It was 5 days until Thanksgiving. My first Thanksgiving alone. Kate was vacationing in California with her boyfriend in celebration on his 21st birthday, Tim was in Canada visiting pseudo-family, and my brother and sister were staying south. And so, with no close friends nearby in my tiny, New York apartment, I made plans to cook and read all through the Holidays before continuing schoolwork.

I looked in the mirror, at ran my fingers through the cropped, purple hair that was the object of fascination for kids and teens in the park. I decided that I could use some eyeliner before going anywhere, but where would I go? None of my friends were in town, and there was no way anyone would find me in a club or dive bar...
Coffee shops! I could play violin at the coffee shop by the park! I applauded myself as I applied the bare minimum amount of makeup around my bright green eyes.

What should I even wear? Simple clothing crowded my closet, with only a few formal things. I decided on jeans, black boots, a grey sweater and red scarf.

"No gloves for violinists.." I muttered angrily to myself. New York in the winter was more like Alaska than anything. I grabbed my rosin, shoulder rest, and playing permit and stuffed them into my bag while walking out the door. As I walked into the elevator, I noticed that it was absolutely freezing. When I looked closer, there was actually frost on the buttons.
"I really do hate winter sometimes, don't you, Miss?" A little boy in the elevator asked me.
"It can be a pain. But it's worth it when you see how beautiful the sun looks on the snow, or when you see people bonding and having fun over ice skating or hot chocolate." I smiled at him, and he grinned brightly back.

"And snowball fights! Me and my friends are going down to the park to have a HUGE snowball fight! You'd like to join, Miss?" His mouth stretched into a huge smile and I laughed as we reached the lobby.

"I just might! I bet you've got mighty arms to throw with!"

"Thanks miss! I'll be gentle!" He waved and ran off the sidewalk, on the way to the park.

I smiled as I walked to the locally owned coffee shop, not at the thought of being pelted with snowballs, but more at the thought of the happy kids, grinning and running around and laughing harmlessly at each other.

The smell of the warm coffee shop welcomed me as I walked in, only to see my favourite Barista, Jason. "How's it hanging, Jason?"

"Pretty well. And business is great today, too!" He grinned at his own innuendo as i rolled my eyes. "Do you have any Thanksgiving plans?" He asked hopefully.

"Cook. Eat. Read. Violin. Pretty much the same daily routine but with even more food."

He smiled at me, "I may just have to get in on that, hun."

I rolled my eyes. "I'll have a hot chai latte, extra foam please."

"Coming right up, sugar." He winked at me and got to work as I opened my violin case on a table. He came over as I adjusted my shoulder rest and tried to continue the chat. "I wish I could play drums like you do violin. But violinists have the best hands anyway." He winked at me again as I slowly got kindof fed up with the innuendos.

"Is it 'get laid wednesday' or am I missing something here?"

He laughed and walked back to the counter to take another woman's order. Ugh. Jason was a cool guy but did he really have to do that every time I saw him? Whatever. I focused myself on remembering excerpts from Mendelssohn's Concerto in E. Playing violin right in the cold, right outside of a warm coffee shop, was irritating and fun at the same time. But after an hour or so, it was more like hard labour (even with delicious chai breaks) so I decided to pack up.
As I picked up my case and my bag, I took note of the boys still tossing snowballs at each other, some sitting behind miniature fort walls, hiding behind trees, and using benches as shields. "What the hell," I thought, "I haven't had a good snowball fight this year, may as well help them out." I set my stuff on one of the closer benches and dug my hands into the snow. It was still soft, thankfully, and not solid ice yet, so my fingers wouldn't ache so quickly. I packed the cold fluff into a ball and tossed it at the back of the little boy I saw in the elevator. He turned around and grinned at me, and I couldn't help but laugh at his semi-drenched hat and gloves. He ran to me and grabbed my sleeve to tug me to the rest of the kids. Several girls and boys cheered that it wouldn't be fair if I were on either team because I was a "grown up" (pfft 19 is not that old, you kids can just be quiet). But I decided to let them have fun with me. "I'll be on a team all my own!"

One girl stared at me, and they all giggled and agreed that it would then be fair. Oh god what did I just do.
The kids ran in all directions, back behind trees and snowy walls and rocks and into large bushes to gather snow. I ran behind a large oak and gathered snowballs almost the size of my head into a pile. "14...15!" Fifteen giant snowballs would be enough to impress them, right? I picked up one to find it surprisingly light and climbed several feet into the bare tree, where I could see the small square of the park. It seemed most of them had teamed against me. This was going to be so much-

"Holy shit!" I gasped as I realized someone was in the tree with me. How the hell did I not noticed that? But he looked as surprised as I must have.

"You.. you can see me?" He inquired cautiously, eyebrows furrowed. Jeez, his whole head of hair and his eyebrows were stark white.

"Um, yes? Is there a reason that I shouldn't?" I asked.

"Well I guess not, it just isn't very common." He shrugged.

The more I looked at him, the more peculiar he was. His skin was almost white, paler than my own, and he had bright blue eyes. Eyes that had a... strange quality. I couldn't quite place what it was. But they were eyes that looked strange on an 18-19 year old guy.

"She's in the tree!" One of the kids shouted. 15 or so kids ran to the underside of the oak and started to toss snowballs into it. I dropped my cannon-snow-ball and it hit two kids's shoulders. Several of them laughed and cheered, and they decided to use my giant snowballs for their own fight.

"Aww are you leaving, Miss?" The little boy asked of me.

"I'm afraid so, kiddo. Grownups get pretty tired, we can't keep up with your antics." I smiled at him as his mouth puckered downwards. I handed him a 20 from my wallet and told him to buy him and his friends snacks from the coffee shop when they had finished.

"I will! Thank you, miss!"

I shook my head as I gathered my things and headed toward my building, several blocks over. After only a moment, I heard Jason's piercing deep voice behind me. I turned around to him smiling and holding a large muffin. The white-haired guy was minding his own business (Holding a staff?) almost the entire block behind. I turned the corner as Jason babbled to me.

"Gosh these muffins are so good, don't you think, Eira? Almost as good as you! After all, I could just..." I gasped as he pinned me against a wall and covered my mouth. "eat you up."

"What the hell. Nope, not today, asshole." was the only thing to go through my mind as i snuck my knife out from my pocket.

Turns out, I didn't even need it.

A snowball pelted him it the face, and he fell backwards with ease. I looked down and his sneakers had frost covering them. "Eira you don't have time to think about that shit, run." I bolted down two blocks before stopping to catch my breath at a bench.

"You alright?" a familiar voice inquired.

I looked up. Great, white-haired guy. How did he even-
Oh.

"Fine. It's about time I knew your name if you're going to stalk me though." I panted.

And he laughed. "Jack. Jack Frost."

I laughed. "I won't even ask. But I will ask why the hell you're carrying a staff and why you aren't wearing shoes when it's this fucking cold."

He grinned mischievously at me. "Oh, you'd never believe me."

I gave him a 'you're-going-to-do-this-really' expression, and said seriously:

"Try me."