Winter wonderland.

The snow crunched under my feet as I made my way up the staircase. I didn’t want to knock on her door, but I had to see her. I ran through the two scenarios that had built up in my head. One optimistic the other the complete opposite. .Right now I was leaning towards pessimistic. I knocked on the door. The sound of feet against stairs and an opening door and there she was in front of me again. “Hey” I whispered pulling back my lips into a smile. “MITCHELL” she practically screamed jumping out of her doorway into the lightly packed snow with her bare feet. I picked her up in a bear hug and gently set her back into the doorway. “Your feet will get cold” I said in a concerned tone. “Fine then, you come here and hug me” she said crossing her arms and pretending to be angry. “Your horrible at being mad at me you know” I laughed and embracing her in a hug. “I thought you would be mad at me” I whispered. “Well I decided it’s not your fault “she whispered back never breaking the hug to look at me. “Well this is going better then I thought it would.” I laughed at the scenario that I thought would play out. “What did you think would happen?” She broke the hug and pulled back to look at me “I figured that you would be upset or mad at me. So it played out by me knocking on your door, you answering, and then saying something along the lines of ‘I hate you’ then you slam the door in my face.” I said looking at the ground embarrassed of what I thought before. “Wow, that’s pretty bad” She said laughing “I guess you didn’t expect this then” She said leaning in and kissing me. I would have been fine with it if I saw it coming. I pulled back in surprise. When I recovered and looked back at her she was staring down at the ground. “Hey” I put my pointer finger under her chin and lifted her face so I could make eye contact and brought my face closer to hers “I’m sorry” I kissed her back. After a few seconds a broke the kiss. “You surprised me is all” I said leaning back into my original spot. I couldn’t think of anything to say and the silence started to get awkward so I said the first thing that came into my head. “Do you want to go on a walk?” I asked “Yes I do” She said flashing a smile. “Come inside while I get ready” she said moving out of the doorway so I could go in. “Is anyone home” I asked peeking around her to see if I could see anyone. “Yes, my mom is home.” She said looking to her side in a room that I couldn’t see from where I was standing. “Then I will wait out here” I decided. “No, Your coming inside” She grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the door “But I like it outside” I pleaded. Being alone with new people made me feel extremely uncomfortable and the fact it is her mother only made it worse. “Come on you look cold” She made another attempt to pull me in the house. “I don’t feel like being in a room alone with your mom.” I continued to resist her pulling “Please just do it for me” She threw out her best puppy dog pout “Fine just this once and I’m not leaving this doorway.” I said letting her pull me into her house. Once I was inside I looked where into the room I couldn’t see before to find her mom staring at me “Great this will be fun” I whispered so her mom couldn’t hear “It will be fine” She shot back. “Mother this is Mitchell, Mitchell this is my mother” She said motioning to both of us. “Alright, I will be right back” She said bolting up the stairs. I stayed in the hallway and tried not to look in the room which held her mother. “How are you today Mitchell” her voice wafting in from the other room. “I’m alright ma’am.” I said trying not to show how uncomfortable I was. “What are you plans with my daughter?” she said asking the question I really didn’t want to answer. “We are going to go for a walk.” I replied “Oh is that all” She shot back with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Before it got any worse I heard feet on stairs “Alright, ready she said bounding down the last step. “I’m going on a walk mom I will be back later” she said slipping on her shoes. “So I’ve heard” her mom said with quite a vindictive tone. “Let’s go” I whispered frantically in her ear. “I think your mom wants my blood on her hands” I said as I opened the door. The cold wind blew against our faces and stung my throat. “Where too then” I asked as we stepped off the last stair of her porch together. “I’m not sure” she replied as we turned onto the sidewalk. We walked for a few seconds in silence. “Improv then?” I asked trying to break the awkwardness that the silence induced. “I guess” she shrugged. We walked without words for what seemed to be a really long time. I tired to think of something that would break it, but my mind was drawing blanks in till she broke it for me. “So I surprised you?” she said giggling and a grin spreading across her face. “Yeah, I really wasn’t ready for that “I admitted. It got quite again and I felt her arm brush against mine so I took her hand in mine intertwining my fingers with hers. She didn’t pull her hand away so I was satisfied. “Your hands are freezing” She complained lightly. “Sorry, they are always like this.” I informed her “I could stop if you would like” I joked. “No, no it’s fine” She shot back. I stared down at her and smiled as we turned the corner. “So, did you think of anywhere to go yet?” I asked trying to keep the conversation fluent. “No not yet.” She replied. We were once again walking in silence, but this one didn’t feel awkward. More peaceful because there was nothing that needed to be said. We turned another corner and I felt her hand begin to shake. “What’s wrong” I asked my voice laced with concern. “Its nothing I’m just a little cold is all” she tried to sound soothing. “Oh” I said taking my hand out of hers and unzipping then pulling my arms out of my winter jacket. “Wear this” I said holding it up for her to put her arms through “Put that back on. Its cold outside” She said scolding me. “Its fine, see” I said pointing towards the zip up hoody I still had on. “Anyway I’m actually kidna hot right now. I wore extra layers because I thought I might have to sit outside your house in till you would talk to me.” I flashed a smile. “I don’t want that” She said not sounding amused by my antics. “I stood inside your house when I didn’t want to because you thought I was cold. So where this because I think your cold now” I pleaded. “Fine” she said sticking out her arms. I slid the jacket down one of her arms then switched side and put on the other. She zipped up the jacket. “I forgot how tiny you are” I laughed at the size of the jacket compared to her. “I’m not short” she said getting frustrated. “Oh come on now I was just playing” I said putting my hand in hers and twining our fingers together again. I started to walk, but she didn’t move. “Come on” I said dropping her hand and wrapping my arms around her waist. Moving my face just inches from hers. “Please come with me” I breathed. She reached up to kiss me, but I pulled away. “Promise you will come with me first” I said moving my face closer to hers again “Fine” She said reaching up again, but this time I didn’t move. I held it for a few seconds before breaking it off. “Come on” I said dropping my hands and picking up hers. “Why do you want to go so bad?” She asked irritated. “Because I don’t like standing still.”