"Trust me, I have never hated my cold this much before," Zane complained.
"You say that every year when you catch a cold." Leon rolled his eyes and placed the note copy he brought for Zane on his desk.
"Because it's a nasty one, and it stays for more than a week. Not to mention how I get a red nose like a joker—"
"Stop whining. One would think you're a lovestruck girl who's missing out on her date," Leon remarked and sat on the chair in Zane's room. Noticing how Zane fell silent, Leon narrowed his eyes at him before a realization hit him. "Oh, my gosh! Really?"
Zane pursed his lips and nodded slowly.
"Damn, bro. Finally you managed to get a date with the girl you like," Leon chimed.
"You make me sound like I have never—" Zane paused. "Wait, how do you know I like Winter?"
"You make it too obvious," Leon pointed out.
"Do you think even Winter knows?" Zane asked immediately.
"Chill, dude. If there's someone denser than you out there, it's Winter," Leon assured.
"Ugh, I hate this cold," Zane groaned and laid back on his bed, covering his head with the blanket.
Leon sighed and opened Zane's laptop to start playing games to kill time before he has to leave.
Zane peeked his head and mumbled, "Can't I just go with this cold?"
"No," Leon replied curtly.
"But I really wanna go—"
"No." No matter how eager his best friend was for this date, there's no way he would let him go because he was crazy when he was sick.
"It's not like I'll kiss her—"
"I don't trust you."
"Handsome, please?"
"No."
°°°°°
After cursing Leon for a whole week, Zane was back at work, fully healthy. He was working at the counter when Winter walked in.
"Hey, I'm sorry for cancelling our plan together," Zane let out.
"No, it's okay. Your health comes first," Winter answered even though she overworked her brain for the last few days, wondering whether he was using his sickness as an excuse to not go on the date with her.
"I was wondering if you are free this Sunday—"
"Zane, don't forget to book the bus tickets for our picnic this weekend," Lucy reminded as she came to grab a tray of three chocolate shakes.
"What picnic?" Zane gave her a blank look.
"You know the one we have after every six months," Lucy said and left.
Zane wanted to bang his head on the wall. Why was luck never on his freaking side?
"I guess we have to reschedule it after the picnic is over," Winter let out awkwardly.
Zane nodded his head. His soul was dying inside. If he knew he was that unlucky, he would have never fallen for anyone. It was a torture for him.
°°°°°
"Yay, finally, we are here!" Leon hollered as he jumped out of the bus.
"Wow, this place looks wonderful," Winter said in awe as she looked over the huge mountains.
"Of course, Yosemite is the one of the best national parks here," Lucy chimed.
"What are we gonna do first?" Winter asked in excitement.
"Hiking," Zane replied in a dead tone.
"Just thinking about hiking makes me feel tired," Leon cried out. "Zane, carry me on your back."
"Why, not a man enough to climb by yourself?" Cedric retorted.
"You shouldn't even be here, you know?" Leon narrowed his eyes at Cedric.
"I'm here because Lucy wanted me to." Cedric put on a poker face and held his girlfriend's hand before walking towards the way of the mountain.
"Everyone, let's have all the fun we can today!" Tracy cheered and everyone started climbing their way.
Leon sniffled and turned towards his best friend for help. "Zane, will you take my bag—"
"Winter, do you want me to take your bag for you?"
"Oh, no, it's fine. I want to do everything by myself." Winter smiled at Zane and followed behind everyone else.
Leon's jaw dropped to the ground. He felt so betrayed.
"You were saying something, Leon?" Zane asked.
"Never mind." Leon flashed him a tight-lipped smile and rushed up.
"Weirdo," Zane muttered and caught up with everyone else.
Midway through the mountain trails, most of them were tired out except for Cedric, Zane, and Leon. Leon sat down with everyone else to take some rest, but Cedric and Zane kept walking up. Actually, they were in the middle of a contest as to who could reach the peak fastest.
Zane turned back to look for Winter, but immediate panic struck him as he didn't find her. As Zane headed down, Cedric hollered, "Where are you going?"
"I think we left Winter behind. I'm going to look for her," Zane responded.
"You want us to tag along?" Leon offered.
"No, it's okay. You guys go ahead." With that, Zane went looking for Winter. He looked for her all the way to where they started out, but he didn't find her.
"Where is she?" Zane bit his lips, baffled as to where she could have gone. It was a mountain road, what if she fell down? He immediately shook his head at that thought and headed back up. Maybe he missed her on the way.
