, the date now being December 11th, 2016; the morning Connor awoke to the sound of his phone vibrating against the top of his dresser. He lifted his head from the pillow, squinting his eyes as the light of the screen illuminated his room, his hair falling messily over his face. Reaching out, his fingers curling around the phone, he looked at the screen, his eyes still not fully adjusted, and therefore, he was only able to make out a blurry photograph of Jonah staring back at him. Although, he took note of the time of his calling, seeing that it was much earlier than he had planned to get up that Monday morning, and yet, reading the caller ID still made him smile.

"Morning," he croaked into the phone once he'd accepted the call, met with Jonah's happy and obviously much more awake voice.

"Connor, look outside!" he declared, almost yelling down the phone, "it's not gone!" It was obvious by Jonah's tone that he was excited about something.

"I'm still in bed," the other male groaned, "and it's half-past six in the morning. I don't need to be up for another hour."

"Connor, just look outside," Jonah persisted, "It's all still there, look!"

Connor let out a sigh, forcing himself up and out of bed with all the effort that he could manage so early in the morning. Staggering over to his balcony door, pulling the blinds up, he saw that Jonah was referring to the snow that had fallen a few days previously, all still on the railing, the ground, the bench, roads and rooftops. He shivered as the sight caused him to remember just how cold he was, having slept in a thick, baggy shirt, tracksuit pants and his socks; Connor would always refuse to sleep in socks unless he was freezing.

"Is your dad awake?" Jonah suddenly asked, his question leaving the other male quite perplexed.

"Probably," he assumed, an apprehensive tone to his voice as he wondered why he would ask about that, "why?"

"Just wondering if he's checked his emails from school. I already went online to check and the weather is in our favour," Jonah seemed to sound more and more enthusiastic as he continued to speak, "today, we have freedom."

"You mean we have a snow day?"

"Yes!"

Connor smiled at his possibly-more-than-friend's enthusiasm, opening the blinds on the rest of the window in his room, retreating to his bed, where he collapsed onto the mattress. He pulled his phone away from his ear and put Jonah on speakerphone, placing the device next to him on his pillow.

"So, on a day that we don't have to go to school, you wake me up an hour earlier than I would have done normally?" he joked, though this wasn't at all untrue.

He heard Jonah laughing lightly. "Sorry. I was excited." There was a short pause before he spoke again. "Do you want to meet up later?"

"I think so," Connor replied, forcing himself to sit back up on his bed, eventually mustering the energy and motivation to stand up, opening one of his dresser drawers in search of a shirt to change into. He got changed as quickly as he could, the effort of getting changed waking him up further. He quickly pulled his t-shirt on over his head, not wanting to remain exposed for too long to avoid getting too cold. He threw his sleep shirt to one side, letting it land in a heap at the corner of his bed, feeling the grey fabric of his t-shirt cover him, the material soft and warm against his skin.

"What're you doing?" Jonah asked him following a few seconds of silence between them.

"Getting changed."

"Oh." Jonah flushed slightly, thinking about the fact that he was essentially listening to his crush as he changed clothes. Though, nothing more was said on the matter.