In April (work in progress)

    The winter harshened itself upon us more than it ever had this year. The biting cold and piercing flakes of snow cut the warmth of my skin. Winter’s wrath weakened my positivity, my happiness. December made me as cold as its air. My smile went unseen for winter’s entirety. I simply could not force myself to smile when there was nothing to smile about. The season made everything repugnant, as it was itself; especially people. I hated the way the trees looked when they were dead. I hated how the birds left the Midwest for southern warmth. I took a cursory glance at my calendar every morning in hopes that the season had changed. Until then, I excluded myself from all but my thoughts.

           Eventually, I was able to flip my calendar to the March page. I counted the days until the Solstice with anticipation. The hope that springtime’s approaching lended to me allowed me to reinstate myself back into extroverted affairs. During that time, I started to walk my labrador retriever again (as opposed to just letting her go in the backyard). Daisy was an old dog whom I adopted shortly after I obtained my MBA a year prior. She had been with me for about a year at this time. When I came back to Chicago from the west coast, I sought mainly two things: a job and a social life that didn’t include my parents. I refused to live with them in Irving Park so I moved to the South Loop. I had an apartment with one room, one bathroom, and an open-concept kitchen/living room. While I was happy to have my own place, I was lonely. Daisy filled this void.

           On our walks I would observe people as they passed me. People are interesting. The fact that no two people are exactly alike fascinates me. You can tell everything about a person by observing how they walk in the rain. The transition from winter to spring was perfect for this. Most of the time, people who don’t hurry in the rain have nowhere to go, they’re just enjoying life as it is. They are rather simplistic individuals. People who hurry in the rain don’t want it to affect their appearance because they view the way they look as important.

           Weeks passed and I thoroughly enjoyed taking these walks with Daisy as the changing, brisk wind blew against me. I knew it would soon be a warm, beaming springtime wind. I looked forward to that.

           Soon came the beautiful, wonderful month of April. The sun shone so brightly above the blossoming trees and flowers. April was comforting and loving, which was what I needed most. It was on one of Daisy and I’s walks when I noticed someone sitting at a cafe across the street from me. She was young, like me. She had brunette hair that was in a bun. She wore a cropped red sweater with a floral skirt and Toms. For some unbeknownst reason, I found her fascinating. I observed her as Daisy started to pull me north on the block. She was sitting with her legs crossed, swinging her top leg until her small foot hit under the table. I liked her and decided that I would cross the street at the end of the block so that I’d pass her. I did so several times. However, she didn’t look up because she was reading Pride and Prejudice, I noted.

I passed her for the fourth time hoping that somehow I could draw her attention away from Jane Austen’s words. A pen dropped from the table next to hers and rolled to my feet.

“I think you dropped this,” I said as I handed the pen to her, “here.”

She smiled confusedly and thanked me. There was a brief, awkward silence as I stood there and she smiled at me.

“Austen’s a great writer, don’t you think?” I said.

“Yeah...yeah she’s great. I’m reading this for my English class.”

“Oh you’re in college! Where do you go?” I inquired, hoping that the conversation would last.

“I’m at UofC. I hate reading for school. I’m having such a hard time!” she exclaimed, her leg still swinging.

“I’m a college graduate myself. Maybe I can help you?” I sat down.

We talked for two hours that day about Elizabeth’s social standard and Darcy’s poor first impression, among other things relating to the novel. Daisy circled impatiently around my chair towards the end of the conversation and I figured I should leave. I told her goodbye as we exchanged cell numbers. She told me her name was Piper.

Piper and I texted and talked on the phone often for the next few weeks. Very often. We talked from when we first woke up to when we went to sleep. Every moment I had the opportunity to, I called her. I liked hearing her voice. We decided to meet up again at a park near my apartment. She told me to bring Daisy, so I did. We walked around the park and I admired the springtime weather. Daisy curiously played in the fields of red roses as we walked.

“I love springtime!” I said.

“I like it too but I think I actually prefer winter.” she responded. I was puzzled and asked why.

She said, “It’s beautiful. Have you ever seen a field of pure snow? Or icicles hanging from a tree’s branch? The cold outside makes indoors more fun. It makes me appreciate having a warm place. I love it.”

When she said this I started to love winter too. I began to imagine the pure white snow falling from the sky to the tips of branches. I thought. She was still smiling at me and the sun reflecting from her eyes made them sparkle. I smiled back at her agreeingly and we continued to walk. After a few more rotations around the park, we decided to sit on a bench. I watched people go by as she spoke to me.

“I like you, Cory.” She said to me as I turned my head quickly and looked into her eyes.

“I like you too, Piper.” I smiled. I rested my hand on top of hers and she giggled. We sat together like this for a warm, joyful 10 minutes. It was 6 o’clock and I knew I had to go soon. I had work to catch up on before tomorrow, Monday. I told her so and her eyes looked sad although her mouth was still smiling.

“Ok,” she said, “you will call me later?”

I affirmed that I would call her and smiled. But, I didn’t know what to do after that. I leaned forward and saw the shock in her eyes as I did. I continued. She leaned forwards as well and my heart started to beat faster. I could feel it so heavy in my chest. We kissed. It was a long kiss. She smiled ecstatically afterwards and said goodbye. Then, we both went our separate ways. I smiled the entire walk home with Daisy.
    I opened the door to my apartment building and winked at the security guard, Gary.

    “Good day today?” he asked.

    “You bet!” I replied as I hopped onto the elevator with Daisy. My legs were too tired to take the stairs, as I usually do. Daisy ran into the apartment as I opened the door, jumping onto her favorite loveseat. I headed to the refrigerator for a glass of water. I sat at my island’s stool and drank. I thought about where my relationship with Piper would go. I only thought of good times to come for us. I sat, thinking, for about 15 minutes. I couldn’t stop thinking about Piper.

    As I pulled out my laptop to finish the financial models, I remembered I was supposed to call Piper. It was almost 7 and I didn’t want to call her too soon after leaving each other or too late. I decided 8:30 would be a good time to call her. I worked, inattentively, until then. I checked the time frequently. At 8:30 I called her. It rang several times before eventually going to voicemail. I didn’t know what to do. I continued to work for hours, waiting for a call I knew I wouldn’t receive. I questioned our relationship, myself, and my life in general. I was so flustered but I decided to go to sleep. I needed to rest before the start of the new week. I sat up for a couple hours before I finally fell asleep.

    I woke up the next morning and frantically checked my phone. A text from Piper read “Sorry! I fell asleep lol.” I smiled at that and told her not to worry. I got cleaned up and dressed myself in a navy blue dress shirt, black tie with blue pinstripes, and black dress pants. Although no one else in the office wore a tie everyday, I felt the need to do. As Junior Financial Analyst of only a year, I was often held to a different standard than everyone else. I was okay with that. I took a Cliff Bar and left Daisy some fresh food and water for the day.

I grabbed my briefcase and headed for the bus. The entire ride to my office I thought about how silly it was of me to become so flustered about Piper not calling me. I laughed to myself sometimes and people glanced at me.

    The work day was tough but texting Piper throughout it helped. It turns out my financial models were incorrect. The Senior Analyst, Seth, scolded me a bit for wasting time and money with incorrect models. When he left I tore them and stared out the window at the springtime sun’s reflection off the buildings of downtown Chicago. When I told Piper, she helped me laugh about my screwup. It was good, sometimes, to take a breather and not stress yourself about things that were actually not that important. I worked on the revised financial models the entire day, until 8 - two hours past the end of my usual shift.