-- NO MATTER THE WEATHER && [open]

Joshua wasn't the most cuddly or affectionate friend, nor was he single, so there was something discomforting about the way his very female friend shifted closer to him on the bench. He tried to be inconspicuous as he moved away, still flipping through the essay she'd handed to him and searching it for errors. At first she did nothing, then sidled over yet again around a minute later. This time he looked up, fixing her with an irritated gray stare. "No, no, it's not like that!" She seemed surprised as she shifted a good two feet away from him and ducked her head. "It's just... you're warm." There were a few beats of awkward silence before they both cracked up simultaneously, Joshua shaking his head in amused exasperation. The Fire graduate lifted a hand and allowed a pulse of heat to sweep over the bench, chasing away the wintery November chill without incident. "Ask me, next time! I thought you were coming onto me or something!" He didn't sound angry, though, just entertained. It was pretty funny if you thought about it. He never really noticed how cold the air got thanks to his natural temperature control but he could believe that his friend had only been getting closer because she was feeling the effects. Fire students gave off a natural heat, after all. They were great friends to have in the winter months. Human space heaters. He thought of Nell and his lips twitched into a smile.

Handing the essay back to her with all the corrections outlined in red pen, he said, "It's not bad, really. No need to be worried." Finals were in a few weeks, though, and everyone was worried about those. Joshua was not terrified so much as nervous. He had studied hard throughout the whole year and he knew he wasn't going to fail anything but a simple passing grade wasn't enough for the aspiring doctor. He was trying to keep up near-perfect grades throughout his four years of college (and had been successful thus far) so that he could get into medical school after graduation. It was a lot of pressure. "You really think so?" She was practically glowing with the praise and he nodded, smiling a little. Some people were their own worst critics. They could read something far worse than their own writing and not be nearly as hard on it as they were on themselves. Stretching and rolling his shoulders back, Joshua sighed and realised something. "Dude, I want some ice cream." His friend looked at him in disbelief. "It's November, Josh." He was aware of that, thank you very much. "So? Any day is a good day for ice cream." Fuck seasons, fuck closing for the summer, fuck everything. "You're crazy," she laughed, not sounding serious. "Anyway, I've got to go. See ya!" He lifted his hand in a wave as she stood up and went over to where her bike was resting against a telephone pole.

Joshua, who had walked to the park they'd met up in, stood more slowly and paced along one of the sidewalks, wondering what he should do. Hmm... maybe I should get some ice cream. The decision was made not two seconds later and with a bit of a walk he found himself at the parlour. They had an indoor area but they also had a back porch window and a couple umbrella-shaded tables out back. It wasn't the summer but he decided he would stick it out in the great outdoors instead of waiting in line inside, going up to the back window and ordering himself a double scoop cone, strawberry and cookie dough flavours. It was pricey like most ice cream parlours but the scoops were huge to make up for it. What was money to Joshua, anyway? The good thing about the fact that it wasn't summer was that the scoops didn't start to melt away the moment he accepted the waffle cone into his hands in exchange for a five dollar bill, giving him some time to really enjoy it. He hated it when the ice cream would start to run down the side of the damn thing and get all over his fingers while he was trying to eat. He sat down at one of the tables and leaned back in the chair, the fabric of the umbrella overhead flapping softly in a light breeze. No bees, either, he realised, and this cheered him as well.

[Felt like an open thread, why not >> Anyone can join~]