What do I want? Snow stared solidly at the vending machine with the choices of drinks before her.

After class had finished for her, she needed a drink right away. Students walked past through the corridor and chatted, but with her current mood of feeling a tad sleep-deprived, the noises grew disconcerting for her.

That darn Casey. Couldn't he just get back to me? She hadn't heard a single word from him since, and it looked like he successfully blocked her out. Would it actively kill him to at least give her a word so she could rest aside? 

Sending multiple texts was like pushing herself onto him in hopes he would catch on to how worried she was. What was it that could be so bad that he just wouldn't tell her?

He was only thinking of himself, but did he think of her once? She reminded him before that he could count on her, but that meant nothing now if he was dealing with his problems this way.

Snow put the amount for the drink and fastly pushed a button. She waited for the drink, but nothing came out.

The disappointment feeling flowed. What? 

Almost though as if she wanted no one to see, she checked her surrounding. Fewer students were around, and she hoped no one cared. Snow used her hand to tap on the machine lightly and grumbled to herself when the machine was reluctant. "Why isn't it working?"

"Need help?"

Snow whipped her head to see Harry just standing a few feet away from her. Shocked, she took a step back. "What?"

His ever-so-gorgeous presence made an inviting welcome to her. She noticed the forest green and black flannel shirt that did him so well and how much of his rich brown eyes were so good-looking. And his masculine, strong nose too.

"You look like you're struggling with the machine," Harry pointed out.

She stared at the machine quickly and then back at him. Trying to play it out cool, she straightened up her back. "Oh, it's nothing. Just the machine being stubborn."

"Oh yeah?" He quirked his eyebrow in amusement.

"Yeah... I don't think I'm getting a drink," she said all too honestly.

Harry stepped closer to the machine, asking, "You already put in the cash there?"

"Yes."

Snow watched what he was doing as he inspected the vending machine thoughtfully. He didn't say anything, but after a while, he gestured to come along with her. Without question, she followed him as they walked somewhere. Her curiosity soon was figured out when they walked to the building of the student service, and across the room were the adults who helped out people on the counter that answered the student's questions or concerns.

Harry waited as Snow walked to the counter since there wasn't anyone there. She explained to the woman behind the desk how her money was taken by the machine and didn't give her a drink, giving them information on where it was and in what building. It got resolved when she gave her the refund in cash, and they would inform a service guy to repair it.

She walked back to Harry with a small smile on her face. "Thank you. I got my cashback."

"All taken care of then." Harry smiled.

How could there be such a sweet guy like him? She couldn't get any luckier than to be within a few feet away from him. "I could've done it myself, but it's nice to have you here. Makes me a little less nervous about it."

"It's not a big deal." Harry shrugged.

They started to walk out of the building and exit outside. As they were walking, Snow ceased her steps. Uh oh. She felt the tickle inside her, her nose wrinkled up. Then a soft sneeze came out. "Achoo."

Oh my god, is it bad? Snow rubbed her nose.

"Bless you," Harry said. Even when she sneezed, he was nice about it.

"Thank you," Snow said meekly.

"Aww, don't be embarrassed about it. Everyone sneezes. I think spring allergy is getting to a lot of people now."

Hearing him say that made her more embarrassed. She didn't want to sneeze around him. Snow smiled appreciatively, but then another sneeze came out. "Sorry."

Life should've come with a warning sign because when he placed a hand on her forehead, she thought she was going red in the face. He looked at her concernedly, but she focused on how tall he was up close, and that feeling still hadn't sunk in yet.

His hand on her forehead lingered for a while longer before he pulled them away. "Your forehead is really warm. I think you have a fever."

"I-I do?" Snow said, unaware.

"Have you been taking care of yourself the past few days on your own?" Harry asked.

"I'm fine. Really." She waved off. "But thank you for asking."

She wanted to convince not him but herself that nothing was wrong. Her concerns were very minor than how someone else was. Snow could take care of herself just fine; she believed that.

