WWW: Somewhere Cold and Caked in Snow

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

AJ was still wondering why the Book Nook was still open. The snow was picking up outside. She could see it through the window and there were but just a few customers wandering the aisles. Bored, she left her spot behind the counter with a sigh, going down an aisle to straighten up books that had been misplaced.

She'd made sure to dress warm at least, in a big sweater, thick cotton leggings and boots. Her coat, scarf and hat were in the back room for when work was over. As she rearranged books, she realized she'd almost forgotten that Oliver was coming to visit and was about to take her phone out from her pocket (a sweater with pockets, so perfect) to text him and tell him to no longer come. They'd probably close early anyway and she didn't want him to trek all the way out here just for her. They'd been trying to see more of each other, to talk, to be normal. Everything was out in the air, everything about what happened that night and how the both of them felt and yet it still felt like there were things unsaid. The clock on her phone told her that it was minutes within the time he said he'd be there. It was too late.

[Oliver Barnes]

Oliver had been at his apartment he shared downtown with another university student all morning, working on finishing a novel for one of his intro English classes. There was a lot more reading than what he was use to, but otherwise, he was managing to do well. It helped that his room mate spent most of his time playing games in his room, leaving the rest of the space for Oliver. Earlier, he had texted AJ asking to come visit her at work, to take a break from the reading and quiet of the apartment. Sometimes, it was a little much.

He had already begun to make his journey over, a trip that usually took five minutes, doubled due to the current weather conditions. He had encountered worse in Minnesota, though. His winter jacket and gloves were enough paired with his favourite grey beanie and light denim shirt with black jeans. Before AJ could even send the text, he had arrived at the Book Nook; cheeks flushed from the cold wind.

The warm air of the shop was a nice welcome. Snow stuck to his jacket, boots and hat. Removing his jacket, Oliver hung it on the coat rack and shook the remnants of snow off of his beanie before slipping it back on. His gaze searched the shop to find her familiar features.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

AJ slipped her phone back into her pocket when she heard the door bell go off to the store. She put the book back in its place that she'd picked up and walked to the end of the aisle, peeking around the bookcase to see a familiar face hanging up his coat. "Oliver," she called out as he shook out his hat. He'd hat that beanie forever. She had memories of him wearing it all through the winters in Minnesota. She actually felt herself smiling. And it'd been hard to do so around Oliver because usually she was so deep in thought about everything that happened between them.

"I was going to text you. Is it bad out there?" She couldn't really tell from just looking through the window and what they categorized as bad weather could be much different from what people in Vermont did.

[Oliver Barnes]

Oliver stepped away from the door once his jacket was hung up, pulling his beanie back over dishevelled hair as her voice reached him across the way. Looking up, a smile came easily to his face when he met her eyes. "AJ, hey." He greeted. It was good to see her smiling too; sometimes the silence that filled the air between them bordered the line between comfortable and tense.

Shrugging, he glanced back towards the door for a moment. "It's not... terrible. Unexpected, yes. But we've been through worse, I can guarantee that." Oliver said with a laugh. "It did make the walk a little more difficult than usual but nothing catastrophic."

"How have things been over here?" He asked, vaguely gesturing towards the space around them. The Book Nook seemed to be pretty quiet, probably due to the weather.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

"I figured as much," AJ replied with a shrug. "Still, I should have texted you. I don't know how bad it will get and I'm waiting for the owner to call and tell me to close." He actually wasn't working today. Figures. "It's fairly boring." The last few people just seemed as if they were browsing and she wasn't sure if they'd even end up buying anything. "Quiet, but I don't mind it." AJ was allowed to go around and look at books after all, and sometimes if it was really quiet, she could read at the register. The owner said that it encouraged people to ask what she was reading and could potentially make a sale. She didn't really care because it meant more reading time. Although now it was usually novels from classes.

"Have you finished Emma yet?" She asked. Her own copy of the Austen novel was sitting back behind the register. It was basically a tale about a girl trying to play matchmaker at the core of it all. She was about 100 pages from the end.

[Oliver Barnes]

"That's alright. It was getting kind of boring at the apartment anyway." Oliver said. Coming over to the bookstore helped to give him a break from all the reading. The cold air outside was refreshing and helped him feel more awake and energized now. "Yeah, I bet. Not a lot of people are willing to go outside." Once the snow hit the ground, everyone seemed to have retreated into their homes unless it was necessary to leave.

