Short stories.

The Bench.

It’s late December already. The darkness coming in early means that there aren’t many people in the park but that’s okay. We still sit together on a bench, watching the cars drive past and the snowflakes fall gently to the ground, like the world goes on without us. The view is beautiful, a light layer of untouched snow dusting the trees that have brightly coloured lights strung across them. Some snow has settled on us, a few flakes sitting on our shoulders and knees. We’re sitting close together, our legs pulled close to our chest for extra warmth with our hands locked together. It doesn’t make us any warmer as we’re both freezing, but neither of us bothers to move.

“Do you think it’s cold yet?” I ask him with a smirk. I know he does- we’ve  been sitting out in the gentle snowstorm for around 3 hours.

“No.” A smile tugs at his lips to say he’s lying. His lips have a faint blue tinge and his cheeks are glowing red.

“Good.” I say. “I’m not cold either.”

We sit in silence for a few seconds before we both burst out laughing.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been colder.” He laughs.

“No, no, me either. I genuinely can’t feel my hands.”

We look down at our hands together and realise that a layer of snow has dusted over them too. Laughing a little more, we move them apart and brush the snow off. For a moment, we just sit there smiling at one another until he wraps his arms around me. I smile, feeling safe, before putting mine around him. His lips gently press against my cheek, and I instantly don’t feel cold anymore.

“I love you.” He whispers in my ear, and I know he means it.

“I love you too.” I reply.

 I tilt my head a little to kiss him properly, and we just sit kissing for a while, no longer feeling the bitter frost of the snowflakes. He pulls away from me, smiling, before getting to his feet and helping me up with him.

“Ready to go home and get warm again?” He asks me.

I nod and take his hand again. We head home, knowing that we can come back tomorrow and sit together on our bench once more, watching the world go by without us. It's one the best thoughts we've had together.