Remember Me

Chapter 15: Snow Day

"Fang, what are you still doing on the couch? Why aren't you dressed for school yet?" my mom asked irritated with her hands on her hip.

Yes, I was still in my pajamas but I had a good reason to be. It's been snowing since one a.m. Sure for the first few hours it didn't actually stick to the ground but there's plenty of snow out there now. I haven't measured or anything but there had to have been a few inches of snow by the looks of it. I'm no expert but this had to warrant a snow day. And this is definitely not a ploy to skip school or anything. I sat there with my eyes glued to the television screen.

"Come on Wally! I believe in you!" I said aloud anxiously eyeing Wally's early morning weather report.

I hate that my school was named after the town. It just meant that I had to wait even longer to hear its cancellation. Sure it wasn't last on the list but it also wasn't the first. Right smack down in the middle but we may as well have been last. I don't even know why the news had to cover schools from other towns like Azure Heights. I'm pretty sure they had their own news stations that could do that.

A place like Azure makes my town feel so insignificant. Our town population was roughly about thirty thousand people whereas Azure had more than five hundred thousand people. I've visited that place once or twice before though. The general vibe of that place just feels so artificial. Maybe the Foxes and the Hamptons should join my birth parents and then all three of them can take over the place and then rule the world.

I looked over and my mom just kept tapping the face of her smart watch. She looked beyond irritated now but she should want the snow day too. She could probably use a break. It's the holiday season after all. Who couldn't use a break? It's nearing the end of the first semester and I'm pretty close to having my first mental breakdown.

Remember that extra credit assignment last month? While I am thankful for a second chance on my assignments, I've been running myself ragged going into overdrive redoing all of my failed assignments from the past few months in the span of a couple of weeks. I've turned in about two thirds of my redos and I've brought my grade up from an F to a C minus. Personally, I'm perfectly fine with a C but I know my family would kill me if I settled now after everything I've gone through to get to this point. I'm not about to disappoint them again.

I also don't want Lulu to punch me again. Oh did I forget to mention this crucial detail? Well let me give you guys a little backstory first.

After we finished our Thanksgiving dinner, we all played a round of our favorite party games, Twister for her, Blokus for me, and Uno for Carver (it was the only game he knew that I had on hand. He said he and his mom would solely play card games when he was younger. I thought it was strange that he didn't mention his dad in that but I know talking about is parents is already a sensitive topic as it is so I didn't push further). Strangely, we all lost in our respective games.

I won Twister but I think it's only because Lulu didn't want to be sandwiched between us. The whole time she was trying to get Carver into a compromising position with me and through our non-verbal communication skills we quickly accomplished that. I somehow ended up with my head between his legs which caused him to blush and quickly concede. He ran into bathroom shortly after that. He said he had to pee but I knew he had to readjust. I had front row tickets to that show. I owe Lulu for that one.

Carver got me back though by brutally kicking my ass in Blokus. It didn't help that Lulu also conspired against me by blocking every single one of my moves. Whatever alliance we had in Twister was long gone. My mom even played a little (it's a four player game so we really couldn't play without a fourth person. I guess one of us could have played another color but there's usually an advantage to the person playing a second color). She too blocked my moves. All three of them ganged up on me. I had to sit there and watch them play a game of strategy with more than half of my pieces because I got blocked out. Next time I'll get them. I'll block all of them.

Lastly, Lulu kicked into her competitive nature of hers and whooped both of our asses in Uno. I'm not saying that she cheated but how the hell did she keep getting all the special cards? I think I got one reverse card out of all three of the rounds that we played. Every time either Carver or I would get close to Uno, she would play a combo of reverses, stops, and one of the draw twos or fours. We didn't even need a best two out of three. She won all three. She only suggested the third game to prove that she wasn't cheating by having one of us deal instead. That didn't help. I think the game fucked with us honestly.

After all of that, when we agreed to end our competitiveness and everyone started to go home, Lulu made sure to give me a stern lecture about the days that I was experiencing my internal struggle. She somehow turned it back to her. She spoke about how offended and hurt she was that I didn't talk to her about my issues. That she would have easily solved my struggle with a few choice words. Her demeanor changed when she said she always considered me her brother from another mother and how she was my sister from another mister or something like that. And just when she was almost out the door, she turned around and punched me so hard that made me remember that day when we were kids in our terrible Karate class.

It was the day where all the kids were supposed to break a wooden board with just their hand. I remember doubting myself, resulting in my hand injury. Lulu was the only person to do that with ease. I'm pretty sure if my arm was that board, it would have split in two too. Even though she was gone for the night, she left her mark on my arm in the form of a huge bruise that I've been rubbing every night since. God, that hurt. She promised me that if I were to forget again who my family was that she'll come back and punch me in the other arm too. Trust me when I say I will never forget now.

"This is the moment I'm sure everyone has been waiting for. I know my daughter is going to love this. Hi Sue!," Wally cheerfully said as he waved to the camera. I don't know what Silent Sue is doing right now but I hope she's not watching the news. I would die if I got this kind of shout out right now.

Wally was a tall, scrawny looking man. He had these bug-eyed wire frame glasses that sat atop one of the largest noses I've seen. He was a bald man and what he lacked upstairs was clumped up right below his giant, pointy nose. Even though he wasn't the best looking guy around and he always looked like he dressed without the lights on, he was probably one of the nicest people in town. He's always been nice to me even after news of my sexuality made it big in Haven High's newsletter. Sue's dad is pretty cool for an asthmatic, bright, cheerful nerd.

Wally must have received some sort of visual cue from his bosses offscreen cause he quickly straightened up and returned to his regular stiff appearance. "Now where was I? Oh right, enjoy your three day weekend kids because school is cancelled. So everyone at Haven High I hope--"

I couldn't turn the tv off fast enough. I can't believe school is actually cancelled. We're always the only school open no matter what happens. I think my mom couldn't believe it either because her jaw was to the floor. It's an early Christmas present from the universe. Thank you universe! I really needed this.

"Yes!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I hopped off of the couch and started raising the roof. "Best. News. Ever!"

"I want you to know that this doesn't change anything."

"Wh-What does that mean?"

"Well since school's cancelled, you have no excuse but to finish the rest of your homework today."

"Really?" I whined as I dramatically collapsed onto the floor. "You are such a buzzkill! Can't I have just one day where I'm not confined to my room working on homework?"

"And what were you hoping on doing today? I assume it has something to do with Carver?"

"Well...Lulu would be there too," I said trying not to lock eyes with her knowing that she was right. This was the perfect day to relax and have fun. God I've missed playing in the snow. If I could control the weather, I would leave us in a continuous snow storm. Better than suffering in the gust of pollen and my insufferable allergies in spring and then right after the unbearable heat and humidity of summer. "Come on, when's the last time we had an actual snow day? You can have Paul over and you two can have a romantic day here by the fireplace...and do whatever it is old people do for fun. What do you guys do for fun?"

"Excuse you? How old do you think I am?"

Just as I'm about to answer, she stopped me.

"Don't answer that," she said pointing to me. "Will you get off the floor already?"

"I'll only get up if you let me have my freedom today. I promise I will finish my homework. I just need this today. I need something to bring some life back into me. If I have to reread Romeo and Juliet one more time, I'm gonna drink some poison or stab myself."

"Okay okay, fine! You can take the day off, but tomorrow you will confined to your room again and you will need to finish the rest of your work before dinner on Sunday."

"But Mr. Lane said I just have to have everything done before winter break."

"Either accept my terms and conditions and have your grounding lifted sooner than expected or continue to follow his directions and be grounded until winter break. I'm wondering just how long you can have your friends over with me breathing down your neck. I'm surprised you've made this far, if I'm being completely honest."

"Ugh! Fine, you win!" I groaned as I pushed myself off of the floor. I glared at her for a moment and she just shrugged it off. She walked back into the kitchen. I could hear her pouring herself another cup of coffee.

With my head hung low, I slowly dragged my feet back to my room. Once there, I let out a sigh of relief right before hopping back into bed with my phone right where I left it, right next to my pillow. Immediately, I pulled up my texts and started texting him.

"School's cancelled! Can you believe it?!"

He usually texts me almost instantly but he hasn't even read my message yet. I sighed and closed my eyes. Maybe he was peeing or something, doing something that would take him away from his phone. So I lied there waiting and even more waiting. Why is it that when you're expecting something it always feels like forever? I waited for ten minutes just lying there staring at my phone and he still hasn't read my text. Guess I'll have to go with plan B. Tapping through his contact listing, I got my phone to dial his number. What? Who even remembers phone numbers these days? As soon as I heard the ringback tone, I switched to speakerphone and continued to just listen to the tone. After four rings, the phone redirected to his voicemail message. God, I love hearing his voice.

"Hey, this is Carver. Sorry I couldn't get to you in time. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you and have good day!" Just when I was about to hang up, I heard a new addition to his voice message. "Oh and if this is you Fang, I miss hearing your voice too. I'll call you back as soon as I get this, I promise. I love you."

