Winter Town

One Year Ago

"You could have at least stayed until the ball dropped," Evan said, making no effort to hide his dissappointment.

They walked in the shiny street along piles of curbside snow. Lucy pulled her winter hat tight over her long, straight brown hair. Evan wished she'd wear hats more often. She looked cute in them. "It's been sixteen years, Ev. I'm tired of waiting." She cut him a quicl grin.

"I have reached puberty, thank you," Evan said as they walked under a streetlight. The road ahead of them was wet and dark, and everything else was orange or black with touches of blue in the distance. Their voices and droning wind were the only sounds.

"I've seen your penis, Ev," Lucy said playfully. "I'm not sure you have." Evan's eyes widened. She kidding right? "Where's the punch line, Lucy?" 

"No punch line. I  saw it. It's tiny." Her eyes gleamed mischeivously. "When did you see it?" Evan asked, leaning over to see how serious she was. 

"I remember every detail. We were six. It was summer. We were getting ready to go to the beach, and I walked into your room when you were changing, and there it was. It was just dangling there"

"I was six!" Evan nearly shouted, startled by his own echo. "That doesn't even come close to counting! Six-year-olds have tiny penises that's jsut how it is!" Evan was lanky, kind of tall and had, as girls told him, a cute face. He rarely had to fight for his manhood.

"How do you know six-year-olds have tiny penises?" Lucy asked.

"I was one, which puts me in a position to know. I don't like this coversation."

Lucy grabbed Evan's hand, and they walked mitten-in-glove, paw-in-paw. Evan fought back a sigh. He didn't want to bring the new year alone when his best friend was staying only blocks away. Tomorrow Lucy would be far away again. An engine sounded from down the street. Tiny white lights grew out of the horizon and crawled along the street slowly. "We're going to get soaked if we don't get off the road," Evan said, and looked for any clear spot they could move to.

Lucy stared ahead as a wash of yellow-white colored her coat and face. "Okay."

Evan took Lucy's arm, and they stepped cartoonishly over mounds of snow until they were a few feet off the street and shin-deep in wet-and -cold. Evan laughed. It wasn't midnight, but it was New Year's Eve and he was with Lucy, under the stars and out in the quite, and currently looking like half a snowman. This would be their last silly night together for a while. He hated to see her go. He hated how everything had to change.

"You can probably still make it back to watch the ball." Lucy said.

"Nah I don't know.I might ty to finish my game instead." Evan was bored with it already. "I downloaded this video game. It's and old-school, side-scrooling kind of thing, and it's fun, but you have to finish it all in one sitting, and I can never do it."They crossed back into the street after the car passed. Lucy shook snow off her long denim trench coat. "There aren't really levels. You start in this house, and you leave  and fo out into the woods and into this graveyard. There are bosses and stuff, but it just keeps going from one section to the nect with nowhere to really save, so I'd get into the game, but then there'd be dinner or homework or a phone call or whatever. And I don't want to just leave it paused all night or anything, so I haven't finished it yet".

"God that story sucked so hard," Lucy said, and gave Evan a soft push that caught him off guard and almost sent him back into the snow. "You just wasted my entire life." 

Evan regained his balance and pulled Lucy's hat down over her eyes. "Remember when we'd have entire vacations to just play a game like that 'til it was finished? Evan asked. 

"That doesn't happen anymore." They walked quietly for a moment and leaped over another puddle Lucy first and then Evan's hand again and this time gave it a squeeze. 

"Well, I'll be gone now," she said "so you'll have more time for your horrible game." This didn't cheer Evan up. " I'll be in Aelysthia. I'll be easy to find."

The name came from the street they were walking to, Alice Drive, Lucy's old home, where her dad still lived. Aelysthia was a fantasy world Evan and Lucy had made up as kids. They'd planned to write hundreds of bestselling novels that took place there. Evan's parents and Lucy's parents woud meet and talk or play cardsand drink, and Evan and Lucy would sit away from the adults and draw together and dream up worlds, well past their bedtime 

"So where can I find you?" Evan asked.

"Well," Lucy said. She looked forward. "You'll know where to find me because I'll be right under the vomiting sun." The vomiting sun was a staple of Aelythsia: the source of warmth, light, and a constant waterfall of vomit. The world grew sillier and more bizarre with each passing year, evolving with Lucy's and Evan's humor.

"I can't imagine a worse place for you to stay," Evan said.

"Well, maybe not right under it," Lucy replied 

Evan and Lucy gently swung their hands between them. They had passed the cemetery and town houses, and had turned right to walk uphill, with the lights downtown glowing behind them. Evan found he had to walk carefully on the icy sidewalk uo the hill. 

"Anyway, it's nice there. The walls of my cave are all bright from my luminous wallflowers."

"Sounds very Avatar," Evan said 

"No. Shut up. They stole that from me," Lucy said.

"Hey, I'll be there, too," Evan said, as if she's neglected his existence in Aelysthesia. "I'll be installing  some decent lighting  for you".

They reached the apex of the hill and walked toward Lucy's father's house on the left after the corner. Evan could see the ocean a few streets away , wide and dark. As they walked into Lucy's yard, she let go of Evan's hand, turned to face him, and shrugged her shoulders.

"'Til next time," she said, a silhouette now.

"Keep it real," Evan said, offering  a fist bump. They shared a stilted, awkward hug, and Evan stepped back. "So this is it, then? You sure?

Lucy touched her hair. "Yeah. I have to pack still. So."

Evan smiled at his shoes. He looked up as Lucy walked to her house, and he raised a hand in a short wave. "Happy New Year," he said, amd Lucy smiled.

"You go on," she said from her front porch, lit by the porch light. "I want to watch you walk away."

Evan walked home alone.

When Evan reached his house, his driveway and the street in front of it were still full of cars. He could hear the cheer in his warm, bright house: laughter, talk, and television. He stood still for a long time, the cold stars behind him and the warm light in front of him, casting a long shadow across the street. Evan sat in a chair on the porch with his gloved hands in his coat pockets and looked up at the tiny white moon. Maybe he'd be alone for the ball drop after all. 

The countdown was being shouted inside. Four, three, two, one.

Evan heard muffled laughter  and celebration. He took a deep, long breath and exhaled slowly, and then he got up and went inside to wish everyone a happy new year.