Just Snow Already

"Lou-eeee!"

He grunted when a loud slam followed the cringeworthy, high pitched voice. Rolling over to his side and facing the walls, he brought up the light blanket over his head, placing a pillow over his ear in hopeless attempt to block out the noise.

"Not now, James."

James had been Lou's roommate since the day he stepped his foot (the left one, he used to say since coming across James had been a big misfortune) in the university dorm and from that day he decided he wasn't born for dormitory life. He was the bubbly, outgoing and cheerful guy who was too good for even his own good.

And these were the reasons Louis considered meeting him a misfortune. Even you would consider being woken up at 5 AM by Justin Bieber's Baby for five days straight a big misfortune.

Don't get me wrong. As catchy as that song was, it just wasn't Louis forte.

And neither was spending Christmas alone where the sun was buddy buddy with everyone.

James barged in through the door, jumping over the heap Louis' body created over the bed.

"Wake up dude. It's afternoon."

"It isn't," Louis groaned, "Last I checked it was half past eight!" James chuckled, shaking his body like you would expect a sister to wake up another.

"Your clock's broken. It still says half past eight."

Louis grunted, and let the blanket uncover him when James tugged at it. Groggily, he sat up, rubbing his eyes to get rid of the remnants of sleep. Afternoon or not, sleep meant sleep. Satisfied when James saw Louis wasn't falling back asleep, he left feeling accomplished, leaving Lou behind to search his surroundings like a lost kid.

He sighed when he saw the clear signs of it being afternoon through the curtains, and cursed James for ruining his sleep. And himself, too, for ever deciding to come there.

***

James was munching on a bar of sneakers when Louis entered the living room, freshly showered and partly awake. The television was on, and a barbie-like reporter was talking with a overly chirpy tone, with a world map behind her.

James eyes followed Louis and rested on his figure when he completely blocked the television, looking upon him like an angry parent would at their spoiled child.

"Get out of the way, Lou. I'm watching something!"

"I will once you get your dirty feet off the table that I paid for!"

He stressed the I as much as he could, reminding the lazy bloke once again of the money he needed to pay him. James rolled his eyes, but did as Louis said, not before making a big show of taking his legs off the small coffee table.

"You're such a diva, jeez!" Louis laughed before scooting in next to James, so as almost he was sitting in his lap, with his long legs over James and, yes, the coffee table. James all but glared at him.

"What's for breakfast?"

"If by breakfast you mean lunch then there's frozen pizza in the fridge. Just heat it up and eat."

Louis nodded, but he didn't get up. Training his eyes on the big screen, he sighed when the weather forecast of the city for the next couple of weeks came up. He absentmindedly started pulling pieces of threads off the couch, leaving a frayed area behind, till James was forced to slap his hand away.

"Did you think about......?"James left the question incomplete when he saw the forlorn and almost wistful look wash upon Louis' face when the weather forecast for England showed up. Although the question was incomplete, but Louis almost immediately shook his head.

"I've told you, I'm not going."

"Whatever you say."

"And you?"

James shrugged, switching the channel of the television,

"Della ended up having a spat with her step mother, so she decided she doesn't want to go home for Christmas. Ergo I'm staying here."

Louis was more surprised than anything, "You're picking your girlfriend over your family?"

James shot him a look, "Yeah so what? You did the same thing; picked your ego over your family."

Louis grumbled incoherently, forcing himself to drop the meter considering talking with James was like driving in a circle. You ended up at the same place. James knew it was time to change the topic, "I'm heading out later with the guys for the game. You wanna come?"

Louis nodded, "Count me in."

***

The local bar was less crowded than it had been only a week ago. With most of the students already leaving for home, it was just the lonesome ones who were staying in the university for break, spending Christmas alone.

Last year, when he would be sat by the fire, he wouldn't have understood the idea of spending Christmas alone, away from your family, but now he had a pretty good idea why people did that. Before coming to university here in California, he also didn't understand the prospect of having no snow at Christmas.

Being grown up in a really cold place in England, not a year came when it didn't snow at this time of the year. But now, as the days passed by, Louis couldn't help but doubt more and more.

The game was fairly intense, with the opponent team leading by one goal and ten minutes left to the game. James and Louis were surrounded by almost five other guys, who were on their way of getting wasted.