Okay so maybe I've called a few times before today. Sue me. He didn't have to call me out like this though. I hope the only other person who calls him is his grandma cause this is just a little embarrassing, but at the same time it's so sweet. I'm not gonna lie, I blushed a little (and cringed a little) when I heard that new addition to his voicemail. Shortly after the message, I heard the iconic beep prompting me to either hang up now or to leave a message.

"Hey Carver, I can't believe you're still asleep. I also can't believe you slept through my call. I know how much of a light sleeper you are. Uh I just wanted to tell you that school was cancelled today and somehow I got out of my house arrest. It's only for today so I was hoping we could do something today? Just us three? I don't know if you've ever seen snow before but I would love to spend today with you just playing in the snow. You have no idea just how much I love this kind of weather. Maybe we could have a snowball fight or maybe build a snowman. I-I don't know, maybe that's a little too kiddish. Oh god, I'm overthinking it again aren't I? Uh anyway, just call me back whenever you get this okay? I love your new message by the way. I can't believe you made me a part of it. I love you too," I said finally hanging up after leaving that long ass message.

I wonder what he's actually doing right now. Even though I did mention that part about him being asleep in my message, I don't really believe that he's sleeping. He's the complete opposite of me when it comes to sleep. He's an early bird after all. Well I wonder what Lulu's doing right now.

"Hey, are you busy today? Wanna have our first snowball fight of the year?" I texted her.

Unlike Carver, I could see the "..." text bubble coming from her end. "Hey, sorry I can't. As much I would love to I can't. I'm already at the restaurant. They think we're going to get a ton of customers since everything's cancelled. If there's still snow tomorrow, I'll lob one at your window."

Of course. She would be at work already. Guess I'll just have to find a way back to Carver. There's no way I'm gonna do my homework today. I need out. I wonder if my mom has Grandma Aggie's number. I just hope Aggie's not high right now. The last time she was that way, it was a little much.

"You wouldn't happen to have Aggie's number would you?" I texted.

"Are you kidding me?" I could hear her yell from the opposite end of the house. Oh I hope that wasn't directed towards me. As soon as I had that thought, I could hear her stomping towards my room. "You had to text me? You couldn't have just, I don't know, got up and asked me about it instead?"

"Well I was already on my phone so..."

"Why do you even want her number?"

"Well if you must know, I can't get through to Carver and I'm pretty sure she's my only hope to getting through to him."

"Are you two fighting" she asked concerned.

"No, he just didn't answer my text or my call."

"Maybe you should take a break and hang out with one of your other friends. Did you try Lulu?"

"Trust me, I tried her too. She's stuck at work. She did promise that we can hang out tomorrow though. I know, I know I can't because of my homework. But I can multitask so I can do both."

"I find that very hard to believe. Your attention span is terrible as is," she said crossing her arms while leaning against the doorframe.

"Excuse me? I have an impeccable attention span."

"This isn't my first day you know. You think I don't know your habits? I literally saw you go from completely focused on your work then as soon as you got a text from him, you got sidetracked for an hour. Did you already forget that I took your phone away after you did that?"

"Okay well that was one time, I--"

"One time was enough for me to see just how easily distracted you can be."

"Well then how about this? When I'm doing my work, I'll give you my phone until I'm done. Does that sound like an okay deal?"

"You're going to give up your phone? The only link you have to your friends?" she asked in disbelief. "Something's fishy. Who are you and what did you do to Fang?"

She's not wrong. I definitely have something up my sleeve. I just now linked my phone number to my laptop last night when she took away my phone. Now I can still get texts even if I don't have my phone with me. Oh the wonders of technology. As long as I'm typing and she doesn't actually look at my screen, she'll just think I'm doing my homework. I mean that's what I did last night. I did finish more of my work, just not as much as I could have had I just not texted from my laptop.

"Real funny, but I'm actually being serious. You can take my phone so I can finish my work. I can live without my phone for a few days. I did last week remember?"

"That is true. Okay fine, you have yourself a deal. But don't come crying to me when you miss talking to them," she said as she turned to her room and shut it behind her.

Well that takes care of that. Wait why was she in my room again? Oh crap, I still don't have Aggie's number. I know I should probably get up and ask her about it to her face, especially since she reacted so dramatically earlier, but I really didn't want to get up. What? I was comfy in my bed. As I stared down at my phone, I noticed that I had received a text while I was chatting with my mom. Somehow during our conversation, she managed to sneakily send me Aggie's number.

"Thanks," I texted her back.

Now that I have Aggie's number, I can finally give her a call and see just what Carver's up to. After giving my phone a few taps, it dialed her number. I lied there with my phone to my right ear as I listened to the ringback tone. It rang twice when I heard her voice on the other end.

"Good morning Fang, how are you this morning?" she asked. She sounded so cheery. I think I know where Carver gets that trait from. Also I wonder how she knew it was me. I've never called her before and I think I would remember if I gave her my number.

"Oh hi, Grandma Aggie. How did you know it was me? I don't remember giving you my number."

"Oh Carver gave it to me awhile back. I hope you don't mind. He said he wanted me to have it just in case of emergencies."

"Oh he did? I-I don't mind. Um I'm actually calling about him. You see, I texted and called him not too long ago and he hasn't gotten back to me. I was wondering if you knew where he was?"

"Oh that must have been you who called earlier then. Carver's just out front shoveling snow. I told him he didn't need to but he insisted. You know he's never actually seen snow before so I thought he would go out and play but no, he would rather do that. He's such a nice boy isn't he?"

He's been shoveling snow this whole time? That's the last thing I want to do. Oh crap that probably means my mom is gonna ask me to do that too. She was up before me though, by maybe an hour or so, so maybe, just maybe, she already shoveled and I'm in the clear. Dear god, I hope so.

"He really is."

"Do you want me to let him know that you called or I could give him the phone if you want?"

"No, that's okay. But would it be okay if I stopped by in a little bit?"

"Hm? Oh of course! You know you're welcome here anytime."

"Oh okay, I'll ask my mom if she can drop me off then. I'll see you in a bit. Bye."

"See you soon!"

I'm not sure who hung up first, but I guess that's not exactly an important detail. Well now that I know that Carver's home, I wonder how he'd feel if I just showed up? I'm sure he'd be fine with it, but at the same time I hate that I'm so clingy with him. I've always hated those characters that were so clingy with their romantic partners and to see that I'm the exact same way is so irritating to me. How did I get here? I hate that I'm so clingy with him but I can't help but want to spend every waking day with him. But Carver's the exact same way so I guess it's not too bad, right? Anyway, I did get approval from Grandma Aggie already so in a way it's okay for me to be like this. Well if I'm going to make a surprise visit, I should probably get changed.

I know, I know what's the point in getting changed? I wear basically the same thing going out as I do going to bed. Besides what I wore at the dance, my fashion sense is pretty simple, black and simple. If it weren't for Carver, everything in my closet would be black. But I am glad that I had Al sew in his plaid shirt into the lining of my leather jacket. I treasure that shirt more than he probably knows. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm fine with adding more color into my wardrobe as long as it comes from Carver.

Taking a deep a breath, I finally slithered out of bed, walked back to my bedroom door and gently shut it, then walked to my closet, and got dressed. I wore an all black thermal, slim-fit henley with my usual black skinny jeans and paired with my Doc Martens black lace up combat boots. Since it's cold and still snowing, I grabbed my faux leather jacket and put on my beanie with that stuck up at the end typical of any hipster fashion style. Before I left my room to go convince my mom for a ride, I made sure to put on the star necklace Carver got for my birthday. I pressed the button in the back just to make sure the light still worked. It did. So far he's given me one of his shirts and this necklace, I really do love everything that he's given me. With Christmas just around the corner, I'm excited to see what else he has in store. I'm sure I'll love it. He has an eye for this kind of thing.

As I stood in the doorway of my room, I slid my phone into my back pocket. Taking a few steps forward, I knocked on my mom's bedroom door. I waited a few moments until I ended up opening her door. Her room was empty. Did she happen to walk out of her room while I was getting dressed? I didn't hear her in the hall though. Is she secretly a ninja now? As I turned back around, I was surprised to see her standing right behind me with yet another cup of what I'm assuming is coffee.

"What are you doing?" she asked dryly.

"Oh my god! You scared me! What are you doing just standing here?" I asked clutching my chest as I could feel my heart rate suddenly spike due to this sudden surprise. As long as I don't get chest pain or get shocked from this incident, I'm good. "Wait is that another cup of coffee? How many have you had?"

"Last time I checked, this is my room. And regarding the coffee? Trust me, you don't want to know but let's just say that I need it," she said as she raised the mug to her lips and drank while locked in a steely gaze with me. I'm starting to think the coffee thing is more of an addiction rather than a need to stay alert and focused. She eventually took the mug away from lips and said, "So what are you doing in my room?"

