| perhaps his heart was two sizes too small | OPEN!

A biting gust of air pushed through the atmosphere, hurdling with it the lightest dust of snow. A small red bench sat among it's path. It was modest in size scaled next to the tree it sat underneath. It had deep red paint that was chipping, revealing a harsh metallic silver, although most of it had been covered with a powdery white layer of precipitation. It sat on top of a small slope, and overlooked the span of the courtyard. But perhaps the most interesting thing about this small bench, was perched on top of it's icy layer sat no other than Verona Andrews.

It was an understatement to say our dear Ms. Andrews had lied low these past few months. Actually, the girl was practically absent at almost every social event, gathering, AND mission. But a certain event had weighed heavily upon her heart and it had forced the close minded girl to take a step back. A few steps back actually. Her heart had been broken, her summer had been ruined, and worse of all, her whole family now roamed the Beata Campus. She was bitter to say the least.

She looked across the foggy courtyard, watching the snow spiral down and claim its own spot around her. Verona noted the careless meandering of the water crystal and envied it. So light, so beautiful, so nonchalant. Around her the wind whistled it's own Christmas tune. All was calm, all was bright until the crunching of boots in the snow met her ears and interupted her thoughts. The brunette whipped her head around to greet the intruder with a pair of menacing green eyes.



I just love Christmas and I wanted a christmasy topic with my little grinch c: please join I don't bite I promise

How was it possible to ignore somebody so well when they lived quite literally in the room right next to yours?

With the cold snow slowly and steadily covering the campus with a white blanket, there were few who dare to step outside the school buildings; the freezing weather pushing most to stay inside. Hell, especially in the case of the Autumn house, it could be considered lucky if people could drag themselves out of their warm beds. That's where he preferred to stay, if he could, but family called and he'd spent the good majority of the morning running errands around for the school's dear nurse. He wasn't sure what to do now. He could go to the gym, go hit up Jayden - or Evelyn, or find something to waste time in the lounge.

Something distracted him from doing any of those things, though. In a raised corner of the courtyard, he saw a shaped that tugged at his attention. From the distance behind, he couldn't tell who it was, and curiosity urged him closer. It wasn't until the girl's head whipped around and his gaze met those sharp green eyes that it all became crystal clear.

"Verona?" He blinked. He'd barely caught sight of her the past few months, except for in distances in the hallways or during class. Even those times that they were stuck closer together, they never talked, even on the few occasions he did try to strike up a small conversation. The Autumn said nothing for a few moments, a small part of him wondering if it would be wiser just to move on. "What are you doing out here?"

Jason. Her heart skipped two beats. Verona ignored them.

"Oh."

A whistle of wind filled the silence in the air between them. She searched is face for any kind of regret, any sadness. He looked fine. He looked happy. Ugh, she hated him and his stupid blonde hair and his stupid gold eyes and that stupid little dimple on his chin(just going off of that little picture here). Instinctively she smoothed down a brown curl with the palm of her hand, as if not bothered by his sudden appearance. "Is it not obvious? I'm sitting out here on a bench, enjoying the snow." Verona replied narrowing her eyes slightly.

She clamped her mouth shut and turned back around, her cheeks flushing with a mixture of embarrassment and anger. As stated before, they rarely ever talked and Verona had been the one who made sure of it. And even now, as she sat flustered by his presence, she felt a million comments she wanted to say, but she held her tongue. He was no longer worth her energy. The girl let out a small sigh and prayed that maybe Jason would get the hint and leave, although she knew better than to expect this.

Yeah, with that dismissal of hers, the definite smart thing to do would be to just shrug the snow of his shoulders and walk away then, but let's face it - it wasn't exactly in Jason's nature to turn and leave, not if he could help doing anything otherwise. Deciding then and there that he'd had enough of the cold distance between them - literally and figuratively, he'd at least try and talk to her. Actually try. And if everything went to shit after that, then...

Well, he also wasn't one to dwell on worst case scenarios. "I see," Jace muttered, avoiding her gaze as he stepped around the bench, pausing alongside the empty space beside her. "Mind if I join you then?" For a moment, he wondered how long she had been out here alone. She didn't seem like to type to admire winter. It was cold, wet... It'd ruin her hair, for once thing. It was quiet, sure, but he'd always known her as the lively type. Shouldn't she be inside, where everyone else was?

Finally, his gaze flickered towards her. Even looking away, he could see how cold she was - her cheeks flushed red...

... That was from the cold, right?

Verona kept her focus on the gradually falling snow, ignoring his statement for a second. But her eyes narrowed and she bit her lip to show she had heard him. Another gush of wind roared by and Verona was still. Slowly, she began to turn her head towards Jason, her eyes narrowing further. "No matter how I answer you're not going to leave are you?" She said blatantly, her teeth pressing harder into her lip.

