Listen to me while you read~

❅

               “Its too early in the morning for this,” Zelo grumbled as he rubbed his eyes.  His blonde curls were still visible under the hood of his jacket, and the red scarf wrapped around his neck hid the lower part of his face.  He childishly avoided eye contact with me and continued to grumble as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.  The scene instantly made me laugh. 

                “You almost slept the whole day away,” I replied, still laughing.  “It’s almost Christmas and I haven’t gotten anything for my friends and family yet.”  I continued to walk down the side walk while glancing through the windows of the shops that I passed by. 

                Zelo slowly followed behind, occasionally kicking the snow that was pushed off to the side.  “Why did you have to drag me along though?”

                Sighing, I waved my hand at him while saying “Go home then.  Sorry for thinking that we could have fun hanging out with each other today.”  I entered the store nearest to me so I could get away from him.  Sometimes he can be really inconsiderate of other’s feelings, especially mine.  Our friends say that he only does that because he actually likes me.  I don’t believe it though.

                 As I was looking at a variety of snow globes on a shelf, I felt someone tap me on the arm.  Turning around, Zelo was holding two covered cups in his hands.  “Here,” he said, handing one to me “My apology for earlier.”

                The cup warmed up my cold fingers the moment I touched it.  After I took a sip, my face lit up.  “Hot chocolate!” I smiled before drinking some again.  “Thank you Zelo.  You didn’t have to get me this you know.  An ‘I’m sorry’ would’ve been good enough.”

                “I know…but you really like hot chocolate and I’m actually glad that you asked me to tag along with you today.”  He averted his eyes from me before focusing them on the cup in his hands.  “I’m sorry.”

                A smile formed on my face, along with the warm feeling in my chest.  “Thank you again,” I said while giving him a one-armed hug, trying not to spill our drinks.  “There’s a store nearby that have really cheap but cute scarfs.  Let’s go!” I wrapped my free arm around his as I led him to the store.  I don’t know if its just the layer of warm clothing on us but.. he’s really warm.

                “Do you think she would like this one?” I held up a red scarf in one hand “Or this one?” I gave him my hot chocolate before holding up a white scarf in my other hand. 

                He examined both scarves before saying “I think the white one.  The red one would look better on you, plus it matches my red scarf.” 

                I smiled at him as I wrapped the red scarf around my neck.  He showed off his dimples by smiling back.  “We have couple scarves now,” I joked as I playfully nudged him.  After looking around a bit more, our shopping day finally ended and I was left with two bags filled with various types of scarves, beanies, and sweaters. 

                As we began to walk home, I spotted little white dots floating down from the sky.  “Zelo!  Look!  Its snowing again!” I exclaimed, spreading my arms out to try and catch as many as I can.  “I love the snow,” I said while letting out a content sigh.  I watched the small feathery crystal land on my clothing, making it seem as if I was coated with a thin layer of flour.  It wasn’t long until they melted away, leaving room for other snowflakes to take their place on my arms. 

                When I looked back at Zelo, I saw that he was trying to catch snowflakes with his tongue.  He tried extending it as long as he could and even tried to move towards the falling the snow for a better chance.  He didn’t seem to notice me for her was lost in his own little world.  He’s such a natural at being cute that he doesn’t ever have to try at all.  With not much success, he eventually gave up before picking up his pace so he would be walking right beside me.

                “I love the snow too,” he said while stuffing his hands back into his pockets.  “Hey, have you noticed that this is going to be our first Christmas together?”

                “Oh yeah it is!  That’s why your present is going to be extra special.  I already have it in mind and it’s going to be better than everyone’s combined!”

                “W-What?  You don’t need to do that.  I mean, having you in my life is enough.  Actually…I was…I was hoping that-“

                “Hey, have you noticed something else about the holidays?”

                “Hm?”

                I put my hood up before continuing “A lot of people are getting together.  Isn’t that strange?  Two of our friends recently got into a relationship this month and they seem happy and all but I think its kind of lame.  I mean, come on now, all they want is someone to spend the holidays with.  Its not like they really like each other.”

