CHAPTER 30: Warm Flurries

I couldn't sleep. I was laid flat in bed, counting bumps on my ceiling. It was nearly midnight, I was finally getting tired. My eyelids were giving up. I was finally drifting to some dream land when suddenly, there was a clash right outside my balcony! I shot straight up.

That stupid cat's back again! Jaw ticking, I got out of bed and walked over to the entrance of my balcony. The curtains were drawn. I opened it so hard, I thought the rails were gonna fall off.

But Whiskers wasn't in my balcony. Nothing was. I peered through the glass door. Still, I saw nothing but snow and darkened streets. I swear I heard something! So I inched closer to the glass. There had to be something that caused the ruckus. My forehead rested on the cold glass now.

"Hi!" A face outside leaped into my vision and bumped into the glass.

"Ahhh!" I screamed, toppling over.  I crashed down on my back and my head hit the foot of the bed. Jesus Christ! From the floor, I craned my neck to see the person again. She still had her face pushed against the glass. Her nose was getting shoved. I scrambled to my feet.

"Jesus Christ!" I exclaimed, opening the door. "Sage?! What are you doing?"

I shut the door when she got in.

Sage reached into her coat's pocket. "I got your message," she replied, extracting the diary. She said it so casually while brushing snow off her beanie and shoulders.

"Oh," was the only thing that came out of my mouth.  Suddenly, a fresh heap of embarrassment flooded my system. It felt warm in my cheeks despite it snowing outside.  Sage, however, seemed to have not shared my awkwardness I felt. She just sorta looked around. She crossed my bed to get to my drawers.

"Nice room," she commented, going over to my drawer.

My eyes narrowed and I tilted my head. "Thanks," I muttered but then asked, "This the first time you've been in here?"

"Yeah," she answered, shrugging.

I was doing the maths as Sage browsed through the shit on my bedside table. The proof that Sage is the owner of the diary would mean that she lost her virginity to me. Then how come she's never been in my room? Where'd we do it, then? In the woods?

"Wait, wait, wait. Hang on a minute." I crossed over the top of the bed to inch closer to her. I was kneeling on the mattress. Sage faced me. From that position, I didn't look too much taller than her. We were nearly eye-to-eye. "How come you've never been in my room? It says there that you lost your virginity to me," I said, pointing at her diary.

"You really don't remember, do you?" 

"No. Damn, I must've been really shitfaced that ni--" I cleared my throat. Sage already had a pissed expression. Best not finish the sentence. "No. I don't remember."

She scoffed. "Figures."

"Was it that Prom Night? -- no, I took Gillian Thorne to that one. It was the Fall Dance, wasn't it? In the auditorium back at schoo -- wait, that wasn't you either. I think that was Cassie? I don't kno--"

"Trevor, shut up. You're making it worse."

I zipped my mouth. "Sorry." Damn, how stupid could I get in front of this girl? It's like her effect on me magically reduces my IQ into that of a rock's. 

"It was the party at Louie's lake house. Kenny Driver swung from--"

"--a vine to the lake!" I finished. Oh, sweet mercy! "That was you?!"

"Why do you sound so surprised?" she asked. I could tell by her tone that she was offended. 

Because I thought that was your best friend. I wanted to go with that answer but I didn't want to get slapped. My nose had taken all it can endure. So, instead, I went with, "I'm not. I'm just a bit confused. You had brown hair that night!"

Sage blinked. When she opened her eyes, there was a spark of realization in them. "Oh! I remember I had my wig on. I came from theater rehearsals," she laughed at the memory, "You tugged the wig off, remember?"

It was a bit hazy but I remember some hair getting pulled off. Well, if this isn't the weirdest, most awkward porno recollection ever, I don't know what is. But then I realized something, too! "That's why you looked so familiar in your costume! I thought it was just because you looked like K-" I stopped myself. "Oh, my God! I remember now."

"You do?"

"I never forgot that night. I mean, I forgot some of the details--"

"--details like which girl you slept with--"

"--but I never forgot that night!" I continued, unfazed by her interruptions.

"That's hard to believe," she commented.

"I swear! That night was the--" best lay I had, hands down? Yeah, I said that to Kaye when I thought she was the one. That didn't flatter her. Wouldn't flatter Sage either. So, instead, I continued, "--greatest night of my life."

It wasn't a lie. I only realized that. Before, I thought it was Kaye I'd slept with and I had a major crush on her then. The misconception that I slept with my crush back then could've been easily the greatest night of my life. But it's way different now. It is the greatest night of my life but for a whole different reason.  That night brought me to now. To here! With Sage in my room, finally holding the diary that belongs to her.

