Username: Rosebitten Violinist
Word Count: 1064
Author's Note: I slightly edited so it would fit the prompt more. And also there were some things in there I didn't like.
Title: Winter Love Story
-
“Good morning and Merry Christmas.”
The girl looked at him with wary ice-blue eyes. She was really pretty- no, beautiful. Her hair was the palest of blonds and fell to her shoulders in delicate ringlets. She had soft looking lips that glistened red. Her skin was smooth and white. She was the picture of an ice princess who wondered around in the early morning, haunted and unable to sleep.
“I thought I told you to stay away from me.” She spoke as if she were scolding a child, but there was hopefulness in her expression. “You really don’t know how to listen, do you?”
He smiled and squinted up at the grey sky. The clouds looked strangely pure and artistic against the depressing colour. “Looks like it’s going to snow.” He looked at her, bent over a rosebush. Her hands were slightly red around the knuckles, and looked stiff from the cold. She was wearing a thin t-shirt and leggings. “You’re going to catch a cold.”
She exhaled a white cloud, looking very much like an ice princess casting a spell with her cold breath. She rubbed her arm, glancing up at her house. She sighed. He looked up at her house as well. All the windows were still dark. Everyone was still sleeping.
“Why don’t you go inside?” he asked, looking back at her. She was shaking now. He began to take off his coat.
She looked at him then. “Don’t.” Then, she looked down. “I’m sick.” She stepped back.
He ignored her and closed the distance between them. He draped the coat around her delicate shoulders. She shivered when his skin, warm and familiar, brushed against her cold arms. He tried not to show any emotion as he buttoned the front. She had gotten so thin. The coat didn’t fit snugly but rather pathetically, and he hated to think about it.
She watched him. He had changed. His eyes were a warm milk chocolate at first glance but up close, they were more guarded and dark. His cheekbones had gotten angular, giving him a tired, sophisticated look. She looked at his lips and wondered if he had…
She smiled bitterly. She wouldn’t be surprised if he had. With his tousled dark blond hair and aristocratic features, he was lovely. She remembered how hard it had been to approach him at first. His distant personality had made conversations awkward and end badly. But somehow, she had gotten past all that and fell in love with him.
She didn’t regret it. Much.
“Um,” she said suddenly. Their eyes met. There was silence. Then, she smiled shakily and kissed his cheek. Her lips were cold but soft at the slightest touch. “Thank you for coming by again, August.”
He looked away, his expression distant. “You’re not yelling at me.”
She managed to laugh weakly. Her laugh wasn’t cheery and contagious anymore. It was raspy and ungenuine. She spoke, her voice trembling dangerously, “I really missed you…” She stopped and then swallowed. “I almost thought that I wouldn’t be able to see you again-”
August breathed out. “Don’t say that.” But she was already crying.
“I’m… so sorry!” she sobbed, covering her face. “I’m so sorry!”
August felt snowflakes on the back of his neck. He watched as snow began to fall, slowly, silently, and with breathtaking beauty. But he didn’t appreciate nature for long. He recalled the unpleasant memory that happened somewhere around this time of year.
Last year, outside in front of her house, she had told him something. He hadn’t believed at her first because she had said it so calmly. How could she have been so calm? She didn’t kiss him or hug him. She watched him stand there, helpless and unable to say anything.
“Go home, August,” she had said then. “You can stop coming by in the morning.” She began making her way up the steps to her house. “Don’t come by here anymore.”
He had cried on the walk home. But one year had passed, and August had promised himself then that he wouldn’t cry. Those tears had been excruciatingly painful to cry, and he didn’t ever want to go through that same feeling again.
But as she stood there, face hidden and sobs filling the morning air, he felt that feeling unconsciously creep up on him. He felt a dampness welling up at his eyes.
“We’re so unlucky, aren’t we?” August managed to say. She cried even harder. He looked down at her shaking shoulders. He tried to pull the coat more tightly around her. “Are you cold? You’re shaking-”
She hugged him for the first time in what seemed like more than a year. He immediately put her arms around her. He kissed her hair and swore harmlessly.
“I missed you!” she cried, holding onto him tightly. “I really missed you! Please… don’t leave me… I can’t…” She looked up at him, her lashes wet and cheeks damp with tears.
August knocked his forehead against hers. He didn’t bother trying to look stern or be angry with her. She closed her eyes and another set of tears fell. He kissed her. Her lips parted underneath his without a word. It wasn’t a sad kiss. It wasn’t a good bye kiss either. It was just a kiss that happened.
He pulled back from the kiss. She looked dazed and rosy cheeked. He smiled and kissed her again. She didn’t resist but this time, she was more breathless when they broke apart. But when she tried to kiss him again, she collapsed.
He caught her before she hit the ground. She looked confused and tried to stand up, but her legs buckled almost immediately. She looked at her legs as if they didn’t belong to her. August watched with a terribly still expression. She realized he was too silent and looked at him.
“I… I don’t think I can use my legs anymore,” she said, making it sound like a question.
August didn’t say anything. Snow fell more thickly and quickly, but they just sat there in silence. Later, the front door opened and a worried mother stepped outside. She saw them and clasped a hand to her chest.
It was heartbreaking to see the young couple sitting on the bottom of the steps, shoulders touching and quietly talking- the sweet innocent romance that wouldn’t last for another winter.
100
300
100
