Adyson ends up spending the entire afternoon with Adam—who should be working his shifts at The Daily Roast—enjoying the rare occurrence that is snowfall in their town. Which, considering the fact they barely ever talked to each other before their short conversation earlier this morning, should feel extremely awkward. But Adam was a surprisingly fun person to be with, and she really enjoyed being in his company.

By the time Adyson gets home, the snow haven't melted yet, but her cheeks feel oddly warm and she is slightly worn-out from everything they did under the falling snow. Adam had showed her all the wintry fun she'd missed all her life—they had a snowball fight, even though the snow was barely two inches thick, and they had a blast pretending that they were kids again. Once she enters her vanilla-scented bedroom, she throws herself on her bed.

As Adyson inhales the misty winter scent coming from her knitted scarf, she can't help but think about how Adam unexpectedly opened the present and wrapped the scarf around her when he noticed that she was cold. She knows that Adam was just being a really good friend—if she can actually consider him as a friend after the short two hours she'd spent with him—but she can't help but feel like she should be slightly annoyed at him for ruining her surprise for Chris.

But she can't. Adam was simply just too sweet.

Adyson doesn't know how can Adam, this weird boy that just a few moments ago had been a complete stranger to her (despite the fact that they attend the same school and even have a few classes together), be able to put a smile on her face. She feels as if she needs to repay his kindness. 

As she buries her nose in her scarf once more, Adyson's gaze drifts to an old photograph sitting on her bedside table. It was taken during last Christmas, when Chris took her to a supposedly snow-themed holiday festival in a shopping mall downtown. The air inside the room was purposefully made to mirror those of winters in colder places, and there were ice sculptures and fake snowmen and all the like. Even though it was obviously a knockoff designed so that the residents of Oceanshore can experience the so-called "white Christmas", she'd told Chris during their ride home that she thought it was beautiful. 

Now that she'd encountered real, actual snow with Adam, the experience she'd had last year seems to pale in comparison. 

All of a sudden, Adyson remembers that she needs to call Adam just to make sure that he will be home tomorrow morning. She reaches out her phone and starts dialing Chris's number. 

Spending the Christmas Eve afternoon with a (sort-of) friend doesn't necessarily mean that she's cheating on her boyfriend.  

"Hello?" a husky female voice, which obviously isn't Adam's, answers the phone. Adyson frowns. "Who the hell are you?"

Adyson feels that she should be the one asking who the hell this strange woman is. "I'm Chris's, uh, how do you put it--girlfriend? What are you doing on Chris's phone, anyway?"

The other side of the phone remains silent. After a few seconds, Adyson can hear the same voice shouting from a distance, "Chris! Who the fuck is this Adyson girl?"

Something, Adyson realizes, is wrong. Very wrong.

"She's no one," a voice, which Adyson immediately recognizes as Chris's, answers loudly. "Carmen, babe, what are you talking about?"

"There's this girl on your phone--" Carmen replies before cutting her words short. She then returns to the phone to say, "Uh. I'm sorry about that," before hanging out.

After the call ends, Adyson can feel her body going cold, and it isn't because of the weather outside. A tear runs down her left cheek.

Adyson is left appaled by the discovery that Chris Sweetwater, her nice, loyal boyfriend of three years, has been cheating on her. Which is why he can't make it home this year.

***

Adyson ends up falling asleep still wrapped in the scarf. By the time she wakes up, she had no idea how long had she been sleeping--or that she'd cried herself to sleep, for that matter. She wakes up to an incoming call from Chris, which she picks up despite the unpleasant phone call she'd had with him (or Carmen?) just a little more than three hours ago. 

(According to the clock displayed on her phone, she'd been asleep for approximately three hours and twenty-five minutes.)

"Hey, Ads," Chris greets her, his voice sounding a bit concerned. He certainly did not sound like someone who'd been cheating on his girlfriend. "You there? I just wanna tell you that I'll be home tomorrow--God, I've missed you so damn much."

Adyson shook her head, even though she knows that Chris couldn't see her. "No," she replies quietly, almost like a whisper. Her voice is somewhat shaky, as if she might cry again at any minute. "In fact, I don't want you to ever come back home again." She then hangs up her phone.

***

The thin layer of snow left from yesterday's snowfall is still there on Christmas morning. At barely an inch thick, though, it is noticably thinner, mostly because some of yesterday's snow have probably melted. A white Christmas in California, just when global warming couldn't seem to fuck up the weather more than it already did. 

When Adam steps outside his house just after receiving Christmas presents from his family (he'd mostly gotten clothes and books and all the like, which kind of sucks), he is welcomed by the chilly, breezy Oceanshore air not unlike yesterday's climate. His eight-year-old sister, Anna, is apparently thrilled by this, as she keeps persuading Adam to build a snowman with her. 

(The snowman ends up being partly made of mud, but Anna was happy nonetheless.)

The rest of the day goes on just like any other Christmases in the Jessup household, with the entire family--including his grandmother, who had been living with his family ever since he was six--attending a Christmas service at the local church at midmorning before having lunch together at home. After deciding that too much family time can be a bit suffocating, Adam excuses himself in the afternoon to take a stroll around his neighborhood. By now, the snow on the ground is slowly disappearing. 

It is then did the highlight of his Christmas happen--he sees Adyson, wearing a cream-colored sweater similar to the one she wore yesterday, strolling around his neighborhood on the opposite side of the street. She is carrying a box of present in her hand, which he presumes is whatever her wealthy parents had given her for Christmas. 

Much to his surprise, Adyson seems delighted to see him. She immediately runs to him and surprises him with an embrace, which he hadn't anticipated at all. His lean body is overwhelmed by Adyson's sudden "attack" on him, but he doesn't mind this at all. 

When Adyson finally releases herself from the embrace, Adam asks her, "Adyson? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home, celebrating Christmas with your family or boyfriend or something like that?"

The girl embraces Adam again. "Thank you, Adam," Adyson mutters while burying her head in Adam's chest, further adding to the latter's confusion. (And simultaneously making his heart flutter and his cheeks red, but that's beside the point.)

"W-what are you thanking me for?" Adam can still feel his poor little heart beating fast from the sudden encounter his chest had with Adyson's head. 

"You know that boyfriend I told you about? He's a cheater. He's not coming home this Christmas. That scarf, I decided, deserves someone better." Adyson proceeds to do another unexpected thing--she unwrapped the present, revealing the same blue knitted scarf she'd intended to give her (ex-?)boyfriend. She then wraps the scarf around Adam in the same manner that he'd wrapped it around her yesterday. "Thank you for being there for me when I was down. Thank you for spending yesterday's California snow with me--you've given me the best Christmas ever, when it should've been the worst." She embraces him again. "Why did you even bother to do all that stuff with me?"

Adam didn't know what made him squeeze Adyson tighter in his embrace before planting a kiss on her forehad. "I love you, Adyson," he answers, whispering quietly into her ear. The words, now that he's finally able to say it, feels like a huge weight being lifted off his shoulders. "I did it all because I love you, and all I ever want is to see you happy..."

Adyson, who did not know how to respond to Adam's sudden confession, stays silent while still embracing him.

[ f i n ]