Krystal was sitting on your mattress cross legged; sifting through the different clothes you’d set out on your bed. “Wait, I thought you guys were going to a movie?” She tossed aside a particularly dressy top with a look of completely unnecessary disdain.

You were pulling more clothes out of your dresser and tossing them her way. “Yeah I thought so but according to him ‘movie or something’ had heavy emphasis on ‘or something’.”

“And he didn’t tell you what that something was?”

“No, so I have no idea what to wear…”

Krystal picked up a sequined blouse with two fingers like it was diseased and dropped it into the floor. “Not that, I’ll tell you that much.”

“Could you stop throwing my clothes onto the ground?”

“Could you stop buying such hideous clothes?”

You whirled around to face her, a solution suddenly coming to mind. “You could go see what he’s wearing? To kinda gauge how dressed up I should get!”

She nodded her head slowly, contemplating. “That could work, I guess. Do you think he’s getting ready this soon though?”

Your eyes darted to the clock on the bedside table. “He said to be ready by 4:30. It’s 3:30 now…an hour isn’t all that early is it?”

“You never know. He’s a musician. They tend to be the primping type. I’ll go check.” She slid off your bed and lithely left the room; leaving the entry to your room wide open. You heard her knock on the door down the hall and the quiet creak of the old thing swinging open. The sounds of hushed voices traveled over the wooden floorboards but no discernable words made it to your room.

Soon enough you heard the creaking again and Krystal walked back into your room snickering. She sat on your bed once more and situated herself comfortably. “He is definitely the primping type. That or he’s just as annoyingly excited as you are. He’s in there messing with his hair.”

“Did you see what he was wearing?”

“Yeah, he had a bunch of sweaters laid out on his bed. Looks like date casual. Just wear one of those form fitting sweaters and some nice jeans.”

Letting out a sigh of relief you walked over and threw the dressy clothes back into your dresser and examined the clothes remaining on your mattress. You picked up a white fuzzy sweater and hesitantly looked up to see your friends assessment. Judging by the scrunched up nose she didn’t like it so you set it back down. Watching her face you drifted your hand to the right over the other sweaters until you saw her nod slightly. Looking back towards the mattress you observed the maroon turtleneck that had managed to attain her approval. Deciding she’d know best you reached over and grabbed at the dark jeans lying next to your pillow. You gave the girl on the bed a look and she fell back and looked at the ceiling so you could change.

Once you had the clothes on and adjusted you cleared your throat to signal that you were done. Krystal sat up and assessed your clothes. After a few seconds the corners of lifted slightly and she gave you a thumbs up.

“Okay now help me with my hair and face.”

She groaned as she dramatically slid off the bed onto her feet. “Can you do nothing on your own?”

You scoffed at the theatrics. “Like you don’t love dressing me up like some doll. Please.”

She smiled at you. “True.” She skipped into the bathroom and you followed behind her just in time to see her knock on the door connecting the bathroom with Jae’s room.

“This bathroom is occupied until 4:30. Come in and you will meet a horribly violent end.” Her hand slid down to the handle and there was a soft click as she locked the door.

There was a faint grumbling from his room and Krystal swivelled back to you and started brushing through your hair while you sifted through the makeup on the counter.

——–

You’d been ready for 15 minutes now and staring at the red numbers glaring from your alarm clock was giving you a headache. Krystal was laying next to you tossing a throw pillow into the air repeatedly. You were both lying across your twin sized mattress, legs up the wall and heads hanging slightly off the edge.

The hour changed to 6 and within a second the door to your room burst open with a bang. Krystal jumped at the sudden intrusion and you both turned to the door to see Jae standing in the doorway with a big smile. He was wearing a thin puffy jacket over a hoodie with a red beanie. He looked at your clothes for a moment. “Oh you’re wearing a sweater! Good! You have a hat and gloves right?”

Narrowing your eyes in suspicion you nodded and he clapped his hands together and smiled.

