I awoke in the middle of the night to someone rapping on my window, which frightened me so terribly I had to cover my mouth to keep from shrieking. I rolled over and peeked around the thick curtain covering the window five inches from my head. There was a boy standing outside in the snow, bundled up beneath layers upon layers of overcoats and scarves. He had a wool hat on, but the tiniest strands of his red hair were still visible, a stark contrast against the dusting of powdery snow that had fallen just that evening.

I clicked the padlock back into place and pushed the stiff window open, letting in the frigid winter air and sending a cloud of lingering dust into the night.

The boy with the red hair beamed at me.

"Hi," he said through a grin, "How are you?"

"Sleepy." I said matter-of-factly, "What's going on?" I sat up, silently inviting him in. He crawled through my minuscule window and sat on my bed, stealing the blankets right off of my lap and wrapping himself in them. "What, was the one-block walk too far for you?" I teased, snatching them back from him.

"Nollie, it's freezing out there," he chuckled, pulling the blanket back to his side, "Do you not see the snow?"

As if I'm blind. "What are you doing here?" I finally asked.

"I missed my best friend."

I fought the blush that crept across my cheeks by sliding out of bed and stepping across the cold wooden floor to reach my dresser. I slid the top drawer open and fished out a ragged sweater the color of a pumpkin and tugged it over my head. If he was going to steal my blanket, then I got to wear my favorite sweater. He gave me a sleepy half-smile as I crawled back into my bed and tucked my feet under the bit of blanket that is left.

Something fluttered in my stomach as I looked up at him, after propping my very flat pillow between my back and the wall, and realized that his gaze had never wavered from me. I swallowed and tucked my arms around my stomach, silencing the flutterings.

"Where have you been?" I finally asked, watching as my breath formed a tiny translucent cloud before my eyes.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe it!" He looked like a child, the amount of excitement on his face, "I've just returned from the most fascinating adventure yet—" He spun into a fast-talking recount of his most recent adventure, which had caused him to be away for nearly two weeks. I'd missed him terribly while he was away. For the first few days, I didn't even know where he was—until I stopped by his flat and his landlady had given me a note he'd written in a hurry on his way out the door. Nollie: be back soon. I'd kept this note folded, tucked in my pocket as I waited for this 'soon' to arrive. It had snowed twice while he was away. Twice! And it's not even December yet.

And here it was. Here he was. My best friend, the journalist with the red hair, finally back. Sitting on the opposite side of my bed with rosy cheeks and my blanket.

He finished his story with a sigh and looked at me. I had been suppressing shivers the entire time, but he still caught on. "You're going to freeze to death," he noted, "Doesn't your room have a fireplace in it?" His eyes left mine and searched around the room for one.

"Of course not," I said quietly.

"What—but that's absurd!" He breathed, "How could your aunt do that to you?"

I shrugged, and his face fell.

A heartbeat later, he pushed the blanket back towards me and before I could open my mouth to protest, crawled over with it.

The boy with the red hair snuggled in beside me, tucking the blanket up around my neck. "There," he said with a smile, tucking the blanket up around his neck as well.

As his hand retreated under the blanket, it brushed mine. He hesitated for a heartbeat, our knuckles touching, a breadth of air between us.

And then he moved his hand away.


I missed them, okay

~DisneyPrincess55