Aspect Of Winter

by Tom Early

  “Wow,” I said, surprised and impressed. “That’s a hell of a lot more wisdom than most people our age are capable of.”

  Tyler shrugged. “My parents always said I was an old soul. That I’d been around more than once, I guess. I just know a way to make me happy, and so I use it.”

  “Would helping me kill some more aliens help make you happy, Tyler?” I asked mischievously, unpausing the game and watching his character get swarmed.

  “Hey!” Tyler protested as he had to respawn, and then he grinned at me. “Yeah, it would.”

  I was woken up by a text from Sam the next day, telling me to get my ass in gear.

  It was summoning time. The journal gave instructions for each of the minor elemental spirits, so we decided to spend Thursday evening summoning a gnome, an undine, a sylph, and a salamander.

  The three of us met at my house, my parents still being out of town, and we headed into the woods behind my backyard. The scorched circle Sam and I had used to summon the ercinee was still there, and once Tyler and I finished scrubbing the dirt of the ercinee-specific incantations away, Sam set up for the gnome.

  She went first, but the spell wasn’t in a cooperative mood. To my surprise, it worked for me. I said the incantation, and a small mound of earth rose from the circle and promptly shaped itself into a garden gnome, cheery colors and everything. The gnome ignored us in favor of sitting quietly in the dirt until I dismissed it, at which point it flipped me off.

  The undine required a source of water, so the three of us set up an ice circle in Field Pond. Field Pond had always been a place of solace for me, where I’d go swimming in the summer and forget all about my troubles. I doubted it’d be enough to make me forget my latest problems, though.

  I closed my eyes and let the fluid syllables roll off my tongue, feeling them ripple through the air.

  The outline of a classically beautiful woman, all curves with long, flowing hair, made entirely out of water, rose slowly from the pond. Once summoned, however, she didn’t do much other than stare at me creepily. I dismissed it before it tried to hug me or something.

  Sam summoned both the sylph and the salamander. The sylph ended up flying all over the place in dizzying circles inside its summoning circle, never staying still long enough for us to get a good look at it. The salamander, a four-foot long red magical amphibian, just gave us all a scornful look, belched fire onto the ground, and promptly curled up inside it for a nap.

  None of them seemed particularly inclined to becoming our familiars, so we called it quits for the time being and went back to practicing the cantrips.

  On Friday, Tyler was walking back to his car after an afternoon of video games when he turned around.

  “I’m looking forward to tomorrow, Fay. See you at seven?”

  “Y-yeah, I am too. I’ll see you then.”

  He smiled at me, and drove off. I stood outside watching him leave longer than was necessary.

  At dinner I told my parents I’d be at Sam’s house Saturday night, and they exchanged looks. Fortunately they didn’t challenge my assertion, and I managed to escape upstairs without being assaulted. My head was spinning just thinking about tomorrow, so I just went to sleep to avoid overthinking things.

  **********************************************

  Hey Loverboy, are you ready to be my bitch for the day?

  I groaned.

  Sam, this is the most blatant abuse of Connection ever. How the hell did you even manage this without line of sight?

  Turns out a really accurate drawing and my own interpretation of a summoning circle are enough to skirt by those pesky rules.

  Must you break everything you touch?

  Shut up, you love me anyway. Now get out here and open the door, I need to laugh at your life choices.

  I made my wearily downstairs to the door. It swung open to reveal Sam, who was rocking her usual combat boots, along with a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and some sort of deep red tight-fitted shirt. Her hair had also been all done up, with her usually straight black hair falling into ringlets around her face.

  She shoved a Starbucks coffee at me though, so all was forgiven. I moaned happily as I inhaled the coffee vapors.

  “Yeah, yeah, I get it. You’re awake now. C’mon, I need to see exactly how much trouble you’re in right now.”

  “Might I ask why you’ve clearly felt the need to get all dressed up for this as well?”

