Jonah had never seen the snow before. Sure, on the weather channel and in pictures, but he could not imagine wearing the heavy clothing and the white breath that lingered from other people’s mouths. He had felt the weather cooling the last month and was curious to the coming winter. And when he walked outside his dorm on that November morning in Flagstaff, the world looked brand new with the white wrapper still on. There was a new sensation, of the cheeks tightening and becoming numb to the touch. His eyes were pleasantly stinging and the air was brittle and cool. He stretched and became fresh with his new world. It was all his and he looked around quickly to make sure no one was enjoying his moment.

There, across the way was a girl with short, spiked golden yellow hair. She was sitting on steps off another petal of the McConnell dorm smoking a cigarette. It looked like she had seen mornings like this before and came out there because she knew what everyone else was missing. She had on red sweats and a long-sleeved white shirt. Her hands were cocooned in the sleeves and she looked like she was savoring being cold. She mesmerized Jonah. The snow was everywhere and it was blinding as the sun escaped from the gray clouds that shrouded the sky.

Without being able to see, Jonah walked towards the girl with the spiked golden hair. He could not see anything except the religious brilliance of the quiet morning. His eyes were watering freely and he shielded them as he came close to the large, knee-high planter that bordered the dorm. He was eighteen years old, had never been in love but was wise enough to know that he should watch his step on unfamiliar ground.

The girl with the spiked hair and the red sweats didn’t even notice him yet. She seemed happy in her placid whiteness. Jonah wondered if maybe he shouldn’t bother but he was too far now. His feet were freezing; he was wearing Airwalk shoes and hadn’t realized that the snow would spill inside easily. The only thing he could see was his breath, the tops of the evergreen trees and the cool blue sky above the trees.

The girl, whose name he soon found was Marjorie, now looked in his direction for the first time. She couldn’t see him though as the sun was behind him; he was a shadow, she thought, as she finished her smoke. She took satisfaction in the sound her cigarette made when she put it into the snow. It reminded her of last winter, when she had been a high school senior in the small town of Lake Placid, New York. She had always been popular, because of her blond hair and ironically enough she had had her roommate cut it her first week away from home.

Jonah was close enough to say something but nothing profound came to him. "Hey," were his first words of the day.

She could barely see him because of the snow and the sun, but could tell he was cute. In an innocent, farmer kind of way she later told her roommate. "Hey," she responded back.

She had an accent, he thought. Massachusetts maybe, but he set that on the back burner. "Beautiful morning, isn’t it?"

She was kind of taken back by his politeness. But then again, maybe that’s how he was. "Yes, it is," she said. "Reminds me of home." Marjorie lit another cigarette out of nervousness and squinted up at him.

"Really?" he asked. "Where are you from?" He was glad there was a topic. Now that he was close enough, he noticed her hair wasn’t really spiked. It was almost like she had a bad haircut or something.

"Upstate New York," she said as she had probably said a hundred times since she had moved to Phoenix. She had said Lake Placid the first few times and people never knew where that was except for the question, "Wasn’t there a Winter Olympics there?" Marjorie had learned that the geographic knowledge of the modern eighteen year old American student was limited to within an hour’s drive from their house or wherever they had been on vacation growing up.

"Oh cool," Jonah said, trying to imagine what upstate new York must look like. "I’m from Escondido," he said, and then quickly added as he had fifty times since moving five hundred miles from home, "it’s near San Diego."

"Oh," she said, squinting but smiled. He was nice too. He just wanted to talk, she thought. Her manipulative alter ego chimed in, Yeah, but what guy is horny at eight-thirty in the morning in the snow? She shook that thought off.

"Yeah so," said the polite awkward young man, digging for conversation with this interesting girl. Then he remembered. "This is my first time in the snow."

"Really?" asked the girl. She had almost choked on her cigarette in surprise. "You’ve never seen snow before?"

"I’ve seen it," he began defensively. His feet were freezing and his eyes were on the verge of never opening again. "Ya know, on the Weather channel and …" He looked at her. "it just my first time in the snow by myself."

"You’re not by yourself though, " Marjorie remarked.

"Well I was but then I saw you."

"And?" she asked, now somewhat amused.

"And," Jonah said, "that’s when I came here."

"Oh," she said, dragging slowly from her smoke. It was a tough moment to anticipate. He smiled for no reason and she laughed. "What?" Marjorie asked.