It had only been ten minutes since they got there, and half of them were already pissed. Including James, of course, for that guy had a very low tolerance wherever alcohol was involved.

"Did you see the weather forecast for Christmas?"

One of the guys, Chris, spoke up, glancing over the group with glazed eyes. James nodded drunkenly, hiccupping when he opened his mouth to answer.

"Yeah we did. It bummed him out."

He pointed his thumb towards the guy on his left, namely Louis, who threw him a glare.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Louis answered Chris, chugging down the beer in his hand, "I wanted it to snow, but I guess now it won't."

Chris laughed, more due to the fact that Louis thought it would ever snow here than the fact that he was pretty much pissed up due to the alcohol.

"That's California for you, bro. Here you don't see anything except for the sun."

"I know you're right," James butt in, "but I want it to snow too. I wanna sled down the hill behind the university. Pretty fun, I'd heard."

Chris grew confused, two grown up men wanting snow for completely silly reasons. Albeit Louis' was unfamiliar to him, but he guessed it was just as stupid.

"But you can do that without snow, can't you?"

"No," James slurred, rubbing his eyes sleepily, "Well, I mean I can but it won't be the same as sledding down a snow covered hill. Besides, if I topple over or something, I won't feel any pain 'cause I'd land on snow and snow's like a soft, plush cushion. Whereas I'd have a fucking hundred and fifty percent chance of mucking up my entire face and break every single bone in my body if I sled down the hill now."

Louis sighed, not knowing whether he was joking just to make him feel right or he really wanted to sled down a snow covered hill. Either way, he couldn't help but bring the can of beer to his lips and chug down the entire thing.

***

They got home around eleven, with the home team losing the game. Chris was pretty bummed out, saying he wasted his time. Louis didn't drink more after finishing the can of the first beer handed to him, staying sober for he knew he would need to drag James' ass home. That was how much drunk James was.

He put him in bed, taking care of him like a mother would of a child. There had been many instances when James had played that role, and now Louis was paying him.

"Have you got me something for Christmas Lou?" James slurred, albeit his words sounded like he was speaking a foreign language.

Louis laughed, "I haven't had the chance of going shopping. Christmas is in a week, I'll definitely get you something."

"Great," James sighed, eyes drooping low as he snuggles into the cover, "I couldn't get you anything good, but I also have something for you."

Louis smiled, not thinking much of the the silent promise in the form of the words uttered by James' mouth and muttered a goodnight before leaving.

***

Around five am, his phone loudly rang making him grumble as he was forced to wake up for the second time that day. Albeit the first one had happened yesterday, Louis didn't like to be made to let go of his sleep.

"Hello?!" He grumbled into his phone, eyelids drooping low, but they flew apart like ballistic missiles when he heard the voices on the other end.

"Girls?" He was partly awake, not fully since his eyes couldn't stay open for more than two seconds.

"Hi Lou!" The voices seemed to be alike. If he hadn't had spent more than twelve years of his life with the two, he wouldn't have guessed which voice belonged to whom.

A smile was instantly pulled over his lips, "Hi girls. How are you?" He had missed them, he decided.

The last he'd seen of them was four months ago, when the fight between him and his mother had taken place, the reason why he wasn't going home for the holiday. As he talked to his sisters over the phone, he was reminded of the various memories they'd shares over Christmas.

Baking chocolate chip cookies and eating the batter before it could enter the oven was a highlight among other ones. He remembered this when Daisy told him about Lottie not allowing them to eat the batter. He laughed when they described the fights they'd have, and remembered that he was missing a major role as a brother.

"It snowed today," One of the twins informed him. The other had said her goodbye long ago and it was just him and Phoebe, whom he was most closed to than others.

"It did?"

"Yeah, but it ended up as a puddle like they always do. Anyways, what's the weather condition there? Any chance of a white Christmas?"

Louis sighed, "I don't think so, Phoebe. I really just want snow for Christmas but it's supposed to be sixty degrees!"

He did, he truly did. He wanted snow, not because of the reason that Chris might have guessed. Not because he was a spoiled kid who would not come out just because it hadn't snowed. Not because he had a weird obsession with it, or because he was like James and wanted to sled down a hill.

