Wicked Winters: A Collection of Winter Tales

by Lucy Smoke

  I could see it now: the headline on the front page with a two-page spread on page four. The rush of adrenaline that always accompanied the assignment of a new article, one that was going to require getting my hands dirty to reveal the story to the people, filled me to the brim. Ideas formed, morphed, reformed. I needed to get to work.

  I turned around to face my team. “Okay everyone, settle down, let’s get this meeting started so we can all get out of here and study for finals.”

  4

  Hayden

  Wednesday 29th November – 26 days until Christmas

  I entered my PYS101 class and looked up at the tiered seating to see it was already three quarters full of freshman. I had no one else to blame about being one of the only seniors in a room full of first years since I’d delayed doing this class from the beginning. It was a Gen Ed, and to be honest it had looked boring as hell. But since starting the class, I’d found a few things that were interesting, things that I could apply to my articles, ways of looking at issues under a different light. So I guess the administrators who set up the core classes did have some idea about what we needed to know.

  Go figure.

  I turned to my left and climbed up the stairs stopping about halfway and heading down one of the rows, navigating around the people who were already seated. Once I had my seat, I pulled my things out of my messenger bag, pulled my desk down and got comfortable.

  Removing my beanie, I fluffed my hair with my free hand. Hat hair was seriously the worst, and my long dark brown waves were thick and heavy. I always got a hat dent just above my ears and across my forehead. It was seriously sexy stuff.

  Shrugging out of my black parka, the faux fur trim on the hood tickling my cheek. I let it fall onto the seat behind me and pulled my mittens off. They matched my beanie, except these had cute little knitted flowers on the cuffs. When I’d seen them in the boutique store near campus during Thanksgiving break, I just hadn't been able to resist. Aqua was my favorite color. The comforter on my bed was aqua, the decorative cushions were aqua. I had splashes of it all over the place. Purple too because that was Steph’s favorite color.

  Just as I dropped my mittens on my desk, a pair of big feet in white sneakers came into my peripheral view. And I mean big feet. They had to be at least a size thirteen. I followed the feet up to the black jeans that fitted rather nicely, and then to the black, double breasted, woolen coat with large, shiny black buttons. The whole package so far was looking incredibly yummy. I mentally shook that thought from my mind; I meant well put together.

  Please let there be a nice shiny bow at the top.

  My gaze landed on his face, and I just about melted into my chair. Who looked like that? Seriously? And that hair? Women would be jealous of that hair. I was jealous of that hair.

  Blue eyes framed by lashes with that perfect curl to them stared down at me. Those baby blues were accented by high symmetrical cheek bones and, a strong jawline. His lips held a side smile that showed off the dimple in his right cheek.

  Be still my beating heart.

  Thick, sandy brown hair brushed back from his face, finished the whole look off.

  "Is this seat available?" he asked, voice confident as he gestured to the seat closest to me.

  Snapping my mouth shut, I brought my hand up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, but in reality, I was covertly checking to make sure I hadn't drooled a little. "No, it's all yours," I replied with a small smile. I titled my head down a little to look up at him through my lashes.

  He smiled a little, dropping his backpack down onto the floor and flipping up the lid of his desk. I watched him sit down, my gaze skimming down to what I thought was a standard black backpack, but when I took a closer look my eyes widened with the realization that it was a Louis Vuitton, the little logo embedded incongruously here and there into the black check print.

  This guy has some serious taste.

  I nervously sorted out my things on my desk, trying to think of something to say, anything, but my mind drew a blank. Me. The woman who always had an opinion about everything, had no words.

  I turned to look at him, and it was as if he was waiting for me to give him a signal because he suddenly thrust his right hand at me.

  "Christian Alderidge," he introduced himself, flashing that killer dimple at me.

  I smiled gratefully, twisted in my chair, and clasped his hand with mine, giving a light squeeze. "Hayden Halloway," I stated. My hand felt absolutely tiny in his, which really it wasn't that big of a deal since I was barely five foot three and on a heavy day, I weighed one hundred and fifteen pounds. He squeezed my hand back, the roughness of his palms an odd contrast. It was comforting to know that not all of him was perfect.