"I was hoping you could give me a ride?" I asked. "I'd walk but well, it's cold and it's snowing still. I'd probably freeze before I even get to him."

"How about I let you take my car for a practice drive? I'll still be in the car with you but I think it's about time we started talking about getting you a permit," she suggested as she took another sip of her coffee.

"P-Permit? Aren't I a little young to have one?" I asked tentatively. I know I'm sixteen, I should probably have my permit already but I don't know if I'm the kind of person who should be driving. I don't think my anxiety can handle being behind the wheel. I'm perfectly content with walking or being driven around. On days, when neither of those options are available, I guess I could take a bus.

"You're sixteen! You're at the perfect age to get one. Don't you think it'd be nice change if you drove around once in a while? Don't kids your age want to drive already?"

"Nope. I'm perfectly fine with never having to drive. That's a skill I definitely don't care to have. So about that ride?" I asked trying to steer the conversation back to the original topic.

"Let me finish my coffee first, then we can go. But don't think that we're done talking about you getting your permit. Whether or not you feel like you should get one or not, I think it'd be beneficial to you to at least have one even if you don't want or plan to drive in the near future," she replied as she walked past me. She gently shoved me out of her room then shut the door. I'm starting to think maybe there's something's amiss or maybe she's just in a bad mood. Her current behavior is highly unusual.

Well no point on dwelling on it now. I walked over to the foyer and sat on the floor with my legs crossed. I checked my phone again just to see if he saw my text. Still hasn't been read yet. Well their driveway is pretty large so I would imagine it'd take him quite awhile to do. It takes me like thirty minutes to shovel our driveway and it's honestly a quarter the size of Carver's and ours doesn't even wrap around to the back of the property. Wait, what if he's overwhelmed by the whole process and they need a second shoveler. Dear god, I hope I don't have to participate in that. Or maybe he got bored and ended up playing in the snow after all. That'd be a much better scenario for me. In that scenario he'd at least be having some fun. That's the whole reason why I want to go there, to have fun in the snow and well we all know the other reason, the main reason...the only reason.

"What are you daydreaming about?" my mom asked as she walked into the foyer with her now empty mug. "Must be about Carver with that smile on your face."

"I'm not always thinking about him. I can smile for other reasons," I answered defiantly as I stood up straight. "If you think about it, I was super happy that school got cancelled and it's snowing! So how do you know I'm not smiling because of that? Hm?"

"Oh? So you weren't thinking about Carver?" she asked as walked past me heading to the kitchen. I turned my head slightly just as I heard her mug clink on the kitchen counter. I then heard her dig around in one of the kitchen cabinets. When she came back around, she had one of those insulated travel mugs in her hand. That'd better not be another dose of coffee. If it is, someone should cut her off. Just not me, I don't think I have that kind of authority. Also when she's this hopped up on caffeine, she can be a little snappy. I'm surprised she's had this much coffee without having to go use the restroom. Coffee goes right through me, but I also don't drink it everyday so maybe that's a factor. I know for a fact that she drinks coffee every single day. "So are you going to answer my question or was I right all along?"

"Fine I was thinking about Carver again, but I do want to add that I do think about other things...just not in this exact moment in time."

"I knew it," she said pretty proud of herself. "Now I don't want you to take this as me complaining because I'm not. I'm very happy that you found someone who makes you happy. After everything that's happened, you deserve to be happy. I miss your smiles." She set down her cup on the floor then proceeded to take my cheeks into her hands until she pinched and stretched them out. I hate it when people do this. I'm not a kid anymore, so stop doing this to me! She let go and then said, "I'll meet you outside. I really have to pee."

She made a mad rush for the bathroom slamming the door shut. I then openly cupped my hands around my mouth and nose and hollered back at her, "It's because of all that coffee!" I heard an audible grumble and just as I opened the door to the front of the house.

Oh my god, she actually shoveled already. Sure there's a slight build up from when she finished, I can see that, but it's not as bad as I thought it'd be. I was so relieved that I didn't have to shovel that I hurriedly went over to the stone steps. As soon as I took the first step, my right foot slipped and I took a rough tumble all the way down until I landed on my back onto the soft snow. I wanted to speak but all that came out was a pained groan. Just my luck, this would happen to me. I'm sure the universe is laughing at me right now, I would be too if it wasn't me. As I lied there on the concrete looking up at the grayed out sky watching the snow continue to fall, I heard the garage open. I could hear the snow depress with each footstep as they stepped closer to me, it was my mom.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh you know, just trying to make snow angels," I said as I started moving my limbs back and forth in the snow trying mask away the pain that I had just endured.

She squinted at me as she cocked her left eyebrow at me. "You slipped off the stairs didn't you?"

"Yeah and for some reason I decided not to grab onto the handrail. My mind just wanted me to get the full experience," I said sarcastically.

"I knew there was something I forgot to do. I didn't salt the stairs. Sorry about that."

"That would have been useful information," I grumbled.

"So do you want to get up and go or would you rather make snow angels?"

"I'll get up. It's just gonna take some time," I said as I shifted my body weight to the right. I groaned as I pushed myself up. "God my whole body aches! Would it be too much to ask to transform the stairs into a slide? I think that'd be a lot easier on my body."

"Then how would you get up to the door?"

"I didn't think that far ahead," I said rubbing my arm where Lulu had punched me days before. "Is it possible to have a bruise over the same bruise cause I think I have one."

"Don't be silly," she said rubbing my back and guiding me back to her Jeep.

"Oh I see you brought back the soft top. When did you have the time to do this?" I asked as I ran my hands across the black twill top. I don't think I've seen her use this since last year's blizzard. I've always preferred the soft top as opposed to no top at all. What can I say? I'm very particular about my hair. I'm not a fan of wind swept hair. Probably why I'm always wearing a hat of some sort whenever I'm in the car with her. I opened the door to the passenger seat, jumped in, and immediately buckled in.

"When do you think?" she asked doing the exact same thing but in the driver's seat. "When you were sleeping. You're a hard sleeper, so I knew that that'd be the best time to do it. Once you're asleep, nothing can wake you up."

She's not wrong. If I didn't set a handful of alarms in the morning, I'd sleep through it. Well I do sleep through all of them since I'll wake up after the second alarm then turn off all of the other ones. I'm grateful for my mom. She makes sure that I'm up in the morning so I don't miss class. Even if that means spraying a mist of water in my face.

As she pulled out of the snow covered driveway, I looked out of my window continuing to watch the snow fall. It really was a wonderful sight to see. I loved seeing the town blanketed in snow. The beautiful red, yellow, and orange leaves were long gone now but its branches were encased in ice and weighed down with the fallen snow. I really do love this winter season.

As she drove down the road and out of our neighborhood, we waved at the neighborhood kids who were out enjoying themselves in the snow. Just like those kids, I'll soon be doing the exact same thing in a few minutes. Well maybe a little bit longer than that. Every time it snows, my mom completely changes the way she drives. She goes from a speed demon to carefullest driver I've ever witnessed. Yes, I know it's better to be a safe than sorry but shouldn't she be safe no matter the season? Maybe I'm just bothered by the fact that she's driving really slow. I mean the snow plow has already made its way through the neighborhood so it's pretty safe to drive and it's not like we live on any hills. Maybe this is who I get my driving anxiety from. Yeah I'm just gonna go with that. It took us twice as long to get from point A to point B but at least we got here in one piece. That's something to be grateful for I guess. I had her park a few houses down so Carver wouldn't immediately spot us.

"Well we're here," she said still gripping the wheel tightly. "I can't believe we made it over that hill. Why do they have to live in the only neighborhood with hills?" She let out a sigh of relief as she started to relax.

"What hill? Oh you mean the slope. Well at least we didn't slide downhill this time, right? I'd say you deserve a gold star for such a feat," I said sarcastically as I patted her on the shoulder.

"Next time you want to go somewhere, you're driving," she said dryly.

"Wh-What? N-No, we agreed that I wasn't gonna drive ever. Remember? Who needs a permit when I have you and Carver? I'm good," I said eyes wide and internally screaming.

I could instantly feel my palms starting to sweat just at the thought of me driving. Then multiple images of me crashing into different things popped into my head. Remember how I have an irrational fear of bugs? Well let's just add driving to that list too. I've never had a traumatic experience. I've never been in an accident or anything like that. I just get really nervous at the thought of me driving. I don't think this is something I'll get over by tomorrow. If what she says is true, I'll have to start driving almost immediately. As I slowly started to drift into my little fear bubble, I felt my mom snap me back into reality by gently squeezing the sides of my arms.

"Hey, don't go slipping back on me. You still have to pass written test first," she said to me while keeping eye contact with me. "And don't even think about failing on purpose to get out of it. Promise me you won't fail on purpose."

Well there goes my plan. It's like she reached into my mind and just threw it out the window. Don't you just hate it when people know you more than you think?

