After Snow

As I walked towards my car, I heard a girl shout my name, trying to get my attention. I turned around and Lia was running towards me. She was limping slightly and instead of people making fun of her, they were all staring at her in concern.

“Hey,” I waved.

“Um, I was wondering if you could give me a ride home?” She politely asked. I just nodded in response. When I got in the car, I turned the heater on. It was the beginning of November and you could just feel the winter around the corner. It was silent until I heard a grumbling sound.

“You hungry?”

“N-No.. I’m okay,” Lia stuttered. I laughed and took a different route, when we arrived at Wendy’s, Lia seemed shocked, but still smiling nonetheless. We walked, and it was completely empty, and the staff were singing loudly, which made Lia giggle. As we made our way to the counter, I cleared my throat.

“GUYS! WE HAVE COSTUMERS!” Someone loudly shouted. A boy our age approached us, with a smile when he saw Lia.

“Welcome to Wendy’s. How may I help you?” He politely asked, looking at Lia. Being her, she had to smile back and thank him, greeting him as well. I rolled my eyes.

“Um, can I have.. a Crispy Chicken Sandwich?” She asked softly.

“Alright, and how about you, sir?” The boy asked without looking at me.

For you to stop staring at her as if she were a piece of meat, “The same please with small fries,” I answered.

“That’ll be $4.03 please,” He nonchalantly asked me. I glared at him, and he smirked.

“Here,” We both turned to Lia, with a five dollar bill on her hand.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll pay for it,” I said grabbing my wallet from my back pocket. She shook her head stubbornly.

“You cleaned me up yesterday, and the day before you saved me from getting killed, you gave me a ride, then brought me here to eat, the least I can do is pay for the both of us,” She smiled at me warmly, and I blushed.

“Sorry, but I can’t let you do that,” I replied monotonously and paid for the food, ignoring her protests. When we got our food, we sat at the farthest table from the counter.

“I should’ve paid,” She muttered stubbornly.

“That would make me sad,” I replied trying to make her feel guilty.

“Why?” She suddenly asked surprised.

“Because I was brought up to be a gentleman,” I lied. I didn’t care about being polite. I just did it because I felt like it.

“But can you not be one with me? I was just trying to thank you for helping me so much,”

“A girl not wanting a guy to be a gentleman? That’s a new one,” I laughed.

“Yes, not with me,” She giggled. She giggled. I strangely thought she looked adorable when she did that. I never thought Lia would be adorable. I always saw her as the plain, annoying, stupid type of girl.

“So, hey.. How was the doctor’s appointment?”

She took a bite of her sandwich before replying, “Apparently, the results will be out in a couple of weeks? Maybe less depending on how much work they have to do,”

“Results?”

“Yeah, they did some brain test to me, I felt like I was crazy or something,” She laughed.

“Well, maybe it’ll say in the results, won’t know until then,” I winked.

She giggled blushing. “You shouldn’t joke about that. What if I was really a psychopath?”

“I think we all know already you aren’t exactly sane,” I teased.

“Hey!” She pouted defiantly. I freely laughed. A second or two later, she joined. We kept talking for a while, I felt my mobile vibrating in my jeans’ pocket.

“Hello?” I answered.

“William? Oh my God, where the hell are you?!” Mom’s voice blasted from the receiver. I groaned as I pulled the mobile from my ear.

“Do you have any idea of what time it is?!” I faintly heard her screams.

“Mom! Calm down!” I shouted back, bringing the mobile closer.

“Don’t you tell me to calm down, young man!” She hissed.

“I’ll be home soon, but I’ll drop Lia off first, ok?”

“Wait, you’re with Lia?” Her tone suddenly completely different.

“Um, yes. I took her out because she was hungry,” I mumbled trying to be as quiet as possible so Lia wouldn’t hear me.

“Aw, baby.. In that case you can stay out as long as you want,” She teased.

“Mom, if you even intent such thing ever again I will not speak to you again, period. Ok?” I was angry at her assumptions. She meowed.

“Calm down, lover-boy,” She chuckled.

“Mom,” I threatened.

“Alright, alright. I’ll leave you alone..” She trailed off. “With Lia, bye!” She shouted before hanging up. I growled at the phone. I looked up and Lia was looking out the window smiling. I turned around and noticed it was snowing.

“It’s so pretty, isn’t it?” She whispered. Truth be told, I hated snow. But her face was just so carefree and bright I didn’t want to ruin it for her.

“It’s beautiful,” I forced the words out of my mouth.

“Do you know what comes after snow?” She asked after a few seconds.

“Water?” I replied confused she would ask such obvious question.

“A beginning,” She breathed. “Everything that was once covered by snow, is born again. More beautiful than the last time,” She turned around giving me a carefree smile. “Wouldn’t it be amazing if people were the same way?”

“Uh..” I didn’t know what to say to her words. Instead of being able to answer she laughed.

“Oh, look at me saying such weird things. Sorry,” She apologized sheepishly. But before I got the chance to tell her otherwise, she stood up.

“Are you ready to go home?” She asked.

“I am, if you are,” I stood up, smiling at her.

That day, for the first time. I couldn’t sleep due to a girl. That girl being Lia. So many thoughts ran through my mind. Half of those being how awful I had been to judge her in such a harsh way, without even knowing her. The other half were just about her. Her habits and comments. Her way of always apologizing, her way of always smiling no matter the situation, the way she saw the good in everyone. Even her crush, though the guy was obviously a jackass. I thought of the way she blushed, it was only her cheeks. When she smiled, two light dimples showed on either side of her face, and when she lied she tented to look away. She bit her lip when she was thinking deeply, and she tucked her hair behind her ear when she was uncomfortable. She was like an open-book but at the same time she wasn’t. You always knew when she was lying but never the reason behind it. You could never tell if she was upset, because of that smile that seemed super glued to her face. To sum it all up, Lia kept me up all night. Of all people it was her. And that thought alone, scared me.