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It first started when Therese felt something cold, hard and wet slam right into the center of her back.
When she turned, Rindy looked away, the air of fake innocence radiating off of her in waves. She whistled a tune through her teeth (although it sounded a lot more like angry wind rustling through leaves rather than whistling, because Rindy had yet to learn how to whistle) and made exaggerated tapping motions with her foot. “Now, who did that?” She asked to the air, frowning. She knew very well who did it, but Rindy tried to stifle her giggling because she was unsure if Therese had known the culprit or not.
Therese sniffed the air with faux-disdain, but when she turned to look at Carol, there was only a smile on her lips. Carol, in contrast, looked a little mortified as a result of Rindy’s actions. “Oh, it was only a little bit of snow. She’s ten, Carol. It didn’t hurt.”
“Yes, but I don’t want her getting any bad ideas. She’s a child, but she’s also supposed to be respectful,” Carol said with a little click of the tongue, her own bit of concern. Therese waved it off, because all that Rindy was looking for was a reaction, and it wasn’t like she minded all that much anyways.
It continued when they took a quick break at the park. Carol suggested they take a break, because she still had to do some Christmas shopping for her relatives out of state, and her legs were tired. Carol sat on a bench and Therese was pacing around it. Rindy, however, had complained about wanting to use the bathroom earlier. Only a few minutes later, Rindy was poking her head around the wall, smiling with childish glee, gathering up another ball of slushy ice in her well-worn mitts. Therese caught this in her peripheral, so when Rindy finally lobbed the ball at her, Therese only had to move a step to her right to make a perfect dodge.
“Ah-ha!” Therese called, whipping around with a little grin. “So it was you!” Rindy stepped out from behind her cover, scraping up bits of snow to make another snowball.
“Put up your dukes!” Rindy yelled, assuming the pose of a fighter. Therese wore the grin of an evil madwoman, plucking a chunk of snow from the ground next to her.
Carol watched this happen with a look of mild shock on her face. She might have been appalled at Rindy’s behaviour, and then Therese for egging it on, but instead she just threw her own hands up in the air. An act of defeat. “Therese, you don’t have gloves on,” she said chidingly.
“Aw, you’re not gonna join us?”
Carol rolled her eyes, though the hints of a smirk lingered on her lips. “Rindy’s got a surprisingly accurate throw. Trust me, I would know firsthand,” she warned Therese instead. She laughed, though her momentary distraction only ended up in Rindy getting a perfect shot, right under Therese’s chin. She made a noise, half out of of surprise and half out of the sheer cold that came with snow dripping down under her coat, staring open-mouthed at Rindy. Carol’s sing-song tone only rubbed in her momentary defeat, “Told you.”
“This means war,” Therese said with steely resolve, hurling her own snowball at Rindy—of course, only to miss by a metric mile. Carol shook her head, laughing at all the while. That was rather embarrassing.
“What was it that you said, Therese? ‘Oh, it’s just a little bit of snow, she’s only ten’, or something like that?”
“Point taken,” Therese said, feeling the whiz of another projectile being thrown past her. A snowball that had come this close to hitting her square in the face. Only millimeters! “Hey, headshots are foul!” she yelled out to Rindy.
In turn, Rindy only stuck out her tongue. “You’re just a sore loser!” To further her point, she threw yet another snowball, which hit Therese’s arm.
Therese would admit that she had never been the best in physical education. Actually, she was usually the worst, or at the very least, lagged somewhat behind the average student trying to check off a class on their checklist. Rindy, in comparison, was a little monster with her aim, throwing shots that landed where she wanted them to go at least seven out of ten times, and hit her with a surprising amount of power nine out of ten times. It was only after Therese got one shot on Rindy, one pitiful shot, and Rindy immediately gave up the fight. She walked towards Carol and Rindy.
“I’m cold!” Rindy suddenly called out, arms in the air. “I wanna go home.”
Therese stared in disbelief, mouth agape, and prepared to say something—like that Rindy was the one who forfeit—only for Carol to shush her by way of briefly squeezing her hand. “Come on, darling.” She turned to face Rindy, who was covered in snow. Not because of Therese, but because of her dramatic dodge that only ended in her getting a face-full of snow—Therese counted that as a little indirect victory, at some divine being’s discretion. “We’ll finish gift shopping next week, alright sweetpea?”
“Mmhm!”
Rindy didn’t start any more snow wars for the rest of the while, though she did turn and make victorious, certain little looks in Therese’s direction. Therese sighed good-naturedly. When they got to their apartment room, Carol kneeled down to talk to Rindy. “Get the bath ready. We’ll wash you up, then I’ll read you a story. Got it?”
Rindy nodded and ran off to do just as Carol instructed. She got back to her feet, her eyes trailing to a rather dejected-looking Therese. Slowly, she took off the gloves, took off the jacket. Was it odd to say that even only shedding one layer of clothes looked incredibly hot when Carol was the one wearing them? Therese expectantly turned her head up to meet Carol’s gaze.
“Here’s your participation prize,” Carol said, kissing Therese. Her hands inadvertently lingered by Carol’s sides, inched lower and lower until she was able to get under her dress, but Carol immediately swat them away. “Your hands are cold, Therese!”
Therese gave up with a sigh. “Unfair, I wanted a bath too.” She crossed her arms childishly, stuck out her lower lip. “I’d have benefitted from it far more than Rindy would have.” And that was true, if Therese had been alone with Carol today.
“You lost,” Carol pointed out (arguably also true), only causing Therese to sulk more. To a child who had only barely hit the double digit age, no less! A moment of silence passed between them, though the catlike smile drew back to Carol’s lips. “I do, however, have a bonus prize for effort. And, the perfect way to warm right back up.” She trailed the curve of Therese’s cheek, gave a pointed, sultry look at her. Therese caught the implication immediately.
“Oh.” She shed her jacket, put her toque up on it’s stand, with the scarf next to it. Carol watched, leaning up against the wall.
“Tonight,” Carol said, and Therese nodded with a gulp. Rindy called out, that the bath was ready, and turned to the bathroom. “Ah, there’s my cue. Be a good girl, alright?”
“Yeah, yeah. No more snow fights,” Therese said jokingly, though the underlying tone in Carol’s voice got to her more than what she would have liked to admit. Carol left, and Therese was left, warming up the tips of her fingers with her reddened cheek.