"Fine, I won't fail on purpose. I'll actually try to pass even if I don't want my permit. I promise."

"Pinky promise?" she asked as she offered her right pinky.

"Really? What am I, ten?" I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Fine, I pinky promise." I then wrapped my left pinky around hers. She smiled at me and sat back into her seat.

"So what's the plan? Are you going in guns blazing or sneak around and flank him from the side?"

When I was younger, before my mom was my mom, we used to plan out our attacks when we would play with my birth parents or more accurately my friends. It's been so long since I've heard her speak like this but I welcome her eagerness. We usually won because of our plans. It's probably a good idea to discuss my game plan with someone else for a change. I may like to plan things ahead of time but doesn't mean I execute them perfectly.

"I was thinking about going in guns blazing for once. I do have the home court advantage."

"Hm that's true," she said. "Did you tell him when you were coming over?"

"I told Aggie. Carver has no idea. Unless he checked his phone. You know I should check first if he saw me text," I said checking my phone. It still says delivered. "Still nothing. So I'm still in the clear. Unless Aggie ended up telling him or he turned off the read receipts."

"I don't think Aggie would do that and as for him? I don't think he'd ever do that either," she reassured me. "Before I go, do you want me to scope it out first?"

"No, that's too dangerous. If he spots you, it's all over. I think this is something I just have to do myself."

"Okay well before you go, you should probably have this," she said as she reached into the center console. She pulled out a pair of black winter gloves, the insulated waterproof kind, not the knitted kind. "I was going to give this to you for Christmas but you're going to need this now. No matter how much you love the cold and the snow, once your hands get a hold of it, they'll go numb rather quickly. Gotta keep that advantage alive longer than one ball."

"Thank you," I said slipping my hands into them. "I was just so excited to get here that I completely spaced about grabbing my gloves. It's perfect. Thank you, really."

"I'm glad you like them. You should know that that was just one of the gifts I got you. There are still others. Now go out there and show him how we do it in Haven!"

"You're such a weirdo," I laughed. As I reached for the door handle, I remembered something. "Before I go, do you want his number? For emergencies or something, just in case you need to reach me and I don't answer. More than likely I'll be with him anyway."

"What's this about?" she asked suspiciously. "What prompted you to get to this point?"

"Uh w-well when I called Aggie she already had my number. Apparently he gave her my number awhile back. I think he did it for exact same reason I told you. I mean if you don't want it it's fine. I just thought maybe, I should do the same thing? Is that weird?"

"It's not weird at all. If you want me to have his number, then just text me it. I don't mind. It probably is a good idea to have his number regardless."

"Okay cool, I'll uh text it to you later then," I said as I got out of the car.

I watched as my mom very carefully backed the car around as to not alert the enemy. Realistically, it was probably because she went back to being extra cautious. Right as she was about to drive away in the opposite direction, she threw up two thumbs up my way. She looked just a little too enthusiastic about it. Just as I was about to move forward, I felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket. When I pulled it out, I was met with a text from her. It read "You've got this!" with several thumbs up emojis. God she's so weird. I'll admit that I most definitely got my weirdness from her.

Okay it's time to put my game face on. I was crouched over with the pads of my fingertips of my right hand firmly planted snow-covered sidewalk. If I had done this at night, I would have the perfect camouflage but unfortunately it wasn't. I stood out like a sore thumb wearing all this black. If only I had something white in my closet and it probably would have been smart if I thought this out a little more. Well no point in dwelling on it now. I've got a plan and as long as he doesn't immediately spot me, I'm in the clear.

I started to walk crouched down but realized after passing the first house just how difficult it was to walk this way. I ended up walking past the other house hunched over with my knees slightly bent. It was way easier on my knees. Once past the last house, I peeked into their driveway. There he was still shoveling away and doing a little dance shaking his butt side to side. I couldn't believe it. Even with all the snow and the dramatic change in temperature, he was was still out here in his usual clothes. No gloves, coat, or even a beanie. What was he thinking? There's no way he wasn't freezing his nuts off at this point. Hell I could see my own breath, that's how cold it was today.

I waited a few seconds just in case he turned around, but he didn't. I crouched back down molding the snow in front of me into little balls. I was able to make about three tennis ball sized balls. Well here goes nothing. I grabbed one of the snowballs and lobbed one directly against his back.

"What the?" he said as he turned around. His confused expression quickly turned into a surprised look. "When did you get--" He didn't get to finish his sentence as I threw the second one right into his handsome face.

"Keep talking and I'll just throw another one," I said with cocky grin on my face.

"That's cheat--"

I threw my last ball into his face again. Oh I just love getting headshots. With no balls left, I rushed forward and tackled him down to the ground. He lied there with an annoyed look on his face as I sat on top straddling him.

"You are such a cheater!"

"It's not cheating. I just had the element of surprise on my side."

"Oh shut up," he said as he tugged on my jacket causing me to lean forward where his lips found mine. Ugh it's been so long since I've kissed him that I wasn't mad at his lame attempt to stop me from "cheating."

"I could get used to this," I said smiling while biting at my lower lip.

"Oh yeah? Well how about this?" he asked as grabbed a chunk of snow and mashed it into the side of my face.

"H-Hey now that's cheating!" I cried wiping the snow off of my face.

"Oh? I thought you said it was an advantage? Maybe you shouldn't let your guard down so easily," he laughed with his hands on my hip. "By the way, what are you doing here? I thought you were still technically grounded?"

"I made a deal with my mom. I get one free day to do what I want but I have to finish everything by Sunday...or was it by tomorrow? I forget but that doesn't matter since I plan to finish it before I hang out with Lulu tomorrow. I'm hoping for a miracle at this point."

"Am I not allowed to hang out with you two tomorrow?" he asked with his eyebrow cocked. I felt like he was trying to read my mind or read between the nonexistent lines.

"Well she's busy today, I did ask her if she wanted to hang out but they already put her to work. Ideally I wanted all three of us to hang out today but it just wasn't in the cards. Plus I should probably do some Christmas shopping tomorrow. Who knows maybe I'll find something for you and it probably wouldn't be a good idea if you were with me when I find that something."

"So what you're saying is that you haven't gotten anything for me yet? I'm hurt," he said with a pouty look on his face. His bottom lip pulled forward and quivering.

"Hey, you stop that! I still have three weeks until Christmas. It's not like I'm doing last minute shopping or anything like that. What? It's not like you got me something already."

"I did actually. I've actually thought about it for a few weeks now. I think you'll really like it."

He looked so accomplished with that smirk on his face. He has to bluffing. He just has to be. There's no way he already has something for me. But he still had that smug look plastered on his face. I don't think he's joking. Now I'm curious as to what it was that he got me. Did we talk about something within the past few weeks where I mentioned something that I wanted? I literally can't think of a single thing.

"You're not kidding are you?"

"Nope. But let me show you inside really quick. You're gonna kick out of it," he said as he wriggled his way out from under my legs.

I ended up just pushing myself off of him and helping him up in the process. We both brushed the snow off of our own bodies and while I was caught off guard he managed to dump a shovel full of snow all over me. He said something along the lines of how he hopes this will help deter me from cheating ever again. It most likely won't, I'll just have to get him back somehow.

When we got to the front door, I noticed that Carver took off his shoes and placed the against the wall. I thought this was weird. We've never had to do that before. With my birth family it's a very common thing to leave your shoes by the door when you come inside the house, but I've never had to leave them outside before and it definitely wasn't a thing with him. After he got his shoes off, he opened the door and walked in. But when he noticed that I wasn't close behind him as usual he peeked his head back out and found me perplexed.

"Sorry, I forgot to mention that my grandma just cleaned the floors. I thought it'd be rude if we came in with our wet shoes. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not. I'm actually used to it. I used to have to do it when I lived with my birth parents. It's an Asian thing," I said as I knelt over untying my laces on my right boot first. "It's probably gonna take me a while to get these off though. So go on ahead. I'll meet you inside once I get these off."

"Let me help you with that," he said walking back out front.

"You don't have--"

Before I could get all the words out he had already swooped down with his legs crossed pulling on my left boot. To save myself from crashing on my ass, I quickly readjusted my position so that I was sitting with my right leg bent to my chest and my left leg laying straight out. Once I did that he immediately paid more attention to my boot than he did to me. Even though I didn't want his help, I now think it's a rather sweet move on his part. I had my boot just barely hanging onto the tips of my toes when I managed to sneak a glance at him, well I guess it wasn't much of a sneak as he too took a chance to look at me. We both ended up smiling as we both caught each other doing the same thing. I don't want this to ever end. I'm happiest when I'm with him. I enjoy all the moments I share with him, even the little ones like this.