"That reminds me," Harry said, pulling out something from his backpack until Snow saw what it was. He handed her a Ziploc bag with four different tea bag flavors.

He crossed his arms. "Try them when you can, and maybe you can let me know what you think of them. Oh, try Chamomile. It's good for stress-reducing and cold."

Snow nodded. "Okay, for sure."

"I'll go now, see you next time." Harry smiled at her effortlessly, waving his hand as he began to saunter.

She smiled and waved back at him. When he no longer looked at her, she sighed, pressing the ziplock bag to her chest. Blinking slowly, she hadn't taken her eyes off in the same direction in which he left. What am I supposed to do? He's really so sincere.   

❥

As soon as Kyle and Malloy came over to her house in the late afternoon, Snow looked at them with a relieved smile. "You guys," Snow said and then threw her arms around their neck just as their arms moved up to her back.

"Hey, we're here now," Kyle said gently.

Soon they broke apart from the hug, and she ushered them inside. She hugged her arms, feeling the softness of her light yellow hoodie as she sat on the couch with them. "Thanks guys. I kinda need a better distraction than riding my bike."

When Snow couldn't focus on her assignments, she took her bike out for a ride, but for some reason, she found herself becoming dizzier and started seeing stuff again, like how she thought she saw Casey, but actually, it was just a guy wearing black. Her eyes were playing tricks on her.

"It's no problem," Kyle reassured.

Snow threw her head back onto the head of the cushion and sulked. Casey was continuously on her mind, and it was beginning to bother her a lot.

"He's still ignoring you?" Malloy asked, leaning back with her.

"Yeah. Shouldn't he at least let me know where we stood? I am tired of doing the reaching out," she sighed. Even though she said that out of spite, of course, she still cared what happened. How could she not when they had gotten better with their friendship with one another? Could he understand that?

"I think that's harsh of him to do that. I was getting used to that guy," Kyle said. In other words, he thought of Casey as someone he could see himself being chilled around.

"He's ignoring me too, so don't feel bad," Malloy mentioned.

"Do you think Casey could stay mad at me?" Snow asked, releasing out another sigh.

Kyle gazed at her thoughtfully. "I don't think so. Maybe he could be thinking about how he should approach you."

Maybe I don't know him at all. Snow frowned as she considered that maybe it was her fault for not trying hard enough to be his friend that he needed. 

"Come on," Malloy said, helping himself up as he stepped around the coffee table. "We don't need this drama. How about we..." He wandered around the living room, sorting through things, and then through a basket full of fun activities when there had been nothing to do. "...play one of the jigsaw puzzles that you have?" He snapped his finger. "We haven't done that in a long time."

Snow turned back to see Kyle nodding his head in agreement. "We could do it together."

"And we could solve it together!" Malloy took the box out of the basket and held it up, displaying the box's picture of Dolphins in the ocean. He shook in his hands and set them down on the wooden floor tiles. All the puzzle pieces scattered out of the box, and he mixed them around.

Snow stopped and smiled at what he was doing, jumping into action to get her out of her down in the dumps. That's him. He's the kind of guy to do things fast on his feet so he wouldn't see her sad.

Kyle walked over and sat cross-legged on the ground, sifting through the puzzle pieces. Malloy waved his hand over to her, and she joined them as she bent on her knees, sitting on her heels. Snow touched the front of her lap with her gaze at the two of them that were on the search for the pieces.

"You got ice cream in your fridge?" Malloy asked, looking up at her.

"Hmm, yeah," Snow answered.

"Sweet, I'll be back," he told her and rushed off, disappearing to the kitchen.

She shifted her attention back to the puzzle, watching as Kyle attempted to fit in a piece with the other, but it didn't, so he grasped another piece and studied the pattern. Snow hadn't played jigsaw puzzles since her junior year in high school. When she grew closer to the guys, inviting them over to her house was nerve-wracking. The look on their parent's faces was horrid as they didn't take it so well.

