WAS THAT THE RIGHT CHOICE? Snow thought loudly to herself while lying in bed.

There was a moment of flashback when she and he were briefly discussing things that they both could find in a relationship. She remembered how he looked. He was heartbroken, he would only say a sentence or two. She did most of the talking.

And then to the part where she made a big statement that she thought she wouldn't say. After she said it, he was more than ever astounded.

"What...?"

"You know... Aheh." She chuckled nervously, she was wondering about having second thoughts.

It was a crazy idea at the time, but that's what came up to her. She thought it was a good idea to resolve a conflict, but now she didn't know.

His reaction made her hesitated. His gaze held hers slowly and deliberately. He was on the spot, called on for her impromptu idea.

She smiled nervously. Was this too forward?

Crazy was expected. If she asked this question herself, her overly self-conscious would emerge.

"You probably don't have any idea what you're saying." Casey's brows rose at her distrustfully.

Snow expected that he would say that. Judging by his character, he was careful with whom he talks to and plainly their intentions as well.

"It's just that..." Snow twiddled her thumbs and glanced at her clumsy dexterity. Under his serious gaze, she was timid in front of him.

Her plan worked out better in her head than how it sounded in real life, but she wouldn't elaborate on that.

He told her, "I'm sorry."

While Snow thought that maybe she could've made more sense and clearer for him, she too didn't believe that her idea was the brightest.

She turned to the other side and pray that the moment could be forgotten. Strange as it seems, she hoped Casey didn't see her less than a slow to warm up person.

❥

It hadn't just been awkward between her and Casey; they didn't speak towards one another. Their eyes had scrutinized around any space and anything.

It was going back to the beginning where the two didn't know each other, and not one of them was saying anything.

Snow didn't think the impact could cause this uncomfortable strain in their unspecified relationship. She was too reluctant to begin first. She had to think she was selfish, she asked him on the day of the breakup. Why would Casey take her up on her offer?

She was being self-serving for her interest and it was because of her that Casey wasn't comfortable. He didn't have to say to spell out the situation.

Casey was really quiet. He sat in his seat unmoving, his expression was dull as a burnt-out light bulb. His shoulders slumped, his head drooped, and his food had barely been touched. He was still depressed about his breakup and it's in plain sight.

"You think he'll be alright?" Kyle whispered.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Malloy replied assuredly. Then he turned back to glance at Casey who didn't look fine. "I think."

Snow kept her sight at Casey, unable to look away. She wished she could say something, but she didn't feel like a burden already more than she might have been on him.

What could I do, Casey? She silently wondered.

Through the rest of her classes, she thought a lot about Casey. It wasn't her fault, but she felt responsible.

She looked at Malloy until he looked at her. Once he caught her gaze, she tried to speak with her eyes. Can we talk for a moment elsewhere?

His eyes spoke back. What about?

Casey. She quickly turned to him.

Why?

Just can we?

Malloy huffed out a breath and just went along with it. He stood up. "I'm going to use the restroom."

"Me too." Snow rose.

"Okay." Kyle shrugged.

Leaving their mindless friend Kyle and Casey alone, they headed to a separate corner.

"What is it?" Malloy asked when they stopped.

"Casey..." 

"What about him?"

"He doesn't look like himself."

"You don't have to worry. Casey is just probably going through it," Malloy said unconvincingly.

Why did he act casual about this while she was here more concerned about his well being? She didn't like seeing him in this way and wanted to do more.

She thought perhaps he and Malloy were semi-close enough, she could ask him about his private relationship. There had to be something she could know about. "What do you know about Casey and his girlfriend?"

Or should she say ex? To be rather more correct in her defense.

"I don't know. He doesn't open up about it," he said, and sometimes she wishes she could smack him.

Snow wondered why he's even friends with Casey. This information to her was bare. Malloy had to know a little bit more than that.

"Come on," Snow pleaded. "Isn't there anything else he might have said before?"

He put up a thinking face and looked up at the ceiling, having a hand on his hip. This was like the most dramatic pose Malloy did whenever he tried hard for an answer to come to him as it'd appear. But still, she waited for him.

Malloy looked back at her. "The only thing I do know is his girlfriend means everything to him and he's serious about her."

Snow asked him how serious it was. He said that they have a close connection and they were always good together. Good together like how? In an analogy, she was like air for him to breathe. She was a light in a darkened room so that he could see everything. She was an owl to his moon. She was a flower among the thorns and he would pick her up because she was beautiful but strong. For the first time in his eyes, Casey saw the stars. It was that serious.

