Requisites Of Life

Chapter 18

Amelia

Cooper and I swung on the swings for a few minutes, talking casually. When we were done with that, we moved on to those spiral things that you slide down on. You know those things? The ones that no one knows the name of? Yeah, those.

I'd been debating it internally, because I didn't want to come across as someone who gossips about her friends, but eventually came to my senses and decided to talk about what had been bothering me that day. I'm not too sure, but I think it was seeing him stick his tongue out ever so slightly as he focused on spinning himself toward the ground, a goofy look on his face, that made me realize this is Cooper. He'd never spread my secrets before, and he is not someone who would judge me for venting.

I watched him plant his feet on the ground, taking a moment to blink the dizziness away before letting go of the pole. "Those things are underrated," he said decidedly.

I stifled a smile, rolling my eyes at him. My smile quickly faltered at the thoughts of what had been on my mind all day. "I actually do have something on my mind." 

He looked at me, a pinch of surprise in his eyes that was mostly masked by his concern. "Yeah?" 

"Yeah," I echoed. I squeezed my hands against my arms in attempt to regain feeling in my fingers. As I recounted what had been happening the past week, Cooper took it upon himself to take my hands in his own, bringing them up to his mouth and blowing the warmth of his breath into them, warming them up a little while he listened to me talk. 

"My friends Sarah and Nick are fighting," I explained. "I'm not even sure how the fight began, I just know that they're mad at each other, and they're trying to make our whole little group take sides. Not just over their fight, but over their little bickers about dumb things like what's the right way to pronounce this word? or I think I know Olly better, we've been friends longer. Right? It's like they're making little wars over the dumbest things." 

He nodded, an apologetic look on his face. 

I went back to hugging myself, a little tighter this time around. "Sometimes I wonder if it would be easier to just not have any friends--or at least hardly have any, or something." 

"What about me?" he pouted. From out of his pocket, he produced a few pieces of material. He pulled them apart in two, making the glove-shape more obvious, and handed them to me. 

I uttered a barely coherent thank you, and answered his question as I put them on. "You're more than a friend, though. So of course I'd have to keep you around. You're one of the few people I'd love enough to keep around." That last part escaped my mouth without full consciousness of what I was saying. 

I couldn't tell if he was blushing beneath the rosiness that had already grown from the cold, but he was biting back a small smile. "Well, you're certainly the best friend with benefits I've ever had." 

I pushed him playfully. "Whatever." 

"Granted, you are the only friend with benefits I've ever had," he said. 

"Same here." 

Only the sound of stale snow crunching beneath our footsteps and out heavy breaths was audible for a minute. All other sounds seemed to cease in that moment. His footsteps soon followed our words into silence. I stopped and looked back at him. His knuckles were white, fingers pink, and eyes avoiding mine. The crease in his forehead gave me reason to believe that he was now the one wrestling with whether or not to bring something up. 

Just like I did before him, he took a chance and forced the words from his mouth. "Do you maybe wanna be...more than friends?" He forced his eyes to meet my own. His eyes shone with a million thoughts that must have been running through his mind. 

He probably wouldn't admit to it, but it was obvious that he was afraid. Afraid of getting rejected again. 

I trudged through the snow toward him, placed my hand on his cheek, feeling the cold radiate from his face through the glove. I looked into his gray eyes, hoping that mine looked as vulnerable as his, hoping he saw that he saw me looking at him with compassion and love, and drew our eyes closer and closer. I could only use my tip-toes so much to hoist myself up, but he helped by leaning down into me. With my hands wrapping around his neck and my eyes fluttering shut, he picked up on where this was going, and slowly brought his lips to mine. 

Both of our lips were chapped and hard from the cold, but that didn't stop us from holding it for a few heartbeats. When we drew away, the warmth of our closeness was still there. We lingered like that in silence for a few more heartbeats, my arms hanging around his neck, his forehead pressed against mine, the warmth of our breaths between us thawing our frozen faces. A feeling of steady contentment screaming into our silence. But I'm not complaining. 

Eventually, a smile found its way to my lips, and I caught myself saying, "Does that answer your question." 

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So, I don't exactly have a valid excuse for the late update and sloppy writing. Sorry. 

Thoughts? 

Love ya <3