Then why was he after snow so much?

He wanted it to snow because he was spending Christmas away from him home for the first time, where winter was always white, and he would spend it with his sisters building snowmen in the backyard. He wasn't there to do it now, and wanted to feel familiarity in a stranger environment.

He wanted to feel closer to his home and the people he loved, for most of the memories were made outside in the snow. But the weather charts weren't helping him in his dilemma.

"Then why don't you come home?" Phoebe whispered, "Why not spend Christmas with us, your family?"

"I can't," he forced out.

"Why?"

"Because........because I'm busy. I've got assignments and tests and I've got to stay here to finish them."

The little girl was smarter than he could ever be, "But you're on a break Lou! A break, don't your teachers know what that means? And if you do have those assignments and whatever then why can't you finish them here, at home?!"

Louis sighed, rubbing his fingers over his left eyebrow that started throbbing, "Sweetie, you've got to under-"

"Is it about John's birthday? Is that why you're not coming?"

That was it, just that sentence and he was thrown under the bus faster than the speed of light. He nibbled over his bottom lip, forcing himself not to bite the already bitten nails off his fingers.

John was his mother's then-boyfriend. It was his birthday, and he ended up ruining it by landing up drunk at the site of the party, embarrassing his mother more than anything and scaring the people who had attended. The reason for that was, he didn't like that guy, for he was cheating on his wife with Lou's mother who was unaware of him being still married let alone the father of two kids when he had told her that he was divorced and didn't have any kids.

When the truth came out, his mother decided to date him still and that pissed Louis off, leading him in taking that drastic measure for it was a drastic situation. His mother ended up saying some very nasty things to him. It was only a matter of a month till that fucker John fucked up again, and his mother broke up with him. But the force dividing him and his mother didn't break.

"Yes- I mean, no. Well, partly yes and partly no." The way Phoebe sighed clearly spelled that she was fed up with Louis' bullshit, really close to the point of running away.

"You know mum loves you right? She was just angry and we don't mean what we say when we're angry, remember? She's not angry with you, just a bit hurt. What you did, though somewhat justified at your part, but it still didn't give you the right to just crash the party she had worked so hard for."

Louis sighed, lying over the bed, and closing his eyes. Sun, his arch nemesis nowadays, had started its journey. "But if she isn't angry, then she would have called me, no? Said she wants me home for Christmas, not cut me out like that."

"What if she's waiting for the same thing from you? What if she's just wanting to hear a little 'sorry' from you, to admit that you're wrong? What if she's thinking that if you want to come home, you will?"

Louis sighed, not understanding how a twelve year old could be more intelligent than a university guy, whose twentieth birthday was in a week. He sighed, murmuring he would think about it all.

They exchanged a few more words, mainly about Louis' life in the university, but his desire of snowing was kept aside for the rest of the conversation.

***

The following week loitered by as Louis' mood fell even sour with the increase in the temperature day by day. A week ago, there might have been a little voice inside him constantly telling him that maybe a miracle would happen and it would snow, but as the days progressed and the temperature increases and the sun became friendlier, Louis' hopes got melted painfully under fire.

The weather was getting worse, which was, according to Lou, because of the increasing heat. When, previously, at this time of the year, he'd be cocooned in warm blankets with a cup of hot chocolate and sitting in front of fire while his family mingled around, now he was finding ways to get rid of the warm clothes he had brought with himself.

And that's why I must say that the increasing heat had gotten to his head. That led to James being more than disturbed because he couldn't use both of his hands to display the amount of times in the previous week when he had been subjected to Louis' wrath.

He was caught between his upset girlfriend and oblivious friend, who didn't want to acknowledge what was causing him such turmoil.

But life was moving on, and so Louis was forced to do as well. Now he was positive that it wasn't going to snow, and tried to come around with the fact however difficult it was proving for him.

He tried his best to get in the spirit of Christmas by going shopping and buying gifts for everyone, including his family back in England that he would ship the gifts to later. He bought a nice little gift for James, and for Della, his girlfriend, too since she would be spending Christmas with them.

He hung a little wreath on the outside of his door four days before Christmas, and ended up hanging a new one two days later, and it would stay there till the day came.