  "So, are you a freshman, Hayden?" he asked in a rumbling voice, holding onto my hand for a second before letting go to get his stuff out of his bag. I swear, I could see a slight tinge of pink on the tips of his ears, which made me smile at his sudden awkwardness.

  "Ah, no, I'm a senior. What about you?" I returned.

  "Senior too. What's your major?" He looked down at me as he reclined into the far corner of his chair and casually draped his right arm across the back of mine, the fingers of his hand almost touching the center of my back.

  I went to answer with Journalism, but Professor Evans walked in, starting the class. I sat back in my chair, and Christian kept his arm there for a few minutes, fingers curled into a lazy fist and resting against my shoulder blade. Once Professor Evans got into the swing of the lecture and we needed to start taking notes, Christian sighed, removed his arm from behind me and picked up his pen.

  Already missing the barely there feel of his hand, I absently wished he was right handed.

  I didn't think I retained anything from that entire class. Christian's arm kept grazing mine as he took notes, causing my heart to stutter and all of my nerve endings to focus on the point of contact. At one point during the class, I’d tried to take a deep breath to get myself under control; instead, I got a huge whiff of his cologne, which was warm, a little spicy, but so smooth that I felt like I was sitting in a sports car with leather seats. Weird description, I know, but that's what it reminded me of.

  By the time the class ended, my notes were gibberish, so I quickly shut my book before he could see I’d turned into a twittering nincompoop, then pulled my beanie and mittens back on.

  I didn't want him to walk away so soon but I also didn't want to be all weird over a guy I had literally said fourteen words to. Fourteen. I’d counted them. I was seriously pissed that there were only a few weeks of the semester left and this was the first time we ever noticed each other.

  I glanced up at him as he stood and swung his backpack onto his shoulder. He took a breath, and was about to say something, when my phone buzzed with a text message. Out of reflex, my eyes dropped down to my phone and checked the ID: TutorAid. Someone needed a tutor. Closing my eyes briefly, I looked back up at Christian, knowing that whatever he’d just been about to ask me was probably off the table now. Our tiny moment was ruined.

  "I'll see you on Friday, Hayden," he said with a small smile, dimple flashing, before he turned and walked away.

  I sat there for a second, feeling like all the build-up had ended terribly anticlimactically. Huffing out a breath, I stuffed my bag with the last of my things and headed out of the room.

  Friday couldn't get here quick enough.

  Swiping open my phone, I found my messages and read the TutorAid text.

  TutorAid: 11am 11/29, Bapst's Gargan Hall, Vanders, J. Core Humanities I: The Ancient World.

  Ahhh, Ancient Egypt, my old friend.

  Sighing, I reminded myself every time I got one of those texts that it was the extras that made a resume shine. No one wanted to hire someone who did the bare minimum.

  I had fifty-five minutes until I had to make it to the session, and just enough time to grab myself a drink from the Coffee House on the way.

  Like a heat-seeking missile, I homed in
on the sweet aroma of brewing coffee. There was seriously nothing like it. Golden, rich, fragrant, warm on a cold winter’s day, and even ice cold on a summer day. Coffee was a gift from the gods to us lowly peasants on earth.

  At the register, I ordered a large latte with two sugars and reached for a white chocolate chip muffin. At the last second, I grabbed a second one for my student; I may as well come with a peace offering for a student who’ll probably be standing on the ledge because of the stress of finals in two weeks. Maybe the sugar high would override their anxiety and help us to cut through the crap their procrastination had created.

  Warm coffee in hand and snacks securely hidden in my bag, I checked the time again and saw I had half an hour until the session started. I headed in the direction of Bapst's, figuring I’d scout out a table for our session since the hall was probably jam-packed this close to finals.

  When I arrived, I walked up to the bored looking student by the sign in desk and asked if there was a Vanders already in the building. Surprisingly, there was. I was directed towards the northeast windows about half way down, where I knew the sun would be shining in.

