Snow Boots (#3)

s n o w b o o t s

"Snowflakes are kisses from heaven." – Unknown

DEDICATION: ubiquitously for creating the gorgeous banner above!

P.S. This is the first story of mine to hit 100k before completion, so thank you! <3

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"Boo."

The syllable cut through the howling wind, chiming with the clarity of a bell behind Andrew. As flurries of snow battered his cheeks, rosy from the cold, he could only stand there as disbelieving thoughts sprinted through his mind, one after the other. It couldn't be, but it had to be. It was her. It must be her. There was no other voice like hers, and no one else crazy enough to forge their way through a snowstorm to see him.

He had to make sure. He had to turn and see her, but his body was very slow and unresponsive. The frigid chill left his limbs creaky and numb, like floorboards in an abandoned attic. His left arm screamed in pain, neon pink cast somehow intact. Andrew forced his mind to dull those thoughts and focus on the tantalising possibility of seeing her at last, of reassuring himself that his struggle through the storm was worth it.

With this in mind, he shuffled one-eighty degrees and his gaze fell upon her at last, the halo of light among the bitter darkness surrounding them. The rigidity of Andrew's bones melted away at the sight of her. As cheesy as it sounded, the gloom seemed to recede around them, leaving a patch of winter glitter beneath their snow boots.

Quinn hadn't anticipated what she was going to say after she found Andrew. As a matter of fact, her original intention for going out in the storm was for his safety, but as she gazed upon his glowing expression, there was a twisting sensation in her gut. A sensation which could not be defined any better than love. She and Andrew's eyes locked for a second, though it seemed to last for an eternity as they read each others minds.

Then, as though their shoes were magnetised, they forged their way towards each other. Before Quinn knew it, her arms were wrapped around his shoulders while his face was buried in her tangled locks. Andrew exhaled a cloud of frost, using his right arm to bring her petite body closer. She was his only source of warmth, his star in the night sky.

The hug lasted for some time while the storm raged around them, but they eventually tuned back into the real world. Andrew didn't dare blink, fearing that the moment his eyes left the angel before him, she would evaporate into mist. Her irises were sparkling ferns, as though nature itself had captured the precise shade of sunshine striking a leaf, and instilled it within a pair of eyes. Andrew could only murmur, "You're here."

"You're late," Quinn quipped, though the raised corners of her primrose lips spoke a different message. The two let go of each other, though the warmness pulsing through Quinn's heart did not recede. "Also, you're such a dingbat. Couldn't you wait until dawn?"

"It was worth it," he replied earnestly. Quinn glanced down at her feet to hide the blush creeping into her cheeks. Could he be any cuter? Firstly, he goes out to find her at the darkest hour of night, and then he even compliments her. The nerve of the boy! Treating their lives like a cliché rom-com. Quinn was gagging on the cheesiness.

"By the way," Andrew added sheepishly. "I didn't know what you looked like, so I'm glad I found the right person."