After sharing a look with him, I directed my attention back to my boot that was hanging on for dear life at this point. I grabbed it and set it down next to me. Looking back at him, I found him struggling to get my boot off. Has he never worn a boot before? You can't just pull at the base and expect it to come off. I always pull from the heel to get them off. I chuckled to myself then swatted his hands away so I could get the boot off myself. I even pointed to the heel right before I popped it off of my foot. His eyes widened as he sat there dumbfounded. I'm a little amazed that he didn't know this already but I guess we all learn something new everyday right? He quickly got over it and helped me back to my feet then lead me inside.

To my surprise (and honestly I shouldn't have been since it was December), the interior design had done a one-eighty. Sure the witchy vibes were still present but it reminded me of when Jack Skellington tried to bring Christmas to Halloween Town. There was even a black Christmas tree. It was at least ten feet tall adorned with bright white lights. This has Aggie written all over it. I was actually envious of it all. My mom would never decorate the house like this. The color black isn't even allowed this Christmas. Somehow she convinced me to wear something non-black this year. I don't know what I'll be wearing this year but I have a feeling I'll itchy.

I think what I was really surprised about though was that there were already a ton of wrapped gifts under and around their tree. I guess they finished their shopping already and Carver wasn't lying about getting something for me. The gears already started to turn as I tried to figure out which of those boxes belonged to me.

"So what do you think? Is it too much?" he asked as his right arm was outstretched like he was trying to present some extraordinary marvel to me. I mean it was extraordinary to look at. Only Aggie would decide to decorate like this. I hope when I'm her age I'm just slightly as bold as she is.

"I like it actually. I'm really jealous. Now I want my own black tree but I know my mom would never be okay with this. She's cool with a lot of things but this? No way."

"Somehow I knew you'd like it. If I'm being honest, I didn't really like it when she put it up the day after Thanksgiving but it's really grown on me. And it's funny that you say that about the tree because I have something you're gonna like even more. Wait here," he said as he walked towards his room. When he came back, he was holding a reindeer gift wrapped box that I'd say was a foot and a half to two feet tall. "Here, this is for you. Open it."

"Is this my Christmas gift?" I asked as I took the box from him. I placed my ear to it and gently shook it. I had absolutely no idea what it was but it was really light.

"No, I just wanted to wrap it. Just open it. Trust me."

We both sat down with our legs crossed as I tried to tear away at the wrapping. It was the gloves. I couldn't get a good grip with them on so I ended up pulling them off. Once off I began to tear into it. It only took me a few second to unveil a picture of the very same tree that was in front of us but way smaller. There's no way it was the same tree so I ended up opening the box from the top flap and low and behold there really was a black tree in there, just smaller in scale, but it looked the exact same. It even came with its own string of lights that I'm assuming are the same kind on the larger model. I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear.

"I--I love it. Thank you."

"Yeah I thought you'd like it. I-I know you said your mom wouldn't decorate like we do but maybe you could put this one in your room?"

"That's probably a good idea. I can't believe you got me this. It's so cool."

"I'm really glad you like it. You and my grandma kind of have the same taste."

"What can I say? I like what I like," I shrugged as I turned my attention back to the other presents. There were so many. I swear they could have swallowed the tree whole if they were stacked one on top of the other. I wonder if it's the big one barely hiding in the back. I was so curious that without thinking I crab walked right over there. Once there I gave each one a look over and noticed something peculiar about all of them. None of them had tags on them. Now lying on my stomach, I looked back and asked, "Did you know none of them have tags?"

"Oh no, they are. My grandma sketched out the whole layout in her own personal journal and tagged them from there. She said it adds a certain mystery that was missing from her grand scheme or something like that," he said as he plopped down next to me. He then turned to me and added, "Promise me when we grow old together that you won't adopt this mystery gifting system."

"I prom--wait did you say grow old together?" I asked caught off guard. He wants to grow old together with me? I could feel my cheeks burning red, overwhelmed by his statement.

"Well yeah," he said as he threw his left arm around my shoulders. "I like to think of myself like a penguin. When they find the right one, they stay together forever. I think I found my forever with you. How about you? How do you feel about everything? About us and our future together?"

"You know if you had said this to me before what happened on Thanksgiving, I would have been too afraid or been overwhelmed by it all but I'm not afraid anymore. I mean you did catch me off guard but it was only for a brief moment. We made it a point already that we're a part of each other's family so it's only logical that we'd be together forever," I admitted. At this point I would usually feel anxious about my next move but all I can feel is relief. That's not to say that I'm not still fearful of what's to come, because I am immensely afraid but somehow I feel like part of his bravery and confidence has transferred into me helping me to let go of them. "I never thought I'd see myself as an animal but if I were to ever pick one, I'd pick the penguin, your penguin."

"You really mean that? You're not just saying that to make me feel better?"

"Oh yeah, I'm only saying that to make you feel better," I said sarcastically. "I really meant everything I said. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to grow old with you, I swear," I said sincerely. "And before you say anything, yes you'll still be pretty, prettier than Clooney."

I winked and laughed to myself. Leaning in closer to him, our cheeks rested side by side. If I were to turn my head slightly to the right, I'd be savoring those sweet lips but we just savored this moment instead, enjoying each other's company. I don't know what it is about those piercing hazel eyes of his but I feel so entranced when he looks at me, not just me but my soul, my entire being. He smiled back at me with his pearly whites. It was at that moment that I finally gave in. Closing my eyes, I turned my head, my lips teasing his as they grazed against each other. I could feel his hand move up from my shoulders and onto the nape of my neck pushing our lips into a tender close. We ended our kiss with a smile that neither of us could contain.

"So uh," he paused trying to recollect his thoughts. "What do want to do today? We could just stay in today, just the two of us. I could make my famous PB and B and lounge by the fireplace. That way I can just stare and lose myself into those deep, dark brown eyes of yours and tenderly and lovingly kiss you until you melt into each other. How about it? Does that sound good? We could try other stuff too besides kissing if you catch my drift."

I laughed into my smile. I knew exactly what he was talking about. While this seemed like a good day to try that out, I'm still not sure if I'm quite ready to go all the way just yet. At least he's just suggesting we try it instead of just flat out forcing me to do it with him. I like that about him. He doesn't make me feel like there's some urgency to do it. I like that he's being patient with me. Even though I know wholeheartedly that if given the chance, he'd drop whatever he's doing and just do that. "As tempting as that all sounds, there is one place I want to show you. I think you'd enjoy it. I haven't been in a long time, probably because that's one of the first times I got shocked, but I promise you'll have fun."

"You got shocked there? Are you sure it's a good idea to go back there then?"

"I mean it was within the first year that I got it put in me. I haven't been shocked in so long. Plus I do take those little white pills--"

"Those pills did nothing when you got shocked on the field, Fang."

"I didn't get shocked though. It was a chest pain."

"You're splitting hairs, babe. If it's something we can avoid, maybe we should do something else? I don't want you to repeat your past." He proceeded to rub my shoulder where his hand rested.

"I appreciate the concern but I promise I won't get shocked. I might get another chest pain--"

"Don't say that, you'll jinx it. I don't know if I can handle seeing you like that again."

I can see the worry in his eyes come back. His hand slunk back around to my right side. He shifted his body to where he was lying on the right side of his body, his right hand propped up holding his head with his left hand resting flat on the floor. I hate seeing him like that but I also hate that I'm the reason for it. Well I guess that's one subject I won't be bringing up again. At least not until I know he can handle talking about it.

"Okay fine, I won't bring that up again. But trust me, what I have planned today will be fun," I told him as I turned my attention back to the gifts. "So which one of these are mine?"

My eyes began to wander. There were so many. I'm starting to think some of these are just stand-ins, empty boxes just to fill up any empty space. There was an unusually tall and slender box propped up next to the tree. Quickly, I hopped up onto the balls of my feet and compared my height to it. It was maybe a foot taller than me but I still couldn't figure it out. What could be in there? Right as I touched the wrapping, Carver pulled me away from it. Jackpot.

"Okay time to go," Carver said dragging me by my arm back to the door. "I can't believe you guessed it on your first try. Next year, I'm just gonna stash it in my closet."

"H-Hey, wait!"

As much as I tried to plant my feet on the floor, it had no effect. I just continued to slide against the hardwood flooring as Carver kept pulling me across the room. Damn socks. Why couldn't I be barefoot right now? I did the only thing that I could think of and yanked back my arm. His grip of me snapped but it resulted in me landing hard on my ass. As if it needed anymore of that. It's flat enough.

"Ow!" I cried.

"I hope you know that that's your own fault," he laughed as he helped me up back on my feet.

"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever. That really hurt though," I whined rubbing my ass through my skinny jeans. "Did I really pick out my gift? What's in that thing? It's massive!"

"I'm not telling you," he scoffed. "You'll just have to wait and see. Now let's go. I won't drag you out this time, promise."

"You better not. If it were at all humanly possible, I'm sure a force like that would have deflated my already flat ass."