“Alrightty! Do you think Michael will lend me some gloves?” He waved a hand dismissively and chuckled dryly. “Actually I’ll just grab some. He won’t care.”

Krystal peered at him through slit eyes from the bed. “You’re very…chipper. And fidgety.”

Jae simply nodded his head and stuck his hands into his jacket pockets.

Krystal leaned over and nudged you in the side with an elbow. “Someone’s nervous.” She smirked as the antsy man standing in the doorway glared back.

“You know you guys should’ve really put that in the ad for the room. ‘Tenant will suffer constant bullying by housemates.’”

Krystal snorted softly then laid back down, deciding to leave the poor boy alone.

Smiling at the girl sprawled across your bed you stood and headed for the door, grabbing onto the edge of Jae’s jacket sleeve and tugging him towards the stairs. “Let’s go get you some gloves.”

He made sure to stick his tongue out at Krystal before following after you into the hallway. You released his sleeve once you reached the stairs. “So what’s the plan? Are we going to be walking? Is that why we need gloves?”

“Not to be cheesy but it’s obviously a surprise. Come on, Y/N. Use your head.”

The two of you made it to the bottom of the stairs and you led him to the trunk next to the front door. You clicked open the latches holding the box shut, lifted the top, and started sifting through the various gloves and hats to find a matching set. Jae knelt next to you and started searching as well. He found a matching pair of red mittens quickly enough; you watched him slide the first one on with no trouble but then he was faced with the dilemma of the second mitten. You watched him for a few moments with a smile on your face as he tried and failed to hold the mitten in his gloved hand and slide the other in. Then he tried holding the glove in his teeth and slither his hand into it that way.

You reached over and tugged on the end of the mitten. Deciding he’d struggled enough you held the mitten open and he slid his hand in and thanked you with a smile.

Turning back to the trunk you pulled out a set of black mittens. You put the gloves on quickly and stood again only to feel a tug on your hand. Jae straightened himself up and waved a hat in front of you. “Forgot your hat, genius.” He took a step and stood in front of you before raising the hat and pulling it down onto your head. You watched his face as his fingers lightly tucked stray hairs back into place. His hand was still hanging near your face when his eyes glided down and met your own. He watched you study his face for a moment before he grabbed the front of the hat and yanked it down faintly to cover your eyes; taking a step back with a quiet laugh. Pulling the hat back with a huff you glared at the tall boy and fixed your hair. Jae looked over your winter gear for a few seconds and then nodded with finality.

“Now you’re ready. Let’s go!” The excited man opened the front door and pranced into the front yard and you followed him out into the cold.

You’d taken about 6 steps before Jae stopped suddenly, spun back towards the house and gave you a bashful smile. “Just a second! I forgot something.” He ran past you back into the house. Emerging 30 seconds later he ambled back to you with two thermoses in hand. The warm steam smelt like chocolate when he handed you one with a smug grin. “How cool and well prepared am I?”

Twisting the top open you took a cautious sip; the hot chocolate was sweet but too much so and very warm. Meeting his eyes you gave him a smile and nodded your head in acknowledgement.

“Well prepared…moderately cool.”

“It is tragically indicative of my mistreatment that that is a much nicer answer than I was expecting. Come on, we’re walking this way.” Jae nudged you in the direction he was headed and you both started down the sidewalk.

The walk was short and full of laughs and playful pushing and soon enough Jae swung an arm in front of him and the out towards the large hill in the center of the city park you had stopped in front of. “Ta-dah!!”

The hill was empty and judging by his excited presentation you got the distinct feeling that something was missing.

You looked at him quizzically for a moment and he turned to see what you were so confused about. His arms dropped to his sides. “What the hell? Someone jacked our sleds!”

Your eyes wandered around the park and you saw some teenagers sitting on the picnic tables along the edge of the park. Lying forgotten at their feet were two plastic sleds. You tapped Jae’s shoulder then pointed towards the tables.