  I seriously loved this library. It was old and gothic, reminding me of Hogwarts. I felt like I was in the dining hall and Dumbledore was about to make candles float in the sky and food appear on the tables. Smiling at the imaginary food popping up around the madly studying students, who would probably all freak out and think they were having a mental breakdown if that actually happened, I made my way towards the sunshine.

  Approaching the general area I was sent to, I found a guy sitting all by himself at a large rectangular wooden table with his headphones on. He seemed to be way too big for his chair. I glanced around but didn't see anyone else who looked to be waiting for someone. As I got closer, I could see him tapping a foot to his music against the leg of the table. His history textbook was open with colored bits of card scattered all over the surface, some with handwritten notes on them.

  When I reached the table, I tapped him on the shoulder. Big mistake. I’m sure if I suffered from LBL – Light Bladder Leakage – then I would’ve been hustling myself off to the bathroom.

  I abruptly found myself being loomed over by an absolutely massive man. And I meant man. This guy was at least a foot taller than me. Again, not hard. All I could take in was his almost black eyes hidden in shadows, staring down a straight nose at me with an intensity that made me a little nervous. His eyes skimmed my face, jumping up to my beanie and then flicking down to my coffee. I assumed he was assessing me for weapons.

  In that moment, I quickly scanned his body. Broad shoulders that I didn’t think I could wrap my arms around filled out a dark blue hoodie that had a white drawstring with wooden toggles. I could see the neck of a white shirt peeking out from above the zipper. Tan, loose fitting chinos encased legs that came up to my waist and ended at black sneakers. I finished my perusal back up on his face. His chiseled jawline blended into prominent cheekbones, made more cutting by his olive skin. His upper lip just tipped into a cupid’s bow; a full, lower lip with a black ring pierced through the right side, made me wonder what it would be like to suck it into my mouth.

  When his eyes reached my face again, they had softened, and I thought I caught a small flash of surprise before he schooled his features. We stood there, awkwardly staring at each other for several moments as faint Christmas music played from somewhere in the building.

  I blinked, being the first one to break eye contact, and tapped my ear with my right mitten.

  He smiled at me sheepishly and pulled his headphones off to hang around his neck, hip hop beats floated down to my ears. "Sorry, I forgot I had those on. I hope I didn't scare you; I was just in the zone and wasn't expecting to be disturbed."

  I smiled up at him. "No, well yeah a little, but not enough to make me run off. Are you J. Vanders?" I asked him with the sweetest smile I could muster. My flirt-o-miles were going to be off the chart by the end of the day if I kept this up. Two seriously swoon worthy guys in less than three hours? I wasn't sure my heart could take it.

  "Yeah, that's me. And the J is for Justin," he replied, reaching into his pocket and pulling his phone out to pause the music.

  “Well hi, Justin. I'm Hayden. I've been assigned as your tutor for today." I gave a dorky little wave.

  Yay, Hayden, why don't you bat your eyelashes at him while you're at it.

  "You’re early," he stated, looking a little flustered.

  I was instantly put on the back foot. "Oh, I'm sorry. I just wanted to grab a table. I figured it’d be packed at this time of the year, and I was right. But you were already here, so, uh, I can go and come back when our session is supposed to start? I don't want to bother you if you’re on a roll," I blabbered on. My Inner Voice yelled at me to shut up, but my mouth just didn’t listen. It was like it had a mind of its own. "It's no big deal, I'll go eat my muffin. Oh and I brought you one too," I said as an afterthought. Reaching into my messenger bag, I pulled out the brown paper takeaway bag.

  Justin enclosed one of his hands over mine as I opened the bag, engulfing my entire hand. "No, wait, I'm sorry. Like I said, I wasn't expecting to be disturbed, and you were early. It's fine. I'd actually really appreciate the extra time if you can spare it?" he asked, subduing my rambling.

  I smiled up at him. "Yeah sure, I'd be happy to help."

