Alice
The hours leading up to the tree lighting that night seemed to fly by. It was a good thing, since there was nothing to do and I would have been bored out of my mind the entire day. I did a quick check to see if I had everything I needed to bring. Phone. Check. Wallet. Check. I pulled my beanie over my head and walked down to the lobby with the others. I asked, "How much time do we have to get to the park?"
Murucho checked his watch and said, "We have like an hour and a half. Plenty of time to get there." Kato walked into the room with an armful of blankets and asked Murucho, "Do you want to take some of these with you, Master Murucho?" The short blonde said, "Maybe throw a few in the limo. You know, just in case." Kato nodded and walked outside. I said, "We're taking the limo?"
I thought we were walking like we did yesterday to the parade. Murucho said, "It's the coldest night its been all week, so I decided to have Kato drive us so we didn't have to walk in the cold." Julie popped in and said, "Well I think it's great that Murucho was thinking of us like that. Because I sure know that I don't really want to walk outside in this freezing weather." Kato walked back inside and said, "The limo is ready whenever you all are." Murucho asked, "Everyone ready to go?"
We all looked at each other, then nodded and walked outside. Murucho was right. It was the coldest it had been all week. Maybe even all month as well. We all hurried into the warm limo as we tried to get away from the nipping cold. Kato checked behind him and looked at us to make sure everyone was inside, and he then started to drive towards the park. I was sitting in the middle of the backseat, with Shun to my left against the window, and Runo to my right against the other window.
Christmas tunes came on over the limo's speakers, and we all looked up at them. Murucho rolled his eyes and said, "Kato loves his Christmas music." Julie was across from me and humming the tune. None of us paid her any mind, and left her in her own little musical world. Besides, it would be a few minutes of time that she wasn't harping on me about Shun or something like that.
A crazed driver shot past us, and I saw Kato mumbling to himself about the guy's driving ability. We pulled up next to the curb of the park, and the engine was cut off. Kato leaned back and rolled the little window down and said to us, "We're here at the park." All of us climbed out of the warm limo, and back out into the cold night. Julie said, "You know, I'm kind of tempted to stay in the limo."
Runo looked at her and said, "What are you going to do when the limo starts to get cold?" I shook my head and ignored them as I fixed my purple fleece scarf that my grandfather got me for Christmas last year. It went very nicely with my purple beanie that Shun had given me. My feet were already getting cold through my purple converse and white socks, but I was sure they'd warm up when I started to walk around.
Dan pulled out a piece of candy out of his pocket that he had caught at the parade yesterday, and popped it in his mouth. Runo was telling him how he was going to rot his teeth out if he didn't cut back, but he only stuck his tongue out. Now it was on.
Runo's face turned red, and she backhanded him on the top of his head, causing Dan to bite down on his tongue. She said, "How are you going to taste candy now?" Shun was beside me and shaking his head and said under his breath, "I don't know why I hand out around him." I placed my hand over my mouth and giggled. Murucho stepped between Runo and Dan and said, "We need to go and find a place around the tree before they start without us and we can't do that if you two are fighting."
The two bickering brawlers looked at each other, and sighed. Dan said, "Ok, Murucho." We then walked through the park towards the tree that was in the very center. Snow hadn't been cleared off from the sidewalk, and as we walked on it crunching sounds came from under our feet.
We finally made it up to the tree. A red velvet rope was wrapped around the tree, but none of the lights were on yet. The mayor who was at the start of the parade yesterday, walked in front of the tree and waved to everyone. "Thank you everyone for coming out tonight. Chilly isn't it? Ha-ha. Before we light this year's tree, I'd like to acknowledge our sponsors." He started to go through a list of local businesses who helped put the tree up and such.
I glanced at Shun, and saw he had his hands stuffed in his jacket and his hood over his head. He could say how much the cold didn't bother him until the cows came home, but he was cold at the moment. I was too. Even with all of my clothing on I was still shaking a little bit. The streetlights then went off, and the tree in front of us lit up. People all around us were marveling at the site.
More ornaments and lights were hung up on the tree this year, and it looked great. A few people were clapping, and then more joined in. Soon, me and the others were clapping too. The mayor said, "Please enjoy yourselves. We have hot chocolate, eggnog, carolers, and other things. Thank you all for coming out." Shun asked me, "You want to grab a hot chocolate or something?" I smiled and nodded my head. I got Murucho's attention and said, "I'm going to get a hot chocolate with Shun and walk around."
He nodded his head and went back to talking with Dan about something. We were one of the first people in line, and the lady handed us each a small Styrofoam cup of the hot liquid. He asked me, "You want to sit down somewhere?" I thought for a second and said, "How about we go and stand on the bridge over the river?" He shrugged his shoulders and we started to walk to the bridge. We both had our elbows placed on the railing of the bridge, and sipping our hot chocolate.
The trees that lined the banks had lights in them, and it looked like a separate world in the river. I could see little pieces of ice floating downstream. It had to be cold if the moving water below was actually frozen in some parts. I leaned forward slightly, and my purple scarf slid off of my neck and onto the rocky bank. "Oh no! My scarf!" The wind had pushed it just to the rocks, and half of it was in the water.
