I shove my hands deeper into my pockets, clenching them into fists and rubbing my fingertips against my palms in an effort to generate some heat. Looking at her walking beside me, I see the moonlight glimmer in her eyes. (Yes, I know that's cheesy; yes, I made that up to sound romantic. But the moonlight does illuminate her face in a way that makes her soft skin look unfathomably alluring. … No, I don't actually know if her skin is soft or not, but I sure as heck imagine it is. Give me some creative license here. It takes every ounce of my willpower to not just reach out and stroke her cheeks with the back of my fingers. )
Every so often, I test the heat (or lack thereof) of my hands on the nape of my neck; when I deem them warm enough, I take in a deep breath of the crisp snowy night. After letting it out, along with all forms of anxiety, I take one last look at her calm expression, dive my right hand into her left pocket, quickly pull her cold hand out into the chilled air, and stop her in her tracks.
"Liz, may I have this dance?"
She looks at me, down at our linked hands, and back at me. She is stunned, then befuddled, then just plain 'weirded out', if you will. I never held her hand before. Her eyebrows furled, she casts her gaze off to the side to try to sort out why strange things are happening. After a few seconds, she returns to me, and gives me her response: "… what?"
I glance at her, meaning to say, don't worry, just wait, I promise this isn't as weird as you may initially think it is. I tighten my hold around her fingers—ever so slightly—trying to ensure that she doesn't slip away. From my left pant pocket, I pull out my phone, and scramble to press play without letting our awkward silence persist for too long.
As I shove the phone back into my pocket, her favorite slow dance song breaks through the night's muffled quiet. I look up to her face once more, hoping to find a smile, if only a small one.
I did.
There she is, smiling under the moonlight, in a comically puffy winter jacket, beautiful as ever.
….
Successsssss.
"May I?" I repeat, beaming.
"Of course," she breathes, putting her hands gently on my shoulders. I set my hands on either side of her waist, and begin to sway with her.
As the song progresses, I pull her in closer (like a ninja). Her arms snake around my neck as she adjusts to the diminishing distance.
"Hey, Stephen?"
"Yeah, Liz?"
"So what exactly is this?"
"A slow dance." A lame answer, I know.
"Well, yes, but…"
"A plan. It's a plan, Liz." I'm smooth. Smooth as soap. So smooth, so sly.
"…Whaaa?" She squints at me with an incredulous smile; we've talked about plans before. "…Why?"
"Because you're beautiful, Liz." So slyyy.
She looks down at our feet and denies it, but beams anyway. Successss agaaain. I'm on a roll.
By the time the artist sings his last word, her head is resting on my shoulder. "This was lovely, Stephen. Thank you," she mutters into my neck.
I whisper into her ear, brushing my cheek against hers.
She immediately leans back to look at me: "You … love me?"
I offer her a half smile, suddenly less confident than I was a minute ago.
"Mmmm.." she smiles, turning the thought over in her head.
Unsure of what to do or think, I can only stand, watching, as she dislodges herself from my arms, skips across to the edge of the packed road, and scoops up a pile of fluffy snow. Packing it into a tight, lopsided ball, she yells to me: "Come closer, my aim isn't that great."
Suddenly remembering another plan, I grin and happily saunter over. "Hit me," I dare her.
She looks at me, laughs, rears back, and chucks the snowball straight at my face.
Immediately after impact, I raise my hands to my eyes and yell in pain. "AUUGH. MY EYES." The iciness spreads over my entire face, much colder than I had imagined.
Chuckling, she sneers, "Scripted. Way too scripted, Stephen." By the time she makes it over to me, I've already launched myself into unpacked snow beside the road. The cold snow underneath my entire back side is strangely relaxing. I uncover my eyes only to see a fat pile of snow coming down from the heavens, attacking my face once more. This girl.
I hear her plop down in the thick snow beside me. "Have I ruined your brilliant plan yet?" she laughs into my ear as I try to wipe the whiteness off of my now freezing face.
"You were supposed to be concerned about my eyes after you hit me with a snowball. Concerned, you should have come close to check if I was okay or not – close enough so I could kiss you unexpectedly. Come on, Liz, we even talked about this before."
"Yeah, but the stupid plan wasn't supposed to be with me."
"There isn't anybody else I'd carry out the stupid plan with, Liz. Just you." I prop myself up on my right elbow so I can look down at her, as she looks up at me.
I pull my left hand up to her cheek, hoping my fingers are still warm. She doesn't flinch away. A good sign. (…her cheeks are soft, by the way.) Leaning down, I nuzzled her neck. She squirms, laughing. "Coold, man, cold!"
Pulling back, I only snicker. "Your fault for dumping snow on my face. But yes, Liz. I do love you," I confirm, as I place my lips over hers.
When I reluctantly end the warm kiss, she's beaming. "I love you too," she says. She loves me too?
"You love me too?" I ask, stunned.
"It's fantastic, isn't it?" she laughs heartily, seemingly emitting moonlight herself.
"You're fantastic," I grin, kissing her again.
A/N: Hope you liked it! Either way, be sure to tell me what you think- I'd love to know! ^^ Reviewreview! Cyber noodles and cookies for you if you do :]