Andy

Just as Max closed the front door, although very carefully, Ethan got up. He heard her pacing on the first floor since the beginning of the night. His sleep since then never turned into anything more than a light nap.

That’s why he totally awakened the moment he noticed Max leaving the house. There couldn’t possibly be anyone else besides her. That’s why he follows her. Deciding to immediately follow her on her tracks.

Unfortunately, he hesitated a lot the moment he opened the door. The cold breeze whistled against his ears, almost cutting his skin with the ice cold of its frozen fingers.

He was definitely not dressed enough to bear that cold. But the longer he took to follow Max the more difficult it would make it for him to find her. The moment this realization hit him he took his first steps, completely burying his feet under the thick layer of snow covering the ground.

He figured that he needed to find Max really fast.

He decided to run, following the footsteps she left in the snow.

After sprinting as fast as he could, he realized the path he was following. Max was going back to the grove. The grove he dragged her away from some hours ago.

His blood started to freeze out of a fear of something he couldn’t explain in his heart.

Just as he started to slow down near the first trees from the grove, he saw someone hurriedly walking between the trees, looking at the sky, searching from something above them.

He noticed it could only be Max, so he called her name. The moment he felt how difficult it was to move his lips because of the cold, he realized how covered in snow he was. His brown hair got almost totally white, alongside his eyelashes, making it almost impossible to see anything far away from him. He had to rub the excess snow off his eyes and hair before trying to call for Max again.

The boy was trembling. He couldn’t keep going much further or else he was afraid his legs wouldn’t be able to drag him back to Max’s house. Still, he tried to follow her, all the while screaming her name.

He came to a halt the moment he heard her screaming someone else's name instead. It was “Jack”. She was calling this name, while her distance from him got bigger as time passed.

Ethan suddenly realized this “Jack” could only be the one who pushed Max down the tree hours ago. Why would she be running away from home in the middle of the night if there wasn’t some other guy involved, he thought to himself. “Was she in love with him?”, Ethan wondered. He could only believe Max found some weird troublemaker guy that could only be deceiving her, making her fall for him, and do weird things in the middle of the night.

Ethan truly shouldn’t care about whoever Max falls in love with. It’s not like they had anything between each other. Ethan told himself that he was just worried about Max’s safety around weird creeps, that’s all. He believed that pushing someone down the tree wasn’t anything nowhere near romantic, but that wasn’t enough of a clue to make him doubt his resolve about Max having come across a shady man with suspicious intentions.

He suddenly snapped out of his thoughts the moment he realized he wasn’t listening to Max’s voice anymore. The only thing he heard was the wind, again.

He started coughing, sneezing and panicking. His eyes could only open for a few moments before closing with tears caused by the torturing cold and because of the fear that was growing inside of him.

He couldn’t keep up with this. He had to come back.

❄❄❄

While Max ran away from her house, she didn’t notice Ethan was following her. Since she was more prepared for the weather, she continued keeping a great distance from him.

She only started calling for Jack the moment she got far amongst the trees from the grove. He had to be around.

The girl didn’t have time to start panicking because she couldn’t find Jack. Just as she slowed her pace, she heard someone calling her name. She couldn’t distinguish it at first. She froze in place and looked around. She couldn’t see much far away from her. Maybe she should follow that voice, she thought. But as she turned away from the direction she was heading to, she saw Jack. He walked in her direction and seemed adamant about getting her away from that place:

“Max! What are you doing outside?” - he asked her, while his left arm tried to cover the incessant snowflakes that kept falling on his eyes.

“Jack! I’m so glad I found you! I was looking for you!” - a weight was lifted from her back as she said that, grabbing his arm, so pleased to find him.

“We need to get out of here!” - he wanted to talk to her, but they needed to find a place for cover from the cold.

Next thing she knew, Max was suddenly grabbed and the wind surrounding them pushed them up in the air, helping them fly over the trees.

Jack also didn’t see Ethan. He, in fact, wasn’t even near that place. The only reason he found her was because somehow Max’s voice traveled all the way through the air till it reached his ears, as if the wind had brought it to him. She was calling his name. But much to his surprise, the voice came from the grove, not from her house.

