He could easily spot me wearing a bright red hat just as well.
Ignoring my evident resistance, Darren escorted me downstairs to the sliding
door that led out to a stone patio. It looked like someone had shoveled a path
outside, revealing a slated pathway for us to follow. But I wasn’t interested in
following someone else’s path. Naturally, I wanted to lay out my own, and
naturally, that wasn’t allowed.
Darren slid the door aside and allowed me to walk out first. The chill of the air
kissed my face, and I watched enthralled as my breath left behind a misty trail from
my mouth. God, I missed the snow. Fall was my favorite season, but winter always
seemed to bring a little bit of magic with it—magic that reminded me of home.
Not bothering to wait for Darren, I walked off on my own, observing everything
and taking in every square inch of the land around me. The grounds weren’t as big
as the estate in California, but everything was still gorgeous nonetheless. An area
had a tall stone fireplace with benches and chairs all around, while snow-covered
pine trees bordered along the property. A covered hot tub near the house settled
into the wood patio while a few stone benches were scattered across the property
here and there. But the best of all was the array of mountains that surrounded the
grounds. I couldn’t stop looking up every few seconds to admire them all over
again. Even the exterior of the cabin itself was something to praise.
Turning back around, I suddenly caught sight of myself in the window with the
stupid frou-frou purple hat. I immediately scoffed and snatched the damn thing off
my head, pulling the hood of my coat up over my head instead.
“Hey, put that back on,” Darren said as he came toward me.
“No way. It looks ridiculous,” I replied as I tried to stuff the thing in my coat
pocket. “Hey!”
Darren’s hands seized the hat halfway into my pocket, pulled my hood back, and
roughly slid the hat back over my head.
“Keep it on. I don’t need you getting sick out here,” he admonished. “Now, let’s
go.”
Darren continued our walk, expecting me to follow him, but I had different plans
now. Bending down, I grabbed a handful of perfectly packable snow and quickly
formed a good-sized ball in my hand.
“You’re such a bully!” I yelled and threw the snowball right square into Darren’s
back. The snowball exploded all over his jacket, causing him to immediately halt in
his tracks. Slowly turning on his heels, Darren’s expression was that of confusion
and amusement.
“Did you just throw a snowball at me?”
“Yes,” I admitted standing tall and firm.
“Big mistake,” he replied, a playful glare on his face. He then bent down,
grabbed a heap of snow in his giant hands and hurled his own snowball at me. It
came so fast, I’d barely been able to dodge it, hunching my shoulders and taking
the light impact to my upper arm and shoulder. Shaking the snow from my arm, I
squared my shoulders and scowled at him.
“Okay. Now, it’s on!” I shouted, and soon, a full-out war ensued.
For a good twenty minutes, Darren and I hauled snowballs at each other like we
were both seventeen again. We ducked and dodged each other, hiding behind trees
and parts of the cabin, and though he was able to hit me several times, I think the
only time I actually hit him was the first shot fired. He was such a big target; I
didn’t understand how I could miss him. His snowballs overshadowed mine by
twice the amount of snow and flew far faster than mine did. He really was a
mutant.
Throughout the entire snowball fight, I couldn’t help but find myself actually
enjoying it, even though I was sharing the experience with Darren. I knew I wasn’t
the only one sharing the same feeling. I swore I could hear Darren laughing.
Whether it was at me and my shitty aim or the fact that he was actually having fun,
I didn’t know, but either way, it had to count for something.
I’d been crouched behind the fireplace packing several snowballs when I
suddenly noticed the rain of fire had stopped … how long ago had it stopped? Panic
took over as I grabbed two snowballs, one in each hand, and peeked my head
around the fireplace. No Darren in sight. Oh, fuck, where did he go? He couldn’t
hide very well behind anything. Nothing was big enough to conceal him. I kept my
body crouched low, my eyes scanning in every direction, searching everywhere for
him, but he was nowhere to be found. I felt myself straighten. Maybe he went
inside to take