Only the tree was left, and James and Della had decided to fulfill that task.

All through the week, Louis forced himself not to think about his family, mainly his mother who still hadn't called him or texted him and the fact that it didn't snow while simultaneously checking his phone for any calls that he might have missed, all the while getting disapproving glances from James who would remind him time and time again to be the bigger person.

Christmas was in two days, and James was going to buy Christmas tree when he came out of the house and found Louis lounging over the couch. Louis' eyes followed James as he acted as if he were some model going on a photo shoot rather than to a tree shop next block.

"How do I look?"

He twirled dramatically in front of Louis, who rolled his eyes and spoke, "Hot."

James grew amused, "Hot?"

"Yeah," he rolled his eyes, "You know, the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious kind of hot."

James laughed, shaking his head and left, not before bidding a very emotional and over dramatic goodbye.

Minutes after his departure, Louis' mind wandered to what Phoebe had told him a week ago, about his mother wanting him to be the first to reach out, to make amends. He had tried to put off thinking about this for as long as he could, but now the thought was knocking like an uninvited visitor on the closed doors he had set up in front of his mind.

Would it be too late to call his mother now? Would it be better to just forget it? Would his mother forgive him? Or had she already done that? Would she be happy? Sad? Would she even pick up the phone?

Questions laced his mind, even the one he didn't want answers to.

But almost like an impulse he picked up the phone and mechanically dialled his mother's number. Time would tell everything. They say, time's the best teacher, and maybe it was time that taught him his lesson. That it's never too late for the wishes to come true.

But the phone rang and rang, and no one answered, yet at the same time it felt like all of his questions had been answered.

Louis sighed, the little ice that had broken around his heart breaking some more when he realized how much he must have hurt his mother by doing what he did, boycotting them all like this.

Like he believed Christmas was nothing without snow, someone, somewhere in the world also believed that Christmas was nothing without family.

And that someone happened to be his mother.

He begrudgingly got up when he heard the doorbell. Must be James, he thought, forgetting his house key. His phone rang at the same time too, making his hopes rise up, only to have them thrown at the pavement when James' name popped up on it.

"Yeah I'm opening up my do-"

He stopped midway, phone pressed to his phone tightly as his mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. His heart spontaneously started beating faster, and he wondered whether he had finally gone mad.

"Girls? How- What are you dining here?!"

His sisters, all four, stood before him, dressed too warmly for the weather, and that told him they'd come straight from his hometown where the temperature had dropped below zero. Their eyes shined as rays of sunlight reflected from them, and sweat matted their forehead.

Daisy extended her arm from behind, and a white puffball landed itself in Louis' feet. It was a cat, too small and cuddly, almost as if it was born a few days ago.

"What's this?" He asked in awe as he squatted down to pat the softest fur of the cat he'd ever seen.

"You wanted Snow," Phoebe replied, "so we brought it with us."

He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream. He wanted to laugh. But even before he could open his mouth and question them about the motives of their arrival, his voice died in his throat as a figure made its way towards him from the stairs in front of his apartment, supporting big bags on her arm and, an equally big but hesitant smile.

"Mum?"

***

Louis watched in amazement at the crowd of the people gathered around the Christmas tree Della and James managed to get for them all.

The apartment wasn't small, yet it seemed to be dwarfed by the sheer amount of people in it. He couldn't believe that his family was there with him, two days before Christmas, wanting to be together.

He looked at his mum, who was lounging in a chair and looking over the girls as they decorated the tree with Della. He then watched proudly as Lottie's and Fizzy's and Daisy's and Phoebe's merry voices played a beautiful symphony. He watched as Della became a part of his family, as she found her home away from home.

He then watched his mother's head turn towards him, her lips curling up in the tiniest bit of what you may call a smile, him reciprocating the action.

His mother might be angry with him, as he was with his mother, but it didn't matter as long as he was spending his favourite occasion with his favourite people.

Louis sighed contentedly, realizing one thing then and there as he watched snow falling down in form of the people he called his family, along with the real Snow as it snuggled up in James' chest, who, he realized was the mastermind behind everything.

James had said he couldn't get him anything good, but he had gotten him something amazing. He made Louis found something amazing.

James made Louis found his snow for Christmas.

Notes