Glitter in the Snow

"Natalie! Would you just calm down for three minutes while I get Lyle ready? He refuses to stop running until you do."

Rather than responding, I bounced- yes, bounced- up the stairs and shut myself in my room. It was Saturday morning and I was in the sort of mood that refused to be calmed. I had woken up that morning with the memory of my evening with Felix fresh in my mind. Really, absolutely nothing could have gotten me down except for the phone call that rang out before I could even properly enjoy the techno song I had blaring through my room.

"Nat! Can you get that?" Mom called down the hall.

"I did. "Good morning!" I said to the person on the other line.

"Natalie?"

I froze.

"Dad?" I hard his breathing on the other line, the only indication through the long silence that ensued that the call had not been dropped. "Dad, what is it?"

"I'm coming back to town," he finally said. "I'll explain more later, alright? Can we do lunch? I should be back by one."

"How long will you be here?" I asked, grinning. It had been too long since he had visited.

"I'm moving back, Nat."

"What about Nan?" He had moved away two years ago to live with her so that she wouldn't have to go to a nursing home. "Is she moving back with you?"

"We'll talk when I get in, okay?"

"Call me when you're almost here," I told him, and hung up.

She was dead. She had to be. What else could bring Dad back? And he was being so tight-lipped about it because he didn't want me to find out over the phone. I stood in my room for a while, doing the best statue impression I would ever manage to hold, until Mom poked her head in, her long golden braid swinging frantically. My mom, she was always in motion, a dizzying blur of whatever bright colors she was wearing and her trademark braid.

"Nat, I'm going to be late for Lyle's practice already so I won't be able to pick that book up at the library for you but maybe..." She trailed off, having finally really looked at me. "What is it? Who called?"

"Dad," I said. I rolled my shoulders and walked over to my desk, where I shuffled some things around with false purpose, hoping she would leave it there.

"Oh," she said softly. "What was he calling about?"

"I don't know," I said. "He's in town, wants to have lunch together."

"Oh. Well, that's nice." The look of concern on her face said that she didn't really think it so nice at all.

"I'll get to the library, don't worry. I don't have any other plans.

She grimaced. "Okay. I'll keep my phone on me. Let me know if you need anything." By that she meant, 'Let me know if your father upsets you.' I nodded and she left.

I didn't know what else to do while I waited, so I decided to hit up the library. There really was a book I needed to get- "Pride and Prejudice." It was my absolute favorite book in existence and my copy had suffered the most tragic of accidents a few weeks ago. The more I thought about it, the more I thought reading a bit of Darcy-filled tension was exactly what I needed just then. I fetched my bicycle from the garage and left. I raced to the library, trying to channel my distress into energy. It didn't work. Mostly I just got there panting, dizzy, and red-faced with an uncomfortable burning in my lungs. I was a little cheered, though, when I saw Bex's reaction as I walked in. She had a volunteer position at the library and spent all of every Saturday there. It was a little funny seeing her actually keeping her voice down, being respectful and patient with people asking repetitive, stupid questions, and buried under the kind of book stacks that were usually my territory.

"Natalie! What on earth-" Her supervisor cut a mean look her way and Bex rushed over to me, whisper-shouting, "You look just like Harry Potter should have after fighting his way through the maze to get to the Triwizard Cup."

I laughed a little, because I knew that she would immediately be nagging to have me tell her every detail of the reason for my upset if I didn't. Out of everyone in our little group, I had the reputation for being the most dedicated to- note: dedicated to, not obsessed with- Harry Potter. "How was going out with Geoffrey last night?" I asked, thankful that I was talking to Bex and not Grace, who was inconveniently perceptive and would have seen through my everything's-normal facade before I could get a word in.

Bex beamed and grabbed my hand, pulling me through the stacks. She couldn't get yelled at for taking the occasional break now and then, being a volunteer and all. We made it over to the little kid's play corner, which was conveniently empty. I came to the library almost every Saturday and I was nearly certain that 1) Bex spent more time there than she did volunteering and that 2) she and I spent more time there than any child had, ever. It was kind of our special spot, vomit-stained rug and all.

Actually, the vomit thing was kind of a funny story. I'll try to remember to come back to it. Just then, though, I spent the next twenty minutes hearing about Geoffrey Spinner in more detail than anyone needed to know about him. Ever. He only combed his hair every third day because otherwise he was convinced he would go prematurely bald otherwise. He only ate carrots cooked and wasn't that funny since Bex only liked them raw? He had a car but took the bus to school because he didn't want to pollute the world more than he needed to. They both preferred to take the first step down a stairway with their right foots, which was especially convenient for when they were holding hands. I couldn't figure out why that was and I knew better than to ask. After a while in this vein, she stood suddenly and yanked me to my feet, then pulled me behind her at a brisk run through the library.

