After Snow

It has been over a week since Lia and me hung out. My mother was angry at me because apparently I made her worse than she was before. I told her everything that happened from her buying at Hot Topic to the talk we had at the car and instantly slapped me in the back of my head, calling me ‘Idiot’. She then started muttering in French, I didn’t try to ask her what she was saying. Never ask Mom what she’s saying when muttering in French. Since that date, Lia has been avoiding me. Or at least if feels like it. She’s usually very nice and tries to talk to me, but now she finds some excuse whenever I try to start a conversation. Itdoesn’t bother me. That’s what I keep telling myself. I was walking home when I heard a high-pitched scream from behind. I abruptly turned around and Lia was on the floor, with her face smashed to the pavement. I ran towards and tried helping her up. When she saw it was me, she pulled away.

“I’m okay,” She whispered. I gasped when I saw her face. Her cheek was scrapped and bleeding. Without realizing it I softly took her chin in my hands and tilted her head to look at her cheek, which now was not only bleeding but had a slight shade of red on them. I tried to keep from smirking at the realization I made her do that. I felt some kind of pride I couldn’t explain. I helped her stand up.

“Come on,” I dragged her towards my house, regardless of her protests.

“I’m okay, William. Really,” She said for the hundredth time.

“If ‘okay’ is bleeding crazily from that wound, then I don’t want to know what not okay is,”

“I-I.. I’m okay, I’ll take care of it myself, I promise,” Her voice broke at the end. I turned around and her eyes were watered. I felt my chest tighten and I felt the need to make her happy.

“Did you know, a gold fish’s memory span is three seconds?” I randomly asked.

“Excuse me?”

“Wouldn’t that suck? Not remembering anything after a few seconds, I mean.. Mine is slightly longer than that, but three seconds would suck,” I joked.

“I.. I don’t think it would, it would be like a fresh new beginning, you know?” She said thoughtfully. I was glad to take her mind of anything that had made her sad.

“That’s true, but what if what you had three seconds before was better than having nothing at all?”

“Everything happens for a reason,” She said smiling warmly at me. I blushed and I have no idea why.

“No, it doesn’t,” I laughed.

“Yeah, it does. People love so there is less hate in the world,”

“And people hate because loving is too hard for them,”

“Why would it be hard?” She asked me, genuinely curious.

“Because people don’t like getting hurt,”

“Huh..” She trailed off and I realized we arrived to my house. We walked in and it was surprisingly silent.

“Mum?” I shouted, expecting her to scream scared like every time. That’s my mom. She gets scared by nothing. But instead of her ear-piercing scream, I was welcomed by silence.

“Hm, I guess she isn’t home,” I mumbled to myself.

“S-She isn’t?” Lia stuttered, sounding scared.

“Yeah, why?”

“No-No reason,” She stuttered blushing. I looked at her curiously.

I walked to the kitchen with her. I asked her to sit at the stall, and went to get the First Aid kit. When I walked to the kitchen, Lia was looking surprised at her cell phone.

“What’s wrong?”

“I got asked out,” She whispered. This took my by surprise, although it shouldn’t. After all, almost every guy was head over heels for Lia.

“What are you going to say?” I asked curiously, thinking if they were good enough for her.

“I don’t know,” She replied and brought her hand to her cheek to scratch but scratched her scrapped flesh and winced in pain. I ran towards her and took out the alcohol and lightly damped a cotton ball with it. How do I distract her? I thought, thinking of the physical pain it would cause her if I just dabbed the alcohol damped cotton ball. A thought crossed my mind and I never thought I would even want to do this to the girl I hated. But I thought of something different.

“Was the person that asked you out the guy you like?”

After a couple of seconds she replied, “No,”

Slowly, I grabbed her face and started to clean it. “You know what I think? I think that guy is not worth your time, if he doesn’t see what a great girl you are,” I lied.

“I’m great?” She asked doubtful.

“Uh.. Yeah, you are,” I finished cleaning what needed to be cleaned, and I stepped back looking at her cheek, making sure it wasn’t dirty elsewhere.

“Okay, now.. We need a Band-Aid big enough,” I mumbled to myself, looking for some in the First Aid kit. I looked for a couple of seconds, until I finally found one. Smiling to myself, I ripped the wrapper open and took the adhesive paper, putting it aside.

“Okay, this might hurt, it may not. Alright?” I asked her. She just silently nodded. I softly placed the Band-Aid to her velvet cheek, making sure I put it properly.

“Thank you,” She looked down to her hands, blushing. I noticed I made her do that often, which for some reason, made me sort of happy. “Can I go home now? I have an appointment,”

“Yeah, where are you going? Getting your hair done?” I joked in a high-pitched voice. She giggled.

“No, I wish,” She joked back. “I’m going to a doctor’s appointment,”

“For what?”

“My ‘stupidness’ as my mother calls it,” She forced a laugh.

“Oh,” Was all I could say.

“Alright, thank you for helping me, William. I really appreciate it,” She smiled genuinely at me. I couldn’t help but to blush.

“Your welcome,” I replied. She waved goodbye as she walked towards her house. “Well, then.. I never thought I’d help that,” I muttered to myself referring to Lia as I walked back to the house, willingly welcoming a quiet afternoon. Until Mom arrived home, not knowing I was home and an ear-piercing scream left her lips when she realized I was.