Deadline≫hemmings a.u

1.5

"It's so pretty," I murmured, my nose pressed against the window and my breath fogging up the glass.

"What is?" Michael asked, only half paying attention as we drove down street.

"She's talking about all the snow on the beach and street," Luke piped up unexpectedly, answering for me. "Mel's only spent winter in California and half of one in New York." Then, seeing my startled look, he added, "You told me when you were drunk."

"Oh." It was true. Winters were usually spent at home, where it only rained and the only time we saw snow was when we drove up to Lake Tahoe to snowboard. Now I was in Myrtle Beach, and even the sand was covered by snow.

"It is pretty nice," Michael kept talking, smoothing over our rough patches.

"I've just never seen a beach with snow on it. Normally you don't associate beaches and snow together." I said in wonder, keeping my eyes glued to the scenery. Little did I know that up front, there was an argument going on between the two until the car suddenly swerved to the side, causing the car behind us to honk.

I whipped my head up to look at the guys. Michael had a satsified grin on his face that contrasted with Luke's scowl as he gestured to the side of the road and we pulled over. Grumbling, Luke climbed out of the car and slammed his door shut behind him. I watched silently, aware of Michael's grin as Luke stalked over to my side and yanked my door open.

With a wide sweeping gesuture of his arm, Luke waved me out of the car. "C'mon, Mel," he said in a monotone, not even trying to sound enthusiastic. "We're gonna go play in the snow."

"Um, it's okay, we really don't have to do this," I started, but Michael shook his head.

"No, Luke needs to go outside like a normal human being and interact with other human beings," Michael said in the same kind of tone you'd use when talking to a small child.

"Says you," Luke scoffed, fixing his beanie and scowling at Michael.

"Hey, I interact with Mel more than you do and people find me more pleasant than you once they get to know me."

Luke's glare only intensified, but seeing Michael wouldn't give in, he reached over and undid my seatbelt before grabbing my hand and pulling me outside. I wrinkled my nose and wrapped my arms around myself as I was hit with a gust of cold air. I was dressed warmly, but I still needed a moment to adjust to the temperature.

Michael reached over his chair and shut my door. I could hear the doors lock after he sat back down, so we had no choice but to hang around outside without him. "I'll just wait in here!"

Luke grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me off the street, flipping Michael off over his shoulder. The moment we stepped onto the sidewalk, Luke let go of me, walking on ahead like he always tended to do. I sighed, seeing no other choice but to follow him, walking brisquely to keep up with his steady stride.

After saying nothing for the first solid ten minutes, I had begun to think that we would probably just walk around in silence for a while until Michael would be satisfied and Luke would make up some story about getting hot chocolate or something that I would go along with.

But I didn't really want that.

My eyes wandered around, taking in the the white blanket to our left that stretched the the dark blue waves and the piles of snow that lined the street and sidewalk. My eyes widened and I looked up at Luke, his back to me as he kept walking. I grinned to myself, an idea forming in my head. If Luke wasn't making any attempts to interact, I would.

"Hey!" Luke yelped as the first ball of white exploded against his back. He whirled around, surprise clear on his face. "What the hell?"

I shrugged, pleased that I had gotten a reaction out of him that wasn't mad. "Oops."