"Bex!" I whispered, "if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not be kicked out of the library today. I really need to get-"

"- 'Pride and Prejudice,' yes, I know," she said, and I could hear the implied eyeroll with stunning clarity.

"Yes so if you don't mind, can we not-" She pulled us to an abrupt start- "run? Thank you."

She graciously tipped her head and I saw the reason for our running. "Bex! Nat!" It was Cassidy. She streaked over to us and gave us each a quick hug. I smiled a little and felt unexpected tears welling up. I had such good friends. If my Nan was dead... well, I was going to be appreciating them more than ever for the next few weeks, I expected. Might as well start now.

"Bex, you will never believe what happened last night. Well, not unless our darling Natalie here broke the Code and told you about it. But she knows better. Don't you, my lovely?" She focused her grey eyes on me in a brief warning glare and smiled. "Of course you do. So allow me to fill you in." Cassidy gestured to the door out of the library. It was too quiet there for any serious conversation, especially the kind that involved the kind of detail that Cass would be imparting.

Also, if you're wondering, the Code is our convoluted little rule set that the five of us- that's Bex, Cassidy, Melody, Grace, and myself- had signed off on years ago. No one had broken them yet. The rule in particular which Cass was referencing was the one that said any really good stories couldn't be shared with anyone until everyone was there to witness the telling.

This could be dodged if one of us heard about it from an outside source.

I collapsed on the marble steps that led up to the library and, resigned, leaned against the border wall. Bex' dark eyes were alight and she was studying me with interest.

"Our dear little Natalie was out last night with Felix Argenti. And I don't mean hanging out. I mean OUT-out."

"How did you know?" I asked her.

Cassidy smirked. "I overheard Felix telling Padric that he'd be driving you home."

"So? He's driven me home before," I pointed out. Bex raised her brows and I realized that this was something that I had never actually explicitly told them about. I knew I was going to hear about that later.

"Has he really?" she asked, smiling slyly. One eyebrow disappeared into her bangs.

Cassidy huffed impatiently. "Don't you want to hear the rest?" She looked between me and Bex and nodded in satisfaction when she saw that she had the floor. "My informant tells me that he not only bought you your blasted Pop Rocks, but had his arm around you for almost the whole movie. I was also told that the two of you were in a particularly dark part of the theater and that not a single person there believes that that was the only contact between you two, if you catch my drift."

"We catch it," I said, trying to sound as bored as I felt defensive. I thought I managed fairly well.

Cassidy nodded in satisfaction. "Good. I have half a mind to drive you over to Grace's so that you can tell all."

I grimaced. "Actually, I really need to get going. My dad's in town and we're supposed to go out for lunch."

"Why didn't you mention that before?" Bex asked. "That's so nice! I miss your dad."

"Yeah, because he used to let you pet his Mustang," Cassidy muttered.

I nudged her, laughing. "Okay, ew. I don't want to hear you talk about anyone petting my father's anything ever again."

"Well when you put it like that..." Cassidy was grinning her signature mischievous grin.

"I think this would be an ideal time to leave. Farewell, fair maidens." I saluted and headed for my bike. A glance at my watch told me that I needed to get going. It was 12:50 and I had a ride home that usually took a little over ten minutes. I was still shaky enough from my ride over that I expected it to be a little longer.

Longer than ten minutes it did take. It was nice out so I decided that I would stay on the porch until my dad called. I found myself checking my phone roughly twice every minute and each time I did, I thought of all of the calls that I hadn't received. Grace and Melody were probably both anxious to hear from me if Cassidy had spoken to them, but they both knew better than to call asking for details before we all got together. Padric was my usual Saturday afternoon entertainment, but he hadn't gotten in touch. Dad still hadn't called, of course.

And neither had Felix.

Look, I knew very well- better than anyone else, really, if people were so keen on speculating on what was going on between us- that we weren't together or anything. We'd been out once. We had both enjoyed ourselves, I was confident about that. But maybe that was all there was to it.

Why hadn't he called? Was he waiting for me to? Was he just busy? Had he thought about it at all? I was just thinking to myself that phones are horribly dumb and why does anyone bother having them anyway when mine rang.