  Happy to help? Seriously Hayden, I thought you were only doing these tutoring sessions for the brownie points.

  Shut up, Inner Voice, no one wants to hear your snark. I realized I was having an argument with myself and knew that was one of the first signs of insanity. Giving myself a mental shake, I tried to find my usual cool, calm demeanor.

  Dropping my bag on the table, I took the seat opposite him. Grabbing the back of my chair, he pulled it out for me, pushing it back in as I sat down. Chivalry ain't dead in this one. "Thank you," I said as I felt a stupidly big smile spread across my face.

  "You’re welcome," he replied as he sat in his chair. "I actually don't need a tutor really, more like someone to help me study. I use the Leitner System and just needed someone else to work with at the same time."

  Leitner System? I felt like I’d heard that somewhere before but couldn't remember exactly where. Justin had his phone out again and was typing away at it, then turned it to face me with the Wikipedia page for the Leitner System open for me to read.

  As I skimmed the first couple of paragraphs, Justin explained the fundamentals of it to me. "Basically, it's flashcards, but the idea is to do all your cards in a certain time period, then repeat it, but progressively shrinking the time period forcing your active recall to improve in precision and speed. I've used it for years, and it’s always worked well for me. I just need a buddy to help.” Adorably, his cheeks tinted pink . Who would’ve thought this gigantic, very athletic looking guy would be a total nerd when it came to studying?

  "Okay, I got it. So, I’m your study elf, and you’re going to get credit for all of my hard work," I stated with a sassy tone and casually flicked my hair over my shoulder; my Inner Voice rolled her eyes.

  He let out a small laugh - deep and humming - which caused a curl of curiosity to unravel in the pit of my stomach. "Yeah exactly, but I think you’ll need an elf name. Let me think..." He tapped his index finger on the wooden table as he stared at my face, eyes tracing over my hair still trapped in my beanie and down to my ungloved hands. "I know! How about Haddy?"

  I smiled. No one had called me that in years. "Sounds perfect. Haddy the Elf. I like it." I reached for the muffin bag, pulling one out and handing it to him. "I brought a peace offering because I thought you were going to be a freshman freaking out about their first round of finals, but since you look like you have everything worked out, I think you can just have it as a treat."

  At first, Justin hesitated to take the proffered muffin from my hand, but then he looked up at my eyes and seemed to make a decision. Nodding his head, he reached out and took it from me. "Thanks, I app
reciate it."

  "Okay, so show me what we’re doing?"

  For the next hour, Justin and I filled out his cards so that he had all the notes he wanted from the semester ready to go. We stuck to talking about the Ancient Egyptians; every now and then, our hands brushed against each other as we reached for blank cards and the shared textbook. The more it happened, the more I thought it was deliberate on his behalf.

  When we finished, my writing hand was all cramped up, so I moved it to below the table and tried to covertly massage it out. I wrote all my serious study notes on my laptop these days, not by hand. It felt like it was dying.

  "Sore hand, right?" Justin asked me with a smirk.

  I laughed. "Yeah, you caught me. I haven't written that much in a long time. I usually type everything up," I admitted.

  "Yeah me too, but something about handwritten flashcards just seems to work for me," Justin replied as he gathered all the cards together. "Thanks for your help and the chat. It was better than just listening to my music."

  "You’re welcome - any time," I said and was surprised that I meant it. I’d actually had a really good time, discussing the issues that had caused the downfall of some of the great ancient kingdoms.

  "Well, if you really mean that, would you be interested in helping me study again?” His voice held a touch of hesitancy. “I'm on scholarship, so I really need to make sure I ace my exams. If my grade drops below a three point zero, I could get put on probation."

  I felt myself get all gooey seeing his lack of confidence. Hot guys who weren’t self-centered jerks were real heartstring pullers - at least for me, so before I even realized what I was doing, I had my phone out and was offering it to him. "Sure. Here, put your number in my phone and then call yourself. We can organize another time to study together. Maybe you can help me get my notes this organized?" I winked back at him.

  Winked? Girl, seriously.