Sweaters & Cigarettes (54 page)

It's in the middle of the day, at
school, and Max, Theo and Cassie are making their way outside. There's no real
reason for it, but the sun is
finally
shining, and that's enough to lure
them out. So although it's still pretty cold, it's surprisingly warm in the
sunlight, and Theo even notices a few small buds, on a bush they pass by.

"Look at that," Cassie
says happily, as she notices them, as well. "Looks like spring's coming
early."

"You realize that all of that
is gonna die," Max points out, gesturing at the bush, "when it starts
snowing again."

Cassie glares at him.

"Must you?" she says.
"It's spring!"

"It's winter," Max
retorts. "Winter, and an unusually warm and sunny week."

"Don't be such a buzz-kill,"
Cassie says, as the three of them walk along, and then actually grabs Max and
puts her arm over his shoulders, tugging him to her. She gestures at the
horizon dramatically. "It's a new day."

Max raises an eyebrow at her.

"What's wrong with this
one?" he says, attempting to escape, but Cassie just pulls him closer.

"New day!" he repeats
vehemently, and Max groans a little, his walking kind of awkward, from her
clinging to him, like that.

"Alright, alright," he
says. "I get it. New day. Why don't you ride off on your unicorn, and
embrace it, or whatever."

Cassie raises her chin haughtily.

"Maybe, I will," she says
with some smugness. "And you're not invited."

"I'm pretty sure I'll
survive," Max replies dryly, and Cassie plants a kiss on his cheek, making
him groan again, before she finally releases him and actually
skips
away,
leaving Max and Theo walking at the same pace.

Theo chuckles fondly.

"Well, aren't you
adorable," he says, watching Max throw Cassie's back a slightly murderous
look.

"She's the one with rainbows
coming out of her ass," Max retorts, but Theo only smiles wider.

"Nothing wrong with
that," he says teasingly, taking Max's hand. "And she's right. It's a
new day."

Max glances at him, and although
his expression stays the same, his blue eyes are smiling.

They reach a small, grassy knoll,
near the edge of the schoolyard, and find Cassie just standing there, face
tilted upwards and eyes closed, as though simply soaking up the sunlight. She
hums pleasantly.

"Finally," she murmurs
against the brilliant blue sky, which hasn't got even the smallest cloud in
sight. Theo glances upward.

"It's still cold,
though," he points out, because it's true; they've been outside with open
jackets for barely ten minutes, and he's already starting to feel chilly.
Although, he must admit, it's much warmer than usual, and the sunlight
definitely makes it ten times better.

"Don't care," Cassie
says, before sniffling, sort of proving Theo's point. "Worth it."

Theo quirks a small, easy smile,
and makes his way over to stand next to her. He barely gets there, though,
before Cassie's phone beeps, and her attention is diverted. She takes her phone
out of her pocket and looks at it.

"Oh," she says.
"It's Emma, she's inside."

She looks up at Theo and Max.

"I'm just gonna go get
her," she says. "I'll be right back."

She glances up at the sky and emits
a tiny, pathetic whimper of longing, before hurrying off toward the school
entrance.

Theo lets out a deep sigh, before
standing so that he faces the sun, and he tilts his head back a little, closing
his eyes. It really does feel nice, like he can practically feel his skin
soaking up the light.

Then Max scoffs, and Theo turns to
him, at his side, expecting some kind of teasing look. But that's not what he
gets. Instead, Max is looking over at the other end of the schoolyard.

"I just realized
something," he says, and Theo glances over there, before looking back.

"Yeah?" he says.
"What's that?"

"Five months," Max
replies, turning to him, and Theo frowns.

"What?" he says, and Max
cocks his head slightly.

"Our first kiss," he
explains. Then, he looks away again and points toward the school building over
on the other side. "Over there. Five months ago, today."

Theo keeps his frown, looking over at
where Max is pointing. It is indeed the building behind which Theo found Max,
that day, forever ago. Where they ended up arguing about superheroes, and then
somehow wound up making out against the wall for half-an-hour. He smiles.

"Oh, yeah," he says lightly.
Then he frowns again, turning to Max.

"Wait," he says,
"you're keeping track?

"Hey, don't get a big head,
alright?" Max says it almost warningly, pointing at him, with a deliberate
look on his face. "The only reason I remember the date is because I had a
test the next day, and thinking about you fucked up my studying. It cost me a
few points."

"Uh-huh," Theo says
teasingly, giving him a pointed smile, and Max rolls his eyes, suddenly looking
a little uncomfortable.

"Don't," he says, while
Theo squeezes his hand, and Theo smiles wider.

"I keep telling you,"
Theo says, in a smug tone he knows Max hates. "You are a romantic, you
just won't admit it."

Max tilts his head back and lets
out a groan.

"Forget I said anything,"
he says, closing his eyes.

"Never," Theo says, and
when Max glances at him and their eyes meet, Max even smiles a little. And the
sun shines a little bit brighter.

They stand like that for a few
seconds, in silence, before Max releases Theo's hand, and Theo looks down. He
watches as Max takes out a pack of cigarettes, and he manages to suppress that
feeling he's gotten more and more lately, that apprehensive one he gets,
whenever Max smokes.

Max takes out a cigarette and
secures it between his lips, before taking out a lighter from his pocket,
flicking it to life and bringing it up to his mouth. Theo watches as he does
it, but then, suddenly, Max pauses. He lowers the lighter and plucks the
cigarette away with his hand, simply looks at it for a few seconds, turning it
over between his fingers, like he's thinking. He presses his lips together.

Theo is a little stunned, when Max
then simply throws the unlit cigarette away, landing it somewhere on the
frost-covered ground, and Theo raises his eyebrows. Max then looks down at his
pack of cigarettes, before doing the same thing with that, throwing it
somewhere in the bushes, and he takes a deep breath, while he puts the lighter
away. He turns to Theo.

"New day, right?" he
says, and Theo just looks at him, stunned, for several moments. Then, he smiles,
taking Max's hand again and lacing their fingers together.

"Yeah," he says. "Sounds about
right."