It was snowing in November. We were visiting Biltmore Estate on a field trip our freshman year of high school. She huddled close to me shivering in the cold wind. Tiny snowflakes clung to her brown hair. I pulled my checkered purple and black hoodie off and offered it to her. She took it and without hesitation yanked it over her head. I smiled at her and held her close as we waited for the bus to pull up. I barely felt the cold.

Once we settled on the bus she rested her head in my lap before handing me her iPod. She reached up and snaked a red ear bud into my right ear before she placed the other into her own ear. I rolled my thumb over in a clockwise motion searching for a song. I knew her playlists by heart so I effortlessly selected a song I had been hoping if I played it enough around her she would take the subtle hint. David Archuleta's smooth voice drifted into our ears. I let my free hand comb gently through her silky hair. It wasn’t long before I recognized her breathing had slowed to a sleeping state. I brushed her bangs away to confirm. The song had played one time and it was enough for her to drift off. I smiled. It had been a long trip and although I was tired I didn’t want to miss this chance.

I replayed that song for hours as the bus drove late into the night. We left the snowy mountains behind making our way home. I had come this way many times before with my dad so I didn’t care to look out the window. I already knew how beautiful it was through Maggie Valley. Besides the night cloaked the land in darkness. Instead I used the subtle glow of the iPod screen to study the freckles on the bridge of her nose. My hand never stopped stroking her hair. Occasionally the corners of her mouth twisted up in a slight smile. I wondered what she saw in her dreams that made her happy enough to smile in her sleep. She was all I saw in my dreams. Maybe secretly I was in hers too.