"That's bullshit," she said.

"No, it's not."

"Oh, please. You were drunk that night. I was a bit inebriated myself. You didn't even remember me the next day. Plus, we did it on a mattress up in the attic with the lights off!" she enumerated. "Come on. Frankly, I didn't want my virginity to go that way. It couldn't have been anyone's greatest night."

"That night could've been more romantic," I admitted, "but it is the best night of my life!"

"That night started this whole tangled mess!" she exclaimed, then enumerated the ways my life could've been easier if neither of us bumped into each other that night. She counted them on her fingers. "If it weren't for that night, you wouldn't have gotten in trouble with Emma... or Gwen... any of the other girls you got involved with. Diego wouldn't have beaten you up. Your nose wouldn't have suffered."

"But I wouldn't have known you." It was my time to interrupt. Sage stopped enumerating, only three of her fingers were held up. Three reasons against this one. "I don't care about the trouble with the other girls. I don't care about Diego. I care a little bit about my nose, but that doesn't matter!"

On my knees, I inched closer to the edge of the bed. Closer to her. "Look, Sage," I sighed, taking her three reasons in my hands. "I don't care about all this. This whole tangled mess? I'd go through it again if it meant bringing us here... in my room... in the middle of the night -- God, why couldn't you have come earlier?" I laughed. 

Sage rolled her eyes. But before she could butt into my speech, I continued, "Look, I don't want to assume anything. I know you coming here doesn't guarantee anything for me." Boy, I was getting nervous all of the sudden. My palm was sweating onto hers. Gross, I know. "Maybe you just came here to straighten things out, or -- or return the poem, or -- I don't know! Avail the coupon? I just--"

Sage tugged her hand away from mine and placed it over my mouth. She didn't need to cover my mouth to stop me from talking. The sheer shock from any contact would've shut me up. "Trevor?" she said.

I hummed at her hand as a reply.

"If you think I came all the way here in the middle of a snowy night to avail a coupon, then you're dumber than I thought you were. And I didn't even think you could be any dumber."

I narrowed my eyes at her. She laughed and pulled her hand away. Sage turned her back on me and started browsing through my bedside table again. It seemed like she was rearranging my stuff.

"Why are you here, then?" I asked, still on the bed. I couldn't move.

Her head whipped towards me. "I--" she laughed at something. I didn't know what. Probably the ridiculousness of the situation. "I just wanna see if you can keep your promise." 

"What promise?"

She took her diary and pulled out a folded piece of paper from the middle of the pages. It was my poem!

Like a true, over-the-top theater thespian, Sage sprung up my bedside table. Her snow boots stepping on a space she had cleared of my stuff earlier from rearranging. With me kneeling on my bed and her way up there, I had to crane my neck to look at her face. It was so weird. I wasn't used to her being that... tall.

"What are you--"

"Shh!" she cut me off. I had no choice but to listen. She cleared her throat as she unfolded the paper. She made a show of scanning through the lines, her pointer finger travelling from top to bottom of the paper. Then, "Aha!" she said. 

With a glint in her eyes, she read, "You wrote here, 'I hope this time around, you fall again for my charms. And I' - that's you -" she pointed to make sure I knew she meant me, Trevor Shane Jettison. "-'promise this time I'll catch you' -" she pointed at herself. "-'in my stupid noodle arms.'"

Folding the paper again, she inserted it in her diary. She had a challenging smirk on her face, as if daring me to keep that promise. I had a smile on my face, too. Then, Sage turned around, careful enough not to topple over the table. Suddenly, she outstretched her arms. With her back towards me, I heard her say, "Let's see if you can."

Sage tipped over the edge and tilted backwards. Like some sort of fucked up trust fall exercise, her back went plummeting towards me. In a single breath, I held my arms out. And this time, my reflexes didn't suck too much. I may not have been able to block a soccer ball or dodge a sucker punch in time, but somehow, I managed to catch Sage.

She fell snugly in my arms. But from the impact, I couldn't hold my ground and we fell back on my bed. Sage squealed as we hit the mattress hard. We laughed as we lay there, my arms still around her shoulders. I felt her quake in laughter. I felt her breathe. I felt her weight and her warmth, both enveloping me in comfort and familiarity. It felt like an embrace. It felt like a Christmas wish coming true.

When the laughter died down, I asked, "Promise kept?" 

Still looking up at my ceiling, Sage smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Promise kept."

HOLY SHIT! È FATTA!

I still owe you guys an epilogue. And ash-wipe suggested bonus chapters so I'll see about that. Thank you so much for reading this shitstorm, guys!