Let It Snow

"Hey, Kellin, um…I’ve got some bad news."

I stop pacing at the tone in Vic’s voice on the other end of the phone. “Is your flight delayed or something?”

"Well…kind of. Not exactly."

I look out the window at the falling snow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

"Well, it’s not delayed."

"Oh. Okay, that’s good—"

"It’s canceled."

“What?”

Vic is in Massachusetts at the moment, while I’m down in Pennsylvania. He’s been visiting family for the past few weeks, and the only reason I’m not with him is because I’ve been visiting mine, too, and they live close to here. Vic and I share a house just outside of Philadelphia, and he’s supposed to be getting back tonight. Christmas Eve.

"Yeah. I don’t know what it’s like down there, but up here in Boston…well, we’ve got ourselves a pretty big blizzard." His voice cuts in and out. "I can barely get reception."

"Are you serious? I mean, it’s snowing down here, but we’ve only got one or two inches, I think." I head into the living room and grab the TV remote. "Let me check the weather."

"Okay. Let me know what you find."

On the screen, there’s a reporter standing in the middle of what looks like a chaotic, snowy mess, struggling just to keep from being blown away. “Well, there’s a guy apparently reporting from Boston,” I say. “It sure looks like a blizzard. Are you at the airport right now?”

"Yep. And what do I see? People panicking. Babies crying. Phone calls being made. And lots of food. At least we won’t starve to death, ‘cause I’m pretty sure we’re snowed in."

"Snowed in?” I repeat. This is a lot worse than I thought it was.

"Uh-huh. I mean, I’m looking out the window right now, but I can’t see much. There’s, um, darkness. And, uh, white stuff. Guess that’s the snow. But that’s pretty much it. Maybe we can dig ourselves out."

"Jesus." I turn the TV off and resume pacing around the house. "So it seems the weatherman says this blizzard is supposed to go on at least until tomorrow afternoon."

"That’s what I heard, too. Which means we’re all kind of stuck here for a little while, unless we try to go back to our houses."

I sigh. “Great. Merry Christmas. Merry fucking Christmas.”

"Well, I mean, I could still make it by tomorrow night, maybe," he says, but I can tell some of his spirit has gone out, too.

"Wait." An idea hits me, and before I know it I’m grabbing my shoes, my wallet, a sweatshirt, and my car keys. "What if I drove there?"

Vic laughs. “Yeah, real funny.”

"I’m serious."

"You are? You’re serious?"

"Yeah. I mean, it can’t take that long. I could just drive there, pick you up, and we could drive back. We might not reach the house by morning, but we’ll be together.”

"Kellin, from what I can tell, it looks like Jack Frost and Satan had a baby that went just about as horribly wrong as it possibly could. The weather might not be bad down there, but once you get closer, it’s probably gonna be a lot more dangerous than you think it is."

"Okay, then bring on the danger. I really want to see you. I want to be with you tomorrow. How long do you think it’ll take for me to get there?"

"From Philadelphia to Boston? Normally I’d say about five hours, but with all this going on, I don’t really know—wait, hold on." There’s a pause, and in the background I can faintly hear him talking to someone else. "So someone overheard our conversation and is now looking it up for us on Google Maps or something. Wait…okay, I was off. It’s closer to six hours. Like I said, though, that’s without Satanic Jack Frost coming and fucking everything up."

I glance at the clock. “Well, it’s only around 9:00 right now. I’d get there at about three without the whole snow issue. Bet I can pick you up by four or five, at the latest.”

"You’ll probably have to dig your way in if you’re gonna pick me up."

"So be it."

"So you’re dead serious about this."

"Dead serious."

I can just picture him smiling and shaking his head. “You’re crazy. You’re so crazy. How are you even gonna find me in this huge mess?”

"I’ll figure something out," I reply, stepping out of the house, hopping into the car, and turning on the built-in GPS. "I’m gonna keep talking to you until we get cut off, ‘cause I’m in for a pretty long ride."