As if already knowing the answer, she slid over to the end of the bench and patted the empty space next to her. "You might as well sit." Her voice was distant and held the stale remnant of old forgotten feelings. She looked straight ahead.

It was truly strange how fast life can change. A memory, just as unfamiliar and distant as her voice flashed before her. She remembered the night. The laughter peeling through the air accompanied by jovial clang of hooves. Verona remembered the prideful smirk she had worn as she basked in the glory of her victory. She, Verona Andrews, and officially won a race and secured herself a date to the Summer formal. How long ago it seemed since that day. How strange it was to think about how naive she was only a few months ago.

"So why is it you're here? I haven't spoken to you in months and now you decided to strike up a conversation...? That's not really how things work Jason." Her voice pierced the quiet and punctured a hole in her thoughts. Even Verona felt surprised by the sudden arrival of her words.

The corner of his mouth twisted in the smallest smile at her question. He couldn't say that he wouldn't leave exactly. After all, there was no b point in trying to talk to her at all if it would only prove as good as talking to a brick wall. He also wasn't exactly keen on striking up a reputation of being where he wasn't wanted. Save that titled trophy for Montare. But if there was a chancr of really talking, actually being around her after God-knew how long, you could pretty much be assured that he was going to press his luck.

"Thanks." Jason muttered, brushing a few stray bits of snow out of the spot, sitting down and getting comfortable. For a moment, his mind traveled to the last formal as well. Shooting a glance at her, he wondered if it really was all that bad of a night. All they did mostly was dance and drink too much punch... Would she be going again this year?

Jace didn't want to create more tension than there already was, but as the words tumbled out into the quiet clearing, he couldn't help but frown a bit. "Then explain to me how things work." He said, holding back a small scoff. "Maybe... I just wanted to see you again?"

ooc;; let's just pretend it hasn't been more than a month okay? <3

Verona stared blankly at Jason. She hadn't really expected him to question her statement. Verona had just figured it was a rhetorical statement. But then again, this was Jason she was talking too and he was always a little unpredictable. A gust whimpered lamely between the two, filling the silence as Verona searched her vocabulary for the right thing to say. "Well, I-i honestly don't know how it works--" She muttered defensively. "But, I do know that we haven't talked to each other and forever, and normally when that happens people don't just stop by to talk about casual things."

She looked down at her lap, fumbling with a button on her coat so she had an excuse not to look back up at Jason. It was so frustrating. Here she had been for weeks in her little secluded room purposefully ignoring Jason and fuming over something stupid. Yet now that she was next to him and she searched for any sliver of a reason to justify her anger she was left with nothing. His emotions and comments and actions all seemed so genuine and raw. He was not being sarcastic towards Verona to hurt her, but instead actually cared for her well being. Verona knew that if Jason had been the one ignoring her she definitely wouldn't have been this kind towards him. And it struck her just how rude she had been towards him. Jeez, she really felt like a jerk.

He was honestly surprised when those first words had escaped her, as she hardly struck him as the type who could possibly come up short of words to say; he'd figure after months of a long standing silence between them, the moment they had finally talked then, well...
He hadn't expected the chance to appreciate the gentle gusts of wind and snow around him. He'd expected brutality, but maybe that was unfair of him. "Well," Jace started with a sigh. "First time talking in however long... Would you prefer we talk about... that" That. Her. Them.
A part of him knew it'd have to be talked about at some point, but it wasn't exactly in his nature want to put the memories upbon the spotlight. Talking about the weather seemed like the much safer route.
Every now and then, he couldn't help but shoot a glance her way before looking back out into the snow, some stupid, silly part of him afraid to catch her eye. His mind flashed back to that warm afternoon in the stables. Things were completely different now.

Verona looked up at Jason startled. Yes, it actually had been what she wanted to talk to him about. For days on end she would sit on her bed staring out her window and stringing together a slew of ruthless comments and remarks. She had originally had it all planned out, but sitting here like this was definitely not what she had imagined. Nor had she expected to feel this sense of sympathy towards the blonde boy. Verona felt oddly unprepared.
"Well, I mean-- yeah." She retorted calmly. Verona dropped her gaze back down to her lap. "I feel like I deserve some sort of explanation. That way I-- we could move past this for good."
That was it. Verona had taken a huge step towards the closure that she obviously needed. She felt weirdly calm about it all too, which felt extremely uncharacteristic compared to her mood lately. But despite this calmness, she felt rather meek next to Jason within the given circumstances. Slightly nervous of his response, she directed her eye contact in any general direction except towards the boy himself.

