It's Winter Again 2.0

Winter has always been my least favorite season. It’s always too cold and snowy, there are too many lights, and you have to wear far too many layers just to get through one day’s worth of chill. The only good thing about this time of year is that I can finally wear my favorite hats without either dying of the heat or looking like a total weirdo.

And then, of course, there’s the creek.

I love the creek. It’s so beautiful and, gosh, when it’s frozen? It’s absolutely breathtaking. I visit the bridge stretching over it every chance I get, making an extra effort during winter so I can see it.

And that’s actually why I’m even outside on this freezing Sunday morning.

The creek looked especially lovely this morning for some reason. There were just enough clouds dispersed throughout the sky to separate the sunlight into chunks of various sizes all over the area, making the ice glisten and sparkle in the most dazzling of ways. The trees growing along the edges of the creek moved slightly with the breeze, looking almost as though they were dancing together. Various birds sat in the swaying branches, some singing and squawking at each other.

Even though it’s still early, people were buzzing all over the bridge; some talking with friends, some sitting on the benches scattered across the area, reading, or writing, or drawing, and some spending their time like me, just enjoying the frozen body of water. This was my favorite thing to do, just stand at the bridge’s railing and look over the calm, snow-covered area. Normally, I was left alone to admire the area in silence, but on some days things didn't go quite as I’d planned. Today seemed to be one of those days.

I’d been standing here peacefully for the past half an hour, completely untouched and quietly slipping into the calm atmosphere I’d longed for the past week, when things started going downhill. Children were starting to lose their patience with the silence and were beginning to scream and shout and run, birds screaming out at them and calling their friends to join them. Everyone was getting loud and I was constantly being pulled back into reality by the sounds. I was quickly losing my patience as well.

I completely lost it, however, when one of the crows in the area decided that my favorite beanie would make a lovely addition to their nest.

“What the fuck?!” I screamed as my navy blue beanie was ripped off of my head by the claws of a black crow. The bird was almost taunting me as it cawed and flew away from me. I ran after it, screaming obscenities and earning glares from children’s parents. I didn't care, though. That hat was not only my favorite, but one that my mother gave me before she passed away two years ago. Thinking quickly, I pulled one of my drawing pencils out of the canvas bag bouncing at my side and chucked it at the bird, hitting it in the center of its back. Good thing my brother made me play football with him all those years, I thought. The bird screamed out, dropping my hat, then flew away, faster than before. “Ha! Take that, you stupid bird,” I yelled after it. I laughed triumphantly, feeling proud of myself, before I started looking around for my hat. All thoughts of bragging about this to my family flew from my head as fast as the bird had when I saw where my beanie had landed.

It landed on a very tall, very confused man’s head.

His was face was contorted in confusion as he reached up to pull my hat off his head. Two men standing next to him, one slightly and the other quite shorter, were laughing hysterically. The taller of the two had brown hair spiked messily around his head; the other man had short dark brown hair and dark stubble growing along his jaw. The one that was now holding my beanie in his hand had dark, almost black hair with a large chunk of blonde on the side of his head. He was tall, really tall, and looked completely confused, but was laughing along with the other two boys now, but nowhere near as much.

Oh my God, what do I do? I thought, unsure of what to do with myself. I didn't want to approach the three men, but I really wanted my hat back. Being socially awkward fucking sucks.

Deciding that embarrassing myself just once more today was probably better than losing my hat, I swallowed the lump that had formed in throat and walked slowly towards the small group. “Um, hi, I, uh, um…” I trailed off, completely losing anything I might have thought of while walking up to the boys. “Um, that’s, uh, that’s my hat,” I finally got out, pointing at the beanie in the tall boy’s hand. All three of them had stopped laughing and were now looking at me. I could feel the heat rising in my face, my cheeks were like burning fires in the chill of the morning.

“Ok. Um, here’s your hat back,” the blonde one said, handing the aforementioned accessory to me. “If you don’t mind my asking, how did it end up on my head?” He asked, chuckling lightly.

“I was just over there and then some bird came over and took it off my head and then flew this way and I was chasing after it and then I threw a pencil at it and then the bird dropped it and then it… landed… on you…” I rushed, the explanation tumbling out of my mouth faster than I could follow. I hadn’t realized I was rambling until it was all out and my voice was trailing off, all three boys staring at me again. If it were possible, I’m sure the fires in my cheeks had flared up and were now burning ten times brighter.

Suddenly, the three men were laughing again, laughing at my never-ending sentence and red face, I was sure. Maybe losing my hat would have been better. I was pulling at my hair and gnawing on my lip now, my nerves taking over. These boys made me anxious and I didn't know what to do anymore.

“Oh, shit, I think we scared her!” The tall, darker-haired one shouted, his exclamation stopping all laughter in the group. “Sorry, we weren't laughing at you! We were laughing at what happened. Crows are assholes.”

“I’m sorry, we weren't trying to scare you, or embarrass you,” the shortest man said, trying to make amends. The puppy-dog look spread across face made me feel slightly better, my nervous habits melting away with some of my anxiety.

“It’s ok,” I giggled, dropping my hands to my sides. The boys all smiled at my comment. With that, I turned to leave, having had my full of social interaction and embarrassment for one day, but the second tallest guy had a different idea.

“So, uh, what’s your name?” He asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

“Angeline. Angeline Mackendrick,” I answered, turning back to look at him.

“Alex Gaskarth,” he responded, sticking a hand out to shake. I took it silently, moving our hands up and down slightly. He smiled at me, but I didn't feel the need to return it. I did feel the need to go home, though.

“Uh, I’m Rian Dawson,” the shorter one said when I released Alex’s hand. I shook his like I had Alex’s, only moving our hands enough for it to be considered a handshake.

“I’m Jack Barakat,” the boy who had once had my hat grinned at me. Something about his genuine smile and the happiness that seemed to radiate off of him turned the corners of my mouth up, lifting my lips into a small smile, barely anything compared to his. I shook his hand, much like I had with the others, but with just a tad more enthusiasm.

“Oh, shit, guys, we’re going to be late for that interview!” Rian exclaimed suddenly, looking down at an iPhone that I assumed was his.

“Damn it, Matt’s going to kill us,” Alex added, confusing me a bit more than Rian had with his outburst. “Sorry, Angie, we got to go,” Alex said, turning to me.

“Um, it’s Angeline,” I mumbled, probably too quietly for any of them to hear me. Lots of people call me Angie, but I've never liked it, especially coming from people I’d just met. Angie was a nickname my mother used to call me, but it never sounded right coming from anyone else and when she passed it just made it worse.

“Bye, Angeline!” Rian called behind him, running off with Alex, Jack following close behind. I hadn't realized that’d they’d started running, too lost in my thoughts about my mom and the long-lost nickname. I waved slightly, even though I knew they couldn't see it. Suddenly, Jack stopped and turned around, looking back at me. I froze, surprised at his actions. Then he was running towards me, faster than he had been a second ago. He stopped in front of me, panting slightly. I still hadn't moved.

“Can I see your phone a sec?” He asked once his breathing had evened out enough to speak. I nodded once, getting it out of my bag and handing him the outdated Rumor Touch. He pushed the little home button, lighting the screen. He pushed a few buttons on the screen before handing it back to me. “Thanks,” he smiled at me. I grinned back, nodding slightly. “Bye, Angie,” he said before turning back and running after the other two boys.

“Bye, Jack,” I called out to him, moving my hand in another pointless wave. I looked down at my phone to see that it was open to a new contact.

Jack Barakat

I noticed something as I saved the new phone number.

He had called me Angie.

And it sounded right.