She couldn't believe it and her mouth came out with an "oh." He looked like a really good guy and to have that much love for her, she was astounded.

Her friend's words stuck with Snow for the rest of the time. Especially the words that echo he's serious about her. She couldn't help but wonder what it'd be like to be in that relationship where the love budded in Casey and his girlfriend. Was it his girlfriend that he loved her or was it also his first love? Could you have first love in your first relationship? She thought about things like that.

For her, she would never really understand why someone would break up with someone else if they loved them so much to a great degree. Was it possible to wake up one day and not feel that anymore?

When Snow had her free time, she'd always go to the water fountain. She stared at the water trickling down. It could be like when love fell, you meet other soulless pennies at the bottom. They didn't know whom their one cent should go to.

Casey thought he could find Snow here because when he came up to her, it caught her a bit off guard. They gazed at each other unbelievably as they hadn't spoken since that weekend. It was awkward for him as much as it did for her.

"Could I talk to you?" he asked.

She wore a smile on her face gracefully. "Sure," she said, offering a seat.

He sat on the gray concrete stone with her. Snow already thought about what he's going to say. He might bring up about that weekend they had and asked her to never speak of it to anyone or that he needed some space. She was mentally prepared for it.

Casey held his breath. He looked unreadable, which made Snow filled with those uncertain emotions inside her. She wanted him to out with it.

"I apologized if I looked unfriendly toward you," Casey said.

She wasn't expecting that. It made her rethink what kind of things he had been thinking and for this to come out first. Though she did appreciate the sentiment behind it. She shook her head.

"I'm sorry for bringing that up. I was careless, you were going through a hard time and that's not right," Snow said, smiling a bit uneasily. "I should've—"

"It's fine. I was just ignoring everything," he said. His eyes were sullen and cleared as day.

Snow sighed. "I think my idea was stupid anyway. I can't do that to someone hurting."

It's an idea, but an idea that was unbearable especially to a boy whose heart was hurting. He wouldn't be able to do it, pretending that she didn't exist in his mind. That would be like erasing someone you cared about. And he cared a lot about her, she knew that.

"Are you..." okay? she wanted to ask again but he wasn't. "Taking care of yourself?"

He shrugged his shoulder. "I tried."

She could feel her heart shattered with him even though the heartbreak was with Casey. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

He wasn't sure what it was about, and he wasn't expecting that she'd be more caring than he liked to give her credit for. "Why? You're not the one who broke up with me."

She answered weakly, "Still..."

"She and I aren't talking right now, but it's cool." He didn't sound cool with it, but she wasn't going to say.

Snow was like a still statue who stared at someone for so long and that's all she did. She stared at Casey and couldn't do anything to change how heartbroken he was. She felt sympathy and it's bad. She didn't want to feel sorry for him, but she did. She'd like to be more supportive, but at least he didn't hate her.

She was about to say I, but he beat her to it.

"I thought about it," he looked at her. "Your offer.

What? Her eyes widened. He continued, "Maybe you're trying to do something, to get me away from that slump and show me that I'm not a bad guy."

When he touched one of her points, she nodded eagerly.

"I think I may want to hear more of it. Care to enlighten me?"

She would've gone absolutely wild. Her idea was scratched out, thinking it might have insulted Casey in some way. Why would he want to revisit that? That'd mean she had a lot more going on and that was something she didn't want to go over unless he wanted it enough.

"Are you sure? I closed it out because of you," Snow said, not believing in what she's hearing.

"I may be willing to, but I need time," he clarified. Now that, Snow could understand.

Even though Casey gave her permission, she didn't know if it was really alright to explain it to him because something told her to not take advantage and when she didn't open her mouth, he did.

"I asked. I'll let you know whether I like it or not."

Snow looked down at her hands and her thumb traced over the lines of her palm. Would it be fine? She wanted to think it'd be okay to tell about her plan but still didn't know if it was the right thing. After a moment, she glanced at him softly.

"Okay, but you have to be honest," she said.

He nodded at her.

"What I said last time, I said we're going to be partners," Snow started slowly. It looked like he recalled so she went on. "We would help each other out by being there for each other and also be comfortable as well. I want to think it's not just dating even though it may look that way. But, I like to think we're trying to build each other, focusing on our strengths and weaknesses."

"Strengths and weaknesses?" Casey questioned.

"Yes, our good points and bad points that we should maybe correct or acknowledged," Snow pointed out.