He turned in the direction you pointed; his hands slid up to rest on his hips and he shook his head in disapproval. “The youths today, I tell ya.” He lifted an arm to point in their direction. “Those are our sleds. I'ma go ask for them back.”

Jae trudged through the snow to the picnic tables.

Even from a distance you could see this not going over very well. The boys looked to be about 14 years old and you could see their faces twist into opportunistic grins. Jae spun to look at you with a nervous smile but when you took a step towards him to help he shook his head and turned his back to you again. He slid a hand into his pants pocket before handing something to the one with his chest all puffed up.

Returning with the rescued sleds, Jae handed you one with a deep sigh.

You were trying not to smile. “Did you…pay those kid-“

“Yes, I was swindled by teenagers. Little extortionists… just take your sled and let me salvage a little dignity.”

You decided to let the boy go without further harassment and tapped his side with the sled in your hands. When he raised his head to look at you, you smiled and reached out to grab his left mitten. His face lit up again and you started up the hill hand in hand.

The two of you spent the next hour or so racing down the hill in the now abandoned park. You won more often than not but that was largely because your date had a strangely difficult time reaching the bottom of the hill still in his sled. He went faster than you but he usually toppled out of his sled halfway down, allowing you to slide right past him to victory. After a particularly messy fall Jae was sprawled across the ground, face down in the snow. He lifted his head to watch you glide past him and coast to an easy stop at the bottom.

“How do you do that every time?!”

You strut over to help him up and shrugged at his question.“There’s no set technique.” You smirked at him as he readjusted his hat and brushed the snow off his jacket. “I’m actually kind of confused by how absolutely terrible you are. It’s uncanny really.”

“It’s this sled! Mine’s defective.” He kicked at the plastic lightly.

“Maybe you’re defective. User error and all that.”

Ignoring your comment he lifted the sled and studied it carefully. Turning it this way and that way before he smiled triumphantly and held it close to your face. “See?! It’s broken!”

Sure enough there was a thin crack on the bottom of the sled. It’s possible the jagged plastic edge was catching the snow and making him fall.

He studied the plastic again and made a face. “The little extortionists broke it.”

Watching him now you noticed how wet his jeans were. He must be freezing. “You look cold anyways. We should probably do something else soon.”

“Well, I have spent a large part of this date with my face in the snow so I am cold but I’m having fun! Let’s go one more time!”

You looked him over in concern. His pants were soaked but he did look really excited. One more time should be okay. Then you thought about the broken sled. “We can go one more time but we’re going to have to share my sled.”

His lips turned up slightly and he nodded at you. “Sounds good. Come on.”

At the top of the hill you set the sled down and sat down in the middle. Trying not to let him see how flustered you were you twisted around to look at him. “Climb on.”

Jae cleared his throat nervously and squatted down behind you. He slid a leg in beside you and then the other in on the opposite side. The sled was small so even with his hips as far back in the sled as he could get he was pressed to your back snugly.

You tried to sound like you weren’t about to pass out. “You better hold on if you don’t want to fall off this time.”

Hesitant hands grazed your sides as he slipped them under your arms and around your waist. His fingers locked together in front of you.

Jae was wrapped around you so snuggly that you could feel the rumble in his chest when he cleared his throat again. The warm air brushed against your face when he spoke. “Okay, I’m good.”

With a last deep breath you reached out on either side and pushed against the snow; launching your sled down the hill. The added weight from Jae actually made your sled go way faster than it had before. The sounds of excitement quickly turned to rapid murmurs of ‘’ when your sled shot past the usual end zone and darted straight towards a large tree. Jae’s arms tightened around your waist as he pulled you close and threw his weight to the side, causing the sled and both of you to topple over into the snow. The momentum from the ride down the hill caused you to roll two or three times, the two of you separating in the fall, but soon enough you came to a stop.

The snow was cold on your back as you laid there looking at the sky, catching your breath. Turning your head to the side you saw your date sit up just a foot away, rustling the snow from his hair. “You are cursed. It’s official. We’re going to have to get you an inner tube. Make you wear a helmet and knee pads.”