—

Vic loses reception about twenty minutes later. I’ve still got it, but he can’t answer if I try to call him. The snow falls at a soft but steady rate. Judging by what I know now, it probably isn’t going to slow down anytime soon, either, though hopefully it won’t hit Pennsylvania as hard.

I turn the radio on and start flipping through stations when I hear, “An unexpected storm hits Massachusetts—”

I flip back to the station I heard it on. A weatherman or news reporter is speaking, talking about how by tomorrow afternoon, Massachusetts should have several feet of snow. He says that people in that general area should stay inside and that anyone who tries to drive in this mess is crazy.

I laugh. “Maybe I am crazy,” I tell it. “But I like it that way.”

The next few hours pass uneventfully, except for having to pay a few tolls. I’m beginning to think that everyone’s wrong. I’ll be safe. I’ll get to Vic without any problem. That, of course, is when shit starts happening. For one thing, the snow is heavier and more violent. It’s a bit harder for me to see, especially in the dark. For another, I’m getting suspicious of the lack of cars. Even on the main highways, there aren’t nearly as many people here as there normally would be.

When it’s a little after midnight, I notice a dark shape on the side of the road. As I get closer, I realize that it’s a girl, standing in the middle of the cold and waving her hands around. I’m about to drive past, but then I wonder, What if that was me?

So I pull over, reach across the car, and roll the passenger seat down. “Uh, hey,” I say. “What are you doing out here?”

"My car broke down, the damn thing. And I can’t get phone reception in this mess."

"So you’re hitchhiking?"

"Trying to. I’ve stopped a couple people already, but they didn’t want to take me when they found out where I was headed."

"Well…where are you headed?"

"The Logan International Airport, in Boston."

"Are you serious?" I ask, my eyes widening. "That’s where I’m going."

She smiles, looking relieved. “You’re kidding.”

"Nope." I unlock the car. "Get in. We’re going to Boston."

She jumps into the passenger seat and rolls the window up, and we get back onto the road. “So, Mysterious Stranger,” she says, “what’s your story?”

"My boyfriend is snowed in at the airport and I’m on a rescue mission." It occurs to me right after I say it that she might not like hearing about my boyfriend.

But she just laughs. “Mine is, too. I’m Tay.”

"I’m Kellin," I say, "and it looks like we both had the same crazy idea."

Tay nods. “I guess it was pretty crazy, wasn’t it? Alex told me it was crazy.”

Assuming Alex is her boyfriend, I say, “So did Vic. But I—”

The car slips on some ice and slides around. “Fucking hell,” I mutter as it keeps swerving and breaking from my control. There’s almost nobody else on the road, so I slow down. The car won’t go straight until I take it from 60 miles per hour to 30. “Looks like it’s gonna take a bit longer than we thought.”

"At least we’re getting somewhere."

I sigh and whistle the Jeopardy theme song. Tay sings, “We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas—”

"—AND A HAPPY FUCKING NEW YEAR!" I finish.

She stares at me for a few seconds before smiling, amused. “You, Mysterious Stranger Kellin, are something else.”

"Yeah, that something else is sleep-deprived." I rub my eyes. "I’m normally not tired this early."

"We’re not stopping, are we?"

"Absolutely not. I’m getting to Vic. And I’m getting you to Alex."

"Good, ‘cause I’d kick your ass if we paused this rescue mission just to let you sleep."

I like this girl. Maybe this trip won’t be bad after all.

—

So maybe this was a bad idea.

The roads are barely plowed, and snow is piling up everywhere. I’m tired and paranoid with an iron grip on the steering wheel. It’s three in the morning, and according to the GPS, we’re in Connecticut, almost to Massachusetts. Only a little bit longer, I tell myself. Only a little bit longer and then you’ll be there.

"You do realize that even when we get there, we’ll have to drive the whole way back," Tay reminds me.

"Not helping."