So far he was okay with her proposal. "I think if we go out like we're in a relationship, we can give each other a grade too."

"There's going to be a grading system?" Casey said.

"If you like, or we can go with points," Snow suggested.

Somehow that settling uncertainty on Casey's countenance told her that there's more than he'd like to have. Even she grew uncomfortable knowing what the outcome would turn out like.

"Anyway, we can just start slow and let it be casual, and then maybe a day or two, we can have a system set out so that we could keep in mind," she said.

"You make it sound like homework," Casey said, with a look of displeased.

Snow immediately frowned. He indirectly pointed out that it made her look like a teacher trying to talk slow with a student, and Casey as her only one.

"Make it happen from the beginning so that the full result is fair till the end," he said sternly.

Did that mean he's going to go on board with this proposal? Snow wondered.

"We can work more on this if you want to do this with me, but I'll propose a last thing like the basic rules. You can decide to do it or not. It's fine if you don't agree, I just thought there's something we need to keep a boundary between." In the last part, she didn't sound confident.

"Go on." He waited.

"Thirty days should be enough to have a good standing point to see where it all goes."

Casey raised an eyebrow. "How can you tell a good or bad relationship in thirty days?"

"You can't... but I don't think either of us would be comfortable to go on longer so thirty days seems fair," Snow stated.

"Fair point," he commented.

"If we do this for thirty days, we can possibly see where our "relationship", " she quoted, gesturing her fingers, "could lead or end up. Maybe our relationship would be different from you and your previous girlfriend than ours, but ultimately the goal is to strive for a healthy one."

She was ready to say the last part. "Here are my three most important rules: One, Contact is important and only okay if with consent. Such things like holding hands, hugging is okay. Kissing... how about just on cheek or hand, if necessary of course. But kissing on the lips is prohibited. Two, anything we do are practices, they're not real. Again, we're just going to help each other. And three, we're not going to catch feelings for each other. In fact, that's out of the question... and yeah."

She grimaced. After what she had explained, she didn't know what he'd think of it. Casey was unreadable once again.

"So?" Snow said awkwardly.

"Let me come back to you in two minutes," Casey said, facing away from her and looking out at the campus where students passed by.

So that means two minutes of silence, Snow thought. And then came the silence that ruled over them.

She didn't know if that was good enough for him or did she just convinced him how insane the idea was, and that he definitely didn't want to be involved. He couldn't have a practice dummy girlfriend while trying to get over his girlfriend. What if it wasn't a good idea after all?

He hadn't made a decision so it's not like the attempt was a fail yet.

When two minutes seemed to leave, Casey faced her. She nodded, preparing for whatever the outcome.

As soon as he said these words, Snow was expectant that he'd turn her down. Crazy enough, Casey agreed. "I think I'll do it."

"R-Really?" Snow stuttered.

"Yeah, I think it could help me than bumming out all day at home," he admitted, and it left her flabbergasted.

She checked in on him. "You don't think any of it is a bad idea?" Like it was more believable if he said no and never speak of it than being open to this proposal she made on a whim.

He thought she looked funny right now. "You made some points and I think I might need another person evaluating me on my flaws."

"Even if that means being in a relationship with me?" she said incredulously.

"Yes."

She blinked slowly but repeatedly. This wasn't the right reality at this moment. He watched her strangely and needed her to be calm. "You can stop with that."

Then, she caught what she was doing. It put her out from a daze and she listened. "Right."

This became a strange encounter for her like this didn't just happen and this plan wasn't flawed or anything. She stayed put and he did too.

Snow asked gently, "Why don't we plan it out tomorrow?"

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Sorry that this story disappeared for a while to those maybe a few people who were reading this. I was overwhelmed and didn't think I could keep up with writing because if you haven't noticed, I'm so bad with writing, but I miss it so much. I will try to write again as best as I could. I already did have outline drafts for other chapters, but not written so I will do my best to figure out a bit how I'm going to write out stories. I'm also reworking on my first ever story so if I don't post this, I'm most likely working on my first one. Check it out if you want, but I would appreciate it. When Fates Intertwined, hehe. Also going to finish up my short story of Shy Boy which has a lot of views for idk why, but yay. I'm reading with my real life books so sorry for any delays. I hope you're taking care of yourself and doing well. I will try to post the next chapter up when I can.

What do you think about Snow and Casey so far? Anyone on either of their boat? I can't wait to see what they're going to do next.

Please vote and comment as it means the world to me!