The Notes We Write

12.

The days because shorter, the weather colder, my favourite time of the year had arrived. It had become proper cold in Canada, way colder than I was used to but I loved it. It meant big fuzzy sweaters, scarfs, cute hats, big coats, tea and hot chocolate. Last and definitely not least, the snow! It had been snowing for a couple of days now. And not that dirty brown snow we get in Europe, but real fresh white snow.

It was weekend and I was inside playing board games with Nibbit. The heater high, that snuggly, cozy feeling. Mum was doing laundry upstairs, and Dad was at work.

I was about to roll the dice, when the doorbell rung. I got off my chair and slowly opened the door, not wanting to disturb the heat with the cold air from outside. Casey stood there, his face deep in his scarf, curls covered with his hat. He was wearing these huge pants and a thick coat, snow clothes.

"Are you guys up for a snowball fight?" Nova came to the door hearing Casey's voice. "Casey!" She squealed excitedly. She pouted her lip at me, "Can we go play with Casey outside?" Then Casey started pouting at me too.

"Okay, but we have to get you some warm clothes." I poked her in her belly, making her giggle. "I'll be outside, working on our fort." Casey winked at Nova. I saw her trying to wink back but instead she just blinked. Casey smiled at her and went outside again.

"Mum? Do you know where our snow clothes are?" She was lying in her bed watching some tv show. "Nova and I wanted to play outside for a while with Casey" She nodded to a folded stack of clothes. And indeed, there they were.

I went to lay next to her for a while. "Are you okay mum?" She kissed my forehead. "Yeah I'm fine, work is just really busy and tiring at the moment." I sat up again, and grabbed the clothes. "I love you mum." She smiled looking away from the tv, "I love you Hails"

When I came down again, Nova had turned the downstairs cupboard upside down. "Nibbit, what are you doing?!" I said rushing over to her. "I'm trying to find my purple scarf" She said, running her hands through the boxes. She already found her purple hat and her purple gloves. Nova is big on purple, she wants everything in purple. I guess that's why finding her purple scarf was so important to her.

I looked around at the floor again and saw something purple under a couple of hats. I lifted them up, and indeed her scarf was there. "I found it!" I announced, putting the scarf in her hands. She looked really happy and grabbed her coat and pants out of my hands.

"Do I have to help you change?" She rolled her eyes at me, "No, I'll do it myself. I'm a big girl, remember?"

"Don't you roll your eyes at me!" I said poking her in her belly. She really started to get sassy. As soon as she got all her clothes on she ran to the door and opened it. "Casey!" she called, "we're ready!"

We saw Casey working on a sort of wall where he and Nova could hide behind. Nova ran to him and crouched down to pick up some snow to help Casey build the snow wall.

"Hey! This is not fair, you've already started!" I exclaimed running to my side of the 'battlefield' quickly starting to built something similar to theirs. "We'll wait until you're done" Casey yelled back making some snowballs to build a pile behind their 'fort'.

Just as I put the last piece of snow on my snow shield, Nova peeked above their much taller one and threw a snowball right at me. Luckily, I dodged it at the last moment. Casey picked her up and held her in the air so she could throw. Her giggles could be heard miles from here. Casey put her down again and before I could react she was there again and threw a snowball right in my face, I couldn't dodge it like the last one.

I gasped offendedly, rubbing the snow out of my eyes and my face. Their laugh were evident behind the snow. "Oh now you're on!" I exclaimed. Picking up as much snow as I could and throwing them in their direction, none of them actually hit them because they were hiding like cowards. Every now and then Nova popped up to throw a snowball.

My plan wasn't working, not that I really had one I was just throwing snowballs thinking that there would be a slight change one of them would hit. So I had to think of something else, something they wouldn't expect. I threw a couple of snowballs as a distraction, and I slowly moved to them in the snow.

My plan backfired, they heard me coming. Casey came running with Nova on his back and started throwing the white snow at me. I found out that I'm pretty good at dodging and only got hit a few times. I started my counterattack, I tackled Casey to the ground and Nova falling with him. Casey's laugh echoed through the yard.

Then the least expected thing happened, Nova got up quickly and started not only attacking me with snow but also Casey. Casey and I looked at each other with wide eyes, how could Nova betray her teammate, her ally?

I threw one last smirk at Casey before we were ready to defend ourselves from the five year old girl, who was very proud of herself at the moment. She had hidden behind former team Casey and Nova's defence line. Casey sprinted towards her and scooped her up from the ground. She squealed, limps flying around as an attempt to escape Casey's grip. "Let go! Let go!" She screamed. He had thrown her over his shoulders, running to me. I smiled at the sight of them interacting like this, it truly melted my heart.

"What shall her punishment be ms Hailey?" Casey asked me in a posh accent, making me laugh. I tapped my chin with my finger, pretending to think. "Mhmm, what about some tickle torture?" I said trying to sound as posh as Casey had. I was never really good at accents, so it sounded terrible.

"No, no!" Nova screeched when Casey pulled her down in the snow. Mine and Casey's finger made their way to Nova's sides. She started laughing hysterically when we startled tickling her.

"I think this is quite enough sir Casey" I said when she was out of breath. Casey nodded and pulled his fingers back, just like I did. As soon as we stopped she got up and ran inside, kicking her shoes off at the door step.

As we walked to the door, following Nova inside, Casey pulled me gently against his side. I put my head on his shoulder and looked up at him, "thank you for playing with her like this, I could tell how much she enjoyed it." He smiled, dimples appearing in his cheeks.

"I love doing it, Wesley doesn't want to play with me anymore he's getting big. I can't believe he's twelve already, he doesn't find me as cool as he used to." Wesley was Casey's younger brother. I haven't really talked to him that much, he isn't much of a talker himself and he's usually in his room when I'm at theirs.

"Siblings grow so fast, I already find it weird that Nova goes to school. It feels like she was born yesterday."

He gave a quick kiss on my forehead and leaned his head on mine. Leaving a warm feeling in my body, even though I was covered in cold snow.

When we came inside Nova had already taken off her wet clothes and was sitting at the table. Mum was making hot chocolate for her in the kitchen. "Do you guys want some as well?" She called. "Yes please!" I answered excitedly, I had always loved hot chocolate so much. It was my second favourite hot drink, nothing beats a cup of tea of course!

Casey had went outside to pickup his bag out of his car to change into some warm clothes. When we were all warm and freshly clothed again, we joined Nova at the table. Mum came a bit later with our mugs, and joined us as well.

The four of us spent the rest of the day playing the same boardgames Nova and I had played before. Laughter was evident in the room. When my dad came home from work, he joined us as well. Everything felt so good, for the first in a long time I felt truly at home.