Autumn

6: When she's gone

Winston pulled out a cigarette and pressed it between his lips. "So, where's this girl? She's not imaginary, is she?"

"No," Theodore said a little defensively. He cleared his throat. "She's on a school trip."

"Bloody good timing if you ask me."

"I didn't."

Winston leaned out the window and exhaled a cloud of smoke. He squinted to look at the neighbouring house, trying to catch a glimpse of anything remotely suggestive of Autumn's existence. He wasn't convinced of the beautiful girl Theodore constantly talked about.

"Mum's going to shit a brick if you leave your old smokes lying around again," Theodore said, dropping into his desk chair and picking up his basketball. "She found one of them on the windowsill. I'm not covering your ass if you get lazy and litter them all over the place."

"Did she give you the old 'smoking kills' lecture?"

"And a slideshow. She's a registered nurse for god's sake, she has pictures of shrivelled up lungs all over the place. Once she got Danny from across the street to hack into my computer just so she could change my desktop into a picture of gangrene toes."

Winston howled. "Your mum's a legend."

"I don't understand how you get away with it."

"They pay me peanuts at Macca's and ciggies cost an arm and a leg, so I'm surprised too. It's a miracle that I can still get my hands on a pack every week without robbing a bank." He took one last drag before crushing the cigarette on the sill.

"No, I meant with your folks," Theodore said.

Winston shrugged dismissively, his lips twisting into a scowl. "Dad fucked off again and Mum doesn't mind as long as I let her scab a couple."

He hauled himself inside so that he was no longer half hanging out the window. Then he started rummaging around in his bag for the can of Coke he stole from Theodore's fridge earlier that afternoon. It cracked open with a satisfying fizzle.

"So, about the girl—"

"She's real," Theodore insisted.

"—Summer, was it?"

"Autumn."

Winston took a monstrous drink and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring. Whatever. You made her up."

Theodore pegged the basketball at his friend's head. Winston stumbled forward from the impact, Coke splashing onto the carpet. He rubbed his skull, but he was grinning.

"Christ, if you get so riled up about her, then maybe she is real."

"You're a real ass, you know that?"

Winston saluted. "It's one of my only qualities. I put it on my resume."

Theodore shook his head.

Winston would eventually meet Autumn and he was in for one hell of a jaw-dropping shock.

A/N: If you have any favourite quotes--from any of my stories--send them to me on Twitter at lovelylivvi_  I love talking to you guys and seeing your favourite parts. Hope you enjoyed!