Gabriel grunted into his pillow, arched his back and slowly drew himself up until he was sitting back on his heels. His shirt was off, his bare chest a ripple of lean muscles. He eyeballed me through narrowed, sleepy eyes, focusing on my face. “I swear, Trouble, there is no possible way it is snowing. This is South Carolina. South. It hasn’t snowed here in like a hundred years.”
“And I’m telling you, I can hear it. It’s snowing. I’m from Illinois. It snows there. I know what it sounds like.”
Gabriel shoved his blanket aside, crawled over Luke, and started to knee-walk over to Kota
’s window. “Trouble, you asked for it. You can’t hear snow. It’s impossible. I’m going to want a massage. I’m going to want you to wash my hair for a month. I’m gonna get you to paint my nails a thousand times.” He got to the window, wrapping a fist around the strings to tear open the blinds. His head tilted toward the window. “I’m going to make you wear skirts for the rest of winter. I’m gonna...holy Jesus motherfucking Christ; it’s snowing.”
“Now you’re full of shit,” North said.
Gabriel spun around, staring at me. “How the hell did you do that?”
“Do what?” I asked, my chest warming and happy I was right. While I had been arguing, part of me was worried I might have been wrong. Or maybe it would have stopped while Gabriel was delaying. I sat up, sucking in air and stretching again, suddenly wishing I’d worn more than a cami tank shirt and shorts to bed.
“You must have looked,” he said. “You must have gotten up and saw it was snowing.”
“She hasn’t moved,” Kota said, rolling onto his back. “Is it really snowing?”
“Told you guys,” I said. I crawled off the bed, stepping, wobbly, over Nathan on the cot, and almost falling to land on Luke. Luke got up on his elbows, but I moved away quickly, weaving my way between Silas and North, and headed to the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Gabriel asked.
“Gonna go see the snow before it’s gone,” I said. Like I was going to wait for them when the first snow was outside. Sure, I’d seen it a million times, but there were palm trees here. I wanted to see a palm tree in the snow.
“What? Wait.” It was Kota, who had sat up in bed, rubbing at his eyes. “You can’t go out wearing that.”
I was already past Victor, who was at the end, closest to the stairs. I thumped my way down to the bottom, opening Kota’s bedroom door. I had been right. I could hear it snowing. I was going to go see it.
I was opening the door to the garage when I heard the others moving and their footsteps down the steps behind me. I hurried out into the garage, met with an even stronger wall of cold the moment I stepped into the space.
Max was in his crate wagging his tail and gave me one bark in greeting. I smacked the button to open the big garage door, urging it to hurry.
Gabriel and Kota were the first ones to arrive behind me as the garage door finished opening. I smelled them coming before I even turned to look at them. Kota had shoved on a T-shirt, the one he’d worn last night. He’d also put on his glasses. His green eyes were wide awake now, looking beyond me. Gabriel was bare-chested, his crystal eyes wide, his lips pressed together. I stood just inside the garage, gazing out into the morning.
A clean dusting of white covered the yard and the driveway. It was a wet snow, with big fat flakes that fell heavily against each other. It was just cold enough to keep it building for a while, but I knew once the sun came up over the trees, the snow was done for. My skin prickled with cold but I ignored the feeling. The twin palm trees in Kota’s back yard looked strange with a layer of snow trying to collect at the base. There were a few trails from car tires already in the street, where the snow melted quickly. The neighborhood, for the moment, was still.
Kota and Gabriel fell in line next to me, staring out to the winter scene. I wondered if either of them had seen snow. They were from here, but I didn’t know if they’d been out of the state before. Kota kept his arms tucked into his body. Gabriel shifted up his black sleep pants, the edge of his boxers poking out around his waist.
I didn’t want them to waste a moment. I snagged Gabriel’s hand, marching forward to drag him with me.
“Sang,” Kota said. “Don’t walk barefoot in the snow.”
“It’s not going to be snow much longer,” I said. I marched out, leaving the dry cold of the garage floor, and meeting the wet, freezing bite of snow against my feet. The instant my foot touched the snow on the drive, it melted, leaving my footprints to mess up the pure sheet of white along the driveway. “Come on, Gabriel.”
Gabriel hesitated for only a moment, before he stepped out, letting the snow melt around his feet. “Shit,” he said. He clamped his arms over his bare chest. “It’s cold.”
I marched ahead of him, making a path and heading toward the end of the drive. The snow swirled around my face. I breathed in the icy air. I thought I wouldn’t see snow this year, or within the next few years living in the south. I didn’t know where I was headed, after all. Since the boys came into my life, nothing was predictable anymore.
But knowing it was snowing outside without looking was apparently one thing I could do that they couldn’t, and I was going to revel in this for as long as possible. I may not get another chance, if it truly didn’t snow in the area except maybe once every hundred years, like Gabriel had thought.
