Memoirs of Winter

December 25, 1997

Over the course that Winter had been grounded, she had decided to tell her folks about Josh. They had been pretty upset, but in the end, they knew there was nothing they could do. Josh was on the run, he was loose. Even if the cops did find them, they couldn't put a restraining order on a fourteen year old without having a court hearing with his parents. Which was a slight problem, seeing that his parents had died in a car crash when he was five, and his other family wanted nothing to do with him. So life went on.

After Winter's punishment was over, her parents invited me to their Christmas party. With a little bribing from Winter, my parents finally agreed to let me go. I'd decided that it was time to repay her for my ninth birthday present, and I already knew what to do.

Middle school was only months away from ending, and everyone had begun to notice how deep our affection for each other ran. For a young, teenage couple, you could say it was a rather odd relationship. Even our parents had noticed, which resulted in a rather awkward talk on my couch with both mine and Winter's parents. They had said the usual: Don't get carried away, this relationship will be hard because of our young age, and that we needed other friends as well. So after the talk, we spent less time with each other, and hung out with other people from school. We both had small groups of friends, and they were happy to see us apart more. Our parents were in the same vote.

This Christmas, I would spend the night at her house, which lead to another talk with the folks. This time, they told us that if we were to sleep in the same room, there would be checks on us every twenty minutes. Also, that our bedtime was no later than eleven. We thought that this was un-necessary, for we'd never done anything more than kiss. But our parents thought much differently.

When I arrived at her house, we had a delicious dinner that contained: Chicken, Green Beans, Salad, and Mashed Potatoes. To me, they were a bunch of health nuts. But the food was, quite surprisingly, good. After dinner, we went to Winter's room, and exchanged gifts. I had gotten her sterling earrings, and she had gotten me a new (black) shirt with gray trim.

"Well, what do we do now? Parents check back in in Fifteen minutes. I'm ready for my surprise." She had said. I'd told her about my other gift, and somehow she had guessed what it was. For the next thing she said was: "Oh, but let me guess first. Shall my gift be a kiss?" I blushed, and turned away.

"Turn off the lights, and you'll see." I said. She nodded, but then paused.

"Nick, I'd love to, but my parents will catch us. Couldn't we do this some other time?" She asked. "I'm really sorry." So instead, we popped in "A Christmas Story" and sat on her floor. Her parents peeked in at a quarter until eight, giving me twenty minutes. As soon as the door shut, I waited for the footsteps to disappear down the hall, and then turned off the lights.

"Nick! What the hell are you doing?" Winter whispered. I crawled on the floor, until I found her. My hands searched for her cheek, pressing it there like she had done to me. I then kissed her.

We fumbled around on the floor for some time. My hands felt up under her shirt, finding the warmth. The television screen outlined our shadows in the dark.

Winter pressed her hands on the small of my back, then lifted my shirt over my head. I was pretty sure this counted as "getting carried away." But neither of us seemed to notice as the minutes passed by. Until a new light filled the room, and Winter's mother was peering down at us. We quickly separated, trying to cover ourselves from the light. I grabbed my new shirt, because the other one was not within reach.

"What in the name of God were you children doing?" Winter's mother snapped. Winter looked at me for help.

"Well, ummm...I was helping him try on his new shirt?" She tried.

"Young lady, this is not the time for sarcasm! I'm not stupid! And as for you, I didn't expect such carelessness. I'll be phoning your mother as soon as I'm done here." She glared at me. She was like the ravenous mother lion, protecting her baby cub. I was sure to be dead meat. But just then, Winter stood up.

"Are you blind? I'm NOT a kid! You should be smart enough to notice that! We're both NOT kids! We start high-school next year, mom. At least we're not having sex, like you did your freshman year! Dad told me about it. He said that was right before you started dating him, and he was pissed. At least I've stayed with the same guy for more than a month!" She screamed, as tears fell down her cheeks. Her mother's frown vanished, and her face flushed. Just then, Winter's father appeared behind her mother. I could tell that he had been standing there long enough to hear Winter's hysterics.

"Okay. That's enough. You don't speak to your mother like that! And you, you'll be sleeping in the guest room tonight. Don't worry, there will be no phone calls, but I don't think it would hurt to spend the night apart from each other. I'll see to it that both of you will be smart enough to keep yourselves under control from now on, or else there will be consequences." Her father explained, as I shakily pulled my shirt over my head. Everything that night was silent. And in the morning, nobody talked to each other, not even Winter and I. It was torture, but we both knew that we probably wouldn't see each other for the remainder of the year.