Jae stood with a huff and snatched his hat off the ground before heading your way. He helped you up and smiled, “Don’t be so dramatic. No one died. I’d say this was a pretty successful date.”

“That’s your criteria for a good date? Nobody dying? What is the ratio of good dates to bad dates normally? How often are good dates?”

Jae smirked as he picked at the crushed leaves and debris in your hair from the crash landing. “I’d say…75%. Probably.”

“75%?! That’s 3 out of 4 dates. You know what that means right? We can only go on 2 more dates. For my own safety I refuse to ever go on a fourth date with you.”

“I mean that’s not exactly how percentages work but whatever you say…”

He laughed as you shoved him with the flat of your forearm.

“We should head back to the house. You need to change or you’re going to get sick.”

“Right. Wouldn’t want to get sick and turn this good date into a bad one.”

You looked at him and smiled slightly. All the date talk had your cheeks warming up. Jae leaned down and picked up the two thermoses, handing you one. The two of you started back in the direction of the house.

“If it makes you feel better we could just skip the fourth date. Go from third straight to fifth.”

Your smile twisted into a mocking grin. “I mean, that’s not exactly how numbers work but whatever you say…”

“Ah, shut up.”

The sun was beginning to set and the reds and orange colors reflected prettily off of the icy sidewalks underfoot. You could see the house in the distance when you felt an oddly soft pressure on your right hand. Looking down you saw Jae clutching at your hand with his mitten; the glove making it more difficult than he was expecting. When he raised his eyes to look at you it was with a bashful smile and pink cheeks. “See, this would have been a very sweet moment if not for these stupid mittens making me look stupid.”

You knew you were blushing but you couldn’t help but smile. You tugged off your right mitten and put it in your pocket before reaching over and tugging off his left and grasping his hand in yours. “You’re such a dork…” you murmured as you continued walking.

When the pair of you were just about to reach the front door Jae stopped walking. You turned to ask what he was doing and stopped when you saw the shy look on his face.

“Before we go inside and have to listen to Michael moan and whine about being alone I just wanted to ask if you had a good time.”

Nodding softly, you beamed at the pink faced man. “Yeah. The part where we almost crashed into a giant tree was cool too. Added some thrill to the evening.”

“Yeah, nothing is quite as thrilling as narrowly escaping death. You’re welcome by the way.”

You stepped closer and narrowed your eyes in suspicion. “For what?”

“Well, if you remember correctly I kind of saved your life.”

“You’re cursed remember? It’s your fault I nearly died in the first place.”

Jae threw up his free arm and scoffed in mock indignation. He turned his head to the left and puckered his lips into a pout. “I save your life and this is the thanks I get? Incredible.”

You felt a surge of something that made you smile and leaned in quickly to press your lips to the corner of his mouth. The peck was short but when you leaned away again you saw the tall man standing there as if he had been frozen solid.

You squeezed his hand once. “Thank you. I had a really good time.”

After a second his eyes started shifting around and he tucked his lips in as the pink shifted to a much stronger red. Bringing a hand up to scratch at the back of his head Jae met your eyes now and beamed at you.

“You’re welcome. I had a lot of fun too.”

You turned back to the house and twisted the knob. Stepping into the house you looked back to speak to the boy shuffling in behind you. “Well, of course you did. You were on a date with me, the funnest person around.”

He looked like he was about to say something snarky but you didn’t get to hear it as Krystal ran down the stairs. She looked really flustered and she was talking really fast.

“Y/N, you left your phone here and Jae doesn’t have a cell phone yet so I couldn’t reach you. I didn’t know where you two went-”

Cutting off her rambling you reached out and grabbed at her shoulders. “Krystal, slow down. What’s wrong?”

She took a deep breath to steady herself. When she raised her head there was sadness swimming in her eyes. She reached up to grab your hands softly.

“Your mom got into a car accident. She’s in the hospital.”