Greenhouse || Xavier Thorpe x Male Reader

winter walks || chapter 23

 "He is all my art to me now." - Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

 The snowstorm has begun to ease up by the time I wake up the next morning, buried in layers of blankets. Classes have been canceled due to the unpredictability of the weather, so I reach up to my wall bookshelf, which I conveniently hung above my bed, and grab a book at random.

"You're not seriously going to spend the day reading, right?" Xavier calls from across the room.

I shrug under the heap of blankets. "What else is there do do? It's too cold to go outside."

"It's not that cold, [Y/N]," he tells me. "We can grab Wednesday and Enid, maybe Ajax, and go down to Jericho."

"I'd rather not get stuck in the Weathervane with the Galpin kid, Xavier, but thanks for offering."

"Good point. We won't go to the Weathervane, then. We'll go somewhere else."

"Xavier, as much as I appreciate the unusual amount of optimism, there is nowhere else to go," I point out. He frowns and I go back to reading.

"What are you reading, anyway?" he asks a few minutes later, walking over. I hand him my book. "The Picture of Dorian Gray? What is this, college?"

"Not yet, but I grabbed a book at random and hadn't read this yet. My aunt gave it to me last year because she read it when she was my age," I respond.

He raises his eyebrows and returns the book. "Some aunt."

"I'm enjoying it so far, although there are a lot of frills in Oscar Wilde's writing."

"Well, when you finish it, let's go somewhere. Even if it's not off campus."

~=~

By the time I'm finished, the sky has darkened to a deep blue, not because of the storm but because of the time. 406 pages isn't too long of a read, but I have to reread each paragraph a few times to decipher what is being said under all the frills.

I shut the book and lean back into the nest of blankets. Xavier looks up from his desk and pulls me up and off of my bed.

"Let's go for another walk," he suggests. I nod and grab my coat. "It is kind of dark, so we'll just stay around the school."

"Okay," I respond. We walk down the stone stairs of the dormitory and out into the cold of the post-snow atmosphere. His warm hands on mine sends that warmth through my chest, driving away the freezing air cutting against my skin.

The light snowfall and the last hints of the sunset bring an almost magical aura to what would have been a normal winter walk, and I feel truly happy. Just Xavier and I, walking together in silence as the evening fades. The various lights around campus begin to flicker on, basking us in a golden light.

Above us, slightly obscured by the light and the clouds, the blanket of the night sky begins to fill with stars. I can only see a few, given the current weather and time, but they illuminate the sky and add a dash of white to a dark canvas.

We head back inside once the snow picks up again, reluctant to abandon the warm glow of the lamps and the chill of the air.

"That was nice," I tell him as we hang up out scarves and jackets. "Thanks for getting me to walk with you."

"If you thought I was going to let you read the day away, you were sorely mistaken," he responds jokingly. I kiss him and head to the bathroom to change.

~=~

"The weather is even worse today, but they're still making us go to class," Ajax complains in Botany the next morning. He, Enid, Wednesday, Xavier, and I occupy a table in the corner of the classroom for a group project.

"At least your club is inside," Xavier reminds him. "You and Enid don't have to spend forty extra minutes in the snow."

Enid shrugs. "Should have joined an indoor club, Xavier."

"And miss out on the wonderful weather I've been graced with?" he responds jokingly. Enid hits him with a leaf.

"Stop your banter and start dissecting this plant," Wednesday snaps. "If it's just [Y/N] and I doing this project, I will have your heads."

Ajax chuckles. "Never thought you'd be a guillotine person. You always seemed more like a Polonium kind of girl."

"I have many qualities."

The rest of the group takes a scalpel and begins to help us take apart the plant bit by bit. What would normally be an elementary school activity has been given a more advanced spin by involving a mildly dangerous plant.

Aside from the usual dissection elements (placing parts of the plant on a designated tray), we're also challenged with dissecting it safely without any one of us coming to harm or worse. Not something usually permitted at a public school like the one my father taught at, but this is Nevermore. We aren't even permitted at some public schools.

I watch as my friends struggle to hold the tools in their gloved hands and realize I've forgotten to wear gloves. The poison sumac we are dissecting should have injured me by now, but the only thing I feel is a mild tingling in my hands.

"Holy shit," I whisper. Xavier looks up and I show him my hands. "No gloves, not dead or injured. Plant resistance."

"That's new, right?" he responds. I nod.

Wednesday's expression sours. "One less way to kill you. Test out your resistance later, finish dissecting now."

I smile and continue to cut into the plant.

i realized since i've been reading quite a bit of Oscar Wilde lately, my writing style has gotten more frilly. many apologies for that.
won't be changing for a while though, as I recently came across a nice, used, annotated copy of his short stories and my writing style often matches what I read