  “I’m dressed under the assumption that I’m going to have to drag you to the mall after this. I might as well look hot while I’m victimizing you.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “Anytime, polar bear. Let Operation Make Fay Sexy commence!”

  The first step of Sam’s examination was relatively benign. She simply opened up my drawers and my closet, and sifted through them suspiciously.

  I yelped and dove to the side as stage two began. Sam let out a single derisive sniff, and then promptly tore into my closet. I ducked for cover as the wonderful sweatshirts and baggy jeans that made up the majority of my ensemble went flying around the room.

  “Sam, I have to sleep here!”

  “And I have to occasionally visit. I’m honestly surprised that Tyler’s crushing on you at all with what you’ve got here. It’s like I’m friends with a potato.”

  “I’m not a potato, Sam. I just don’t like fitted stuff. It doesn’t look good on me.”

  She gave me a disbelieving look.

  “Fay, come on! If I ever put you down, it’s as a joke. I know you’re weirdly insecure about your appearance, but I promise you, you look good when you put in the effort. And when I help you, you’ll look hot. You’re just going to have to leave your comfort zone a bit.”

  I just gave her a glum look, and gestured down at myself. “Thanks, but I’m pretty sure I would have noticed if I were the attractive sort. I’m barely average, and I’m fine with that.”

  She punched me in the arm, hard.

  “Ow! What the hell!”

  “Dammit, I don’t have the time to put up with your insecurities! You have a hot guy taking you out tonight, and that should be enough proof on its own that you’re a catch. But since that’s clearly not enough, I’m just going to have to show you.”

  “How, exactly?”

  “Well, for starters, you’re coming with me to the mall. Just wear that ugly shit you’ve got on now, we can burn it once you’ve successfully changed.”

  “I resent that.”

  “Good. You’ll resent more before the date begins.”

  “I hate you.”

  “Love you too, polar bear.”

  The mall was a nightmare for me. Hundreds of people wandering all around, endless chatter, bright lights and bad music. Still, Sam clearly knew what she was doing, so I just followed her as best I could as she wove her way through the crowd.

  Eventually, we came to some store that had guy’s clothes on sale. Which was good, since I wasn’t exactly flush with cash. Working at the bookstore in the summer only brought in so much. Sam yanked me inside and moved like a bloodhound to some clearance racks in the back, disappearing from sight in the clothes jungle. I stood awkwardly against the wall, and eventually one of the store’s employees, a friendly looking young woman with curly brown hair and thick rimmed glasses came over to me.

  “Can I help you, sir?” she said cheerily.

  “Don’t speak to him, he’s useless,” came Sam’s muffled reply from somewhere to my right. She surfaced, carrying a pair of jeans, her hair slightly out of place. The employee looked a bit surprised at her sudden appearance, but her face turned to delight quickly.

  “Hi, Cass” Sam said easily. “It’s good to see you again. How’ve you been doing?”

  “Sam! It’s been a while since you’ve come here. Is this your boyfriend?” Cass asked.

  Sam snorted. “No, this hopeless moron is about to go on his first date with a hot guy tonight, and what you see him wearing right now? It’s literally all he’s got for cl
othes. I didn’t know if you were going to be working today, but seeing as you are, can you please help this poor charity case?”

  “Sure!” Cass said chirpily. “Not bad material to work with… Hey, what’s your name, lucky guy?”

  “Uhh, Fay?”

  “Fay. Wow, that’s an awesome name. Can you do a little spin for me? I need to see what would suit your form best.”

  I gave Sam a helpless look, and she just nodded impatiently. I spun around glumly as the two girls observed me critically.

  “Nice ass.” Cass said, as if it were normal for people to just say things like that.

  “What?” I said, feeling my face burn. “Who even… what?”

  “Shut up, Fay. Let us do our thing,” Sam said.

  “You’re Satan, you know that?” But I kept on spinning. I knew when there was no point in fighting back, and that was one of those times. Eventually the two girls stopped me, and spun me back towards them.

