Chapter Text
Late summer sunlight was raining down on an early September morning, greeting the many pedestrians within a nice little cafe. Winnie caressed the warm cup in one of his hands. It was probably full of more sugar than coffee at this point…eh who cares.
He was in a pretty nice cafe near campus, always a good study spot. It was cozy, warm, and had pretty good pastries and coffee. Checked off all the boxes for a good cafe in Winnie’s eyes!
The boy took a sip of his drink while scrolling through his photos.
It's been about two years since he left his hometown for college. Things have been…relatively good. Between the new environment and college, things took a while to get used to. Guess that was a constant whenever you moved.
But it felt…weird. Leaving right after the crash. Right after him and Auggie had rekindled their friendship.
Things were good again! Being able to be comfortable again…it was nice. He wished that he could’ve stayed longer.
Winnie and Auggie still regularly talked, and he knew that was already a lot better than other school friendships in college. He was grateful!
…It was easy to tell they were slowly growing apart though, moving on with their own lives.
That was normal.
Even after they started to repair things, Winnie should have never expected their friendship to last forever. That’s just not how life worked.
All that was logical. It was easy facts.
So why was the idea of letting go still so hard? He’s drifted away from plenty of friends before, why was Augustine different?
…Well he DID know why Auggie was different. He had known since he was 12. But that didn’t give him an excuse to hold his friend back…again.
Even now he was just pathetically just scrolling through old photos. Stuck in the past. Holding on…like a leech.
The warm cafe suddenly felt freezing.
Wasn’t that all he ever was, a leech? That’s what pushed Augustine away in the first place.
Winnie was gripping his cup too tightly. It wasn’t warming his hands at all.
He was too much, too needy, too clingy. Even now once Winnie was finally becoming his own person, he couldn’t help but hold on.
He was shivering.
Even after taking so much from his dear friend, he still couldn’t let him live his own life.
How selfish.
Why was the wind so loud?
Winnie’s eyes darted towards the window. Pellets of white were swirling mockingly in the dim sky outside.
…No that..that wasn’t normal. It was way too early in the year for snow. Last time this had happened…no that didn’t make sense..
Things were supposed to be FIXED-
The boy was brought back to reality as he felt someone shaking his shoulders. It was a friend from school, Lynn, they had a concerned look on their face.
The room was warm again. Winnie’s eyes snapped back to the windows. It was bright and sunny out…like it was supposed to be.
Winnie swears he saw snow.
“Winnie?”
He looked back to his friend while trying to steady his breaths. He didn’t even realize that his breathing had quickened.
The usual cheerful smile forced itself onto his face. It felt fake right now.
“Oh! Sorry I must have zoned out, hehe!”
Lynn’s frown deepened. “We all saw you start shaking like a leaf out of nowhere, your phone just dropped right from your hand! It took me like, three attempts to get you to even respond! Not to mention you’re cold to the touch-“ Winnie averted his eyes down to the table. Huh, his phone did fall.
“Just-“ Lynn paused “are you okay?”
Winnie’s smile softened. “Don’t worry, I’m fine now I swear. I was just… having a moment.” He paused. “Probably just the stress of school starting up again, y’know?”
There was still doubt in his friend’s eyes, but they sighed in defeat. “Ok…just let me know if you need anything.” With that, they walked back to their table.
Winnie let out a breath. That was…yeah it was probably just the stress getting to him…
He downed the rest of his coffee in a few gulps, the liquid burning his throat. He had to go anyway.
With that, Winnie left the warm cafe.
——————————————————-
Moving back into the dorms after break was always annoying. It meant a lot of moving boxes up stairs, Winnie’s legs definitely hated him for it.
This year was exciting though! He had a new roommate after all! Sadly there hasn’t been a chance to meet them yet, and they clearly haven’t started moving their boxes yet…
He’s still rather excited to meet a new possible friend!
A deep exhale was released as Winnie placed down what felt like the hundredth box. He definitely wasn’t excited to move the rest of them, that part wasn’t as fun.
His legs were already burning, and he still had so many boxes to go. He let out an overdramatic whine before flopping down onto his still bare mattress. He’s sure a little break would be fine, maybe it would let his legs stop screaming at him.
As he lays on his back, he hears a small ding come from the phone next to him. After reaching over to grab it he checks his notifications- oh! It’s a message from Auggie!
Auggie🧡: I NEED TO CALL YOU RIGHT NOW
Ok now that was a touch alarming-
Auggie🧡: ok I’m now realizing how urgent that sounded
Auggie🧡: it’s nothing bad but I still need to call you
Winnie let out a little laugh before setting up a face time with his friend.
In a few moments, the familiar brown haired boy popped onto his screen. Winnie felt something loosen in chest.
Augustine seemed antsy, full of anticipation of some sort.
“Hey Auggie-“
“I GOT INTO A COLLEGE-“
“OH-“
Auggie paused his restlessness for a moment “Sorry, uh hey” “NO NO DON’T WORRY THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN HELLOS GO BACK TO THE COLLEGE THING-“ Now Winnie was interested. Auggie had given up on College for a little bit, instead focusing on starting his adult life back in their hometown. He even got a job as a kid’s hockey coach!
Earlier this year however, Auggie told Winnie that he sent out some new applications to a few cool looking universities. Winnie was so happy for his friend, especially now knowing that he got accepted into one!
A selfish part of him hoped it was the same college he was in right now.
The brunette seemed to have regained some of his composure, although he was still shaking with more excitement than Winnie had seen from him in years.
“Ok so, literally like 5 minutes ago I got an email. Was kind of just expecting an add for who cares what-“ Auggie started “but then saw that it was from that one college I told you about!” “Uh which one?” Winnie questioned.
“The one in PARIS! I GOT INTO UNIVERSITÉ DE L’OURS!”
“Oh my god that’s amazing Auggie!!!”
“I KNOW RIGHT!?! I’m starting this semester so I have to leave in a week, they’ve got a great sports program, and-“
His friend was starting to ramble about his new school. Winnie couldn’t help but watch. He hadn’t seen this type of fire in him since they were younger, it was awe inspiring. Relit passion was dripping from every part of his body. There were few people that got to ever see him like this anymore, Winnie was honored to be one of those few.
But Paris was so far away.
They were already starting to talk less, but now Auggie is gonna be busy with school as well. A whole timezone away…
No! Those were selfish thoughts! His best friend was going to school in PARIS! How cool was that?? Winnie was overjoyed for him.
Augustine seemed to have realized that he went off on a tangent, as he suddenly stopped talking. An adorable, embarrassed flush spread across his face. The light caught in his brown eyes just right.
“Ah I uh, went on a little long there-“ Auggie scratched the back of his neck. “Noooo don’t stop, you actually looked not grumpy for once.” Winnie whined, Auggie let out a small chuckle. “Nah that’s all you’re getting for the whole year.” Augustine joked, Winnie gave a small huff in response.
Augustine paused, “I do wanna talk longer, but I should probably try to focus on catching up on my French as much as I can before moving to a different country- should also probably let my mom know-“ Auggie said with a small huff of laughter at the end.
Should Winnie tell him about what happened earlier? Especially with the snow, Auggie would be the only one to understand…
But he was in such a good mood right now.
It could wait for later.
“Yeah, and I should probably get back to moving my stuff back in instead of using you as a distraction-“
“Pfft yeah you should” he then gave a somewhat softer smile “see you later, Win.”
Winnie cheerfully smiled back “See you later Auggie!”
The room felt cold again.