The car spins suddenly, causing both of us to jump. I try to get it back on track, but before I know it, it slides right off the road, headed for the woods on the edge of the highway. “Shit!” I yell, still in a frantic attempt to regain control. The car slides some more, and I look up to find that it’s skidding right toward a tree, with the driver’s side about to crash into it.

I slam on the brakes, but not fast enough—there’s a sound of shattering, and that’s the last thing I hear.

Well, until I wake up.

I’m staring into Tay’s shocked, worried face. “Kellin,” she says. “Can you hear me?”

"Yeah, I can hear you." I grab the steering wheel and pull myself up, ignoring the throbbing pain in my head. "What happened?"

"Well, we crashed into a tree, but the brakes sort of lessened the impact. Mostly it was just that giant of a branch." She points to a huge tree branch that’s hanging just outside my window. That window’s been smashed, and there are pieces of it in the car.

"How’d that happen?" I ask, nodding at the broken glass.

"The branch. It practically impaled the window and knocked you out for about five minutes. I’m fine, but you’re going to a doctor after all this is over."

I glance at the dashboard. Even with the window and the dent in the side, everything still seems to work. The airbags haven’t even been activated.

"I knew that would happen at some point," I say, slowly moving forward so I can turn around and get back on the road. "Won’t stop me."

"You’re sure?"

"We’re so close. We can’t stop now. I can almost taste the Massachusetts air."

She snorts. “Massachusetts air. Okay, let’s go.”

The weather is nasty, and now that one of our windows is gone, the wind and snow and hail are all flying into the car and pelting us. It doesn’t matter how much we turn up the heat; the storm is always stronger. I can imagine Mother Nature is getting a kick out of this. “So,” Tay says. “Tell me about Vic.”

"Well," I reply, trying to figure out where to start, "he’s the, uh, more logical one. As you can probably tell. And he pretends to be normal, but he’s really just as fucking insane as I am."

From there, everything starts spewing out of my mouth as I think about him. I describe his hair, his smile, his laugh. I tell random stories, such as when we got voted Prom Kings or when Vic chased a guy all over town just to give him back the wallet he’d dropped. I tell her about our first kiss, which was accidental and hysterical. When I catch my breath, I realize she’s actually been listening to me the whole time, and according to the clock, it’s been over an hour. I open my mouth to ask about Alex, but then she points into the distance. “Hey, Kellin—is that civilization?”

I squint a little into the white blur. She’s right—I can see the faint lights of buildings. “It is!” I shout triumphantly.

Tay throws her hands up in the air. “Hallelujah!”

"Should we make a pit stop?" I ask, pointing to a small chain restaurant.

"Sure. I’m starving."

There are surprisingly quite a few cars in the parking lot. I guess people got trapped during the blizzard and decided to stay there. A lot of them are at least partly covered in snow. Tay and I fight our way through the cold rush and push through the front doors.

"Heat!" Tay cheers. "Glorious heat!"

A couple of people give her strange looks, but most don’t pay attention or smile in sympathy (or they’re asleep). Luckily for us and a lot of others, this place is open twenty-four hours a day. Tay and I both order cheeseburgers and sit at an empty booth next to the window.

"We’re almost there," she says, smiling, and for the first time I can really see her face, bright red and excited. "I can’t believe we actually did it."

"I don’t think this storm was that bad, thank God," I reply. "I mean, we’ve still got power here. And we can still kind of see outside."

"Good thing. It’s funny, how we got thrown together just because we both had the same stupid idea."

"Life’s a funny thing," I say, thinking about how close I am to Vic, how we’re going to spend Christmas together even though it didn’t go the way we planned, how now Tay and Alex will, too. "I want to say that things are gonna hopefully be pretty smooth from here on out, but I’ll probably jinx it."

Tay looks out the window and raises her eyebrows. “Speaking of that…why does that car have a broken driver’s-side window?”

A car with a broken window is driving past us. Some guy I don’t know is sitting in the driver’s seat. As it passes us, I catch a glimpse of a familiar license plate. I shoot to my feet. “That’s my car!”

