Stupid snow.. Gwen thought to herself as she dug her shovel into the mound of white powder at the edge of the driveway.
There had to be at least two and a half feet of snow on the ground. Yesterday was beautiful, the sun was shining, a cool breeze flowed through the air, and best of all- there was no snow. But somewhere between last night and early this morning, Winter reared it's ugly head and decided to plague the town with snow, and lots of it. Gwen hated the Winter, she hated the snow, and she hated shoveling.
"WHY DO I ALWAYS GET STUCK WITH THIS JOB EVERY WINTER?!" She exclaimed to herself through clenched teeth. In her fit of anger, she somehow threw the snow off the shovel at an odd angle, and it flew onto her head and face. She shuddered to herself at the freezing powder covering her face, and spit furiously to get it out of her mouth.
"UGH!" She yelled, frustrated. She stuck the shovel in the small snowbank She had created from previous scoops, and took her black snow hat off for a moment, and shook out her hair. Snowflakes covered her thick black and teal hair, spotting it white. She placed her hat back on, and leaned her arms on top of the handle of the shovel. She let out an miserable sigh, and placed her head on her folded arms.
Every Winter it was the same. Gwen's mother would wake her up extra early, placing her Winter clothing on the end of the bed, and she would tell her to shovel the driveway. Not exactly the way Gwen liked to spend snow days, she'd much rather sleep in, stay in my pajamas all day, and watch television all hours of the day. But of course, She was the one stuck shoveling the driveway, and end up cold, wet, and miserable for the rest of the day.
She lifted her head from the shovel, and lifted it from the snowbank. She dug under the thick snow, and started the process again: Dig, lift, throw. With each heavy lift of the snow, She let out a frustrated moan, or on occassion, uttering words that her mother would wash her mouth out with soap for if she heard her daughter. She took one glove off to wipe the sweat from her forehead. That was the one thing she hated more than shoveling itself; being so bundled up to the point of sweating profusely. She heard the living room window open, and looked up to see her mother's face in the window.
"Gwen, how's the driveway coming, sweetheart?" Her mother called, a big smile on her face.
"It's good, Mom. I'm pretty tired though." She called back, leaning on the shovel again.
"Well finish up, and I'll make you some hot chocolate when you come back inside!" She called, then closed the window. She laughed a little to herself. Hot chocolate wasn't much of a reward for shoveling the hell-hole of a driveway, but it was always nice to warm up after being in the cold for too long. As she continued her chore, she continued the load groans and curse words as she did before. Eventually, she wore herself out, and needed a little break. She sat down in the snow, and took off her hat, setting the shovel aside.
"Hey," She heard a voice call from a short distance away. She turned in the direction of the voice.
Behind her was a boy, who looked about the same age as herself. He had messy black hair, and wore a dark green winter coat. He had really nice eyes, or so she noticed. He was holding a shovel as well, and he approached her.
"Do I know you?" Gwen asked, looking up.
"I just moved in across the street, I'm Trent." The boy stated, holding out his hand. She took his hand, and he helped her too my feet.
"Gwen." She stated back, wiping the snow off her legs. "So what are you doing here?" She asked.
"I could hear you from my kitchen window..you know...yelling...things." He explained, laughing at the end of his sentence.
Gwen could feel her cheeks blush. I didn't realize how loud I was yelling that stuff..
"Oh, wow, yeah... Well, I really hate shoveling." She tried to explain, but it was a really lame excuse. Trent laughed.
"Well that's why I came over, it seemed like you could use a little help." He said with a smile. She smiled back.
"That'd be really cool, thanks." She said.
With that, they both began the process of finishing up shoveling the driveway. At first, there was a long silence, and the only sounds were the scraping of the shovels on the pavement, and the small groans and sighs of the two of them struggling to throw the snow into piles on the edge of the yard.
"So," Trent began, breaking the silence. She looked over at him, waiting for him to finish. "What do you do for fun, Gwen?" He asked.
"I don't really do too much," She replied. Man, I was boring. Trent laughed.
"Come on, you have to do something for fun." Trent prodded.
"Well, I'm pretty into music, so I guess I listen to it a lot in my spare time." She stated. Trent perked up.
"I'm a pretty big music junkie too. What do you like?" He asked as he threw a lump of snow onto the pile.
"I like a lot of rock stuff, you know. Punk rock, alternative, stuff like that." She replied. He flashed a smile.
"Awesome. I love that stuff too. I don't know a lot of girls who are into it, though." Trent stated. Gwen smiled. It was nice to have someone with the same interests, and who was cool to talk to.
"You have a girlfriend?" She asked. She mentally slapped herself across the forehead. Smooth, Gwen. What's wrong with you?!
Trent laughed a bit. "Nah, haven't really met the right kind of girl for me. I guess I'm kind of picky. I'd like a girl who I can just like, chill out with, you know?" He asked.
"Yeah, I know what you mean, I'm the same way." Gwen replied. She could feel my cheeks blush again. Why was I blushing? I never got this way around any guy before. I was always so laid-back around people, unless I liked them. But how could I like Trent? I'd just met him not even an hour ago! But Man, He was good looking! And he was so cool! Gwen's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden question.
"Well what do you look for in a guy?" He asked. She started to answer, but stopped abruptly. She stood there, with a puzzled look on her face for a moment, then finished.
"I guess I like guys who like, get me. I'm a pretty complicated person, so it's nice when someone just listens and understands me. Oh, and I absolutely love guys who play guitar." She gushed, with a small giggle at the last statement. A big smile crept across Trent's face. "What?" Gwen asked, feeling like she'd said something embarassing. She blushed, for the millionth time.
"I play guitar." He stated confidently. Gwen smiled and let out a small laugh.
"No way! You any good?" She asked.
"Sure! I've played since I was a kid. It's probably my favorite thing to do." He replied.
"That's so cool! Maybe I could hear you play sometime?" She asked. She looked around. The driveway was cleared. Gwen couldn't believe how fast time flew by. "Oh, it looks like we're done." She stated, placing her shovel aside. She sat down on the pavement, taking off her hat and gloves. Trent did the same, and sat down next to her. They looked at each other with a smile.
"See? Shoveling isn't so bad, especially when you have someone nice to talk to." Trent said, nudging her shoulder with his elbow. Gwen laughed, nudging him back.
"I guess so." She agreed. She heard the living room window open again.
"Gwen! Come on in! I made hot chocolate!" Her mother yelled.
"Be right there!" She called back. Her mother closed the window. She turned back to Trent. "I'm gonna head back inside," She began. Trent nodded, and stood up. He held his hand out to help her up. Gwen stood up with a smile. "So I guess I'll see you around?"
"Definitely. We should hang out sometime soon." He said with a smile. "And you could hear me play, just like you asked."
Gwen smiled. "That sounds great." She said. She looked down and realized they were still holding each other's hands. She blushed and quickly pulled her hand away.
"Nice to meet you, Gwen." Trent said, picking up his shovel and walking toward his house. Gwen stood frozen in place. A smile plastered on her face.
"You too," She said timidly. She turned and walked up to her front door. Before she turned the handle, she looked back across the street. She waved a good-bye to Trent, before She walked into the house, kicking her boots against the doorframe.
She walked into the kitchen, picking up her mug of hot chocolate, and bringing it upstairs to her bedroom. She walked into her room, placing the cocoa on the nightstand, and laid out on her plush bed. The past couple of hours replayed over and over in her head.
"Definitely. We should hang out sometime soon." He said with a smile. "And you could hear me play, just like you asked."
She smiled to herself. She hoped that 'sometime soon', came as soon as possible.