Shaking his head, a guilty smile crossed his face. "Uh... no. I'm about halfway through." He admitted. "I'm finding it hard to get through." Oliver always found it hard to read a book when he wasn't interested in the material, so Emma was at the bottom of his priority list. But he knew he would have to get through it, eventually. "Did you finish it?"

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

"By boring do you mean writing a paper?" AJ asked, although she knew the answer was probably yes. It seemed all they did as English majors was write papers. "I know, right?" It was so different from Minnesota. School was hardly cancelled when it snowed, stormed even. She and Oliver had trekked through the barely plowed roads to high school once. "Afraid of a little snow." Apparently the winter was supposed to be bad over here and mild back in the Midwest. It was odd.

"Ah, can't stand the girly feminine style of Austen?" AJ wrinkled her nose. "I'm kidding. I'm having trouble too...and I feel like I shouldn't be. I love the classics. I just have a hard time finding Emma likeable too." She sighed. "I'm not done either. Further than you though. 100 pages to go I think." She was glad they could make normal conversation now. It was easier. They were around each other a lot, having the same major and it wasn't as if she didn't like Oliver. But it was still a work in progress.

She found herself thinking about home a lot, which was odd, because normally it made her think of the horrible memories, not the good ones. It was a step forward she supposed. "Have you, uh, thought about visiting?" She asked on a whim. "Home, I mean."

[Oliver Barnes]

Groaning, Oliver nodded. "Yeah, there's like a million papers to do and I don't want to start any of them." A million was a bit of an exaggeration; though it sure felt that way. "I have one due next week and I just feel so unprepared for it." The snow wasn't a big deal. He had heard some of the university students complaining about the cold and all Oliver could do was bite his tongue. Clearly, they weren't from the Midwest.

"Maybe. Truthfully, I haven't even read Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility, so this is my first experience with Austen." Oliver admitted. Which was atypical for an English major, he realized. "No, I understand what you mean. I usually don't mind the classics but.. yeah. There are better books out there." In his opinion. "Oh wow, you're close to the end. Does it get any better or no?" He asked, turning to face AJ.

Conversations with her were beginning to feel a little less strained and forced. More natural, like how it use to be when they were younger. With that thought, she brought up the question about visiting home, which made Oliver pause for a moment to think. "Uhm, sort of? It crosses my mind sometimes. I miss the people there. A visit would probably be good."

"How about you? You want to go back to Minnesota and visit?"

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

"Don't remind me." AJ had a lot of similar classes that Oliver did. Papers were piling up as it came closer to the holidays. "Not much better, no. Sorry to disappoint you."

She was realizing that she hadn't been home for the holidays since she'd been sent to Hammel. Her parents hadn't understood why she didn't want to come home, they'd been hurt and AJ felt horrible for that, because it wasn't that she didn't want to see them. It was the memories that were there that she didn't want to face. And she'd been so vague in explaining what happened between her and Oliver and about telling them about her power. How did she make them understand without rehashing all of it all over again? She knew that they loved her, but she also knew she hurt them.

It wasn't that she missed the people there. She really only missed her parents. She'd drifted very far from the few friends she'd had when everything had went down. She missed where she came from. And her home. "I've been thinking about it too. I actually haven't been home since I came to Pilot Ridge," she admitted, chewing on her bottom lip. "And the holidays are coming up...would you maybe want to go with me?"

[Oliver Barnes]

"It feels like we're writing the same paper for every class, just with different novels and authors." Oliver complained, frowning at that plus AJ mentioning that the book didn't really get any better. Which gave him even less motivation to finish it. "Damn. Guess we'll justg have to trudge our way through it."

From what he could remember, Oliver had gone home once. A brief visit that didn't last longer than a week. But not during the holidays. Winter would always remind him of how he nearly lost himself after what had happened, and he couldn't stand the thought of visiting when the only memories he had were tinged with sadness and the cold. Even in Vermont, Oliver found himself spending more time alone during the winter.

The only person, besides family, that Oliver had stayed in contact with was Ace. He was the type of friend that he knew he couldn't afford to lose. "Really? You've never gone back?" Oliver asked, surprise colouring his features in response. "Yeah.. yeah, I'd like to do that. We can go back.. together. I'm sure your family really wants to see you again." He added with a nod.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

"And to think that this is what I've wanted to do since middle school," AJ said with a sigh. She'd always dreamed of going to college for English since she was eleven years old. Oliver knew that more than anybody because he was the one who listened to her go on and on about it. At least they both seemed to have an affinity for writing.

