Baby, It's Cold Outside

December

The December week Winnie arrived had been unusually cold. Snow flurried outside, blanketing the yellowed grass with white, a cold chill pressing against the window. Augustine had sat himself on the rug in front of the fire, curling inwards in an attempt to tug out his own warmth. 

The rug was knitted by his Grandmother - and rather sufficient in absorbing heat. Its thick wool was soft, a place where Augustine often dozed off in the winter months. He'd woken many times to the rug's pattern imprinted on his cheek.

As the fire crackled and snapped, warming his stomach, he fiddled with the hem of his coat, which was still cold. He was hungry, exhausted from running around in the cold outside all day. It'd only been about half an hour since his Mother had called him inside for dinner. 

The smell of stew had wafted throughout the house, warm and filling as it bubbled in the red crock pot by the stove. 

His Mother was cutting potatoes and carrots, dark hair tied up into a neat bun, her knife steadily coming up and down, up and down ...

People often said he looked much more like his father, but truly, appearances were where the similarities ended. He and his Mother were much more outgoing and boisterous. 

Augustine's thoughts drifted to Winnie.

He was a rather shy, timid boy, who he honestly thought was a bit of a wimp. Even though he'd moved to such a snowy place, he had barely any tolerance to it, shivering like an idiot. Not to mention, he was kind of like some fairytale princess, all cutesy and bashful.

It didn't help that he had pretty eyes that shone like sapphires ... and he followed Augustine around like a lost puppy. But, he supposed, Winnie was interesting. And he seemed fun to be around, perhaps worth being a friend with. 

He was secretly hoping that Winnie would join hockey with him that school year, since he'd taken him ice skating earlier. Winnie seemed pretty good at it, for such a clumsy guy, but ...

He was totally useless at keeping himself warm.

Winnie shivered before Augustine, shaking as white puffs of breath drifted from his trembling lips. The boy only laughed nervously, clasping and unclasping his hands. Something he only did when he was nervous.

"Yeah, no, I'm freezing!" 

"No kidding. Your clothes are so thin." Augustine said, eyes drifting to Winnie's hands.

They'd only just stepped outside, and the tips of his fingers had already begun to turn pink. 

"Wow..." Winnie mumbled. "I never expected global warming would get this bad!" 

He continued ranting about humanity's individual roles in climate change, voice far away and soft, almost as if Augustine had dunked his head underwater. 

"Your hands," He finally said. 

"Wh- my hands? What about them?" 

Augustine sighed. 

"Do you want my jacket?" 

"I mean - I'm cold, but I - I can't take your jacket, I mean -" Winnie stammered, crossing his arms.

"Save it," Augustine murmured, glancing down at his barren hands. 

If only he had gloves, or something. He couldn’t have Winnie losing his fingers, no matter how cross he was with him at the moment. 

"Do you remember the trick?" Augustine gripped the strap of his bag tightly, fiddling with it.

"Oh - yes! The - the trick ... yeah." Winnie fiddled with the hem of his sweater. "Of course I know." 

"From when ... elementary school. The first week you came." He looked up at Winnie, searching his eyes for recognition. 

Winnie grinned awkwardly.

"I tried to take you on a town tour, but you started shivering so quickly ... said you weren't good with the cold. So ..." Augustine swallowed, feeling a rush of heat flood his cheeks. 

"I heard that blowing on your knuckles can warm your hands up, like when people blow on their gloves. Only works if you were warm, yourself. So, I decided to try it. On you." 

"Oh - oh..." Winnie tilted his head slightly to the side, his hands currently clasped together. 

If only Augustine knew what he was thinking. 

Secondhand embarrassment, probably. What a stupid, idiotic thing to try, even if you are a kid! What was he thinking, trying this when he was nearly a whole damn adult?! 

"L-let's try it," Winnie said, his hands at his sides. "I'd like to ... try and remember." 

Augustine swallowed. 

"Can I have your hand?" 

Winnie offered a hand to him, palm side up. His whole arm trembled, his hand a light pink. He'd never had steady hands anyways. 

Augustine gently placed his hands on either side of Winnie's, turning it over. He pressed the fingers into a fist, holding it up to his chest. 

"This is ... a lot more awkward than I had thought it would be." Winnie chuckled.

"Yeah," Augustine whispered, his warm breath tickling Winnie's hands.

He finally closed his eyes, lowering his head as his lips gently traced Winnie's knuckles, praying that heat would spread to his fingertips.

"Did it work?"

A warmth spread throughout him, built from the bottom of his stomach, spilling over into his heart. Something burned inside him, as pleasant as a belly full of warm food.

Winnie nodded.

"K-kind of, hehe, it's ..."

Augustine tried to ignore the heat rushing to his cheeks. It was freezing in July, and Winnie might catch hypothermia. He had no time for whatever this feeling bubbling up inside him meant.

Winnie put a finger to his lips, thinking. 

"It's pleasant. Yeah." He grinned, nodding. "It was nice. Thanks, Auggie - Augustine." He quickly corrected himself, folding his arms over his chest.

A silence fell between them, a shared embarrassment. 

They both realized that at eighteen years old, they had much outgrown silly things like this, and yet, they'd done it anyways.

"Alright. Now, what do we do?" 

Luckily, the sun hadn't set yet, stealing away the mellowness of the morning. However, the sky had been sapped of its color, now a bitter gray. 

"Okay, so ... we're in the middle of nowhere." 

"Yep!" Winnie grinned unhelpfully.

"We have no cell service." 

"Uh huh!" 

"And your car broke down. So we are stranded. Again, in the middle of nowhere!" 

"When you put it like that, things seem pretty bad, yeah? Let's try to stay positive!" 

Augustine sighed.

"Let's take a look around." 

The lighter felt warm against his coat pocket, almost like it'd burn a hole through it.

"Try and stay warm."