"Nothing," he said, and smiled again. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"Sure," she said.

The view from those steps was gorgeous. The definition of the white puffy clouds contrasted nicely against the blue sky. Jonah asked for a cigarette even though he hadn’t had one since the summer. It had been a different girl that time, and she hadn’t liked cigarettes.

"So how do you like NAU?" Jonah asked.

"I don’t know," she said. And then Marjorie just decided to tell him. "I don’t go to school here."

"Oh," Jonah responded.

"I go to ASU. In Phoenix," she added, as she had a dozen times while talking to her friends back in Lake Placid.

"Oh," Jonah said again. Did her boyfriend go here, he wondered. "So," he began, hoping she would know the question.

"How come I’m here?" Marjorie asked for him and smiled.

"Yeah," he said, relieved. Jonah leaned forward while she lit the cigarette. The short burst of warmth quieted them as he took his first drag.

"Well," she said, "I guess I just miss the snow." She thought that sounded silly.

Jonah smiled. He thought she was cute in a punk rock kind of way. "That’s cool," he said. "So you drove up here just to see the snow?" he asked, wishing he had something in his life like that.

"Yep," she said, looking at him. He didn’t look very natural smoking. She squinted as the sun escaped the far away white puffiness. "You don’t smoke, do you?"

"I used to," he said. He felt conscious of it suddenly and looked at how he was holding the cigarette.

"It’s alright," she offered and laughed. "I don’t smoke that often, but it’s so fun in the snow."

He felt better. "So you just came for the day, eh?"

"I guess. I don’t know, it was raining last night, and it was kind of boring in Tempe. My roommate’s boyfriend came over and I didn’t want to see them doing their," she paused, smoking, thinking of the word, "their thing again."

"I know what you mean," Jonah said, though it was his roommate who left to go to his girlfriend’s dorm usually.

"Then my roommate told me about this place," Marjorie said. "Flagstaff, I mean. She’s heard me talking about the snow back home and told me it would probably be snowing here."

"Wow," Jonah said, who had put his cigarette out.

"I even checked the weather on the Internet and I was sold. I put some stuff in my car and headed up here. Even slept in my car."

"You have a car, eh?" he asked.

"I drove it out here from New York. You don’t, huh?"

"Nah. I had to leave it at home. My little brother is using it now," he said.

"That sucks," Marjorie consoled.

"Yeah, I know," he said. The clouds swallowed the sun and Jonah was able to see again. He looked at her, and she was already looking at him. She had green eyes, and he saw part of a tattoo jutting from the neckline of her shirt. He pointed at it. What’s your tattoo of?"

"Oh," she said, and tried to look at the back of her own neck. She flicked her cigarette away and it slipped into the snow. Pulling her shirt back, a small yellow, red, and blue fish emerged from just below her seventh cervical vertebrae. "I’m a Pisces," she replied.

"Cool." Jonah had never really cared about astrology but as he gazed at the back of her neck, and the small fish he decided he would have to do some more investigating.

"I’ve wanted a tattoo," Jonah began, but then felt foolish. "Shit," he said, somewhat disgusted with himself.

"What?"

"It’s just that," he began, "I think it sounds lame when someone says they want a tattoo but don’t even know what they’d get."

Marjorie was wondering what kind of a tattoo he would get. It was then she noticed Jonah’s eyes. They were pretty, she later told her half-listening roommate. "No, I totally understand," Marjorie said reassuringly and smiled. God, he was cute, she thought. She wanted another cigarette.

"Hey, are you hungry?" Jonah asked hopefully.

She wasn’t. "Yes," she said. "Do you know a place to get a bite to eat," and then for the first time she fidgeted with her hair. Damn Tequila! She never should have let her roommate cut it.

Jonah took his father’s advice and said, "I like your hair." He looked right at her and thought maybe that she was blushing. Or maybe she was cold. He wished he had a jacket.

"Thanks," she said, and played even more with her blond locks.

"And about food," said Jonah, "there’s a cool place downtown, if you don’t mind walking."

"No, sounds good," she said, forgetting she had a car. "Just let me get my jacket."

"I’ll get mine too. Be right back," he said and shuffled back to his side of the dorm.

Marjorie walked to her car and applied a little make-up and Jonah brushed his teeth. They had no idea what the other was thinking.