"No, I haven't." His shock made her realize truly how long it had been. "I feel horrible." Who was she to not go home and see her parents just because of a traumatic event that had happened at school? She couldn't just ignore her family and everyone else at home because of what had happened. She'd done it for too long. She also missed her beagle, Bagel, a lot. "I miss everyone and I'm just afraid it's going to be awkward." They didn't understand why she hadn't come home, just that something had happened with Oliver. She sighed. Instead of rambling in anxiety, she should have heard what he said, what she'd finally processed. "Really? You'll come with?" She was immediately so thankful that she hadn't really thought twice and had acted on how she felt in the moment. She bounded forward and hugged him. "Thank you," she mumbled into his shoulder before the awkwardness of what she'd done just started to seep in.

She pulled away slowly. "I...uh, sorry. I should have asked or something." Who asks before they hug someone? "I mean, I.." Were they ready for that? For even that little physical touch after what happened? She was saved by the store phone ringing from the cashier's desk. "I should get that." She scurried away.

[Oliver Barnes]

A smile crossed Oliver's face as he thought back to their many conversations about going to school and doing what they both loved best. Maybe it had been a naive thought, or maybe he had a more glamorous image of what college was like in his head. "Yeah, I think we will adjust with time, though." He said. Or at least, he hoped so.

"Well, that's just more reason to go back. I can't believe it's been that long." Granted, he wasn't really one to talk considering how he could count how many times he had returned to Minnesota on one hand. "It might be awkward, but you also can't avoid them forever." He gently pointed out.

"Of course, you don't have to thank me or anything.." Oliver mumbled, because really, it wasn't a big deal. Plus, maybe the trip back to their hometown would be good for them or something. At least for AJ. To reacquaint themselves with a place that held one negative memory that had ruined all of the positive ones from before. Eyes widened as a pair of arms wrapped themselves around his body, and it took Oliver a second to process what was happening. A few seconds passed, and his own arms wrapped around AJ. It had been awhile since they hugged, let alone had some form of a physical connection.

The moment passed. She loosened her hold, and Oliver let go after some delay. "You don't have to apologize.." He began to say, but was interrupted by the store's phone ringing. "Oh, yeah... uh, okay." He mumbled, running a hand through his hair as he stood in place, waiting for her to return. God, that was awkward. But good? He couldn't explain it.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

AJ couldn't believe it'd been that long either, but Oliver was right. She couldn't avoid it forever, not if she wanted to have a good relationship with her parents again.

She had felt the need to thank him though. Things weren't back to normal with them. Not yet, and he still agreed to go with her for a visit. That's more than either of them would have done months ago. "I do though. It means a lot."

Obviously Oliver had been okay with the hug. He'd hugged her back, was confused by her apology. She made herself look like an idiot by apologizing. She'd just hugged him and felt like it was too soon or too much after what they'd been through.

"Hello?" she said into the phone, trying not to sound too stuck in her own head with panic. It was the store owner, telling her to close down for the evening because of the snow. It was the call she'd been waiting for. She only had a few closing duties to do and there was not a soul left in the store. She'd only went back over to Oliver to tell him that they were closing down. When she finally finished, she went over to find him again. "We're good to go," she told him, but then looked out the windows and realized how high the snow drifts were. "Wow, it got bad," she commented, just before the power flickered on and off and then went out completely.

[Oliver Barnes]

"It'll be nice to go back during the holidays." Oliver added. It was the season for family bonding, and what better way to mend the disconnection than Christmas season? Besides, it had been awhile since he had gone back to Minnesota and he was sure his own parents would love to see him during the break.

Was it weird for him to return the hug? Should he have let the moment pass, awkwardly, but without reciprocation? Oliver was left to question his actions as AJ ran off to go answer the phone. He sighed, taking off his beanie and putting it back on. It had been weird, but also nice. Maybe it was a sign that things were starting to return to normal.

Time had passed. Oliver grabbed a random book off the shelf, reading the back of it before delving into the pages. Something to pass the time and keep his attention focused on something else other than his thoughts. She had come to tell him they were closing down, and so he continued reading the book while waiting for her to finish up. Finally, AJ returned again and his eyes looked up from the page. "Sounds good." He said with a smile, moving to place the book back on the shelf before leaving. Before Oliver could reply, the lights had flickered and then they were left in complete darkness. "Yeah... no kidding." He answered with a frown, although she wouldn't be able to see that.