The Winter Rivals

Chapter 10| Books

28th September 2008
Once the movie had ended, everybody went off to occupy themselves with random tasks.
The hearty aroma of homemade vegetable soup filled my senses, my stomach growling with anticipation. Tora spent the evening cooking everybody dinner while Mariam spared twenty minutes of her time to interview Rowan. It was my role to conduct interviews, but my biggest priority was always the central person of the story. Surrounding characters were Mariam's job.

There was no denying she was great at it too. Her work with the peripheral characters helped to gain question material for the main protagonists.
A low rumbling sounded through the air.
Jess appeared so peaceful when he was sleeping, I thought, admiring him. The way his long eyelashes fluttered with every deep sleeping breath, the freckles dotting along his nose like the prettiest of constellations, and the ruffles of brown curly locks hanging loosely over his resting eyes. It was unfortunate he had such a rubbish personality.

"Do you always stare at people while they sleep?" His voice jolted me away, causing me to tumble off of the cream sofa and practically flat on my face. "No, I do not. I wasn't. I mean I was, but I wasn't. It wasn't like that-" I stammered.

"Sure it wasn't, Elora." Jess let out a long groan as he lifted his body up to stretch, his biceps pulsing through his black shirt and staring me in the face.
I rolled my eyes as my own guilty conscience caught up to me for noticing such a thing.

He balanced himself on his feet and strode over to the frosted living room window, huffing in frustration. "This blizzard doesn't seem to be getting any better." My eyes flew up, greeted only with the back of him. "Unfortunately, I don't know all too much about blizzards. How long do they typically last?"

He froze at my question, as though a haunting memory he had attempted to drown deep inside of his own head, had suddenly resurfaced. It was a look I knew all too well. "Three or more hours. Sometimes days," he mumbled unwillingly.

"Are you serious? How on earth are we supposed to work like this..." I trailed off, lost in my own world of worries.

"Forget about your job. I have events to attend, competitions to win. You can film a documentary at anytime. I can't just drop everything and demand a competition."

I snorted rather unattractively, "You probably could, actually. You're 'Jess Miley, skiing sensation,' remember?"

"Your words, not mine."

"Actually, everybody's words," I retorted, "and quite frankly, no, I cannot just film a documentary at any moment. Movies and documentaries take a ridiculous amount of time. Finding a story good enough for your boss and target audience can take months. Then the never-ending extensive research day in, day out, the packing up your life in a suitcase, and traveling to work with a bunch of people who can hardly stand you.

"Then there's the interviews, filming, and late nights seeping deep into the early hours of the morning spent just editing footage after footage, and still not knowing if you're going to be able to keep your job or pay the bills for a place you've worked so hard to live in. So thank you, Jess, for your input on the importance of my job." I finally took a breath, the words pouring out of me like a glass of water you insist on filling even when it's already overflowing.

He stayed silent. I began to notice that he usually did when he was in the wrong.
It was a disastrous situation to be in on all parts, with the snow bleeding out from the sky over the mountains, and across the city. Truthfully, nobody could go about their normalities, not with the weather like it was.

The thought struck me that Mariam and Rowen had been working in Jess's Office. I felt more than grateful that they kept the door shut so Jess couldn't overhear them. If he had, he might have had another emotional outburst. Despite his instability, his troubled past, particularly his father, seemed to be a significant factor.

In a moment of unexpected vulnerability, Jess uttered, "I apologise, Elora."
"Thank you," I replied, slight confusion clouding my brain.
Jess, offering an apology? How peculiar.

Jess stepped over the loosening threshold, returning shortly after with a stack of books. He sat down on the swivel chair, unloading them in front of him as he weighed his options, a particular look of confusion settling in the increasing lines that fell below his emerald eyes.

"What are you doing?" I asked innocently.

He kept his gaze down on the books he'd spread below him, murmuring, "Trying to find something to pass the time."

A light chuckle left my lips, pausing for a moment to admire him, "Let me help you; I read a lot."

With one swift motion, he was cramming himself into one corner of the swivel chair, with myself cramming in the other. I pointed out books, explained little pieces of the plots and genres while he sat and took it all in, his mouth opening in surprise every now and then when I got to a good part.

"What exactly do you read then?" I asked, the hushed giggling and rambling coming to an end.

"I tend to stick to one sort of book, really. I read a lot of things but none of them fiction, hence my struggle to find something entertaining."

"Oh..." I sounded. "So you read about people's lives and certain topics, yes?"

"Mmhm," he mused, eyes latching on to one sentence at a time from the open book.

"I suppose it's only human nature to want to understand everything, isn't it? I mean, we all want to become better, more aware," I spoke truthfully.

"Winter? Read to me."

My breath hitched, and a lopsided grin made its way onto my face. I was nervous to read aloud, but anything was better than sitting in boredom. So I took the book gently from his hands and began, "The Valley Of Lillies struck great wonder upon its people..."