"It's not flat. You have a cute, little butt," he said as he rested his forehead staring intensely into my eyes. I could feel his large hands reach around firmly cupping my butt pulling me up. It was still a little sore but in this moment I didn't mind. He knew what he wanted and I was perfectly fine with where this was going. I closed my eyes awaiting his lips when I heard a door behind me shut. Startled, I pulled away and turned to see Grandma Aggie briskly walk our way.

"H-Hey Aggie, have you been home this whole time? I-I mean what are you doing here? I-I mean...hi?" I nervously asked. I had my hands behind my back placed at the front of Carver's light blue jeans. I could feel it growing in my hands. Without turning my head as to not raise any suspicion, I said speaking through my teeth, "Behave yourself."

"Then don't put your hands there. You know I can't control myself," he whispered back. "H-Hey Grandma! Where're you going? What's the rush?"

"Oh it's your grandfather. Seems like he's causing some trouble down at Town Hall and I have to go pick him up," she said in a huff. As she came closer to us, I leaned back against him trying to shield her eyes from her grandson's obvious boner. Every time she shifted directions, we would too. It happened enough that she stopped and squinted at us. "Are you two alright? Is there anything you need before I head out?"

"No, we're fine," he quickly said. It was at full mast now as I felt it pretty clearly against me.

"A-Actually, would you mind giving us a ride to the rink?"

"The rink?" he asked whispering back to me.

"S-Surprise! I guess the cat's out of the bag now," I said with my hands up. As soon as my hands went up, he instantly pressed up against me. I really needed to get her out of here so I can figure out how to handle this situation. "I-Is that okay?"

"Sure I could do that, but you'll need to find yourselves a ride back. We have plans to go see a movie tonight. They're playing Krampus tonight at the theater," she said as she fished her keys out of this realistic looking decapitated, scalped head in the shape of a bowl. Around the frayed edges were traces of what looked like human hair. It oddly resembled Mayor Fox. The Fox hate is real in this house too. Good to know not to get on their bad side, even if it is fake. She walked up to the door and turned her gaze back to us. "Well, are we going?"

"We-We'll meet you outside," I answered.

"Well don't take too long," she said as she walked out front.

"Carver! What the fuck is wrong with you?" I yelled turning around and smacking his left arm.

"Sorry!" he said scratching his head. "But to be fair, I was already starting to get there before she popped in. You have that effect on me." His face scrunched up as he started to blush.

At least I'm not the one blushing this time. I could clearly see the outline of his dick through his jeans. There was no way we were going to leave with that still there. I don't want him to go through the same thing me and my mom went through that one time. Although that situation was way worse than this one. Still, I need to figure a way out of this situation. We're running out of time.

"So what are we going to do about that?" I asked pointing at the obvious. "Can you readjust somehow?"

"There's no way I can hide this. It's too hard now. How about a quickie? I know I'll cum once you put your mouth on it."

"Carver, she's right outside! What if she walks in on us? I'm not putting on a show for your grandma!"

"Well then I'm at loss because I can't think of anything."

"Well what do you usually do?"

"What do you think?" I asked bluntly.

"Oh...right. Well we don't have time for that and I don't want to go down on you right now either," I said as I started pacing back and forth. "Are you sure there's nothing you can think of? How about dead puppies?"

"Really? Dead puppies? That does nothing for me."

I continued to pace back and forth trying to think of something that would make him soft again but everything I threw at him did nothing. I'm starting to think he's not even trying to think of the things I throw at him. He's probably thinking dirty thoughts about us. That's when I got an awfully wicked idea. If this doesn't work, I will definitely have to go down on him.

"What's that look for?" he asked concerned.

"Y-You're not gonna like what I'm about to say but," I paused as I took a deep breath in and then out. "Think of your grandparents naked right here, right now having sex. Their saggy, wrinkly bits flopping about."

"Oh god! Fang!"

I should have said this earlier because his dick was no longer hard. I couldn't see anything. Not even a hint of a bulge.

"I hate you right now."

"Hey at least it worked, right? Now go to your room and grab a jacket."

"I'm fine. I don't need a jacket. Let's just go," he said as he walked towards the door.

"Are you sure? It'll probably get colder later after sunset."

"I'm fine. I didn't need one earlier so I don't need one now."

"Okay I still think you're wrong so don't complain to me when you're freezing your nuts off."

We both walked out the front door to find Aggie just chilling in their hammock wrapped in one her heavy quilts. You wouldn't even know she was there if it was for her head poking out. There was a heavy stench of weed in the air. She seemed pretty relaxed. I hope it wasn't a pot induced relaxation though. She was pretty out there the last time she smoked. Hopefully she can still drive in whatever state she's in.

Carver then turned his attention back to the door with his keys in hand that left me puzzled. When did he get that? Did he always have them? I definitely didn't feel them earlier. As soon as I heard the key go into the lock, I sat down to put on my boots. I was still in the process of putting on my first boot when he finished locking the door. Maybe I should invest in some slip-ons. After I finished up lacing up the right boot, he sat down next to me with his shoes already on his feet.

"Need any help?"

"No, I can do it myself thank you," I said as I hurriedly shoved my left foot into my boot and hastily tied up the laces. It wasn't as tight as I like it but I'm just gonna end up taking them back off anyway when we get to the rink.

"Okay are we all set?" Grandma Aggie asked as she clumsily crawled out of the hammock. Oh great, this does not bode well about her current physical state.

"Yeah, we're good," he replied as he pulled me up with him. He then turned his attention to me and asked, "We are good, right?"

"Uh yeah, we're good. But I'd appreciate it if you quit pulling on my arm so much. I already have a bruise from Lulu and probably a bunch others from when I slipped down the stairs earlier. I don't need to add friction burn to the list," I said yanking my arm back.

"You slipped? When did that happen?"

Oh that's right. I didn't tell him about that embarrassing moment that no one saw but me.

"Oh did I forget to tell you that little piece of information? You can forget I even mentioned it. It's way too embarrassing anyway. Thankfully no one saw it in the first place, thank god," I said as I followed Aggie to the car.

Carver followed closely behind me. I paid extra attention to their wooden steps as I didn't want to eat it again. Sure they only had a few wooden steps but I want to make sure I don't repeat history especially since there are actual people around this time. I was so focused on not eating it again that I didn't realize just how shaky I had become. I couldn't even step down onto the first step. My right boot just dangled mid air as I was trying to not slip again. It wasn't until I felt the warmth of his hand wrap around mine that I was able to snap back.

"What's the problem?"

"Uh it's nothing. I just can't bring myself to go down these steps for whatever reason."

"Oh, well I can fix that for you," he said as he snatched me up and cradled me in his muscled arms. "Just don't squirm this time. I don't want you to fall on your face again." That's right. The last time he did this was the first day I met him; before I knew just how much he was flirting with me.

"I promise, I won't squirm this time," I said as I sat up slightly and wrapped my arms around his neck. I nestled the left side of my body into his shoulder. "Just be careful. I don't want you to end up falling because you want to be all sweet and play hero."

He chuckled and then replied back saying, "I wouldn't be too worried. I salted them earlier."

"Wait, you did what?"

He stepped down with ease smiling as he carried me over to the car then gently let me down next to him.

"You should have seen your face," he laughed. "Look it's not my fault you forgot that you went up the very same steps earlier and you didn't slip up."

He opened the door to the backseat and I climbed in with him following after me. As we scooted across the back, we noticed that Aggie was having her own mini rave in the driver's seat. It would have been less weird and a non-issue had there actually been music and literally any sound that she was swaying along with but the fact that the only thing playing was the sound of the engine running was just a bit more worrisome than I would have liked.

"Are you sure she's okay to drive?" I whispered to him as I buckled into my seat.

"I'm sure she's fine. This isn't the first time she's been high behind the wheel but maybe I should ask?" He whispered back to me. He scooted forward a bit resting his arms on the front seat. "Hey Grandma, are you okay to drive? I can take over if you want."

"Have you ever driven in the snow before?" I asked concerned.

"No, but it's like driving in the rain right?" He asked turning his head back.

"Uh, maybe we should just stay home? We can scrap the rink. We can go another day."

"What? Don't be crazy, I can drive. Hey Grandma, how about you sit in the passenger seat? I'll drive if you're not up for it."

"Hm? Oh don't worry about me. I can drive," she finally answered perking up from her daze. She quickly drove forward. The sudden force pushed Carver back and as Aggie made a sharp left out of the driveway, his body slammed to the right of the car.

"You okay? Maybe you should put on your seatbelt?"

I helped pull him back into his seat. We fumbled with the belt a few times as Aggie whipped the car back and forth. The whole time we were struggling and she was just enjoying herself as indicated by her breathy laugh. We definitely should have stayed home. I was finally able to get him buckled in when we reached Town Hall. I can't believe we didn't die. We both forced out a sigh of relief as she put the car in park and exited to go get Grandpa George.

"Maybe you should have driven," I sighed with the back of my skull against the top of the seat. There was a slight feeling of nausea clinging to me due to her driving.

"Yeah, well no point in dwelling in the past right?"

