He believed me. That was it. It was okay. Better even, because he knew what I was trying to get out since August. I had class and told him such, before I headed out.
"You're winter," he said in no more than a whisper to my back.
"What was that?"
His tears were gone and replaced with a look of surprise. "Nothing. Talking to myself."
I knew better.
~.~.~
After Finny died his parents came to claim his things and, since I avoided the room during their visit, came to find me. They caught me outside not far from the dorm. His mother looked as though she hadn't paused from crying for days and his father serious, but laced with sorrow.
"I wanted something to put on his stone," his mother said. "When someone dies so young, there should be something said."
I nodded that I agreed. What could I do other than agree? There should always be something said.
His mother faltered, so his father continued for her. "We're unable to agree on what it should be and-"
"He spoke of you more than anyone else," she said. "We were looking for a short quote, but he was never fond of reading."
His father tipped his hat in farewell. "If you come up with anything."
If there was one thing I wished I could say to Finny, I didn't have to think about what it was. I knew what I'd want.
"Loved by winter," I said. "He loved winter. Once I told him that winter didn't like him very much." I tried not to smile at the memory. "He said that, of course, winter loved him. Because when you love something so much it has to love you back."
His mother closed her eyes and smiled, and I knew it was they hoped for.
"That was Finny."