River ducked, laughing. “You fools are ridiculous!”
“Pick a side, Riv,” Nic shouted.
“I pick sanity!”
Wrong answer—Nic pelted him in the arm.
What followed was chaos. Snowballs flew through the trees like flocks of white birds. Collin rolled into a drift for cover, came up with a handful of snow, and was immediately tackled by Aries into a snowbank. Nic climbed halfway up a slope just to launch an attack, only to slip and tumble down in an ungraceful heap.
River’s dog barked and spun in circles, utterly delighted by the madness.
Breathless and red-faced, they finally collapsed in the snow, gasping from laughter more than exertion.
“I can’t feel my hands,” Collin wheezed.
“I can’t feel my dignity,” Nic groaned.
“I told you idiots we’d get soaked before we even got to the lake,” River said, brushing snow from his coat.
The boys continued bombarding one another. By the time they reached the edge of the lake, Collin’s stomach ached from laughter.
“Don’t step like idiots,” Nic said, feigning a serious tone. He raised his walking stick like a general leading a march. “Tread lightly, gentlemen, for we enter the realm of watery death.”
“Oh god,” Collin muttered. “We’ve barely left the path and he’s already giving speeches.”
“Better a speech than falling in,” Nic replied, tapping the snow in front of him with each careful step.
River’s dog bounded ahead, leaving a trail of pawprints across the snow-covered lake.
“oh, good, she’ll fall through first,” Nic said.
“She weighs less than your ego,” Collin snorted.
“That beast’s made of fur and poor judgment,” Nic retorted, but his pace slowed as the ice began to creak softly beneath them.
They spread out naturally, each leaving a few feet between the next as the trees fell behind and the frozen lake opened before them—vast and glittering beneath the winter sun.
“All right, if we fall in, last one out buys dinner,” Nic said over his shoulder.
River snorted. “If we fall in, we’ll be dead.”
“Exactly. Saves me money.”
Aries laughed. “Nic, shut up before the lake takes you first.”
“I dare it to try.”
Collin chuckled under his breath and kept walking, letting the cold settle into his chest. He was starting to feel more alive with each step.
They walked in a loose line toward the distant shore, boots crunching, breath misting in the air. It was quiet out here, the kind of quiet that invited reflection. But Nic kept breaking it, of course.
They weren’t in a rush. Nic led the way at a careful pace, his footsteps steady across the snow-packed ice.
Collin slowed, turning a little on the spot, letting himself take in the view. Across the expanse, the trees stood draped in layers of soft white, as if the forest had been clothed in veils. Sunlight caught on the snow-laced branches, and where the warmth had touched, the surface had melted just enough to freeze again—leaving tiny beads that glittered like scattered pearls.
He let out a breath.God, it was beautiful.
How strange, to stand in the middle of something so cold and feel... lucky.
