The Cold

The leaves turn brown and all the spring couples start breaking up.

Becca and I met in April. Everything was warm and light. By November it’s dark at five in the afternoon and you’re inside all the time with this person you barely know, and something shifts. I watched it happen to half the couples I knew. B.’s girlfriend broke up with him at a party after over a year—just told him it was done, right there in front of people.

Spring makes everyone fall in love because falling in love is easy when the weather’s perfect and you can sit outside and there’s no friction. Summer confirms it feels good. But winter’s different. Winter is the actual test—are you with someone you want to be with when it’s cold and dark and there’s no escape? Or are you just someone who fell for the season?

Becca and I survived that first winter. I still don’t know if that means something real or if we’re just better at pretending.