Simple Sweetness

Chapter 3

Six Months later...

The days had drawn cold as the new year began, full of snow, sleet and lots of ice. Growing up in the American Mid West, one gets used to living in the deep freeze for most of the year. You bundle up, lay low and grit your teeth and get through it.

School had ended that day on a sour note, and Darien needed a pick me up. He was throwing his diet to the wind just this once to grab some junk food. He knew he was going to pay for it later when he got to the gym, but he just didn't care right now.

The sky was grey and overcast, the dark clouds of more snow lurking on the horizon. Darien moved briskly down the sidewalk from the High School, wrapped up in his black leather flight jacket. The hood with the faux white fur pulled up tight, shielding most of his face. Head ducked down to his chest to protect himself from the gusts of sleet, all you could see was the tip of his red nose. With his grey back pack flung over a shoulder, a bright red scarf wrapped around his neck, with his bare hands shoved deep into the jacket side pockets. His legs shivering in a pair of jean's, toes frozen in his black nike sneaker's refusing to wear snow boots. He was sixteen, it just wasn't cool. Plus snow boots made him feel like he was being to weak to handle the cold, wearing sneaker's made him feel he was flipping winter the bird.

Ah, the angst filled logic of the teenage mind...

He nearly dashed across the parking lot, and under the metal rain canopy, with gas tanks huddled underneath. The old dented, white metal sheeting thundering from the wind as he past underneath. Skipping up onto the slick cement of the small sidewalk before the glass front of the convenience store. He nearly lost his footing, having to grab a hold of the metal door handle to stay upright. It was a quaint little gas station at the end of the block from the High School, known as Hannigan's. Owned by a family from the middle east, so it had an odd spicy aroma floating through it. None of the teen's who passed through the store cared, only on one mission. Sugar! Which was Darien mission as well.

He pulled the door open, the bells on the door jingling his entrance. Intent on moving with a purpose to the back freezer's to grab a bottle of coke. He passed the tan skinned young man, in his bright orange uniform shirt a curt nod. The young man had shoulder length black hair and soft almond brown eyes, wearing a stern no nonsense expression. He merely pointed at Darien's backpack and then the counter.

Darien sighed, trudging over to the counter and rudely flung his backpack on the glass surface. The bag was so heavy with books, when he dumped it so roughly, a few of the scratch cards hidden under the glass countertop exploded onto the floor behind the till.

Darien merely grimaced, as the young man gave a resigned sigh ducking behind the counter to clean them up. The store was bright compared to the grey fog of the day outside, the rows of overhead lights humming softly. He made it past two aisles, when something bright and very adorable caught his eye.

With a smirk he stopped to admire his 'Simple Sweetness.' Their relationship had been on shaky ground of late. He hadn't spoken more then a few passing words to her in the last few months, barely got to Crown due to his training. It just seemed like if he wasn't at home sleeping, or school, he was at the gym getting yelled at by his Coach. It wasn't like he didn't want to spend time with her, she just wasn't much of a priority.

There she stood in all her cute little glory, dressed in an orange and yellow plaid winter coat. That was way to puffy, she even wore a pair of dark brown snow pants with heavy black plastic snow boots poking out of the wide cuffs. A hot pink scarf around her neck, and matching pink wool mitts..not gloves like other girls her age...but mitts! Sticking out of each pocket of the marshmallow soft coat. She had her hood down, that was lined with white fuzz that one might find on a stuffed animal. Her large hot pink ear phones on, golden tails bouncing as she nodded her head with the beat of the tunes now residing happily in her head.