Oh, she actually did want to talk about that? Jason let out a small, nervous laughter, running a few fingers uncomfortably through his hair. Haha, well... shit...
He was even more clueless on what to say than she was herself. She'd spent tons of time thinking about this moment, what to say, what would happen and when it came to him; the thoughts were unpleasant, so he gave little thought to it as he possibly could. Until now, anyways. That sounded pretty shitty of him. He'd been living it up while Vera was left hurt by herself. How fair was that?
"Fuck, what do you want me to say?" He muttered, glancing in the other direction. Where was he even supposed to begin? What was he supposed to talk about? Them? The stables? Their little contest? Her? Evelyn? Had he led her on? He hadn't really known that she liked him, not really. He had a feeling, but he never thought it was that serious. And...
Damn...

Verona stared at Jace with a gaping mouth. Her eyes widened painfully, she had never expected him to react like this. Wasn't she supposed to be the one who was frustrated? "Shit Jason never mind. Forget I even mentioned it." Verona spat, sliding her self off the bench completely. Her emotions were building and her emotions were all going to explode. But that wasn't going to happe-- "I mean I guess it's kind of stupid for me to assume that maybe you felt bad for upsetting me and wanted to maybe... I don't know... apologize. But why should you, right? You didn't care at all. Not about me. I mean, I can clearly tell now."
With that being said Verona quickly turned around and started on her way down the side walk towards the building. She just had to get out of this cold weather and-- UMPH! Verona landed smack on her back, her limbs sprawling out around her. In all of her rage she had completely missed the huge patch of ice that had declared itself across nearly two feet of the sidewalk. Verona felt dizzy, but refused to remain planted here. She moved her hand away and attempted to get up for a safe get away. But once again she lost her footing and tumbled right back onto the icy snow. The brunette was completely humiliated, there was no way this day could get worse.

He'd hardly been paying attention those first few moments, still looking the other way, still potting out his next few words carefully; not wanting to fuck anything up. Little did he realize then that he'd pretty much screwed everything before he even really started. The next thing he knew, she was completely flustered, venom in her words as she stood up; moving to make a quick get away. "Wh- What? Wait, Verona!" Of course he wanted to apologize but - That was not what he meant?
The young man was on his feet in an instant, standing there awkwardly as her back turned to him and walked away. What the hell just happened? Somehow, he felt like an even bigger ass than before. He wondered if it'd be worth it to go after her, or deal with a few more months of silence, before she's lost her footing - slipping onto the icy snow. Horrible situation aside, it was hard not to laugh, just a little...
Jace walked up to the struggling Autumn, offering a hand. "I'm sorry." He said quickly before she had the chance to get away again. Maybe they could talk it all over somewhere warmer, with less ice to slip on?

Verona laid on the ice without daring to move again. She stared up at the gray sky and watched a parade of little ice crystals float down to their final resting place. Maybe God would be graceful and grant her that same fate. Honestly, the thought of this being her final resting place made her less uneasy than the thought of having to witness Jace's smug face once more as he helped her back onto her feet.
Ah, no such luck. Verona sucked in a shallow and slightly defeated breath as she excepted his help up. "Thanks." She said through an exhale. Standing here now it made their already awkward situation even worse. Verona didn't know exactly what to do, she definitely didn't have anything left to say. She looked around awkwardly before looking longingly towards the building.

He muttered a small 'don't mention it' after she was back up and unto her feet, letting his hand fall back to his side. For a moment, he considered asking if she wanted a cup of coffee or a bite to eat, but then she might take it the wrong way and get fed up with him all over again. The awkward tension in the air didn't help at all, and it was obvious she wanted out of the area. He felt like such an idiot. Fuck it.
"You like to assume the worst of me." Jace sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Probably my fault... But look -" He was just gonna throw out the first words that came to mind and to hell with it if none of it made sense.
"I was stupid, alright? I didn't think you really cared, so I didn't care either - and when things came up..." His mind flashed to day in the hallways, when she'd confronted about Eve staying in his room. "I led you on to think the worst, and then more shit happened... This was probably coming out all wrong. And he probably sounded as stupid as Montare then too. What else could he really say?
"I'm sorry I played you, alright? I should've just been straight forward about everything." He probably had just left her even more awkward and confused. Jason huffed and turned away, letting her walk away if she'd like, or saving himself from a slap. He wasn't gonna keep her there any longer if she didn't want to be.

Verona looked down at her feet as she listened, too embarrassed to look him in the eyes. "Well thanks," she finally mumbled after a few moments of silence. "I really needed to hear that. I uh-- accept your apology. The girl looked back up at Jason and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"And I'm sorry I've been so... well you know... like this."

ooc; short post ftw! yay!!