A little present for all you UsnavixVanessa fans out there...
Lincoln groaned as his mother threw his jacket over his head, saying, "You'll catch cold, now put it on," in an impatient tone. He was already late for school, he knew that, and she had to make it worse by forcing a winter coat on him.
"I'll be fine," Lincoln insisted, tying his scarf in a neat knot at the base of his throat and straightening his sweater. "It's not that cold outside, Mama." Slinging his backpack over one shoulder and kissing his mother goodbye, Lincoln dashed out the door before she could say another word.
In retrospect, his mother had been right. Lincoln hugged his small frame with his arms, focusing on the snow-dusted ground and wishing he had looked out of the window that morning. He met up with Usnavi and Benny at the corner and they continued on towards school together. None of the boys spoke, their breath fogging the air in front of them and noses turning pink as they trudged up the sidewalk.
Lincoln did not look up until Usnavi, who was walking between him and Benny, grabbed his arm and, shaking it, pointed towards the school building. "Look!" he said, cheeks flushed and voice cracking.
Benny and Lincoln both followed his gaze, squinting through the flurries until they found what exactly had gotten Usnavi so excited. He seemed to be pointing at a girl who was standing uncertainly by the entrance to the school, bulky sweater making her stick-thin legs look like twigs.
"Who's that?" Usnavi wondered aloud, his eyes trained on the girl's long black hair, which the wind was tossing this way and that, particles of snow dusting the top of her head.
"Go on, man, say hola," Benny nudged the other boy, chuckling as Usnavi took off at a sideways gallop, head bobbing excitedly as he went. "She is quite a looker, isn't she?" he said quietly to Lincoln, elbowing his arm lightly.
"What?" Lincoln looked from Benny to the girl again, shrugging. "Oh… yeah, I guess so." Lincoln felt his already pink cheeks darken as Benny put an arm around his shoulders, grabbing his scarf and waving it in his face.
"That's our Lincoln," Benny sighed. "Always the polite one."
((Flurries))