"I'll be fine," Ari says, tucking her free hand into her coat pocket to resist the urge to reach over and tie the scarf for her, a gesture she recognizes as inappropriately intimate. She probably shouldn't be fretting over her in the first place. Jade's capable of taking care of herself, even if she is a little headstrong. But since the snowy season's started, Ari's fended off enough idle daydreams about brushing snow out of her hair or finding themselves caught under the mistletoe or any other number of stupid things that worrying about her catching a cold hardly registers.

"If someone has to die, let it be one of the boys," she advises, focusing on where she's stepping to keep her mind from wandering.