"So you've really never seen snow before?" Austin asked his best friend Ally as they sat on a New York City-bound airplane. Ally shook her head. "Nope. I was Miami born and raised, and I've never been on vacation to a snowy place," she explained. The blond smiled at her. "Well I promis it'll be fun. I grew up in Colorado and it snowed a ton every single winter," he said to a wide-eyed Ally. "That sounds awesome," Ally whispered, then continued staring out the window of the airplane.
Because of mechanical troubles and the late-December weather, their flight was diverted to Philadelphia. The plane landed and the four of them waited for a cab. While they were waiting, Austin got an idea.
"Ally, let's go outside!" he said, grabbing her gloved hand. "To see the snow?" she asked. Austin nodded and replied positively.
They reached the doors. "Are you ready for this, Ally Dawson?" he asked, his tone joking but still with some sort of serious edge. "Extremely ready, she replied. His eyes stayed on hers for just a moment before he leaped forward, triggering the automatic door and a blast of cold air that shocked the fair brunette girl.
"That's freezing!" she complained gleefully, which raised a chorus of laughter from Austin. "It's snow, Als, it's typically pretty cold," he joked. He walked over to a snow pile and picked some fluffy white power up in his bare hand.
"Here, take your gloves off," he instructed. She reluctantly removed them and shoved them in her pockets. She held out her cupped hands and dropped a little bit of snow into her palms.
"That's so weird," she mused, "but it's cool." Austin smiled. "Now watch carefully, we're going to make a snowball now," he declared, crunching snow between his large hands. Ally attempted to do the same, but her snowball crumbled in her tiny, cold hands. She grinned at him. "Whoops," she giggled softly. Austin waved a dismissing hand. "It's fine, you can use this one. Now, see that guy over there?" he said, pointing to a short, stuffy-looking man standing outside one the sidewalk. He was glancing around and fussing with his coat. "Yeah, I see him," she laughed quietly to Austin. He grabbed her hand and placed the snowball inside it. "You, Allyson Dawson, can have the pleasure of throwing this at him," Austin stated, earning a shocked expression from the girl.
"I- No, Austin- I can't just throw it at him!" she stuttered in protest. Austin laughed and rolled his eyes. "Sure you can, Ally," he said, elbowing her repeatedly until she finally cowed. "Count me down, hotshot," she said with a roll of her eyes. Austin squealed with glee.
"3... 2... 1!"
Ally flung the snowball from her hand, and for a few graceful moments it flew through the air before landing with a plunk! square in the middle of the man's back.
The two culprits ducked behind the snow piled, sniggering and trying to glance over at the man without being spotted. He was toddling around, complaining to random bystanders and looking fervently annoyed. This caused more laughter from them.
"That was so awful... But so fun," Ally admitted. Austin smirked. "A few more weeks of training and you'll be already for your first real snowball fight. But for now, try this," he said as he grabbed a chunk of snow and laid it on his tongue, letting it melt in his mouth. "Now you try," he said, motioning to the snow.
Ally's face twisted into something between excited and bewildered. "But isn't that...unsanitary?" she said quietly, eliciting a hearty laugh from Austin. "Oh Ally, naive Ally. back in Colorado, we would eat snow with a spoon. It's fine," he assured her. She cupped her small, cold hand and plopped a little bit of snow onto her palm. He grabbed a lump of snow for himself. He clinked their cupped hands together. "Cheers," he said with a wide grin. Ally laughed at the ridiculous metaphor. "Cheers," she said as she brought the snow to her lips. She liked the way it melted against her tongue, how it just disappeared in her mouth. It had a certain taste to it that could only be described as cold. She flashed a child-like smile. "That's amazing," she said quietly. Austin nodded in agreement.
Suddenly she looked at him, still beeming, but her eyes were a little more serious. "Thank you, Austin," she said quietly. He smiled at her, a confused, happy smile. "For what?" he asked, taking another bite of snow. Ally gestured all around her. "For this. For showing me snow," she said softly.
Austin was the first to move closer. He took a step towards her and laid his fingers around a lock of her hair. Its wasn't behavior particularly characteristic of a platonic relationship, but it felt right. She gave a soft smile as if to tell Austin that it was okay. He look another step closer. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on her tip toes.
And it was such a simple action, but it felt so unsimple. Their eyes were both closed, and even after the kiss, they lingered there, their lips just barely touching and their noses pressed together, Ally still raised on her toes.
There weren't really worlds after, just brown eyes and cold hands and a new air of happiness around them until their euphoria was interrupted by a voice calling their names. It was Trish, and their cab was ready to leave.
The two acted normal with their friends, but there was still a little bit of leftover joy hanging between them, connecting them. There were occasional glances, stares that lasted just a moment too long, and smiled just a little too wide. But it wasn't a bad thing, not at all. In fact it was the very beginning of something amazing.