A Year Without Snow

-42-

Thursday, 18th January 2016 - The Past

I woke up feeling a faint light on my face. I slowly opened my eyes to see a ray of sunshine making its way through my window and into my room. This came as a surprise seeing we had been in snow out for the last three days but today made the exception because the sun was coming up, and we had to return to school from our three days snowy vacation. Just soon as the sun's glimmering light hit me, so did consciousness and an unbearable wave of panic.

I had almost kissed Bryson during the weekend. He had nearly kissed me. That was until I abruptly turned around, leaving him to face my back. Needless to say, the following day was uncomfortable. We had breakfast in silence, and I left as soon as possible without even a goodbye.

Now it was 7 A.M. on a snowy Thursday. The district schools had been closed for the previous three days, so this would be the first time I would be facing him. He had made endless attempts to hang out since the unfortunate event, but I had pretended to be either too tired or not in the mood.

By that point, I was one hundred percent sure that our friendship was over and that there was no coming back. But Bryson had other plans. Because at 7:32, he was ringing at my door, and my clueless mother was opening it and inviting him in.

As I heard that from the kitchen, my heart skipped a bit, and I stopped eating my waffle. My mother went back to the living room where she sat with my grandma watching a marathon of House Wives, seeing that at this time of the day, it was the only free time she had.

Bryson entered the kitchen with a flat face, went over to the tray of waffles that my grandma had just made, and bit one while pouring himself a coffee and sitting next to me on the counter.

"Hi," I said.

"Hello, " He said with his mouth full coming out as an 'Hewu.'

He waited for me to say something else, but when I didn't, he rolled his eyes before swallowing what he had in his mouth and saying, "Daisy, I'm not going to let you ruin this." He said, gesturing between the two of us.

"Okay, nothing ruined," I said, not making eye contact.

"Daisy, don't overthink it." He said and turned to look at me and gently hit me in the forehead with the waffle. "It was a mistake, and I'm sorry. But I'm not going to lose-"

I heard someone stand up in the living room and quickly put a hand over his mouth, "Nobody is losing anything, now shut up!"

My grandma walked in into the kitchen and started cleaning our dirty dishes while we stood up.

"Were the waffles good?" She asked, smiling.

"They were terrific as always, Mrs. Ryland. I would love to try your other cooking if someone allowed it."

"Well, my dear Bryson, we both know that isn't possible." She said, turning around from the sink and smiling at me, "But I would do a million more waffle batches if it means I can see my Daisy smile."

"Yes, grandma, I know." I dismissed her and went to the hall to grab my coat, gloves, and school bag.

We headed out of the house and made our way to his car. He gave me a small smile before turning on the engine. I looked out of the window to see my mother opening our house's door and leave before turning back and kissing my grandma on the cheek. Their relationship had improved a lot, and it had been a blessing in my mother's life. My grandma's calm and optimistic self gave my mother a new outlook on life. She hadn't changed her last name after the divorce, mainly because she just had wanted to flee the UK as soon as possible. When she arrived at Oak Hollow, even if suspicious at first, she saw in my grandmother a tenderness she had never known in her life, with strict and hardworking parents with little money in their pockets that weren't used to affection or any display of love, not even in their deathbed, much like their daughter. A thought that always kept me awake was how I would have turned out without my heartwarming grandmother at my beck and call, with my distant and cold mother, and my full of secrets father.