the winter i turned intelligent: bonus scene

Important Note from Dreamy Plots & Story Talks: This story contains suggestive language and sexual content and is only suitable for readers that are 18+.

Bonus Scene:

A Few Months Later:

Conrad’s POV:

“Is this seat taken?” A familiar voice asked me and then added, “Conrad?”

Still buried in my textbook unsurprisingly, even though it was the first week back on campus, I looked up slightly more surprised to see Kate. The last time I saw her was during finals last spring. She had made us the best chocolate chip cookies I’d ever had to this day. I remembered her mentioning how she was thinking of transferring schools since she missed her family so much. It was nice to see her again, and it wasn’t until now that I realized I didn’t reply to her yet since I was too busy processing the previous memories.

I finally replied, “Hey. No. Go ahead.”

She looked amused, “You’re already studying?”

“Well, the professors are already assigning a thousand pages to read so sadly, yes.”

When she smiled, I realized I didn’t really pay that much attention when I was around her last year, still pretty defeated at everything that had happened in my last two relationships.

A moment later, Kate looked down at my textbook still smiling while also faking empathy, “I had to read that last semester. I’ll be thinking of you.” I laughed at her dry humor, before she added, “Mind if I join you?”

“Yeah. Of course. Here.” Still embarrassed why I didn’t bother asking her to sit before she asked, I tried to organize my papers to seem like somewhat less of a mess, although, it was a little too late for that. Shifting the topic as a distraction, I asked, “So what happened with transferring programs?”

She explained, “I went back and forth on the idea, but something just clicked for me that I should stay. I’m surprised how much I ended up liking it here. I think I’ve also fallen in love with the campus more than I want to admit.”

Trying to sound nonchalant, I added, “It’s a decent looking campus, yes.”

It worked when she started smiling again before adding, “Listen. There’s a Halloween Party my friend’s throwing this weekend if you wanted to come?”

“Isn’t Halloween like a month away?” I quickly worried if I came across as not interested.

I felt relieved when she chuckled picking up on my sarcasm. “No I know. She just likes to start early. So be prepared for a Thanksgiving party in October.”

“And a Christmas Party in November?”

“How did you know?”

If this was how her sense of humor was all along, I couldn’t believe how I didn’t recognize it sooner. I had spent enough time with her before to already know how sweet she was. But the subtle details about her were slowly starting to surface. To be fair, when I had first met her, I still felt pretty bitter about a variety of things. It felt like disappointments kept piling on top of each other. And it took longer than I’d hoped for this feeling to dissipate.

But I guessed there was something about the start of a new school year, one that began with more peace than I could ever recall having before.

Without hesitation I finally addressed her invitation wondering if this could be the start of something, “I’ll be there.”

Belly’s POV:

“I think the coffee shop is pretty busy. So I’ll meet you here in about 30 minutes,” I told Jeremiah as he kissed my cheek.

“Sounds good.” He left to pick up some fall decorations that I ordered from my favorite shop a few stores down.

After ordering our drinks, I had to blink again just to make sure it was really her. “Natasha?”

She quickly got up from her chair, “Belly?”

Both smiling, we instantly went in for a hug, which in hindsight seemed a little odd given our histories together. But at this point we were both past everything, and we had made up before the last time I had seen her. I had expected to run into her more often, but shockingly, this was the first time since over a year now. She looked really good. Much happier than before.

When we broke away from the hug, I couldn’t wait to bring up the competition. “Congratulations at the Olympics. I saw the whole competition. You guys were incredible.”

“That’s sweet. Thank you. We were a little bummed that we got the bronze, but honestly I think I was happier when they called our names than when we won the gold the previous time. I still couldn’t believe I was able to compete.”

“I knew you could. Did you get a chance to have a break after the competition?”

“Oh I wish. We’ve just been back at the rink ever since. Our coach is already preparing us for the next one.”

“I don’t know how you do it. I’d be so burned out by now.”

“Yeah. I need at least a month-long vacation and soon.”

“I could use one as well.” I didn’t expect us to get along as if we were lifelong friends, but it felt like that. Both smiling, I added not noticing a cup on the table next to her, “Did you order a drink already?”

“Yeah. I’m here with my skating partner. I’m not sure if you remember him. He’s waiting for our drinks over there,” she pointed towards him.

“Oh yeah. I remember him.” When I looked back at her, I noticed how she was still looking at him almost with a glimmer in her eyes. “Okay. What’s going on there?”

She smiled wider than I’d genuinely seen her smile before, and I couldn’t wait to hear the reason behind it although I already had a pretty good guess. Taking a seat in front of her, I smiled back, “Tell me everything.”

THE END ✨