The first thing Adam Jessup notices when Adyson hangs up her phone is that her facial expression, once as merry as the shimmering red-and-green Christmas decorations that adorn the interior of the coffeehouse, has turned sour. Something that whoever is on the other end of the phone—God forbid it to be her aforementioned boyfriend—have said must’ve been some bad news.
Looking at the brown-eyed blonde glumly stirring her peppermint mocha as if all of the happiness in the world have been sucked out of her, Adam feels the urge to ask her about everything that’s wrong. This is his chance to finally talk to her outside of coffee-ordering related stuff; his chance to actually strike an actual conversation with her. Which is something that he’d been dying to do ever since, like, forever.
Nah, scratch that—technically, it is something that he’d been dying to do ever since he moved to Oceanside back in eighth grade, but it sure feels like forever. Especially when during all those years she was too busy hanging out with her popular-kid crowd and making out with her much-better-than-him-in-almost-everything boyfriend to actually notice him. Heck, Adam didn’t even think that Adyson actually knew his name, despite their frequent encounters.
In the end, Adam decides to fight his anxieties and asks her, “Hey, Adyson, what’s wrong? You look so…gloomy all of the sudden.”
Adyson looks up from her mocha and answers in a low, almost unenthusiastic tone, “You know the boyfriend who promised that he’ll be coming home today? Turns out he’s not coming home. Well, not today, at least. But still.” She then frowns, as if realizing something. “Wait—how did you know my name?”
"Uh…” Adam stumbles to find the appropriate answer, as he is too afraid that he might accidentally confess his feeling for Adyson right on the spot. He know that everything will be too awkward from then on. “We had Calc and American Lit together.” At least that bit is true. “You remember me? I’m Adam Jessup, by the way. I sit two rows behind you in Calc—oh, God. Ohgodohgodohgod.” Knowing that he’d accidentally talked too much, Adam begins to act all awkward, making a fool out of himself—which he had not intended to do—which causes Adyson to look at him concernedly.
"You okay?”
Adam sighs. “Shit. Just pretend that never happened, shall we?”
Adyson chuckles. “You’re a funny guy, Adam.” Afraid that she might’ve hurt his feelings without intending to, she adds, “In a good way. I mean, we’ve all had our own awkward moments—s’okay. But nonetheless, I’m going to pretend as if that never happened.”
Seeing Adyson’s lips form a smile, Adam couldn’t help but feel warm and fuzzy inside. And maybe a slight feeling of pride, as if he’d accomplished something. Here he is, his first time having a full-on conversation with his longtime crush, and already he is able to make her laugh when she had just been feeling down minutes ago.
“Dude, you’re all red,” Adyson comments, pointing at Adam’s cheeks, which had turned into a not-so-obvious shade of pink.
“Am I?” Adam, who certainly did not want his crush on the girl sipping her peppermint mocha in front of him to become apparent, starts to think about all the possible reasons why one might blush. (God, why must everything between him and Adyson be awkward?) “Oh, that. Must’ve been the weather. The past few days have been pretty chilly, don’t you think?”
Adyson nods. For the first time ever, Adam actually feels grateful that she doesn’t know him all that well, because otherwise she wouldn’t be convinced by his lie. Being a transfer student from snowy Minnesota, he is certainly well-accustomed to cold, frigid weather—he is certainly unfazed by the mild winters of northern California.
By now, Adyson’s cup of mocha is almost empty, its contents no longer as warm as it was when it was served. “I should get going,” she said as she gets up from her seat. Before she leaves, she said, “It was nice meeting you, Adam. We should hang out sometime.”
As he watches Adyson leave The Daily Roast, bringing whatever is left from her peppermint mocha with her, Adam couldn’t help but keep replaying the last sentence she’d spoken to him in his mind.
It was nice meeting you, Adam. We should hang out sometime.
***
“No shit, Jessup.”
Moira, Adam’s coworker who’d arrived just after Adyson left The Daily Roast, stared at Adam in disbelief. He’d just told her about the whole Adyson ordeal. “You did not get up and talk to her.”
Moira is a petite, all-clad-in-black twentysomething who had become Adam’s go-to person for relationship advice, mostly because she seems to know a lot more about love and relationships than anyone else in the world. She changes partners the way most people changes TV stations—once she gets bored with one person, she will be more than happy to leave them for someone she deems more “interesting”. She had always viewed Adam as a pathetic loser mainly because he wouldn’t stop chasing one girl who doesn’t even know he’s alive. (Who apparently is dating someone else, too, but that’s beside the point.)
Which is why her reaction towards Adam’s news—that he just “freaking made this girl smile” and that she “promised to hang out with him sometime”–is completely understandable.
“But apparently I just did.” In his mind, Adam is still replaying we should hang out sometime, while at the same time wondering when will that sometime happen.
Moira slips a cigarette in between her lips and lights it up. “So you’ve accomplished your so-called ‘Christmas wish’, eh?” She takes a drag of her cigarette. “To get in that white girl Adyson’s pants and all that shit?”
“Jesus, Moira, the last time I remembered, you’re a white girl yourself.” Adam takes out a bag of coffee beans and inserts its contents into the coffee machine, making a morning caffeine fix for himself. “And don’t talk about Adyson like that. I just said that I wanted to be closer to her, that’s all.”
Moira sneers. “What a prude,” she mutters in between drags of cigarette, causing Adam to roll his eyes. She then reaches for the remote control and turns on the coffeehouse’s TV. A weather forecast from some news channel is on air. “Hey, speaking of the weather, the last few days have been quite fucked up, don’t you think?”
Adam shook his head. “What do you mean?”
“This.” Moira points towards her coat, which she had not taken off ever since she went in the coffeehouse just a few minutes ago. “You might not notice it, what with you being a Midwestern boy well accustomed to cold weather and all, but for the first time in many years, I had to wear a coat just because the weather outside is literally freezing my ass off.” She pauses to take another drag of her cigarette before continuing, “I heard there’s even going to be snow at some point today.”
A/N: GAHAHAHAHAH THIS STORY'S ACTUALLY GETTING EVEN WORSE AS IT PROGRESSES BUT WHO CARES.
((lol idk what is going on im my mind when i wrote this shit so yea))
(((therefore i deeply apologize for the cheesiness and all those cringey moments)))
but nonetheless, stay tuned c:
YOU ARE READING
Snow in California
Short Story[featured on @wattfest's holiday shorts reading list] During a rare, snowy day in a normally sunny California town, a boy and a girl learns a thing or two about love. © 2016 by Hilly Ecclesiana. All rights reserved.