"I guess," I said as I turned my body towards him, still caged by the belt. "Is this how she always drives?"

"She's actually not supposed to be driving anymore."

"I have so many questions, well just two. First, why'd you let her drive if you knew she wasn't supposed to and two, why isn't she allowed to drive?"

"I guess I can tell you since I tell you everything but just don't tell anyone else, okay? I can't stress this enough. It cannot come out."

"Okay I won't tell anyone. Not Lulu, not my mom, absolutely no one. You have my word."

He let out a heavy sigh and then began to let out the family secret, "She's losing her sight. It started about a month or so ago. She woke up one day and her vision was slightly blurred. She has glasses now but she refuses to wear them."

"Oh my god. Maybe someone should tell her to wear her glasses then?"

"I know I should probably do that. But I don't want to gang up on her about it. My grandpa already gives her a hard time. I just want to let her be. I don't want her to think that I'm treating her any differently than what she's used to."

"But if she's going to get behind the wheel and she can't see clearly, she should wear her glasses. I'd hate to find out any of you got hurt because of her negligence. At the end of the day, it's better to be safe than sorry."

"I-I guess you're right. On the bright side, I'm pretty sure my grandpa will be the one driving whenever they get back. So no death wish."

I rolled my eyes and turned my back to him. Looking out the window, I noticed the snow had finally stopped. Unbuckling my belt, I stepped out of the car shutting the door behind me. I just wanted to enjoy the cold chill across my skin. My admiration of the weather lasted about a second because I could hear the other car door open and shut behind me. Carver came up next to me latching onto my left arm and then resting his head on my shoulder.

"Okay, I promise next time I'll force her to wear her glasses. Just don't be mad at me."

"What are you talking about? I'm not mad. I just wanted to feel the cold air around me. Sorry if I gave you any wrong ideas. We're cool, I swear."

"Good, I was worried for a second," he said as he evolved to hugging me instead of just my arm.

"Well don't be. If I were mad at you, you'd know," I said resting my head against his. "Are you up for a walk? I don't know when they're going to come back but it may be quicker if just walk to the rink. It's where the fair used to be."

"Is that spot like the designated special event area? It seems like there's something new over there every month," he laughed.

"You know, I never thought about it but yeah, I guess it is," I said pushing myself off of the door but turned back facing him. Taking his left hand in mine, I asked again, "So how about it? Wanna walk?"

"You know I can't say no to you," he said walking up to me still holding my hand. He then took out his phone with his free hand. "I should text them that we're heading out though. She may be high right now and going blind but I don't want her to think she's going senile too."

"Oh yeah you should definitely do that or else she might chop off my head too and turn me into a bowl or something."

"You're such a dork. She'd never do that to you. She loves you too much," he said smiling down at his phone. His thumb swiped across the screen for a few seconds then he shoved his phone into his left front pocket. Letting go of my hand, he walked further ahead, turned back to me and asked, "So are you coming or do I have to carry you again?"

"I mean I wouldn't say no, but if I had to choose? I'd prefer piggyback but I'm fine with walk--"

"Say no more, your wish is my command," he said as he walked back to me and squatted. "Put your legs on my shoulders, I wanna test something out."

"Carver, I can walk. It's not a big deal."

"Oh come on, it'll be really quick. Why don't you just try it first? Why do you have to be so against trying new things?"

"I'm not against trying new things."

"Do what I asked then."

Letting out a heavy sigh and rolling my eyes so hard that I felt that they could pop out, I did exactly what he wanted. Although it did take me a bit to figure just how I would go about doing it while keeping my balance and not stepping on him. What? I haven't been on anyone's shoulders since I was baby. Once my thighs were on his shoulders, he shot straight up with his hands at the tops of my thighs.

"H-Hey not so fast! I'm gonna fall," I said trying to keep my balance by gripping the top of his head.

"Don't worry, I've got you," he said widening his stance. "You didn't really think I'd drop you, did you?"

"No, I trust you. You just stood up really fast and I lost my balance for a split second. So are you sure about this?" I asked nervously. "I'm not too heavy, am I?"

"Heavy? You're kidding right?" he said as he started to walk towards the rink. "You're the lightest thing I've lifted today."

"Even snow?"

"I didn't lift snow, I shoveled it. Big difference," he said as he turned the corner heading to the old gravel road that lead to the rink.

They really should get this road paved one day. It sticks out like a sore thumb being the only main road in town that's just straight up gravel. And since it snowed overnight and now that the snow is starting to melt, it's like someone just decided it'd be okay to dump their giant muddy slushy all over it and called it a day. Thankfully, I was on Carver's shoulders so I avoided this whole weird ice slushy swamp thing going on. Although I'm sure I would be fine with my boots, Carver on the other hand has his typical all-white sneakers that offered little to no protection from this sort of thing. Maybe I should be the one carrying him. Somehow even with my weight on him, he managed to avoid the deeper slush points. Okay fine, he doesn't have some kind of psychic sense to them. I may have pulled a Ratatouille.

After avoiding all of the slush puddles, we arrived at the rink. Surprisingly, it wasn't packed like I thought it'd be. There were a few families with their younger kids but no one our age. I guess people our age don't like ice skating as much as I thought. Besides the emptiness, it looked like the rink was smaller than what I had remembered it being. I remember it being just as big as the fair, covering every inch of this concert sized vacant lot but it was maybe half the size of our football field. Granted that's still pretty large and plenty of room for even a packed house, well rink, for skating, I just remember it being very different when I was younger. It looked just like the indoor rinks with the white two foot tall barriers but the only thing missing were the clear plexiglass windows. Those aren't exactly needed for an outdoor rink.

As we walked up to the skate rental booth, I noticed that they had a drink station at the next window. Thank god, I love hot cocoa. We're definitely going to grab some before we leave.

"Size?" the man at the booth asked us.

"Ten for me," I said.

"Twelve," Carver said.

"Okay, ten and twelve coming right up," the man said as he turned around looking through the little cubbies. He grabbed two pairs of all white skates and placed them up on the counter. "That'll be twenty dollars."

I saw Carver reach for his wallet but I pulled out my wallet quicker and said, "I got it." I then handed the guy twenty dollars and then after grabbed both of our skates. I swung our skates forward pointing at the nearby benches.

As I untied the laces to my boots for the second time today, Carver without batting an eye said, "You didn't have to do that. I could have paid."

"What are you talking about? I'm the one who asked you out. Shouldn't I be the one who pays? Isn't that the rule? The person who does the asking pays, right?"

"Date?" He asked pausing from tying the laces on his skates. "This is a date?"

"Yeah, what else would you call what we're doing?" I said standing up with my tightly tied skates. I leaned over to him and said, "You know you're the only one who can do the wooing. If you ask me, it's about time that I asked you out. Don't you?"

"I guess. It beats having to pay all the time," he replied standing up with me. "I could get used to this."

"Yeah, okay," I said as I rolled my eyes. "So have you ever done this before?"

"Do what? Ice skate? I've roller skated back in my hometown. It's the same thing, right?"

"You'd think so but no. I can't roller skate, but I can ice skate," I said as I walked up onto the ice. God I missed this. I spun around in a small centralized circle as I waited for him to step on the ice. Eventually I switched to making small strides on the ice, going back and forth around the entrance.

"Having fun there?" he asked standing by the open entrance.

"Sorry, I guess I got a little too carried away. Well what are you waiting for? Come join the fun," I said motioning him over to me. He took the bait and hopped up on the ice, but as soon as he did that he began to wobble on the ice. I could tell he was having a difficult time balancing on the ice so I skated towards him and held onto him steering him towards the wall. "Maybe you should hold onto the barrier first until you get comfortable on your own?"

"No, I can do this. I just need a second," he said pushing past me. He continued to wobble, his arms manically flailing about. It was cute seeing someone who usually has no problem doing anything physical flail around like a headless chicken. He got maybe three feet ahead of me before I saw him sway hard forward resulting in him clutching onto the barrier for dear life.

"You sure you don't want any help?" I asked as I skated up to him.

"I have to confess something. I've never actually roller skated before. This is my first time doing any kind of skating. I'm way out of my element right now."

"I could see that. Why'd you lie to me in the first place?"

"I just wanted you to think I could do anything. I didn't want to disappoint you."

"Carver, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. You don't have to be good at everything. Not to be a downer or anything but I'm not exactly good at a lot of things. I'm not even good at this. Don't expect any olympic level tricks out of me. Plus you didn't really skate yet. Who knows you could actually be really good, you're just letting your nerves get the best of you. How about we take things slow first?"

"Okay, we can take it slow. I really want to be good at this so I can skate with you. But I think there's something wrong with my skates. They're tight but also loose. Does that make sense?"

"Uh let me check them out," I said as I got down on my knees in front of him. After inspecting his skates, I started to untie the laces. "You tied them weird. They should be tight enough to secure your foot but not too tight where it hurts." After redoing his laces, I picked myself back up using the barrier as support. "Try them now, but keep your hands on the barrier just in case."

