{Credit to witchcrafter3 for her version of Eric's song "Snowflake" in Multimedia}

Chapter 40: Snowflakes

Tessa watched in puzzlement as Eric's whole face changed. In the blink of an eye, his expression went from shuttered darkness to a look of childlike delight.

She followed the direction he was pointing and saw the reason why. The night sky had suddenly filled with snowflakes, dancing through the air in all directions as they fell.

"It's snowing" he said, his voice full of wonder. He turned to look at her. "I didn't think it ever snowed down here."

She shook her head. "No. Not very often."

He reached toward the windshield and touched the glass where one of the snowflakes had stuck. Then he glanced back at her face again, with a silent question in his eyes. She knew what he was asking. The same question he'd asked her over DM last night. She'd re-read that conversation enough times to commit the whole thing to memory.

Taylor: What songs are you hoping Eric will play tomorrow?

Tessa: I assume he'll do the set list from the tour.

Taylor: You never know. He might be open to special requests. . . .

"Go ahead," she said to him now. "Sing it."

Eric cleared his throat to buy himself a moment, as he ran through the lyrics inside his head. He couldn't afford to mess up the words. Not tonight. Not in front of this audience. He felt his heart thrum inside his chest in a way it hadn't done in years - not since back in the old days, back when he actually cared what the audience thought of his performance.

For once, he wished he'd listened to his manager. He could still hear Maury's shrill voice calling after him as he dashed in the direction of his car. "Eric wait! Take a guitar or something. . . ." But no. He didn't have a guitar, or anything else to hide behind. He only had his own voice, a cappella, and the words that he had written just for her.

He skipped over the song's opening and came in on the second verse.

The wind, it started whipping.

It slammed my window shut.

My snowflake left a teardrop.

I guess she had enough.

But I won't forget my snowflake.

Can't melt her from my mind.

I'll watch here from this window.

For the love she left behind.

Tessa listened to his rich, full tenor voice - so strange and yet so soothingly familiar. She didn't dare to look at him. She kept her eyes glued firmly to her lap. But she felt the gentle pressure of his hand against her elbow, and a shiver passed through her at his touch. His fingers were freezing cold.

I'm made of ice,

But I'm melting.

You fell inside.

Now you're melting.

Don't say goodnight.

I'm still melting.

I'm melting....

He took a breath before he hit the chorus, and Tessa darted a glance at his face. He looked back at her with an intensity that sent another shudder down the full length of her spine. She couldn't bear the scrutiny. She ducked her head away.

He opened his mouth to sing again, but she interrupted before he could get another word out. "What do you want from me?" she said softly.

"I want to be with you."

"Why?"

"Because I'm in love with you."

She still refused to meet his eyes, but he caught her wrist and forced her to turn back toward him. "Let go," she said. She twisted her arm, trying to wrench it free. "Let me go."

His grip only tightened further. "Tessa, last night you said you loved me too."

"I thought I did, last night."

"So why did it change?"

"Because you're Eric Thorn!"

"So? Why does that change everything?"

Tessa tore her arm from his grasp and looked away again, confused and agitated. She didn't know how to explain it to him. She didn't fully understand herself, everything she'd felt since the moment he walked into the police interrogation room. Her thoughts skittered around in all directions, like the snowflakes out there, swirling in the wind. So many unanswered questions. So many words had passed between them - six months' worth of endless direct messages - and all of it had now been cast in a different light. She would probably need six more months, just to process all of it.

Different fragments of their conversations kept springing to the forefront of her mind, and she gave up trying to make sense of them. She merely spoke the words aloud - a different set of words that she'd long since learned by heart. "You know what Eric Thorn would see, if he ever noticed I existed?"

Eric shook his head. Tessa could tell he hadn't recognized the quote. Not yet. The next line would do the trick.

"How did you put it, exactly?" she asked, but she didn't wait for him to answer. "A leech? A nasty, blood-thirsty leech. With no point to my miserable, mindless, meaningless existence-"

"Tessa-"

"-Except to suck. And when you saw me there, sucking, you would shudder with disgust. And you would flick me off with the back of your fingernail-"

"Don't." He'd risen to his knees in the car seat. He grabbed her now by both shoulders, forcing her to turn and meet his eyes. "I didn't mean that. I didn't even know you yet!"

She shrugged beneath his hands. "It was kind of true, though."

"Of course it wasn't true! How can you even say that?"

He gave her shoulders a gentle shake for emphasis. Tessa shrugged again and pushed his hands away.

"I'm a fan girl. I have a pillowcase with your face on it. I have a thousand pictures of you on my phone. I started a whole hashtag about you called #EricThornObsessed."

"Right," he said slowly. "Which I kind of interpreted that to mean you were-you know-kind of . . . maybe . . . into me?"

She cringed. "It's just really embarrassing. Try to imagine how you would feel."

"You're embarrassed because you're into me?"

"No, because I know how you feel about fan girls, Eric! Tell the truth. We're not snowflakes to you. We're leeches."