When he returned, good breath, green jacket and all, Marjorie felt a flush she hadn’t felt since, since, what was his name? Jim, oh yeah, Jim. She thanked her lucky stars that she was twenty-five hundred miles from that jerk, but she still had a quick thought about what he might be doing right now. She looked at Jonah, smiled and walked towards him.

"God, you look great. I mean I like your sweatshirt," he said, after realizing she hadn’t changed.

"Oh thanks," Marjorie said. She glanced down at her all-time favorite sweatshirt, an orange fleece with large black letters from Syracuse University. It was the only thing she still had of Jim’s.

"Did you go to Syracuse?" he asked as they began walking past McConnell into the small sharp green forest that separated south campus from the rest of the university.

"No," she said vaguely. "It’s a friend’s."

Jonah was amazed how the snow had gotten everywhere. It laid under the trees and hung softly from the branches.

Marjorie was happy. She was floating; who was this guy? He seemed so nice and interested in her. And he was cute. She smiled.

"Have you ever seen this much snow before?"

"Yeah," she said amidst a loud, healthy laugh. "I’ve seen it up to here," said Marjorie and show him it had been up to her breasts before. Jonah looked but tried not to focus on them.

"Wow," he said, and stared ahead.

"My car has even been engulfed in the snow a couple of times." And that bastard Jim didn’t even help me, she omitted. It was alright, she thought, she didn’t need anyone anymore. "We’ve even had school canceled before. Many times," she added.

"No way." He tried to think what could happen in Escondido that would close a school.

"I can’t believe you’ve never seen snow before," she remarked. She wished his arm was around her.

Jonah was currently trying to think of a restaurant he knew of. He had only eaten outside the crappy cafeteria a few times; for some reason financial aid didn’t allot for taking girls out.

Marjorie’s ears were so cold. She covered them with her hands.

Jonah wished he was wearing different shoes but for some reason he didn’t care. Oh! The Downtowner Café! "Yes!" he verbalized.

Marjorie was a little startled from her own inner thoughts. "What’s up?" she asked somewhat dreamily.

"Oh nothing."

"No, what," she asked, more alert now and even demure. In her experience, something was always up.

"Well," he began, unsure of what to say.

"No, come on, what?" she asked again. She could see him giving way under her smile. She had seen that look many, many times.

"It’s just that I’ve only eaten downtown a couple of times."

"It’s alright," she said easily. "I’ve never eaten downtown."

Jonah smiled. He decided that he loved the snow. Then his neck was attacked by it first snowball and accompanied by a giggle. Marjorie was behind him, laughing. Jonah creaked his neck in an attempt to dig some out of his jacket. She was nearly doubled over and Jonah found it an opportune moment to make his first snowball. Marjorie had no idea that Jonah’s hands were compacting the cold snow and then he had a better idea. He ran towards her and went to tackle the laughing girl. Marjorie saw it coming at the last second. Jonah recognized the inviting smile and they fell to the ground in a flurry of snow and laughter. Marjorie wasted no time and shoved a good amount of snow down his back and the fight was over. He squirmed and she spit some snow at him, laughing the whole time. Marjorie hadn’t been tackled in the snow since…

The moment ended and they got up. Somehow eating and getting Somewhere were secondary to the journey itself. There was a lot of laughter and comparisons to their homes. He usually got shorts for Christmas and she got sweaters and Tori Amos CD’s. She snowboarded and he water-skied. But they both liked being alive. It was obvious to each of them in their own ways. He liked her laugh and she liked his eyes.

They walked past the red brick train station and onto Leroux. People were just beginning to mull around the downtown area and there was white breath and white plumes emerging from the other red bricked buildings. It was going to be a beautiful day that many people would miss.

They turned right on Aspen and walked past one of the Native American stores that sold turquoise and tom drums. The Downtowner Café was cheap and greasy but it was next store. They had good specials and the service was friendly. Besides, they had a cool fish tank and that’s where Marjorie and Jonah sat, after they unpeeled layers of orange and green.

They sat across from each other and Marjorie took in her new surroundings. Jonah let her and watched the fish peacefully.

"Hmm," she said, looking at the long and laminated one-sided menu, "what’s good?"

"Let’s see," Jonah said, wondering whether she might be vegetarian or not. "Do you eat meat?"