I watched him shake his skates to test the fit then started to push himself forward. He was still a little wobbly but not as bad as when he started out. The whole time I made sure to stay close to him just in case I needed to catch him. I didn't have to though because after a few more strides, he took to the ice like a fish to water. I'd be lying if I wasn't a smidge jealous about it. It took lots of lessons, handholding, constant reassurances for me to get here. Don't get me wrong, I was happy that it didn't take him too long to get it. I don't know how good of teacher I'd be honestly. I don't know if I have the patience for it.

Since he got it down and didn't need his training wheels anymore, I eased up on my spotting and instead moved my hand to hold his. He smiled back at me. I took it as his way of accepting my move and also being happy with me in this moment. We skated around the rink hand in hand for what seemed like hours. We received a few disapproving looks from the other people around but we didn't care. For once, I don't care what other people think. I'm not about to let some stranger control my happiness. This is the new normal, get used to it or mind your own damn business.

As we continued skating together, I noticed that it was starting to get dark and that the snow came back for round two. Once we neared the entrance, I came to an abrupt stop causing him to fly out of my grip. He ended up skating back to me with a confused look on his face.

"It's getting dark, we should probably head home," I said as I stepped out of the rink and walked back to the bench where we had left our shoes.

"But we were having so much fun! I don't want to go home yet. Can't we go around another round at least?"

"Carver, the sun's going down and the snow's picked up again. We should get home before sundown. With the combination of that and the snow, it's gonna get way too cold for what you're wearing. I'm surprised you're not freezing right now."

"I can handle it. Just one more round and then we can go home."

"It'll be here tomorrow Carver. It's not leaving until a little bit after New Year's. We can always come back another day. Maybe when you're dressed for the weather."

He sighed in defeat then moped over to me, slumping onto the bench in a huff. As I was switching off my skates for my boots, I felt face rest against my shoulder. A part of his cool face grazed against the side of my neck. It sent shivers up and down my spine. I should have grabbed him a coat before we left or if I had known I would have brought another beanie.

"You sure you're not cold? You feel cold," I said sitting up.

"Nah, I'm good," Carver said as he slipped out of his skates and into his shoes. He stood and did his usual stretch with arms stretched high. This caused his navy blue plaid shirt to rise revealing a hint of his torso. I happened to catch a trail, that wasn't there before, growing from the bottom of his navel and disappearing right at the waistband of his boxers. "I was thinking of grabbing some hot chocolate from that place over there. Do you want me to grab you one too?"

"I love hot cocoa!" I said perking up.

He let a short laugh that turned into a full blown grin. "Okay then you return the skates and I'll grab us some hot cocoas."

With that Carver turned back around towards the drink station. Reaching down I grabbed the skates and dropped them off at the rental booth. When I turned around towards the line I noticed that it was a rather long line that wrapped partway around the rink. I wouldn't have even seen him had he not waved from his spot somewhere within the end of the line. Man that must be really good cocoa for the line to be that long or maybe something's amiss. Then again it is hot cocoa so I'm fine with waiting.

"Do you want me to stand in line with you? It looks like it'll be a while," I texted him.

"It's okay. I'll bring it over...whenever I get there."

"You sure?"

"Yes, just go relax somewhere."

I guess I could take this time to text my mom for a ride. I don't think he'll make it back in this weather even with the cocoa. As I sat down back at the same bench we were at earlier, I got a whiff of a rather rank stench that seemed to have wafted to the spot I was at. Turning around, I noticed a tall man dressed in a black trench coat, like the one's detectives in those old crime dramas, a black fedora, black slacks with black snow boots. He had very dark sunglasses on and a scraggly black beard. He smelled absolutely awful. So bad in fact that my nostrils burned. From what I could smell, it smelled like a mixture of terrible B.O., alcohol, and tobacco. I felt like I was gonna hurl so I decided to move over to another set of benches away from the guy and for my general safety, right in front of the drink station.

"Hey, are you busy? We need a ride home from the rink," I texted my mom.

"Just you?"

"Well Carver's with me. We got a ride from Aggie earlier but her and Grandpa George are at the movies. Idk if we should walk either. Carver's not exactly dressed for the weather and it's starting to snow again."

"Okay well it'll take me maybe 30 minutes to get there."

"30 minutes? Why?"

"...I'm on a date with Paul..."

"Oh...sorry. We can walk, it's okay."

"No, we'll come get you two but we're in the middle of something right now."

"Something?"

She stopped texting after that. I think I now know exactly what those two are doing right now. I feel kinda bad that I bothered her in the middle of...that. Maybe they weren't actually doing what I think they're doing but what else could they be doing? Maybe they're decorating the house for Christmas? Yeah I'm gonna go with that idea rather than the one I previously thought. I looked back at the line and noticed that it had moved quite a bit. Carver's now in the center of the line which is to say he's no longer wrapped around the rink but just at the edge of the outside of the rink. I could see him a little bit easier now.

With him in view it put my mind at ease. Letting out a shallow sigh, I sat with the top of my back against the back of the bench and my legs crossed, one thigh on top of the other. Just as I was getting relaxed, that awful stench returned. Oh god did he follow me? I look to my right and saw him standing there. Just standing there staring at me. God this guy's creepy. Can't he just leave and go home? As I continued to look at him, his blank expression twisted into a grimace. Great he's just like those other people who looked at us with such disgust earlier. Why can't people just let us be?

"Who are you looking at?"

I turned around and found Carver standing next to me with two large to go cups with the sip lids and cardboard sleeves. I turned back to point at the guy but he was gone. Oh great, don't tell me it another ghost. But that smell, there's no way a ghost could carry on such an awful smell.

"There was a guy just staring at me back there. He creeped me out. I was about to come get you because of how uncomfortable he made me feel."

"Well I'm here now so if he comes back, I'll kick his ass for you."

"That's your solution to everything isn't it?" I laughed.

"Not everything, but it is for guys who bother you or make you feel a certain way. You know me, I like protecting you from people like that."

"And I appreciate it, I really do. You're definitely living up to your knightly duties. Now the cocoa? Which one of those are mine?"

"Uh they're basically the same so...have this one," he said handing me the cup from his left hand after thinking about it. He then sat next to me on my right side. He took a quick sip of his cocoa but I think he burned his tongue because he immediately took the cup away from his lips as he had this pained expression on his face.

"So I called my mom, she'll be here in about twenty minutes. I refuse to walk home in this weather."

"Why? If we leave now, we'll be home before your mom gets here."

"True but it's cold and it's snowing. At least here, we'll have a never-ending amount of hot cocoa to warm us up. Well as long as we have the money to pay for it anyway."

"Well speaking up warming up, I hate to admit it but I'm freezing," he said as he began to shiver next to me. "Now I wish I listened to you earlier. Go ahead and say it, I deserve it."

"Say what?" I asked confused.

"I told you so."

"Carver, I'm not gonna say that when you're already down. But maybe I can solve your temperature problem," I said setting my cocoa down on the ground. I then pulled off my beanie and slipped it onto his head. Instead of making it stylish like I did for me, I pulled it all the way down making sure it covered his frozen ears.

"What are you doing?"

"You said you were cold so I'm giving you my clothes to warm you up."

"No, I can't have you do that. Now you're gonna be cold too," he said as he pulled off my hat off of his head.

"Carver, I'm fine. I'm a winter kid so I can handle this a lot longer than you can. Just take it. I don't want you to get sick. Besides I've got my cocoa. I'll be fine," I said putting my hat back on him. I then picked off my gloves with my teeth so I could place his cup on the ground too. Now that his hands were free, I slipped them onto his frozen fingers. They didn't really fit him since his hands were much larger than mine but at this point something's better than nothing. I can't believe he went on for as long as he did without saying anything. He's either trying really hard to prove a point or he's just too stubborn for his own good. The last thing I could offer him was my jacket. This definitely wasn't going to fit him either but I no longer cared. I just wanted to warm him up. As I slipped out of my jacket, he stopped me again.

"Fang, this is good enough. You don't need to go this far. I'm already starting to warm up. How about we share the jacket?"

"Well it's not very big so I don't know how--"

Carver then scooted closer to me where there was no gap between us. He then took my jacket and draped it over us, it just barely covered the two us huddled together. Since it barely covered the two of us, it already started to slip off of us. I took hold of the left side and he the right. It acted as a very thin barrier against the elements.

"See, now we can both be warm and I won't feel too bad being the only one."

I smiled, wrapped my right arm around his waist, and rested my head on his shoulder. I may love hot cocoa but I love sharing the closeness between us even more. The fact that we were keeping each other warm was an added bonus.

"Hey Fang?"

"Hm? Is something wrong?"

"No, I just wanted to say thank you for the clothes. It's very sweet of you to think of me like this and for today. I had a lot of fun today. And uh I love you."

"I know. I love you too."