Last Winter

01.

"LAST WINTER"
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❝For among these winters, there is one so endlessly winter that only by wintering through it, will your heart survive...❞

December 7, 2035
Seattle, Washington

Everything about winter was different this year, but since Joleicy never paid attention to the weather, she thought nothing of it. She ignored the dark, grey clouds that covered the sky, paid no heed to the crisper winds or the heavy rain and snow that thrummed down, but conceded in an instant that she would be alone that frosty season.

All three of Joleicy's flings had flipped the script on her and requested the one thing she was not interested in; exclusivity. Rodney expressed that he was getting older and wanted to settle down—she told him that sounded personal and it had absolutely nothing to do with her. Iman insisted he could see himself being with her for the long run—Joleicy may have implied that he was blind and she wasn't into running, and Miles claimed he was cool with what they had earlier on in the year; sex with nothing on the side—but he didn't really know anything about her other than her name and where she lived.

Joleicy was still wondering what the problem was.

She never had any of these issues before; every man she'd been involved with understood from the get-go Joleicy wasn't looking for a relationship, but now it didn't seem like anything she said was mentally grasped, and she was back at square one with no one to scratch the itches she would have further down the line.

"Iced Cinnamon Almond Milk Macchiato: two shots espresso and two pumps of cinnamon dolce syrup with a light caramel drizzle." Glancing away from the window and removing her hand from under her chin, Joleicy set her attention on her classmate and close friend Madison as she settled at the table with their drinks.

They were in the Starbucks across the street from Seattle Central College, their school campus. The two friends always went there to grab some drinks and chat until Madison had to go back to class and Joleicy had to report to her internship site.

With a stiff nod and a grimace that was supposed to resemble a thankful smile, Joleicy grabbed the macchiato and stirred it with her straw, taking a small sip and letting the taste of caramel and cinnamon parade in her mouth before she swallowed the milk in distaste and pushed the drink aside.

Madison stared at her friend as she sipped her own White Chocolate Mocha coffee, deadpanning before she sat her cup down. "You're still upset, Jo? You're making it a bigger issue than it is. You just have to..." Madison trailed off, choosing to ignore the sardonic expression on Joleicy's face and find the right words to say instead.

"Move on, right? Not take it too seriously? All three of these niggas took it upon themselves to ruin the nice little set-up we had going on to be in a damn relationship. I'm not for it," Joleicy sneered, clenching her jaw in frustration.

She knew what she wanted, and it wasn't a relationship. Relationships were time consuming and energy draining. Joleicy needed her time and energy to focus on herself and her career. There wasn't any time in her schedule to be chasing after any man, worrying about where he was, who he was with and what he was doing.

She didn't have time to devote herself to someone else, and she didn't want to have to answer to anyone for anything in her personal life. Why go through that when all you needed was an itch to be scratched? No back-and-forth blasé, no headache; just sex. Yet here she was, going back and forth with the blasé, developing a headache along the way and having no sex. The shit was ridiculous.