"Huh? Sure, just knock off its horns and wipe its ass," she said and smirked.

Jonah finished laughing and asked," What does that mean?"

"The rarer the better." Her green eyes twinkled.

"Well, the chicken fried steak is good," he suggested. Jonah himself was going to have a ham’n’eggs and hash brown breakfast. He hoped that she wouldn’t be disgusted when he lathered mustard all over it.

When the waitress came, Jonah was embarrassed when she told Marjorie that "she shouldn’t eat the chicken fried steak." They both laughed and Marjorie looked at the waitress and said with as straight a face as she could manage, "That’s alright miss, I’m in the mood for some good ole’ fashioned chicken fried steak." She had momentarily assumed a Southern accent and Jonah took her cue.

"And ‘lil lady, I reckon I’ll have your ham and eggs special. Uh huh, and burn nem has browns good for me, alright. Thank ya, doll. Oh, and two OJ’s too," he called out to her as she was walking back into the kitchen. Marjorie fidgeted and she felt pleasantly nervous. She never been on a date this early in the morning before, though it didn’t feel like a date. "Do you like Fiona Apple?" asked Marjorie.

"Uh, not really, but I do like that one song she has on the radio, the one where she hurts the guy but it’s like she couldn’t help it," Jonah babbled. The orange juices came and along with them came two place settings.

Marjorie snickered a little. It seemed to her that all of Fiona Apple’s songs were about that. "Oh,," she said. "You should check out her CD, it’s really good."

"I will, definitely," he said earnestly.

"How ‘bout you," she asked, after sipping the tart orange juice. "What music do you like?"

This was an easy question for Jonah. "The Beatles, by far. They wrote the best songs," he said passionately.

"Cool," she said. She considered the Beatles her parent’s music but there must be a reason why he was so into them.

"Paul McCartney’s my uncle, ya know," he said casually, paying close attention to the reaction.

"Shut up! No way!" she yelled and her face beamed.

"Nah, I’m just kidding," he said and Marjorie almost spit some of her orange juice out. She hadn’t laughed this much in awhile.

To this day, nether one of them remembers what happened at breakfast except for the fish. They were lucky enough to be around for their daily feeding. As is the case for men and women, Jonah was fascinated by it and Marjorie found it kind of disgusting. She did, however, enjoy watching Jonah. He was completely absorbed by it, and she found herself wrapped up in him.

After breakfast, they trounced through the small downtown area and watched how the snow slowed down life for a day. The excruciatingly bright sun was hidden atop many of the buildings they walked under until they hit an intersection and their retinas were free game to the sunshine.

They decided to grab a newspaper and have a cup of coffee. He didn’t really drink coffee and she hadn’t read a newspaper since a school project her sophomore year in high school. But again, the activity was secondary to the company.

Jonah got a mocha and they chose the New York Times. Marjorie was smiling as they strolled into a small, organic café on San Francisco Street. Everything cost more but was fresher and healthier, though Jonah thought it was hard to make coffee healthier.

"So how do you like it here," Marjorie asked.

"I don’t know," Jonah said and looked around. He noticed the art on consignment on the walls, and the multi-colored chalkboard displaying the days’ specials. "It’s pretty cool. I like it," he affirmed.

Marjorie laughed her green-eyed laugh and said, "No, I mean going to school here." She was still laughing and Jonah became red.

"I like it. It’s far from home and I already feel like I’m getting a good college experience."

She was watching him.

"What about you, Marjorie?" he asked. She liked hearing her named from his mouth. "Uh," she began, "it’s alright. I wish I got along with my roommate better—"

"Me too," he quickly added.

"I mean, she’s alright, but we don’t really connect and we listen to totally different music. And her boyfriend is always there," she finished. "I’m sorry," Marjorie said after a sip of her coffee. "I’m totally complaining right now." She looked down and acted as if she was interested in the Business Section.

"No, no," Jonah reassured her, "it’s alright. I totally understand. My roommate is always gone and comes in at weird times of the night, which is fine, but he doesn’t try and be quiet and—"

"That sucks," Marjorie said.

He stopped. "Sorry, I forgot I was making a point." She smiled and he continued. "I don’t think that you should think of your college experience in terms of your roommate. I know it would help if you got along better with her but," he tried.

"Yeah, I hear ya," she said.

"I mean, haven’t ya met any cool people, or had any cool classes or anything like that?"