                Zelo stopped walking so I did as well.  He lightly kicked the snow at his feet.  “I should go now, I think I forgot about something I needed to do today,” he mumbled.

                Before he could walk away, I grabbed his arm.  “Hey, what’s wrong?  Why are you acting like this?”  I tried to look at him but he began to avoid eye contact with me like he always does when he gets mad.  If he’s upset on what I was talking about earlier, then I’d be really confused because I have no idea why he would be so worked up on such an irrelevant subject to him.  “Zelo, you can tell me.  We’re best friends, aren’t we?”

                Sighing, he shook his head.  “That’s the problem.  Is that all we’re going to be?”  He ran a hand through his blonde curls as he glanced down at the snow on the side.  “There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you but…” he looked back at me and said “Turn around and don’t look, okay?”

                “Um, alright,” I replied, doing what he said.  Staring at the buildings in front of me, I impatiently rocked back and forth on the balls of my feet.  I could hear him scooping up snow and padding it down behind me.  “If you’re planning on throwing a snow ball at me, I’m warning you now that if you get any of these gifts wet I’m gonna-“

                “It’s not a snow ball,” he interrupted.  “The reason why I got mad is because of the couple thing you were talking about… That they don’t really like each other and are just into one another because of the holidays.”

                “I’m…sorry?  I didn’t know you’d get offended by that.” 

                “No, I totally agree with you,” he replied “I hate those kinds of couples too.  The reason why I got mad is that I was afraid that you would think of me in that way when I would try to…” he trailed off the same time he stopped working with the snow.

                Swallowing the lump in my throat, I waited for him to continue. 

                “I like you,” he confessed “I really like you.”

                I felt the heat rise to my face as he said those words.  So the fact that he liked me was true.  Everyone has been telling me for such a long time and at one point, I suspected it too.  But in the end, I chose not to believe it.  I thought that it was kind of strange for someone like him to have feelings for me.  I didn’t want to get my hopes up for anything either.  “You like…me?”

                “Yes,” he replied as I heard him continuing to mold the snow “Sometimes I acted like a jerk to you because I didn’t want you to know that I liked you.  I knew that you didn’t like me back but I had to tell you one day.  I guess today was the day that I finally built up enough courage to confess.  Whether you accept my feelings or not, I’m just glad that I won’t regret not telling you.”

                “Zelo…” I mumbled. 

                “You can turn around now.”

                When I did, I almost dropped the bags that were in my hands.  Next to his feet was a heart made out of snow.  It was the same width as a soccer ball and it was a few inches high.  It was also a little lop-sided but it was still the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.  I then looked at Zelo, whose face was completely red and I knew it wasn’t from the cold weather.  I took a few steps closer towards the heart before squatting down.  “I love it,” I told him while covering my mouth since I was smiling too much.

                “I don’t exactly know what my feelings are for you yet, but they’ve been developing into something more than just wanting you as a friend.  Taking a chance with you is risky…but I think I want to take that risk.”  I stood up as I continued to smile at the heart.  Taking his hand in mine, I directed my smile towards him.

                His other hand came up to my face to take my hood off.  As he played with a strand of my hair he said “Each snowflake may be different, but it’s you that’s unique.”  He gently brought the strand around in front of my face so I would be able to see the single snowflake on it. 

                “Hey, who gave you the permission to be cheesy now?” I laughed, playfully hitting him in the stomach.  Zelo laughed along with me before he pulled me into a hug.

❅

Zelo and I browsed all the shops while sipping hot drinks, and as we walked home he made a snow heart for me and he said “Each snowflake may be different, but it’s you that’s unique.”

Written by: Kiwi923       

~

Thank you to 808_appler for helping me on this chappie when I got writer's block lol I tried to choose a song that would match the story line but...meh...Lol like I said, I tried.  Atleast it somewhat matches \o/ Thank you for reading!