Sweet Silver Lining

Annabelle stood by the window, watching as the snow fell onto the sidewalk. Landon wouldn’t be home from school for another two hours or so, and she was currently waiting on Andrew to call her back. She had called him and left a message saying that she had something important to tell him, and she was still waiting on him to return her call.

After the previous night and Landon not being angry at her for dating Andrew, Annabelle was feeling a lot better about her relationship with Andrew. She was going to call him the night before, but she figured she didn’t want to interrupt his celebration after the Blackhawks had won the game, so she waited until today.

Her cell phone lay in her hand, and she glanced down at it, wishing Andrew would call her already. She was excited to tell him the good news. She looked back out at the snow, wishing it would all go away. It was times like these that she wished she could go back to California.

Ten minutes later, her cell phone started to ring, and she smiled to herself when she saw Andrew’s name flash across the screen. “Hey,” she said into the phone.

“Hey, sorry I didn’t get back to you earlier,” Andrew said. “Our practice ran late. Anyways, what’s so important?” he asked, and Annabelle laughed a little at how nervous he sounded. She thought back to the message she left him, wondering if she had made it seem like bad news.

She shrugged before answering him. “Well, I told Landon about us last night,” she confessed.

“You told him about us?” Andrew asked, and Annabelle nodded her head even though he couldn’t see her. “Like, you told him that we’ve been dating this whole time?” he asked for clarification.

“Yeah,” Annabelle said. “He seemed to understand. I mean, he asked if you were my boyfriend and everything,” she added with a laugh.

“How did he take it?” Andrew asked cautiously.

“Fine,” Annabelle said, a smile spreading across her face. “He seemed perfectly fine with it. Do you get what this means?” she asked excitedly.

“That everyone knows about us?” Andrew guessed.

“No!” Annabelle told him. “Now everything’s not going to be weird. I don’t feel like I have to hide anything from Landon, and we can do things all together. Well, that is if you want to,” she added quickly. She didn’t know if she were moving too fast, thinking that Andrew would automatically want to do things as a group. “If you don’t, I totally get it. I mean, you didn’t exactly ask,” she rambled.

“Annie!” Andrew interrupted wanting her to take a breath.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“I want to,” he assured her. “In fact, what about we do something all together when I get back?” he suggested.

“I’d like that,” she smiled. “So, how’s it going in California?” she asked him. “I miss it there,” she admitted, looking back out at the snow.

“Well, I wish you were here with me, too,” he told her. “But, it’s good. I always love going to the west coast, but nothing is like Chicago. I miss being home,” he admitted. “How’s everything going there?” he asked her.

“It’s snowing,” she said with a groan.

She could hear Andrew laughing at her. “And you don’t like the snow?” he questioned. “I would give anything to be there right now with the snow. It’s not right for it to be February and it be seventy degrees,” Andrew told her.

“That is perfectly normal!” Annabelle argued. “This is not normal,” she said, pointing out the window to the snow that was quickly gathering on the side walk. “I hate the snow,” she stated.

“Well, I’ll have to figure out a way to change your mind on that one,” Andrew told her.

“I don’t think there’s anything you can do that can ever make me like the snow,” she said, shutting the curtain and walking to the couch. “Well, I’m going to let you go. I just wanted to let you know that I told Landon, and he seems fine with everything,” she told him.

“I’ll see you in a couple of days,” Andrew said.

“Okay. Have fun in the amazing weather over there,” she said with a laugh.

“Yeah,” Andrew said, laughing. “I’ll talk to you later. Bye.”

***

Annabelle tapped her feet on the floor, trying to figure out what to do to pass the time. She had dropped Landon off at a friend’s house for a few hours, and Andrew was supposed to be home sometime later that day. She turned the television on and started flipping through channels, stopping on the news. They were discussing the weather and how the snow wasn’t going to be stopping anytime soon.

She groaned to herself, wishing she could go back to California just to get away from Chicago’s weather. The newscasters then started talking about all the flights that were delayed because of the snow, and she felt her stomach drop a little. She had missed Andrew, and now that he wasn’t going to be able to get into Chicago with the weather the way it was, she was saddened.