"Not really," she admitted.

"Wow. I really like the people here and it’s a college town so it kind of caters to the student. It’s awesome here."

Marjorie was quiet now, and wasn’t even trying to act like she was reading.

"What’s wrong?" Jonah asked.

"Oh nothing, I guess I’m just kind of jealous of you," she said.

"Yeah, but why? You’re having fun right now, with me aren’t you? Hopefully you’ll remember this counts ya know. As a college experience I mean," Jonah said while smiling at her.

"You’re really nice," Marjorie said and she smiled too.

"Oh no," he groaned and tried not to act disappointed.

"What?" she asked and wondered what it was she had said.

"Nice?" Jonah whined. "Nice?"

"What?" she asked again.

"Nice? Nice is no good," Jonah said, though his spirits remained high.

"Sure it is," Marjorie said, amused that this perfect gentleman was annoyed at being called ‘nice’.

"Well, if you say so," he said and looked at her. Her eyes were a little red from the cold and the coffee. She had no problem with eye contact, though.

"What?" Marjorie asked after he had stared long enough.

"You’re a very pretty girl," he said and Marjorie immediately blushed. "No seriously, you’re so cute, and your hair cut, and your shirt with the little Mickey Mouse’s and Donald Duck’s and ,and…" he paused, trying to finish off nicely. "And you seem to feel perfectly at home with a complete stranger."

"You’re not a complete stranger," she said matter-of-factly. Ironically enough, she already considered Jonah one of her best friends in the whole silly state.

"Well, that’s true," Jonah said, smiling.

"Yeah so, and besides, you are nice and polite. Those are big things for me."

"For a friend," he added dismally.

"What’s wrong with that," Marjorie asked, almost indignant.

"Well," Jonah began conspiratorially, "it’s just that I’m not ready to be your friend yet."

"You’re not?" Marjorie was surprised.

"No. I want you to think of me as still having ‘potential’," he said. His sister had taught him a lot about the complex and changing psyche of the woman.

She laughed. "Trust me babe, you got all kinds of potential."

Jonah felt relieved and he too laughed. "Right on," he said.

She was finishing her coffee and kind of wanted the moment to end and a new one to begin. "Where to next, mister?" she asked playfully.

"Wherever you wanna go, princess. You wanna just keep walking around?"

"Uh," Marjorie thought aloud.

"Yeah, we’ll just act like we’re tourists from a southern city. Whaddya think?"

"Alright," she said. It truly did sound like fun.

"What city?"

"Huh," she asked, as she was pulling Jim’s sweatshirt over her head.

"What city should we be from?"

"Uh, let’s see," Marjorie said and she thought of where she would like to be from. "How about Savannah, Georgia?" she asked.

"Savannah, eh?" He himself wanted to be from Gulfport, Mississippi but he was mostly glad that she wanted to play along.

"Yeah, Savannah. I’ll be a Southern belle and you can be my cute but ever gentlemanly chaperone."

"Girl, you got yourself a deal!" They left the paper behind for another couple to find and embarked onto the streets of Flagstaff as new people.

They weren’t prepared for the white when they stepped outside. Even the slowly melting black streets glistened coolly. Jonah had a thought once they were outside. "Hey, are we starting now," he asked her.

"Well whateva do you mean?" his southern belle asked coquettishly

"You sure are a modern southern belle, ma’am," he said and touched her spiked hair.

"Well, since the Reconstruction things in Savannah have been quite renovated, sah," she said.

"I know, young lady, I know, I’m from there also," Jonah said.

They walked hand in hand and watched the bundled families and couples struggle in the snow. The initial excitement had worn off for Jonah, partly because he was immersed in it and partly because he was with Marjorie.

The first couple they met were from San Francisco.

"Savannah, eh? I had an uncle from there," replied the clean-cut man in his thirties.

"That’s right sah, Savannah, Georgia, home of the peach, if ya know what I mean," Jonah said and put his arm around Marjorie. She smiled and attempted blushing for the camera.

The clean-cut man’s wife, a professor of women’s studies put her arm around her husband. "Well," she said, smiling at the young couple, "what brings you to Flagstaff?"

"We’re traveling ma’am. Wanted to hear what the West was all about."

"Oh, that’s great," the woman responded. "Wow, Charlie, isn’t it great to see young people experiencing the glory of travel?"