I started to run off the bridge, and Shun yelled at me, "Alice! Be careful! Those rocks are slick with ice!" I said back to him, "I'll be careful!" I heard him running above me, and I stepped on one rock at a time. I had to get my scarf before the river took it away. My fingers were just a few inches from the scarf, and I finally got it. The second my hand grabbed it, my foot slipped on the rock, and I was falling towards the river.
I felt a hand grab me and keep me from falling in. "I've got you." I turned my head around and saw Shun had just caught me. I let out a sigh of relief, but then Shun's foot slipped and we both went into the water. The cold water jolted me awake, and I couldn't move for a second or two. I finally got up to my feet, and looked around. "Sh-Shun? Wh-where are y-you?" He popped above the surface of the water, and I saw his jacket wasn't on him anymore.
It probably had fallen off since he didn't have it zipped up. "I-I'm r-right h-here." We crawled out of the freezing water and onto the snow covered bank. I brought my knees up to my chest to try and get warm. Shun was standing up and hugging himself with his arms. "W-we need t-to f-find Murucho. N-now."
I nodded my head, and Shun helped me up to my feet. I was freezing to death, and I knew Shun had to be colder than me since he lost his jacket in the river. I still had a grip on my scarf though when we fell in, and it was still in my hand as we searched for Murucho. We were both shivering as we walked by crowds of people wondering why we were stupid enough to go outside when we were soaking wet. Shun and I both saw Murucho, but he was the first to say something. "M-Murucho! Murucho!"
The short blonde and Dan turned to look at us. Dan said, "What happened to you two? Did you decide to go skinny dipping?" Shun glared at him and then turned back to Murucho. "W-we fall into t-the r-river." Murucho didn't hesitate to get out his phone. He said, "Hey, Kato. We need you to warm up the limo and bring us those blankets we brought with us…..Kay. Thanks."
He hung up and said to us, "You two head towards the limo. The heat should be on by the time you get there. We'll be there in s few minutes after we round up Julie and Runo." We didn't protest, and started towards the limo as quickly as we could. Kato was getting the blankets out of the trunk when he saw us. I could tell he had just figured out why Murucho asked him to turn on the heat and get the blankets. He handed them to us, and we wrapped up and climbed into the limo.
Even with the blankets and heater, we were still shaking with cold. My teeth chattered when I said, "I'm s-sorry, Sh-Shun." He looked at me and a drop of water dripped from his hair. "It's n-not your f-fault." I brought the blanket tighter against me to try and get warmer. Shun pressed himself closer to me, and I did the same.
I felt warmer from whatever body heat I could get from Shun, and I hoped it was the same case for him. Neither of us were shaking as badly as before, but we were still cold and wet. Dan and the others then opened the doors, and climbed it. When they did, they brought in a rush of cold air.
I said, "Sh-shut the door!" Dan leaned over and slammed it shut. It was too late now. Shun and I were shaking again from the short exposure to the air. I hated to think about how it would feel when we had to go from the limo to inside Murucho's house. Kato pulled away from the curb and drove back towards the house. He might have been going slightly over the speed limit.
I didn't care. It only meant that we would get closer to warm and dry clothes quicker. The limo pulled up in front of Murucho's house, and Shun and I darted inside as quickly as we could. Once we were inside, we both hurried upstairs and into our rooms to change into dry clothes. I peeled off my wet clothes and got into my pajamas. My hair was still dripped wet, and I went into my bathroom and got out my hair dryer.
Shun
I had gotten into some dry clothes, and walked my way back to the sitting room with the blanket from my bed. My hair was still a little damp, but I tried to dry it off with a towel as good as I could. I reached into my jacket pocket for my phone, then remembered' my jacket came off in the river.
With my phone in it. I leaned my head back and sighed. Even if I still had my phone, it would have been ruined by the water. Alice then walked in the sitting room, wrapped up with a blanket like me, and her hair was frizzy from where it looked like it got blow dried. She sat down next to me when the others walked into the room. Dan said, "Dang. You two ran up here like the limo was going to explode."
I rolled my eyes and said, "Well, you weren't the one soaked to the bone." Dan shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, I'm hitting the sack. Night." We all told him good-night, and watched him walk into another room. Runo, Julie, and Murucho soon did the same. That left me and Alice in the sitting room. She said, "I'm still sorry about dragging you into that river."
I told her, "And I still say it wasn't your fault. It was just an honest accident. Nobody has any blame here." She smiled and said, "Well, my phone got ruined. What about yours?" I said, "Mine's somewhere down that river in my jacket." Alice looked at me and then said, "Aw. I'm sorry. Now that's my fault."
I shook my head. It almost seemed like Alice would take the blame for anything. I told her, "No it's not. Quit blaming yourself for something that couldn't of been helped." We stayed there and talked for a few minutes before we started to grow tired. Alice said, "I'm going to sleep. Night."
I told her, "Night." And watched her walk down the hall and go into her room. I soon got up and went into my own room. My damp clothes were still laying on the floor, and I saw no point in them staying there. So I took them into my bathroom and draped them over the shower rail to dry over night.
After that eventful end of the day, I started to get tired. But I wasn't about to keep just the two blankets on my bed. I went into my closet and pulled out a few more and draped them over my bed and got under them. Ah. This is more like it.
the title is kind of a play off of this song we play in jazz band called That Warm Feeling. and none of us like it. it's usually a bad song when band kids hate it. :/ but it's kind of a twist on that song. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~