After landing at the same rooftop he was previously watching over the city, decently protected between the other buildings around them, the wind finally allowed them to talk to each other.

Jack was distancing himself from her, he was a bit angry.

“Why did you leave your house in the middle of the snow storm?” - he questioned her again.

She sighed - “I told you, I was looking for you, you vanished out of nowhere back there…” - Max was much calmer than before, almost relaxed. Although her face showed a faint trace of sadness.

“That is no reason for running outside while snowing like this” - he said, waving his arm around them.

Max shook her head - “But- but why did you leave me out of nowhere? How would I know if you would come back?”

Jack furrowed his brow. After everything that happened, did she really think he would leave her just like that? - “How- Why? Why would I leave you?” - Jack couldn’t understand why she would think he would be gone just like the end of a winter storm.

She didn’t reply. Her eyes dropped, suddenly embarrassed by overreacting.

Jack didn’t know why he felt so tense. He sighed, looking at her red cheeks and at the thick layers covering her body, she looked like a walking pillow. That thought made his face light up a little. He couldn’t stand seeing her anxious face anymore.

- “Max.” - he held her by the shoulders - “I didn’t mean to leave you like that at the grove with that… other guy” - he scrunched his nose.

She looked him in the eye. They looked genuine. His eyes most of the time seemed to be glistening, like there was a micro tear at his bottom lids. She realized that small detail infatuated her.

She offered him a small smile - “That was Ethan… he just- he just got surprised after seeing me- I mean, us, falling down that tree”.

Jack’s face got somehow paler after memories from that moment crossed his mind again. His hands kept resting on her shoulders. He needed to do something to make up for that embarrassment. He understood, or at least, he knew what he had to do about the feeling of butterflies in his chest. He had to do something to demonstrate he truly wasn't planning to leave her at all:

He kissed her.

Max was looking at his face, trying to read what was going on in his head. Suddenly, his eyes looked determined, and she felt his cold lips against hers.

She was surprised at the sensation, but kissed him back nonetheless. Her face burned and her heart was racing. She caressed his cheek tenderly, causing Jack to slightly open his eyes, his face getting as red as hers, making him feel lightheaded from the overheat he was not used to.

She didn’t realize how badly she’d wanted to show affection like this for him till this moment. She felt his grip on her shoulders tighten as he deepened the kiss. Everything was so cold it burned, so she instinctively licked her bottom lip, caughting him by surprise. As they momentarily broke the kiss and made eye contact, she noticed how dilated his pupils were.

Her hands slowly made their way back to caressing his face and neck, forcing his hands to slide down her body. As they reached her waist, their lips connected again.

Max could only care about the gleeful feeling of having him in her arms, her eyes closed back again, but her attention was on how soft to the touch his hair was. Her touch was delicate, her hands obsessed with the feeling of his cold body against her warm hands.

For a first kiss, Jack was passionate, little to no awkwardness left in his body, like he just knew exactly what felt right to do. His ears were redder than his face, if that was possible. And as Max’s hand roamed his shoulders and nape, his grip on her waist brought their bodies closer together.

Unfortunately, the moment they got closer together, Max gasped for air, and also because she desperately had to take off the outer layer of clothing she was wearing. She had to break the kiss in order to almost rip off the zipper of her jacket and free her from that immense heat making her body sweat:

“- I’m- I’m sorry!” - she could barely speak, totally out of breath.

After taking off the second outer layer, she started reaching for the third one. That’s when Jack intervened, after a few moments of looking a little taken aback after she broke the kiss and started undressing:

- “Hey, hey, hey, don’t take this one off, you’ll soon start cooling down” - Jack took her hands in his, while holding the jackets she took off between their hands.

He giggled at her, sending her a huge smile. He looked so pleased with himself. His face losing the previous redness and heat at a much faster speed than hers. Looking at the way he smiled back at her pitiful state - the heat was so bad she could feel her heart in her throat -, she couldn’t help but smile back.