She had begged them to give them a chance. It wasn't like she chose who her friends were, it just happened they were boys. It was just especially a huge relief they weren't like the other high school boys. Some of them, although never interacted, as far as she heard around the school were far careless and had done worse things.

These two were just incredibly normal, and that was good for her since she needed normal. Normal wasn't bad.

Coming back at the different puzzle pieces in front of her, Snow picked one up that looked like the water. She hovered with the other hand above the other small pieces until she found another piece and set them both down on the ground, quickly studying the two puzzle pieces. They had the same color, and the hole on the left seemed like it might fit the one on the right, so she linked them together. It worked.

Malloy came back to the living room with a bowl of ice cream and a glass of water in each hand. "Here you go." He passed it on to her, and with a boyish smile, he patted the top of her head softly.

Snow drank a sip of water then placed it down at the space next to her. How thoughtful of him to do that for her; she could use French Vanilla ice cream to forget her worries. She thought as she took a spoonful to her mouth.

An hour and fifteen minutes passed since they were working on their puzzle pieces. It was 88% done, and they still needed some pieces left. The picturesque of two dolphins had filled up, and most of the fishes surrounding them in the background. The third dolphin on the right was missing half of its body along with the top left side of just water and three pieces of the sunlight in the middle.

Snow linked a puzzle piece on the right side, but it didn't allow her to snap the tab in with the missing hole. Nonetheless, she tried poking through it. "I was so sure it would fit. Doesn't it look identical to the small eye?"

Kyle leaned his head to eye at the puzzle piece. "I think you got it mixed up. That's the end of a fish's tail."

"What?" Snow squinted her eyes at it. "How does that look like a fish's tail? They look so much alike!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, but if you can't connect it, it doesn't go there."

She searched for another puzzle piece. All these pieces were like a scavenger hunt for the small and unknown parts like they meant something. If something didn't work, try something else. If you thought you were doing something right, that's probably not the case. If you couldn't figure out and understand what you're doing wrong, you need more time. Every piece of a puzzle takes up details and precise accuracy to make a whole picture.

Malloy snapped a piece in front of her, filling in the part that she couldn't fill out—the dolphin's eye. If she couldn't figure out the mystery of the puzzle herself, she had friends to assist her along the way. She wasn't alone.

When all the puzzle pieces came together, it was building the picture. Snow inserted the last puzzle piece, and now it was a whole. Three dolphins smiled happily in the water as the mass of fishes surrounded them, the sunlight casting a bright glow behind them.

"We did it," Snow said quietly, her eyes taking in the picture puzzle. It felt like an accomplishment.

A puzzle by herself would take long hours, but because six pairs of eyes that were better than two, it got a lot done faster.

"Yes, we did," Malloy said beside her, reaching out to touch her arm lightly.

"That's what happened with teamwork," Kyle mentioned, a satisfied smile playing on his lips.

Looking at the picture better, Snow felt better, like she had been lifted up; it was like struggling to find something lost, but then putting together the lost pieces to where they belong was recovery. And putting that into perspective, each little piece scattered could be Casey's broken heart, and it needed time to patch up everything. The heart of his definitely could open up and love again.

"Thanks guys." Snow gazed at them, her lips curving into a small smile with the feeling of how grateful she was towards them. "I love you both."

"And we love you too," Kyle responded, and Malloy winked at her playfully.

▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓

Hello! I'M FINALLY OUT AND DONE WITH UNIVERSITY. This semester was beating me up. I'm just more psyched to write more and more now!!! I'm going to plan out more of how this story will soon come to be. But in the meantime, I still have some fun stuff planned out for them. I hope you like this easy cute chapter. It's definitely kinda cute to write this out for me!

I think you'll like next chapter. It will be definitely be even more cute! Extreme fluff, prepare for that. I really want to do nothing this summer, but I don't know I might have something planned out for me, but hopefully it's not going to be as bad.

Please vote and comment as it means the world to me.