He responded that it was. "Yes, I wish I had known when I was younger."

When they parted ways, addresses were exchanged. Jonah let Marjorie make up the address and she had chosen 830 McConnell Drive. As the couple began walking away, both Jonah and Marjorie giggled. "I had to make up a zip code for Savannah," she said laughing. Jonah looked at the business card with the address and thought about life’s ironies.

Then they met an old man who was originally from Greece. He was sitting at an outdoor café enjoying the beautiful white midday.

"You are cute couple," the man said in his broken English. It was funny; he was only looking at Marjorie.

"Oh why thank you," Marjorie said. She wasn’t trying as hard on the accent because this guy wouldn’t have known the difference. The blushing though, was top rate.

"You been to Greece?" he asked with an Old World passion in his voice.

"No," they both said.

"Oh, you must go, you must. I’m from Elba, where they put that Frenchman Napoleon. It is heaven on earth. Though," he said, looking around, "this is not too bad either, eh?" He smiled and looked at Marjorie.

Jonah felt it was time to move on. . They walked over to Crystal Creek Sandwich Shop down Milton Road a few blocks to play some pool and split a sandwich. Their personas played themselves out, even as they were talking to each other.

"Oh mah, Jonah," Marjorie said," it appears you have mustard on your face." He attempted to find it but was unsuccessful. She leaned over and wiped it off. There was a pause. And then as quickly as it had begun, it had ended. Jonah took another bite of the sandwich and watched Marjorie bent over the pool table getting ready to play. She was a better pool player than he was and he told her so.

"Yeah, well," she began modestly. "I had a boyfriend who had a pool table."

"Oh," he said quietly. He didn’t like to think that anyone had ever kissed her before.

"I guess I got pretty good," she said. She tried not to look at Jonah’s gaze. Marjorie even changed the topic and in her Southern belle role she sauntered over to Jonah, got close while he was in mid-bite and kissed him.

"What was that for?" he asked after he finished swallowing his bite.

"Ew, pickles. What do you mean?" she asked innocently. "If you don’t know what that was for, you’re certainly not gonna get another one."

"Oh," he said, smiling foolishly. "I’ve just never had a girl make the first move," he lied.

"Oh but sugar," the wanna-be Southern belle said demurely, "you’ve been putting moves on me all day."

"No I haven’t," he tried.

"Even when you walked over to me, that was some sort of a move."

"It was?"

"Wasn’t it?"

"It was, I guess," he said, realizing he had really wanted her from the start.

"Are you for real?" Jonah asked.

Marjorie gazed right at him, eyes shining mysteriously. She leaned closer, then pinched his arm and said, "Yep," laughing the whole time.

They didn’t even finish their last game of pool. Jonah stopped at the liquor store and bought some gum.

"Thanks, she said, after taking a piece from him.

It was clouding up again and it becoming cooler. Marjorie made her first proclamation of the day. "It’s going to snow," she said.

"Really?" Jonah could not have been happier. All day with this girl and it was going to snow!

"Yep. Where should we go and watch it snow from?" Marjorie asked.

"I know, I know," he exclaimed excitedly.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, let’s go to Buffalo Park. Do you mind driving?"

"No sugar, I don’t mind. Marjorie found herself completely charmed by his excitement.

"It’s not that far away," he continued selling. "It’s a beautiful park. I hope you like it."

It was late afternoon when they got to there. Jonah did not like Marjorie’s driving but somehow it made him like her more. Buffalo Park is a large, wide open field that eventually leads to the base of a small, mountain of sorts. There are enormous boulders for the few hundred feet of ascent and it’s a great place to view the first part of a sunset. You can’t see the whole thing though, because it would be too hard to get down in the dark. Jonah hadn’t realized that there would be too much snow to climb the boulders. He was just happy to be there. With her.

They eventually settled on the large bronze buffalo that guarded the entrance to the park. The snow had begun to fall and they sat straddling, facing each other on the gigantic back of the creature. Marjorie loved it. She had never even seen a buffalo before and now here she was, sitting on one. Jim had never taken her anywhere and this guy had taken her everywhere in one day. And it was still light out.