  “You know,” Cass said thoughtfully, “the only real surprise here is that this is his first date.”

  “I know, right? He’s pretty good looking, if you can get past all the baggy layers.”

  “Can you two please stop discussing me like I’m not right here?”

  They ignored me, of course. Sam whispered something to Cass, pointed at my face, and Cass walked into the back of the store for something. Sam, meanwhile, held up the pair of jeans in front of me and looked back and forth between me and the jeans.

  “Hm…. I need a darker color.” With that, she disappeared again too. I sighed with relief, and went back to leaning against the wall. A couple of minutes later, Sam resurfaced from a 50% off rack with another pair of… wait a second.

  “Sam, are those skinny jeans? I’m not skinny. There’s no way those’ll fit me.”

  “If I have to, I will make them fit you.”

  I backed away slowly, edging down the wall toward the exit. Sam just smirked at me.

  “There’s no escape, Fay. You’re putting these on. Now.”

  Cass then chose to reappear with some sort of sky blue button down shirt for me to put on. I had a feeling it’d be the clingy sort, too. Sam pointed me toward the dressing room imperiously, and I meekly complied. The shirt went on easily enough, and I was right about it being a tight fit. You could actually see my form for once. Weird. As for the jeans… I was honestly struggling for like five minutes to get the damn things over my thighs. I have no idea how people ever manage to wear these things. I won’t even go into how my junk felt once they were actually on, either.

  As I hopped madly around the dressing room, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. Wow. Except for my hair, which was definitely in need of being cut at this point and was kind of hedging wildly around my face, I actually looked kind of… good. I mean, I wasn’t muscular by a long shot, and my arms looked pretty skinny in the button-down, but it showed that I was fit, at least. The blue color made my eyes look really vibrant, too. And… huh. I guess my butt looked good? I honestly didn’t want to spend any more time than necessary contemplating my ass, though, so I stopped looking. Still, it was a surprise to see myself look anything approaching nice.

  I left the dressing room cautiously and saw the two girls chatting cheerily about their schools’ respective prospects as far as dating went. The both stopped when I came back out, however. Cass gave me a slow once-over, and whistled softly at the results. Sam just looked smug.

  “You do clean up nice,” Cass said appreciatively.

  Sam smirked. “Told you.”

  “Hello? Right here, you two.”

  “That you are. Thanks for all your help, Cass. He’s my problem again now. C’mon Fay, it’s time you were off to the next stop.”

  “What?” I whined. “I thought we just needed clothes.”

  “Well, you do need these clothes. And I’m going to buy them for you, because I’m nice like that. Then we’re continuing on with the project. You’re only half-done, my friend.”

  “We aren’t friends. You’re a terrible person.”

  As it turned out, I was due in for a haircut (“Sam, I don’t want my hair to be all… spikey.” “Well, then it’s a good thing I don’t care. Tyler will appreciate it, trust me.”) and a new jacket (“What even is this thing, Sam? It’s like the unholy child of a leather jacket and… not a leather jacket.” “Do you ever stop talking? Hold still while I make sure it fits your shoulders well. Perfect.”). I was dizzy by the end of it, and my wallet was easily a hundred dollars lighter. More, after Sam insisted that I buy her lunch for all the work she’d done. We grabbed some pizza from the cafeteria area, and snagged a table.

  “So,” She stated, looking at me seriously.

  I relented. “Okay, so you might have helped to convince me that I can, at times, look decent.”

  She rolled her eyes. “No, you can look hot. Allow me to let you in on another little secret. Self-confidence is seriously attractive. If you hold yourself like you know exactly how you look, then people will notice you. If you hunch over and try to avoid getting attention, then guess what? No one gives you a second glance. I know you’re not going to jump to the confidence part overnight, Fay, but don’t sell yourself short either. Tyler’s not going to be able to look away.”

  “You really think so?” I hated how uncertain my voice sounded. Her expression turned soft, and she laid a hand over my own.