He slumped forward then and buried his head in his hands. For a long moment, Tessa thought he wouldn't even bother to reply. But he gathered himself again. With a sigh, he looked up and turned back toward her. "OK," he said in a flat voice. "I get it."

"You do?"

"Yep. Loud and clear."

"OK. Good."

"Good," he agreed, nodding firmly. "You're a fan girl. You're embarrassed."

"Right."

"OK, Tessa. Now get over it."

"I can't just-"

"Here," he interrupted. "Give me your phone."

"What? Why?"

He held out his hand. "Just do it. Trust me. Just this once."

"I don't even know if I brought it out here," she protested, but she dug her hand into the pocket of her robe and felt her fingers close over her phone's familiar form. She handed it to him, without meeting his eyes. In her mind, all she could think of now was the picture she'd chosen for her lock screen - the first visual he'd see, the moment he flicked on her phone. She'd just changed it the other night to a screenshot from the new Snowflake music video: Eric Thorn, riding a snowmobile, naked to the waist. "Please, just don't look at the camera roll," she whispered.

"Nah, I'm familiar with what I look like."

She didn't watch him, but she could sense his smirk when he turned it on. She waited for him to make some snide remark. Instead, Tessa felt him thrust something back into her hands. She looked down to see her red leather cell phone case, now empty. "What's this?" she asked with a frown.

He didn't answer. He merely cracked his car door open and chucked her phone into the darkness, as far as he could throw.

Tessa's eyes flew open wide. "My phone! What did you just do?"

"There." He wiped his hands back and forth to say good riddance. "All gone. No more pictures."

"But that's my phone!"

"I'll buy you a new one."

Had he completely lost his mind? She looked at him in silence, too stunned to speak.

"Tessa, it's really not that complicated. If you're embarrassed by being a fan girl, then stop being a fan girl. Be something else instead."

She shook her head. "Like what?"

"I don't know. Like, you could be my girlfriend, for example."

He took her hand again.

"Tessa, I love you. Do you understand that? I'm in love with you. I'm freezing my ass off in your driveway for you. I'm sitting here singing a whole sugar-y sweet love song that I wrote for you. Just for you. Not for anyone else. The song isn't called Snowflakes, plural. It's Snowflake. Just one snowflake. How many more ways do you need me to say it?"

"I don't know."

"Why? You're embarrassed?"

"No."

"What, then?"

She whispered the answer, barely louder than a breath. "I'm scared."

Eric's face softened. He pulled her hand toward him and cradled it gently, as he began to sing again.

Just one snowflake.

She thought that no one cared.

Perfect snowflake.

I'll catch you, don't be scared.

Tessa knew she shouldn't look at him, but she couldn't help it. She needed to see. He held her eyes with his own, ice blue, and she couldn't look away. Another snatch of DM conversation came to her mind once again. Not the one about the leeches this time. The messages from last night.

Tessa: He's never used the L-word in a song before.

Taylor: Is that really true?

Tessa: Never. He's danced around it before, but he's never come right out and said L-O-V-E.

Taylor: Well, it's about damn time.

Tessa: I just want to see the look on his face when he sings it. That's all.

Taylor: Me too.

Tessa: You do? I thought he was a douchenozzle. What happened to #EricThornSucks?

Taylor: I want to see the look on your face, when you see the look on his face.

Tessa wondered vaguely what he saw now as he looked back at her. She didn't quite recognize the expression on his face. His cheeks had flushed a shade darker. His eyes were hooded, but soft. She'd never seen him look that way before. Not once, in all the screenshots she'd collected.

She realized what it meant, of course. The answer to all the questions she didn't need to ask. She'd never seen him look that way into a camera lens. She'd never seen his face in love.

I watch the snowflakes falling.

Too many for me to see.

But there's only one I'm looking for.

Perfect and unique.

I know she's out there somewhere.

Come find me, please don't hide.

I love my little snowflake.

My heart is open wide.

And I won't forget my perfect one

Till she's here with me inside.

Till she's here with me inside.

He reached out one finger and touched her face as the final line echoed. Tessa didn't realize she had a tear running down her cheek until he made contact with the damp spot. He leaned toward her then and kissed her, softly, his lips just barely grazing against hers.

She gasped at the sensation. His lips felt cold as ice.

"You're going to freeze to death out here," she whispered.

"I don't care," he whispered back. "As long as I die happy."

Tessa could see him shivering badly, though. "Let's go," she ordered. "Out of the car." She pulled away from him again and popped the passenger side door open.

"Where are you going?" she heard his voice call after her.

She turned and looked back over her shoulder, with a ghost of a smile on her lips. "Come on," she said, nodding toward the house. "It's OK now. You can come inside."

Dear Readers: Shout-out to everyone who guessed it started snowing! If you like this book, please help spread the word by VOTING, COMMENTING, ADDING to your public reading lists, and SHARING with your friends. Thank you! <3