Jonah wanted badly to kiss her again but wanted to wait for the right moment. They sat while it snowed on them, giggling into the dusk. He told her about the time when, after being at NAU for a week, got so drunk he had puked all over himself. He wasn’t a big drinker, he quickly reassured her but it was a funny story nonetheless. Marjorie then explained to him about her hair. She had been drinking too (big surprise) and her ex (she over-emphasized ‘ex’) boyfriend had called and had made her feel like shit. Her roommate’s boyfriend, in his only redeeming moment had bought the girl’s a bottle of tequila. One thing led to another and she had talked that techno-listening roommate of hers to cut her hair.

"No way," Jonah said, incredulous.

"Yeah," she said, "and the next day I dyed it the color you see here," and she pulled at her hair playfully.

"I love it," he said earnestly.

"Really?" she asked as girls do.

"Yeah, totally," Jonah said with more conviction that he had ever felt.

The snow fell about her face and it was as loud as quiet ever gets. It got darker and they got closer. By the time it was black, they were embracing. When the moment was cooling, he invited her to dinner, blowing all the money he would have for the next two weeks.

After getting back from Buffalo Park, Jonah took her to his dorm room and for once his roommate was there.

"Hey," his roommate said from the toilet paper roll. Jonah quickly closed the door behind Marjorie and replaced the towel that lay heavily at the door. The smell of marijuana mixed with fabric softener filled the room. Jonah was embarrassed but Marjorie didn’t seem to mind.

"What is that?" she asked Jonah’s roommate after they had been quickly introduced.

"This?" he asked, holding up an empty toilet paper roll that was apparently filled with fabric softner. "It’s called a zambonie," he said. "You blow into it and it changes the smell of the smoke."

"A zambonie? Isn’t that the thing that they use in hockey?"

"Yeah, right," Jonah, impressed with her hockey prowess.

"I had an old roommate that was a huge hockey fan but didn’t smoke. He coined the name for us," he said and inhaled profusely.

"Cool."

Jonah did not want to hang out with his roommate and Marjorie so he got what he needed and they left.

"Do you smoke?" Marjorie asked, innocent enough.

"I have," he said, "but not really."

"I’ve tried to it too but it doesn’t do that much for me. It makes me go to sleep." Jim had been a pothead and now she had a negative connotation towards potheads. She had become frustrated with his laziness and he had never wanted to go out. Eventually, she went out alright. Twenty-five hundred miles out, she thought to herself.

They went to Ramona’s Cantina, as Jonah loved Mexican food and Marjorie admitted she had never had ‘good Mexican food’. Jonah assured her this was not good Mexican food but his roommate’s girlfriend worked there and they might be able to get free drinks.

The yellow lighting inside Ramona’s is complimented well by the mauve and earthen colored terra cotta tiles that seem to consume the place. They asked and were seated in Julie’s section. Jonah and Julie didn’t necessarily get along that well but Julie didn’t like her job enough that she was more than willing to oblige their cheap thirst. Through the first basket of chips, their conversation commenced.

"Have you ever been in love?" Marjorie asked, crunching on a chip.

"Nope," Jonah replied, comfortable that what he had experienced with Sarah had been merely convenience and fun. "Thought I was," he said, and was quiet after that.

"I was once," Marjorie said, a little peeved that Jonah had not asked her the same question. "He turned out be a lazy pot head asshole."

"That sucks," Jonah said, and wondered who could take this creature for granted.

"What’s worse," she asked her beer, "to have never been in love or to have found love only to discover it wasn’t true?"

"Seems like we both might have different opinions on that," Jonah remarked with insight. His Corona was treating him wonderfully. Marjorie’s face had a soft red coloring to it and he wondered if he looked the same.

Marjorie’s ‘safe bet’, the chicken quesadilla turned out to be a lot better than Jonah’s chimichanga. She was amused by his honest and thorough description as to why his chimicanga ranked among the lowest he had ever had. "Look at me," he said, "now I’m the one complaining."

"Yeah," Marjorie said good-naturedly. "It’s not a good look for you," and she laughed aloud. They weren’t surprised when Julie came over five minutes later and told them she couldn’t serve them anymore alcohol.

After dinner, to his shock and to his great pleasure, she agreed to go back to his place. For her, it had been an easy decision. He made her feel comfortable and that was already leaps and bounds above Jim.

