PULSE

(sixteen) december 13

(SIXTEEN) DECEMBER 13

The temperature was still dipping lower and lower when I reached the shop, where Ava was waiting behind the class doors. I pulled one open to let her outside, and she looked around us, wrapping her around herself.

"It's cold," she said.

"We can stay in," I offered, though I hoped that she would say no. I'd went through the effort of putting on all these so we could walk through the park, and the thought of stripping them all off again didn't sound great.

She shook her head, smiling as she pulled at the thick scarf around her neck. "Nope. It's good to be outside, especially in this kind of weather. A little cold never hurt anyone."

I nodded in agreement. As cold as it was this evening, she was wearing good boots and a thick coat, along with mittens, a scarf, and hat. We were both as prepared as we could be, and she was right; it was good to expose yourself to uncomfortable weather from time to time. I gestured to the sidewalk, and we started away from the shop.

"How've you been?" she asked. "It's been so busy with exams and work. I feel like we haven't really talked in a while."

"Yeah," I replied. "Life tends to get in the way sometimes."

She nudged my arm. "So?"
 "So..." I began. "I'm top of the class again."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm in your class. I already knew that."

"Really? I never noticed."

"What else?" she prodded, poking me in the stomach.

"Hmm... Let's see. I've written a few more songs."

"And I sang those songs for you. Tell me something I don't know."

"Something you don't know?" I made a show of thinking hard. "Ah! I know something."

"What?" she demanded.

"Well, I'm not sure if you're aware, but I got this really beautiful girlfriend recently."

Her head snapped quickly toward me, furrowing her brow as she stared at me.

"Yeah," I continued, looking up toward the sky and grinning. "She's a piece of work. Always meddling in other peoples' business, calling at the weirdest times. And you know, she wears her hair the exact same way, every day. How weird is that?"

She suddenly ducked away, hiding a small smile.

"Yup," I said, continuing to walk. "She's really something."

She looked up again, straight at me as she asked. "Have you asked this girl to be your girlfriend?"

"Yes, actually," I replied, smirking at her. "A few seconds ago."

She smiled to herself, looking back at the ground as we continued to walk. After a few seconds of silence, I slipped my hand out of my pocket and took Ava's.

We were just entering the park not far from the shop, and despite the cold, it was sunny outside, so people crowded the paths that ran through it. This particular park—the one at the center of town—was the biggest one for miles, and it was easy to see that at first sight. The city I grew up in was big, but not big enough, I always though, for a park like this one. Since I'd lived around it all my life, though, I knew the winding paths through it like the back of my hand—from the bike paths, to the sidewalks along the lake, to the bridge that rose across the water, to the little crowd of tiny carts that rotated depending on the season (with the exception of the coffee cart, which seemed to have laid claim to its space long ago). Because of this, it was easy for me to navigate the two of us into the grassy expanse, toward the lake.