Oh My, I Messed Up the Story

I thought things would be awkward after that but Al chose to act like the kiss hadn't happened and like I didn't know he was in love with me the following morning when we woke up.

He twisted from his place sitting up under the covers and looked out the window.

"It finally stopped snowing. You wanted to go play in it, right?"

If he was going to play it off I was perfectly happy to go along. It had just been a dare. It didn't mean anything. We were still friends.

"Yeah, I do. You'll come with me?"

"I assume you have a bunch of interesting ideas to keep us busy so how could I refuse?"

"I do," I admitted. "Have you ever played in the snow?"

"Not really. When I was really little I would make tracks on the way to the stables to visit the horses and sometimes do different patterns but that's about it."

Al looked at me with a gentle smile on his face. "That probably doesn't count though."

"Nope, I have more involved things in mind than that. That's why I picked up that waterproofing oil near the docks the last time we were in town. We don't have to do everything today either. That much snow isn't going away anytime soon. I'm not sure how long we'll be able to stand the cold so we might have to do things one at a time."

"I'll have breakfast brought to us so we can get ready and go right after."

Al hopped out of bed with a spring in his step and rung for a maid. After placing his order, he zipped back and climbed under the covers before they cooled too much.

I couldn't help but laugh at his behavior. "Someone's excited about breakfast in bed."

"It's warmer here and we're about to freeze outside. Don't judge me."

"I'm not judging," I said as I snuggled deeper under the blankets. It really was cold. The fire needed stoking.

When the maid came back with breakfast consisting of sausage, fried eggs, and toast, she tended to the fire and we ate in peace in the warm comfort of bed.

I hadn't enjoyed breakfast in bed since I was about ten years old. My mom tried surprising me for my birthday but I ended up spilling a ton of syrup on the sheets and she never did it again. Thankfully I was a lot less clumsy now.

I talked to myself as I assembled my makeshift snow gear. "Okay, get some pants and a coat that you don't usually wear—they need to be coated with oil. You have leather gloves lined with fur already…Oh hats!"

I actually bought the yarn and crocheted the beanies myself because it was something I used to do back home when watching TV to keep my hands busy. They didn't even take that long, only about an hour a piece.

I crocheted in front of the fireplace one day during the storm while Al did a dramatic reading from a dictionary. It was one of the funniest things I had ever seen him do. He really would be lost without me entertaining him constantly.

I waddled out of the bathroom in my 'snow pants' because the oil made them a bit stiff. My light pink beanie matched my sweater.

I tossed the gray one I made for Al back and forth between my hands before standing on tiptoe to pull it down over his ears. He bent over so I could reach because of our 10 inch height difference.

Once we had everything I skipped down the halls in my eagerness to go out. Snow day, snow day, snow day!

Al struggled to keep up a bit even though his legs were so much longer than mine because I was brimming over with energy. Opening the door we usually used to get to the back of the palace grounds was a bit difficult since the snow was packed halfway up.

"Give me a boost," I instructed. "I need to get to the top of this."

"You'll sink through!"

"No I won't, trust me! I know the secret."

I had read about it years ago. When snow was too deep, you weren't supposed to walk across it, you were supposed to army crawl across the surface so you didn't sink and get stuck.

"Alright," he said skeptically before picking me up as if I weighed no more than a feather and practically basket-tossing me to the top.

I sunk a little because I wasn't prepared to be tossed like that but I reoriented myself and poked my head out from the top of the snow heap.

"Come on in, the water's fine!" I quoted.

I could tell he didn't have a clue what I meant but followed suit anyway, using the doorway as a brace and hauling himself up, accidentally face-planting in the snow as a result.

He came up sputtering but fully alert. The cold woke him up completely.

The snow was deep enough that it would be perfect to build a snow cave or possibly even a tunnel to slide through if it was packed properly.

I led us forward about a hundred yards after he carefully pulled the door shut behind us. I didn't want to go too far out with this much snow around.

"Now what?" Al asked, swiping at his face to try and get snow off it. His nose was already red from the cold.

"We dig," I said mischievously before cupping my hands and frantically burrowing into the powder below.