His heart was beating rapidly as the bad thoughts kept flooding his mind. This wasn't supposed to happen. He didn't get to go on a date with her, but at least he wanted her to enjoy this picnic. He was glad that their boss Mr. Tanner didn't come, or else he would have been panicking a lot more.
He was about to go straight when he noticed there was another path. What if she went the wrong way and lost herself?
"Shit," he muttered and ran into the other path. His legs were tired, and he was running out of breath. "Winter, where are you?" he kept calling her out all the way.
Zane stopped and sat down on a rock, breathing heavily. "Damn it, it's all my fault. I should have kept an eye on her." He buried his face in his head in despair. "Please God, let me find her. Let her be alright," he prayed. His mind wasn't working; he felt so disarrayed.
"Ah," he heard someone wince. He immediately stood up and followed the voice to find the familiar black-haired girl, sitting on a small rock, looking at her injured knee.
"Winter," he breathed out.
The girl raised her head and met the worried pair of blue eyes. "Zane!" she let out, a smile blooming on her teary face.
Zane rushed to her and pulled her in a hug. He could feel his life coming back to him as she was in his arms. "What are you doing here?" he asked and kneeled in front of her, already taking out his first aid kit from his bag. Thank goodness, he didn't leave his bag behind.
"I stopped to tie my shoelaces for a while, and when I looked up, everyone was gone. I thought I would catch up with everyone, but I didn't find anyone but you yet."
"You took the wrong path," Zane told her.
"Oh, that's why." She looked at his worried face and asked, "Were you worried?"
"I was frightened," he uttered in a quavering voice, which made her feel upset.
She lowered her head and mumbled in a quiet voice, "I'm sorry."
"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing," he spoke up.
"Hey, it's not your fault. I'm just an idiot." She let a throaty chuckle, watching Zane put the bandage on her scraped knee.
"No, I'm rubbing off my bad luck on you," he said, making Winter giggle. "You should get on my back," he offered.
"No way. I can't do that." Winter waved her arms in dismissal. He already must have been worn out from searching her. "I can walk on my own." She tried standing but failed to keep her balance.
Zane gave her poker face and sat in front of her. "C'mon, everyone must have reached the peak already," he urged.
Knowing he wouldn't budge, after much hesitation, Winter wrapped her arms around shoulders and her knees around his waist. Zane stood up swiftly, taking all her weight as if she was light like a feather.
"You should start eating more. You're so light," Zane commented. He had always noticed how she would like a bird everyday.
"I wasn't this light before. I lost my will to eat after my mom's death," she told him.
"I'm sure your mom wouldn't want that, so you should start eating properly again."
Winter hummed in response and rested her chin on the crook of his neck. It felt nice to have someone to lean on when she was hurt. And the warmth of his body was comforting. She would always find herself crying whenever she thought of her mother, but now she wasn't. Maybe she was actually recovering from her depression finally.
"We are here," Zane let out.
Winter didn't even realize that they were already at the peak of the mountain while she was lost into him. A big smile blossomed on her face as she looked up at the breathtaking scenario in front of her. She had always wondered why people worked so hard to get to the top just for a scenario. But now she understood. Because the view from the top was worth it.
Even though the view was beautiful, Zane found the smile on Winter's face more attractive. Her face was so close to his that if he would lean in, he could kiss those luscious lips of her. But for now, he was happy just looking at her happy face.
On the other hand, Lucy snapped a few candids of the two of them, who looked like a perfect couple. The others only watched the pair with awe.
Later on, they all spread out the picnic mat near a lake and started making preparations for barbeque.
Winter started to chop the vegetables with two other staff of the café while Zane and Leon grilled the meat, Cedric and Lucy went fishing, and Tracy just relaxed.
Once they were done, they had a lot of fun while eating. They played many games together until it was evening. They went to the waterfall.
Winter was once again amazed at the beauty of a waterfall, which she had never seen before. The sound of the colliding water was soothing to her ears.
Zane came and stood beside, observing her. Winter didn't know how but she gained the courage and let out, "Let's go on the date before Thanksgiving."
"Huh?" Zane was confused.
"Exams will be starting soon, so let's go on this date before that," she told him.
Zane tried his best to hide his grin. "Glad I wasn't the only one eager for this date," he muttered, which went unheard by her as she was too busy being lost in nature. He learned one thing from this picnic, which was no matter where he was, if Winter was with him, he would never not have fun.
