Emerald Eyes | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 34: A Frosty Confession

hello gorgeous people. Writing winter feels weird, but oh well :)

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Christmas. As the song rightly says, it's the most wonderful time of the year. And it certainly felt too early to be festive time already, but Natasha's birthday had been and gone, which meant christmas was in full swing.

Strings of lights had gone up in the town centres, large snowflakes suspended from wires between streetlights as colourful bulbs wrapped themselves around tree trunks like vines encasing a wall. A cheerful glow descended over the fronts of shops as children laughed and pointed, the teenagers taking blurry photos for their monthly instagram photo dumps (Nat and Lia included).

The air had quickly gained a certain crisp feel, the kind that nips at your skin the moment you step out of the door. Natasha and Lia had ditched the motorcycle in exchange for rides from Maria, as the air stung their cheeks harshly as they rode, and coming into school looking like tomatoes wasn't quite the look they were going for.

The rainy winter mornings weren't ideal, but the clear but freezing days were by far Lia's favourite. Her collection of knitted sweaters had been dragged out from under her bed and tossed into her closet. She had far too many than Wanda was happy with, but only half seemed to live in her closet... which served as a good compromise.

Natasha had taken Avelia's habit of stealing clothes and had stolen a few sweaters, refusing to admit just how snuggly they actually were. Lia pouted every time she saw Nat wearing them, is including her favourite snowflake one, but inside she felt all warm and bubbly. The redhead looked really good in them and as much as Lia didn't want to share, she couldn't resist when Nat looked so huggable.

As per Clint's request, Fridays had turned into 'Funky Sock Friday' and everyone in their group took it very seriously. The girls wore fuzzy christmas socks, ranging from santa claus (Nat) to green elves with bells on that jingled as she walked (Maria). Bucky had found a set of Monsters Inc. socks and so he sported his Mike Wazowski socks with pride, placing his leg up on the hair and lifting the leg of his jeans to show the single eye. Clint had some gingerbread socks and Steve was kind of boring with his red and green striped socks. But he was kind of old fashioned sometimes, so they let him off.

With only 2 weeks until christmas break, teachers were handing out assessments and final term papers in excess, which greatly dulled the christmas spirit. Which meant that after school winter dates turned into study dates, as Lia, being stubborn, refused to do any homework without Natasha.

Switching between coffee shops and their houses, the girls huddled over steaming mugs of hot chocolate and marshmallows as they tried to cram useless science facts into their brains.

Today they had chosen Lexa's, as the chalkboard sign's offer of half price hot chocolate and cookies for students seemed too good to pass up. They sat in their favourite booth, in the back corner where Nat's seat faced the door and she could scan and assess everyone who walked in and out. Something she liked to do everywhere they went.

She was just observing a woman with her 3 year old daughter when Lia's groans pulled her back to the task on hand.

"I give up." The brunette stated bluntly, closing her textbook and throwing her highlighter down with a huff. Nat just raised an eyebrow, taking a sip of her hot chocolate and chewing on a marshmallow as she observed Lia's behaviour. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary; the girl would much rather read a book she wanted to read, rather than what she was told to read.