AllFreeNovel
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“Where to?” I ask. I want to know what we’re doing so bad, but she insisted it be a surprise.
“Boca Raton,” she informs me. “But first, this.” V gets out a black piece of fabric and moves behind me, wrapping the fabric around my head, blindfolding me. I feel my face flush as she takes me by the hand and escorts me to her car.
* * *
It feels like we’ve been driving forever. I know it’s only been an hour or so, but without knowing where we are, time moves strangely. There’s Christmas music playing over the radio, and I listen as Vega quietly sings along. She’s actually kind of good, which only adds to my long list of reasons I find her attractive.
V’s hand rests on my leg, and I suddenly wish I had worn shorts so I could feel the warmth of her skin against mine. Her cologne—perfume—whatever it is… it’s woodsy, with hints of cinnamon and peppermint, and it goes with the energy of the day. It’s really December.
The car comes to a stop, and I move to remove my blindfold when Vega stops me. “Not yet,” she says. “First, we’ve got to walk for a few minutes.”
She gets out of the car and opens my door, taking me by the hand, leading me to who knows where. There’s Christmas music playing, and I can hear the bustle of a crowd in the near distance.
“Vega, can I take this thing off now?”
“Yes.”
Untying the blindfold, I look up to see Vega smiling down at me, but when she moves, my mouth opens in awe. There’s a colossal fucking snow globe behind her. A small-theme-park-sized snow globe.Holy shit.
“How? What is this?” I ask, shock still lingering on my face.
“It’s called Winter Wonderland. A bunch of illusionary mages got together and designed a theme park that feels like you’re inside a snow globe. Let’s go inside,” she says, interlocking our fingers and leading me to the entrance.
There’s a door on one side of the base, and a cambion dressed as one of Santa’s helpers takes our ticket stubs. Entering the park, it’s ethereal. Bright white and pastel Christmas lights are everywhere. A tiny snowflake falls onto my shoulder, and I turn to Vega, the corners of my mouth ticking upward.
“There’s snow?”
She grins wide. “That was the big reason I wanted to bring you here. I know it’s not real snow, but—”
“It’s perfect,” I interrupt. “Just perfect. I’ve never seen snow, real or fake, so it doesn’t make a difference to me.” This is one of the sweetest gestures anyone has ever made towards me, and I could just about cry if I weren’t filled with so much joy.
I’ve never really gone out with anyone who showed me this much kindness. Terranova and I never dated, as he caught feelings for my sister instead of me. Thomas, my only long term partner, broke up with me after being accepted to a trade school in The Americas. There was Amber. And Walnut. And Mai. But those were all short college flings. Sexy and meaningless. This is the first connection I’ve felt in years, and however fleeting it might be, it’s real.
“Have you ever been ice skating?” Vega asks, and I scrunch my nose.
“I’ve been a few times, but just at one of those skating rinks in a mall, nothing fancy.”
We cross towards the rink, which is interesting. It’s as if a frozen lake and a skating rink had a baby. It’s outside in the open air, but there’s a glass wall with a railing surrounding it. There are couples skating around, and mothers with their children. There’s even a faun spinning and performing jumps.
Walking up to the counter, a centaur wearing a bright green polo greets us with a mustache-covered smile. “Greetings, I’m Larry with Winter Wonderland. How can I help you two lovely ladies?”
“We’d like to go skating. Can we rent two pairs?” Vega asks, tone jovial and polite. Her hair is down, but she pushed all of it to one side so it looks like half her head is shaved. I stare at her long, pretty strands.
“What size?”
“Size eleven and size… five?” she says, though she doesn’t sound confident.
“Close. I’m a six,” I correct her.
“That’ll be twelve dabloons.”
Vega puts her phone against the reader, and it beeps, accepting her e-payment. The man goes over to the shelf and picks up two pairs of skates, one black and one white, and hands them over to us. Sitting on a nearby bench, we put them on. I wore fluffy white socks, and the tops hang over the skates.
Vega pulls out her gloves, and I do the same, excited to skate with her. I’ve never been super into ice skating. Iris really enjoyed roller skating; she was on a derby team when we were kids. Me? I tended to prefer things that didn’t have high chances of me falling on my ass. Skating with Vega would be different though.
Getting onto the ice, I’m a little wobbly, rocking back and forth to try and not fall. Vega, on the other hand, is smooth as silk, gliding beside me. She takes me by the hand and helps me balance. At first, I’m completely leaning against her, but after a while, we only have to hold hands.
I look into Vega’s golden eyes. “Can I make a confession?”
