This chapter is dedicated to the lovely hepburnettes, who I can only dream of one day writing like.

Keep being the amazing writer that you are, and I will continue to follow in your inspiring footsteps.

❝Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. ❞

-Oscar Wilde

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Blood began to drip from my nose, a numbing pain capturing my face in a tight grasp.

My head throbbed while my surroundings blurred together like spilled paint on a canvas, forcing me to grasp onto Max in both temporary confusion and pain.

Max supported me as I stood up, and held onto my waist from my left side to make sure I wouldn't topple over again as I fought to regain my normal vision.

I pulled my gloves off, quickly dropping them to the ice before I cupped my bleeding nose with one hand. My left hand reached into my back pocket and pulled out a small packet of tissues that I had originally brought for the cold.

Max bent down and grabbed my red mittens from the ground at the same moment that Ala frantically made her way through the hoards of people towards me, her person of interest glued to her side.

Both held a worried expression as they gazed at me, Ala being the first to speak.

"What happened to you?" I pinched my nose as I looked off in the snow covered distance that the man had bulldozed off in, but only saw free-spirited faces.

I wasn't even sure I knew what had just happened. One moment I was breathing in the fluttery feeling that accompanied Christmas spirit, and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground, tossed aside like a rag doll.

Max spoke up for me. "It was quick; some guy just came out of nowhere and rammed into Loni." His eyebrows furrowed as he kept his solid gaze on my bloody form.

My eyes began tearing up involuntarily once again, this time being because I had hit my nose. I could handle the pain, but I what I didn't appreciate was the lack of courtesy the man possessed.

My shoulder ached from the hit, as we all made out way out of the chilly rink onto stable ground.

Max waited for me to plant myself on the nearest bench, delicately untying the checkered laces of my skates, and eased them off my blistering feet.

Something in my chest blossomed at the gesture, and I couldn't help the smile that bloomed on my face.

I gave him a nasally but heartfelt thank you to which he nodded in return.

I looked to Ala, and discreetly gestured to the boy next to her that I had yet to learn the name of.

"Oh!" She yelped, jumping up slightly from the bench across from me. "Omar, this is my best friend Loni," she gestured over to me, and I made eye contact with Omar.

I nodded gently.

"And Omar," she started again, placing a mitten-clad hand on his shoulder," this is my bloody best friend Loni," she verbalized cheerfully.

"You know, I guess it's a good thing you decided to wear all red," she finished with a shrug as she looked me over.

I gave her a stink eye, before the tissue that was enveloping my nose was tugged away and replaced with a crisp clean one.

"It's nice to meet you, although I wish it was under better circumstances," Omar said sheepishly.

I smiled in wholehearted agreement.

I watched Max get up and throw away my bloody tissue, the same look from when I got hit still on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

He took a moment, staring me down which in turn only added to my confusion.

Oddly enough, a second later his entire demeanor changed, the uncertainty in his eyes now reflecting worry as they bore into my own.

"Your still bleeding." He frowned.

I shrugged sheepishly. "I bleed and bruise easily. It's one of my many talents."

Ala stood up and extended on her tiptoes to reach Omar's ear. She whispered something quickly to him, pulling her hand off of his shoulder when she finished.

He responded with a nod, and she made her way over to me, taking over Max's previous position. She glanced at him.

"I'm going to take this one home. I guess we'll see you guys around sometime." I waved to the two of them, mainly to Max, who avoided eye contact the second I began the gesture.

I frowned. What was that about?

Ala supported me as we walked through the parking lot towards my car, and kept forcing my head down as I repeatedly attempted to tilt my head back to ease the blood flow.

However, I finally stopped when she told me that she gave up and would just let me drown in my own blood.

The warm air was blasting after a few minutes of silent driving on the way to my house.

"So, Max," Ala started, her fingers drumming on the steering wheel as we drove down a winding path.

"What about him?" I said as nonchalantly as possible, my gaze sweeping the landscape instead of looking at her.

"For all of the years I have known you, which is too long, you have never once showed interest in boys."

I let out a nasally sigh as I propped my elbow up against the window of the car. "Well, there isn't much to say since he gave me the cold shoulder earlier."

Ala gave me a sympathetic look, and I immediately knew that she noticed it too. "I'm sorry Loni."

I waved it off even though it sent pain through my heart to act like it hadn't affected me.

I was very much affected, and I hated that I was so enraptured by someone I hardly knew.

It gave him too much control over me, even if he wasn't aware of it.

The bright and shining moon illuminated the large field we were passing by, and my eyes began to get droopy as the Christmas music continued to play.

Dabbing my nose, which had finally stopped bleeding, my eyelids became heavier and heavier until I drifted off into the dark abyss of my mind.

***

I sat on my window sill, the silky blanket wrapped around my feet kept me warm near the chilly window.

I positioned myself into a more comfortable position, my pajama pants rustling at the friction.

I hummed a Christmas tune as u gaze out of my second story window. It was a calm night, the snow was falling, but it was an enjoyable amount, not a frenzied blizzard.

My thoughts were prisoners to a certain coffee shop boy I'd officially met, and I groaned in frustration.

Regardless of how much I tried to focus on something else, his face would continuously pop up in my head, and my thoughts would automatically involve themselves so much in him, that it was practically impossible to change my course of thought.

I gripped my bed sheets once I had gotten up from my spot near the window, my feet curling from the cold ground beneath them.

I situated my pillows and slipped into my bed, staring at the ceiling as my mind ran on high.

A smile graced my lips as I thought of the twinkle I caught in his eyes when he engaged himself in the conversation about Steve Jobs, the same twinkle that I caught when we were ice skating.

It was a look that could melt a thousand frozen souls, and could light the darkest of crevices as it shined brighter than any star visible to my eyes.

I fell into a light and airy sleep, vowing to do anything to see that twinkle again.

***

Loni on the side :) Thanks for reading!

Xoxo,

Jean margaret