Nineteen

It was snowing. Chloe and Mike were still sitting outside. Chloe had her head on Mike's shoulder and was thinking about how pretty snow was. Mike had his arm around Chloe and was thinking that he really did like her.

What Mike didn't know was that Chloe was also thinking about another boy.

Not that she was thinking about him in any way that would have rightfully made Mike nervous; rather, she was thinking about him in a way that would have made Mike feel stupid for feeling jealous.



But Chloe couldn't understand why Chris Mathis was still thinking about Elena.

She would have understood if Chris had seemed to want E. But it didn't seem like that--their conversation in Subway hadn't really been like that. Not that Chloe was stupid enough to believe that Chris didn't want Elena. But he hadn't known her when she was here. And so it didn't make sense that he had asked about her before anyone knew she was gone.

Things were starting to be almost perfect for Chloe, though, once that worry was discounted. She was starting to think that she really liked Mike. He was taking things slowly, though not slowly enough that it wasn't clear that he didn't like her back. The suspense was torturous and delicious and decadent.

"What are you thinking about?" Mike whispered in her ear. Chloe liked that he'd whispered. It was quiet, out here in the snow.

She shifted closer to him. "The snow." That was easier to explain than the other thing.

"It is nice, isn't it?" Mike was more or less neutral on the subject of snow, but he did like sitting here like this. That was nice.

Chloe turned to smile at him and he kissed her.

That made both of them happy.

And Chloe didn't even stop to think what Elena would have said; that was the thought that passed through her mind every time a boy kissed her. She justified that this wasn't pathetic because if your boyfriend didn't get along with your friends, then everything just got sticky. It was rather rational reasoning.

(Elena would have been appalled. Mike Sullivan? Appalled.)

They were all happy, though, and getting happier by the moment. And it snowed. Elena was cold where she was. The snow wasn't making her happy. And after they kissed, Chloe and Mike had a snowball fight in the way you only can when you really like the person you're fighting with. Every now and again Mike would grab Chloe around the waist and she would shriek gleefully and he would kiss her and she would rub snow in his hair.

And the old woman across the street looked out at them and smiled.

And her teakettle hissed on the stove.

And she, too, was content.

And everything was good.

And getting better.