  “I know so. Tyler won’t know how he got so lucky, I promise. Just enjoy the night, okay? It’s going to have its awkward moments, when neither of you know what to say, but that’s the perk of seeing a movie. Just smile, and remember that it’s okay to be happy. You’ve earned that much.”

  “Wow, Sam, I never knew you were so much of a romantic.”

  That earned me a whack on the side of my head. It was totally worth it.

  “Seriously, just have fun. Don’t feel pressured to do anything, and if Tyler so much as thinks about touching you in a way you aren’t ready for, I’ll rip off his balls.”

  “Charming. No, really.”

  “Shut up. Here’s the plan, okay? I’m going to drive you home, and you’re going to relax for a couple hours, shower, put on all the stuff you just got again, and make sure your hair looks like it does now. Which is attractive, in case you were wondering. Then you’re going to wait until Tyler knocks on your door, and-“

  “Actually, I’d prefer to limit parental interaction. I’m just going to meet him outside.”

  “Fine. Just look happy to see him, and remember that he’s just as nervous as you are. Cut him some slack, he’s taking the lead.”

  “I will.”

  “Good. Let’s go, I have a date with Emma to be getting to.”

  “So that’s why you’re all dressed up.” I frowned. “I thought you were dating Danny, though?”

  Sam rolled her eyes. “No, that was last month. He was nice, but not a keeper. Good in bed, though.”

  “TMI, Sam. TMI.”

  And with that, she drove me home. I said goodbye, she gave me a thumbs-up, and I went inside. After gaming for a while, I showered, forced my way back into the skinny jeans and shirt, put on my new jacket, and looked at myself in the mirror. I guess I kind of did look good. Then I went downstairs, ignored the knowing smirks of my parents, and headed outside with Lexie to wait out by the front steps for Tyler to arrive.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Lexie looked at me. I looked at her. I… wasn’t actually sure why I brought her out here with me. I usually rolled around in the grass playing with her, but I was actually wearing nice clothes this time. I didn’t know what Tyler would think if I was covered in grass stains when he showed up. Lexie huffed and trotted away, clearly having lost patience with me.

  I just sat back down on the stairs, nervously running a hand through my hair, then wincing as I remembered it was supposed to stay the way it looked when Sam fixed it up. I patted it back down as best as I could, and sighed with relief as the gel from earlier kept the tuft of hair up front
in place. I had it on good authority that it looked good on me that way. I kept tapping my feet up and down with nerves. I was already panicky, and Tyler hadn’t even showed up.

  Then I heard the faint roar of a car approaching. Tyler’s BMW pulled into the driveway, and he stepped out.

  If Sam thought I cleaned up nice, Tyler was on a totally different level. He was wearing some sort of green polo shirt that looked like it was painted onto him. He was wearing some nice khaki pants too, and his hair was probably best described as “artfully tousled.” Or pretty. Yes. His hair was pretty.

  He smiled at me suddenly, and I tried not to sway from the impact.

  Wait a second, did I see… was that nervousness in his eyes? His grin shrank a bit. Right, I was supposed to smile back, not just stare. I tried my best, and his grin renewed.

  “You look… wow,” Tyler said, eyes roving over me appreciatively. I could feel my face turning red.

  “Um, thanks. You look really…” I gestured at his everything. “Really good too.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Thanks.”

  Shit. Conversation loop. Fortunately, Tyler broke the awkward silence.

  “So, do you want to go get pizza now, or after?”

  “Now’s good, I guess? Um, if you don’t mind.”

  “Of course not. Come on, let’s go. I think I can see your parents looking out the window.”

  “Crap. Yeah, let’s go.”

  I followed him back into the BMW, taking the front seat again. It felt different this time, because I was hyper-focused on everything Tyler did. I watched his hands on the wheel, his eyes tracking the road and occasionally flickering over to me, and his body, about as tense and edgy from anticipation as I was. He drove us to the pizza place across the street from the theater, which was on the outer edge of town.