Tay jumps up, too, and we push past people to get out the door. The only thing I can see is the gleam of taillights in the distance, getting farther and farther away, and the brighter lights of other buildings.

"Someone just stole my car," I say in disbelief. "It’s Christmas Eve!" I yell after the guy, though I know he can’t hear me. Realizing it’s past five in the morning, I correct myself: "It’s Christmas! You know, the holiday of giving?”

Tay straightens up. “Wait. It’s not over yet.”

I turn to her. “It isn’t? Because I’m pretty sure that if I don’t have at least some sort of heat source within the next few minutes, it’ll be over for me.”

"No. Alex and I…we made a deal when I decided to come get him. There’s a Citgo a little less than two miles from the airport. He said he’d meet me there instead of at the actual airport because it’d be less crowded. We’re so close. If we can just get to Citgo, we’ll be good."

"What about Vic?"

"We can go back for him. Alex’ll have his car. We just have to get through this mess on foot."

Reluctantly, I trail her back inside. She talks to the cashier for a few minutes before reporting back to me with directions. “I’ll lead the way if you want,” she suggests at my look of confusion.

Relieved, I follow her, because I have no idea where we’re going. I can barely see two feet in front of me, and my eyes won’t stop watering. “Are you sure you got the directions right, Tay?”

"I’m sure. It can’t be too much farther."

Part of me kind of wants to give up, but I know it’s not that easy. Plus, I came here for Vic. It was stupid, but it’s what I did, so I’m not leaving without him.

"When this is all over, I never want to see another snowflake," I say, my teeth chattering so much I can barely even understand myself. "I’ll convince Vic to move to Mexico."

Tay laughs. “Good luck with that.”

A couple minutes later, she points to light shining not that far in front of us. “Okay, I think we’re really close now. It should be right up there.”

Sure enough, a few seconds later, we can clearly see the Citgo sign and one car parked in the lot. A guy climbs out of the car and takes a few steps toward us. “Hey!”

"Alex?" Tay says.

"Tay!" He sprints up to us and swoops her into a hug. "Thought you were gonna drive up."

"Well, my car broke down. Then Kellin’s got stolen." She nods to me.

Alex raises his eyebrows. “Wait. Kellin?”

"Uh, yeah, that’s me," I say.

Alex turns to the car. “Hey!” he yells. “It’s Kellin!”

Another silhouette appears. “You made it! Fuck you, Satanic Jack Frost!”

I smile and run toward him. “Yep, I’m here, Vic.”

He pulls me in and kisses me softly. “Damn, your lips are cold. Let’s get in the car.”

We hop into the back, while Alex takes the driver’s seat and Tay grabs shotgun. “How are you here?” I ask Vic as we pull out of Citgo.

"Alex and I met while we were at the airport. I told him about you, he told me about Tay. And we decided to come here together to wait. I figured I’d see you drive by and be able to stop you. So, yeah, this turned out to be pretty convenient. And for your information, we actually did sort of have to dig our way out of there.”

Before I know it, Alex and Vic are telling their versions of the story of how they got out and arguing over how it happened. Vic accuses Alex of being melodramatic, and Alex accuses Vic of downplaying it. Finally Vic throws his hands up and says, “Fine, fine, tell it the way you want to. But if you want the real version…” He points at himself.

"I’ll listen to the real version," I tell him.

He stares at me for a few seconds—I think he’s going to kiss me. At the last minute, he smiles and quickly pecks me on the nose. “Bad Kellin,” he says. “Not now.”

"Hey!"

He shakes his head. “There’ll be more where that came from…later.”

"I feel like we’re all slightly drunk when we haven’t even had any alcohol," Alex says. "This is what happens when you don’t get sleep."

Tay laughs. “Admit it, it was worth it.”

"Yes, it was, and now it’s December 25 and we are getting out of this shitstorm!" He raises his fist up. "Merry Christmas! Kiss my ass!"

I turn to Vic, who winks at me. “Yeah,” he says. “Merry fucking Christmas.”