She quickly changed the channel, not wanting to hear about the dreaded Chicago weather any longer, stopping on a random soap opera. She was just getting into the show and figuring out all the characters and storylines when her phone started ringing. She glanced down to see it was the mother of the boy that Landon was staying with right now. “Hey, Robin,” Annabelle spoke into the phone.

“Hey, Annie, I was just calling to see if it was okay if Landon stayed the night. He and Bobby are having a good time right now, and with the way the snow is falling, I figured you wouldn’t want to drive all the way out here,” Robin added.

“Are you sure you’re okay taking care of two six year olds?” Annabelle asked with a laugh.

“Yeah, it’s no problem,” Robin told her. “If you want, I can go ahead and take him to school tomorrow, and then you can just pick him up after school,” she suggested.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Annabelle said. “Thank you so much.”

“No problem. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Robin said, hanging up the phone.

Annabelle set the phone down next to her, trying to figure out what to do now. She turned the television volume back up, trying to get back into the program. Moments later, she heard a knock on the door. She quickly got up to see who was knocking, and the next thing she knew, she was being enveloped by a pair of familiar arms.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” Annabelle exclaimed, giving Andrew a kiss. “What are you doing here?” she suddenly asked, moving aside so Andrew could walk inside her apartment. “They’ve been talking about how all the flights are delayed because of the snow.”

“Yeah, well, we got an earlier flight,” Andrew explained, taking his coat off. “We were on one of the last planes that landed before they started delaying flights. Where’s Landon?” he asked, looking around.

“Oh!” Annabelle said. “He’s over at his friend Bobby’s house. He’s staying the night, and Bobby’s mom is going to take him to school tomorrow,” she explained.

“So, we’re alone?” Andrew asked.

“Yes,” Annabelle said with a smile. “Why? What are you thinking?” she asked.

“I’m thinking that you need to grab your coat,” he told her as he put his coat back on. Annabelle gave him a questioning look. “I’m going to make you love the snow,” he explained.

Annabelle laughed at him, but did as he requested, putting her black pea coat on. “I really don’t think you’re going to get me to like the snow,” she told him. “But, we’ll see,” she added, walking out the door behind him and locking it.

“Have you ever been around snow? Or have you always lived in California?” Andrew asked as they made their way outside. He walked to the area in front of the apartment building and grabbed some snow in his hands.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen snow up close before I moved here,” she admitted. “Why?”

“So, you’ve never had a snowball fight?” he questioned, patting the snow together and shuffling it back and forth between his hands.

“No,” Annabelle said slowly, staring at the snow in Andrew’s hands. “Don’t you even think about it,” she warned him.

“Don’t even think about what?” Andrew asked innocently. “Doing this?” he asked, throwing the snow at Annabelle, hitting her in the arm.

Annabelle’s eyes went wide with shock. “I can’t believe you just did that!” she exclaimed, looking down at the snow that was still on her coat.

“What are you going to do about it?” Andrew taunted. Annabelle immediately made a snowball, whipping it at Andrew, hitting him square in the chest. A snowball fight broke out, and Annabelle found herself enjoying it. “Okay, okay,” Andrew said, trying to catch his breath after running around for so long. “Truce?” he asked.

Annabelle slowly walked towards Andrew, trying to catch her own breath. “Truce,” she agreed. “Right after this,” she added, placing the snowball that was currently in her hands on the top of Andrew’s head and pushing it down, causing it to go down his face.

“I can’t believe you just did that!” Andrew exclaimed, as Annabelle tried running away from him, not wanting to see how he was going to retaliate.

Andrew easily caught up to her, though, and he grabbed her around the waist, causing her to stumble, falling on the ground with him falling next to her. He leaned up on his elbows, looking over at Annabelle to see her laughing. Not being able to resist any longer, he leaned over, putting one hand on the back of her head, kissing her.

Annabelle quickly resituated herself, not breaking the kiss, as she rolled over so she was on top of Andrew. When they pulled apart for air, Andrew looked up at her. “So, did I make you change your mind about snow?” he asked her.

Annabelle smiled down at him. “Yeah, I think you may have,” she told him, lowering her head to capture his lips once again.