Aurora

5.

I pushed the door open.

Connor was standing in the doorway, planting his feet into his boots.

He was wearing a red winter jacket that was far too big for him, along with the timeworn snow pants he'd had for ages. A neck warmer covered half of his face. A knit hat covered the other half. I could just barely see his eyes.

"You know, it's cold, but not that cold," I said. "Where are you going?"

"Outside."

"No duh. I kinda figured that out already."

"I'm going to build a snowman."

"A snowman?" I repeated, "By yourself?"

"Well no. First, I'm gonna see if Landon and Julien wanna help. Or else you can help too."

"No thanks."

"Why not? Pleaseeee?"

"Ask Natalie."

"No! She's got attitude issues. And she's weak. Like really, really weak. Have you seen her try to do gymnastics? She's like a noodle. Tries to do a handstand and just falls over. She can't even do a cartwheel! How do you expect her to build a full snowman with that kind of strength?"

"Hm, well, you're not so strong either. You're like, as skinny as a twig."

"Whatever, that's not the point. At least I'm determined. She - on the other hand - she's just a lazy potato that's probably gonna be on her phone taking selfies the entire time to change her Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat... Oh! And-"

"Okay, yeah I get it."

"Wait! I'm not finished! Also, if I invite Julien she'll just become all flirty and stuff. And that's just - ew. Like, no."

I laughed. "I thought you shipped them."

"Are you kidding? I so don't ship them. Julien's too cool for Nat. The only reason I said that was to annoy her. It's funny. She gets all red. She's like a tomato."

"What's with you and your references to food?"

He tilted his head to the side in a confused expression, "Huh?"

"Noodle, potato, tomato..."

He shrugged, "Dunno. Anyway, I might just boil to death in this snowsuit so I gotta step outside and start building my snowman. You coming?"

I smiled at him. "Sure,"