𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑒

Chapter 19 ~ Snow

Maddox

I don't know what time I was woken up by the wind. But it was early enough to wake me up and not let me go back to sleep. I don't even remember coming up here and getting changed but looking down at my pajama pants and naked chest, I changed fine.

My eyes strain, I rub them and sit up looking out the window and seeing the sun is still down and the moon is pretty high up. My room is pitch black except for the bathroom light on.

My mind seems to remind me that I'm not alone in this room and that there is supposed to be a presence next to me. I look through my tired eyes and see that the blanket on her side is made but the pillow is gone.

I scrunch my eyebrows since Willow is not in bed. She can't be in the bathroom because the door is open. I got up to check downstairs, maybe she went to get water.

I open the door to my room but stop in my tracks when I see a figure on the floor. I sigh and rub my face. Of course Willow would move herself to the floor. She probably thought that I didn't want her sleeping in my bed since Aunt Maren isn't around.

Her head lays on the pillow with her hands under it. She is wrapped in one of the blankets that I had lying in a basket.

My heart flips as I wrap my arms around her and lift her up and place her on my bed after lifting her side of the covers. She sighs in content as she sinks into my bed. I smile and go to shut my door and head back to my side of the bed.

I get under the covers and go on my side to watch Willow sleep since I'm wide awake. I can never get enough of the freckles on her face, she makes dark circles look incredible. Her newly black hair covers her face.

I loved her brown hair, but black is my favorite. It matches mine.

I feel my eyes get heavy as I start to fall asleep.

🌿

Since our trip got short, we only have today and tomorrow to spend up here before we have to go back to our normal lives.

I told Willow to get ready because I was going to take her somewhere for the day to give her a breather from the family because God knows that tomorrow for thanksgiving, Willow won't be able to breathe until we get in the car the next day to go home.

I also want to show her some of the places I loved going to as a child. I don't know how she sees this, but I see it as an opportunity to get closer to her and bond over such.

I know me and Willow have had our rough patches, I shouldn't have been mean to Willow like I was, and I shouldn't have said the things I did. I was lucky to have convinced her to come up here with me because I wouldn't have taken the offer if it was the other way around.

But it's not, and I need to prove to her that I'm willing to be her friend before anything and then maybe take another step if I don't mess everything up.

"I'm ready." I'm sitting on my bed waiting for Willow to come out of the bathroom when I look up and see she is in white jeans, with a sage green long sleeve v neck top, paired with her black vans and her classic tiny bows to put her hair back.

"Alright, let's go." I grab my car keys as I wave off to Aunt Maren and help Willow get into my car. I head to my side of the car and turn it on and pull out of the driveway.

Willow leans forward and plays music to fill the silence that has overtaken us. I drive carefully because the last thing I want is for us to slip on black ice and get into a car crash.

"Still a secret?" I smirk at her words that she repeated from me this morning. I didn't give her any explanation except for wearing warm clothes.

"Yep." I say that and only that and then return my attention back to the road.

We get to our destination in a matter of minutes as I pull off the side of the road like the other cars and hop out.

"The mountains?" Willow questions as I nod. I look around at all the snow covering the mountains helping Willow out. "Change into your boots." I nudged her. She stops and grabs her boots from the back of the car and puts them on.

I lock up the car as we head to a spot where no people are and observe the snow. "Seattle doesn't get as much snow as this." I mutter while messing with the snowy branches of a tree.

I look around to see Willow is out of my sight which puts me into a state of panic. How could she have gone so far so soon? I turned around for a second and now she is gone.

"Willow!" I shout to get the attention of the other people here. I hear footsteps behind me and turn around but I don't get a chance to see because a snowball is kicked at my face followed by a very evil laugh.

I wipe the snow off of my face and see Willow standing in front of me with two more snowballs. I grin as I bend down and roll up some snow to shuck back at her. While I'm picking some up, her snowball hits my back as she laughs even harder.

I turn around fast and throw a snowball at her causing her to squeal and run away. I chase after us, we go around trees, we hide behind other people annoyed with our childish acts, but most of all, we have fun in each other's presence.

Both of us are breathing hard as we clutch our stomachs from laughing and running. I see Willow surrender and plop herself on the ground despite the snow. I walk over to her and lay down next to her.

"I'm so tired." I look over to her and her side profile shows her red nose and cheeks and her breath being on display due to the cold. As if she can feel my eyes she looks over to me and smiles.

Her other hand lifts up and next thing I know, I'm being hit in the face with another snowball. I wipe my cold face off and go into defense mode. I tackle her to tickle her so she can stop grabbing anymore.

"Please! Have mercy!" She laughs as I'm basically on her getting her to laugh. "Say that you surrender and I'm the most handsome man you have ever met." I continue to tickle her as she squirms around.

"Never!" She tries to roll me off. "Alright, we can do this the hard way." I grip her hips as I roll us over to where she is on top and give me better access to her stomach.

"Fine! I surrender!" She wiggles. "And?"

"You're the most handsome man I have ever met!" She can't contain her laughter which makes me burst out laughing. I stop tickling her as we continue to laugh. I can tell our laughter is dying off because we take a breather.

She is still placed on me as she looks down. Her black hair covers some of her face as her hazel eyes bore into mine.

Her smile falters and her lips part. Mine do the same as my heart melts. I moved my hands to her side and began to lift my body up. She is frozen in place because now I'm halfway up and she keeps eye contact with me.

I lean up to her face, my heart beating a mile an hour not only from our fun, but because Willow isn't pulling away from me.

"Willow?" I whisper. My mouth closer to hers as our warm breath warms up the others. She doesn't say anything as I lean closer in. I take the step and lean into her ear. "You're my favorite person." I kiss her earlobe and pull back.