When they got there, the placed still reeked of weed and laundry. Jonah opened a window and without lights the room became illuminated by the snow and the moon outside. Jonah pondered over his Beatles’ collection determining which album was right for the moment. Magical Mystery Tour jumped out at him. Marjorie sat on his bed and looked around. She found it funny that the room’s decorations were split between the Beatles and Marilyn Manson. She wondered but she also knew what might happen that night. Jonah came over to her after lighting some candles and knelt before her on the bed. It is true, the moment was awkward at first but Marjorie cupped his head in her hands and brought him up to her. Jonah, as best as he could without releasing his lips from hers sat next to her on the bed. By the time I Am the Walrus began, they were both down to their skivvies and the movements were thrashed and passionate. For the sake of privacy, the details will be omitted here though Marjorie wanted it noted that they did not have sex and Jonah was a perfect gentleman.

Later that night as she drank a coke that Jonah had gotten from the vending machine, Marjorie told him something.

"I don’t want a boyfriend right now," she said, having difficulty looking him in the eye.

"It’s alright," he said quickly.

"I know, it’s just that I left an asshole a few months ago and I am still healing, ya know?"

"Yeah, I do," he said softly, trying to understand.

"I really like you, and definitely wanna stay in contact with you, but I don’t know how often I should be doing this," she said, referring to their naked bodies.

Jonah played it off. "It’s ok, me neither."

Marjorie laughed, and was so relieved that Jonah seemed to understand. She drank the rest of her Coke in silence. Marjorie, who felt it would have been rude and foolish to leave in the middle of the night, slept naked in Jonah’s arms until the open blinds threw early morning light into the room. She had wanted to have sex with him, to have a reason not to respect him and he hadn’t given in. She attempted to get up without waking him, but Jonah wouldn’t have it. He threw on sweats and mumbled some pleasantries about what a great time he had had.

"Me too, me too," she reassured him. She really did like him, but this life just would not do right now.

They exchanged numbers and Jonah walked her out to the car. She looked just as she had yesterday: red sweats, white long-sleeve shirt with Disney characters adorning it and that yellow spiked hair. He gave her a huge hug and forced her to look into his eyes.

"I better see you again," he said.

"You will," Marjorie said, "you will."

"When?"

"I don’t know." Marjorie looked away.

"No, Marjorie, that’s not good enough for me," Jonah said.

"Alright," she said after a moment. "I’ll come up the next time it snows, ok? Is that a good deal?"

Jonah could not believe his good fortune. "Hell yeah, that’s a great deal," he said in a way that made her laugh. She hugged him and for a long time, kissed him warmly on the mouth and then said good bye.

"Remember," she yelled from her car, "you have my email address. Use it." And then she was off. Jonah had never used email before but he was sure gonna find out how as soon as his roommate got home from Julie’s.

Much to Jonah’s chagrin, it didn’t snow for the rest of the semester. They did keep in contact but he sensed her pulling away and she began mentioning her ex-boyfriend more and more.

Early in February, it snowed. Jonah was not surprised that it took some effort to get her there. When she arrived, the snow was deep and white. They embraced and noticed the physical changes of each other. Both of their hair was longer; hers was orange and his was the same color. But when Jonah went to kiss her, she backed away.

"What’s up?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said, but they both knew it wasn’t true. "I have a boyfriend now," she confessed and couldn’t look him in the eye.

"Why didn’t you tell me?"

"I don’t know." It had been hard for her to come, and the drive had been interminable, but she felt that she owed it to Jonah. Of course, she knew he wouldn’t understand. She didn’t believe in—

"I see," he said, and sat down on the cold steps outside his dorm.

"I do care about you," she tried.

"Great," he said sadly.

She sat next to him and searched for words. "Jonah," she began, "I’ve never had a day like that before. Maybe I won’t ever."

"Me either," he said.

"But I don’t know, maybe it just wasn’t meant to work out," she said.

"Yeah." There was a pause but then Jonah remembered his youth. "Let’s be sure to keep in contact, ok?" Jonah asked hopefully.

Marjorie’s relief showed in her voice. "Yes, yes of course. God Jonah, you mean a lot to me but…"

"Well, ma’am, I reckon it’s time for you to go, eh?" asked Jonah in his southern accent.

"But sah, the least I could do is take ya to breakfast," his southern belle said.

As they walked to her car, she told him in her regular voice, "Jonah, the next time a girl like me comes into your life, don’t let her leave, ok?"

"Alright," he said and wondered if she meant now.