I weaved my way across the driveway and back. It was cold, but knowing the house was right there and I could go warm up made it easier to enjoy being barefoot in the snow. I’d done it before up north, in Illinois, at my family’s old home. A few minutes in the snow wouldn’t cause frostbite. I’d return and warm my feet up inside quickly, maybe finding a pair of shoes before doing it again.
When I turned at the end of the drive, North emerged from the garage. His wore his black t-shirt and, his black pajama pants stuffed into boots he had shoved on. He held out a pair of Kota’s green rain boots and a leather coat. When he was close, he dropped the boots at my feet. “Baby,” he said, “don’t walk around barefoot in the cold. You’ll get sick again.”
I mumbled a thank you in response and stuffed my feet into the rain boots. I let North slip the coat over my shoulders. He zipped up the front, then leaned down and planted a kiss on my cheek. His lips warmed my chilled skin.
“Told you it was snowing,” I said, grinning.
“I still think you cheated,” he said. “You saw it somehow.”
I stuck my tongue out at him, marching away to go back toward the garage.
Kota and Gabriel both had boots on now. Gabriel had a jacket on, too. Kota had pulled on his coat. The others emerged in various stages of dress, with shoes stuffed on and jackets in place. They all stepped out, glancing around the yard and neighborhood.
Nathan was out front, making a trail with his boots on the pavement. He went to Kota’s car parked on the far side. He touched the snow there, picking some up and shifting it through his fingers. His red hair was starting to catch some of the flakes, making his hair look frosted.
Silas stretched his arms over his head, twisting his neck until it cracked. He scratched at the hair on the back of his head. “Aggele,” he called to me. “Get the snow to come later in the day next time.”
I rolled my eyes, bent over and scooped up a handful of snow. I had to gather a lot as it was starting to melt in my hand the moment I picked it up. I tossed it at Luke, who had turned, staring off at the back yard.
It hit him square in the neck and he cringed, his shoulders hunching. He looked back at me, making a face and moving stiffly, like moving made the snow colder.
Revenge lit up the brown eyes and I knew I was in trouble.
I turned and started hauling myself away across the yard. I’d only plotted my assault; I didn’t have an escape plan. Dive in head first. That’s how I worked.
The splat of wet snow hitting my thigh told me Luke was right behind me. I made a wide turn around the house, sailing toward the back yard. It was hard to run in Kota’s boots, as they were too big. It was more like a quick, stomping march, and I was leaping more than running.
I ran smack into Gabriel coming around to catch me. He caught me by the waist, and we both went tumbling to the ground, sliding against the grass.
“Ow,” I said, rubbing my hip that had crashed into his. I was still wearing the shorts, despite the coat, so I got my butt and lower back wet with snow, and my legs were freezing.
Gabriel had his hand pressed against his chest, laughing. “Oh my god, it’s too cold for this.”
“Sang,” Luke said, standing above
us. As I looked up at him, he dropped a handful of snow onto my face. Cold, soaking wetness smeared down my cheek, circling my body against my jaw and neck and dripping away.
I wiped furiously at it. I leaned over Gabriel, grabbing more snow and tossing it at Luke, but he dodged it and started running back around the house. He called out to me and then made a taunting, sing-song tone as he ran.
I jumped up, ready to run, when Gabriel caught me by the ankle. He did it so quickly, I nearly fell on top of him again. “No, wait,” he said. He picked up a handful and got up. “You wait here. I’ll chase him back around.”
This led to each of us scooping up handfuls of snow, making slushy snowballs and flinging them at each other. Nathan joined the game. He caught me and held me up, allowing Luke to toss one at me. I struggled against him, but when Luke misfired and caught Nathan in the face, he released me and started running.
I circled around and managed to get up on the porch, where I discovered a fresh bundle of snow collecting in a drift in the corner. I gathered what I could, making a huge ball, and when Nathan was chasing Luke in loop number three around the house, I threw and then ducked.
“Ugh!” Nathan cried out. “Peanut! That was my eye. And my mouth.”
I grinned, knowing if I stayed where I was, I’d be cornered. I flew over the other side of the porch and started to run, collecting a snowball as I went.
Luke and Gabriel continued to chase. I was just aiming a snowball at Nathan’s head when I caught one in the ear.
I turned, finding Kota grinning guiltily, pointing a finger at Silas. Silas was smirking as he pointed a finger back at Kota.
I wasn’t sure which one to believe in the moment and made a dash after them, a melty snowball in hand. Kota started off running and I gave chase. He was running carefully, though, trying not to slip on the snow, where I was already dirty and wet so I didn’t care. I got close enough that I could aim my snowball. It hit him in the back. Not as satisfying when he had a coat on.