Sansa had spent some time picking out her outfit for the night. She ended up choosing to wear her black leggings, a white-grey crew neck sweater, her denim jacket, and boots paired with long thick grey socks. There was an excitement she felt for tonight, though she and Theon were just friends at best- there was something about being with him that made her happy.
She came bouncing down the stairs with a smile on her face, Theon stood from his seat on the couch as she entered the living room. He was wearing his sherpa lined denim jacket with a faded dark grey sweatshirt, dark jeans, and boots.
"Ready?" She asked excited.
"I am if you are." He replied back with a smile. Sansa nodded and out the door they went.
Theon's truck took a couple minutes to heat up but it wasn't that bad. She noticed that he had cleaned out his truck, there were no more empty cans and cups floating about. Theon pulled out of the driveway, Sansa was thankful his truck handled the snow so well as it was still flurrying out.
"So I'm thinking we can get hot chocolate or whatever up here, did you want to listen to Christmas music or regular music.?" Theon asked, eyes still on the white road.
"Hmm," Sansa thought. "I say Christmas music."
"Here, my passcode is 0609." Theon said as he handed her his phone. Sansa took it and plugged it into the aux cord and scanned spotify for the best Christmas playlist. She has been liking more modern covers of Christmas music. She selected "Wonderful Christmastime" covered by The Shins.
"I'm a little surprised you gave me your passcode. I didn't even think Robb was allowed that information." Sansa said amused. Theon smirked.
"He doesn't, so consider yourself lucky and also don't share that with anyone." He warned playfully.
Theon pulled into the Starbucks that was in town, it worked out perfectly since the neighborhood with all the nice lights were past town. Theon said he would run in and that she could stay put in the car. Which she did. When he returned he was grinning with snowflakes still melting in his hair.
"What's so funny?" She asked him, eyeing him carefully as she took her drink from him.
"We're almost matching." He said motioning between them. "We have similar jackets on."
Sansa looked between Theon and herself. "True, we are almost matching."
"You know what this means?" He asked with a fake serious expression.
"What does this mean?" She asked rolling her eyes.
"This means we must take a selfie."
Sansa laughed. "Fine, but use your phone."
Theon didn't question why it had to be his phone, he figured it involved Joffrey somehow. He unplugged his phone and picked it up from the cup holder where it was resting. Scooting a little closer to her, he wrapped one arm around her while his other hand held out his phone to take the picture.
"Smile princess!" Theon exclaimed as he moved his hand to tickle her. Sansa laughed and squirmed against him as his laughter joined hers. Once the picture was taken, he scooted back to his spot as he viewed the picture. "Ah, it's a masterpiece. This one is going on the gram!"
"The-" Sansa started.
"Don't worry, he doesn't follow me and I won't tag you in it." Theon assured her with a smile.
"Thanks." She said as she thumbed the top of her hot chocolate.
Theon put the Christmas music back on before they drove off and he was singing all the songs aloud to her. "Last Christmas" came on and Theon was getting very into bopping his head from side to side and singing with a dramatic flare that made her laugh hard. She knew he was doing this to get her thoughts away from Joffrey, it was working. That was the magic of Theon though, he was always joking around.
Sansa took a sip from her hot chocolate. "Why does this taste so much better than usual?"
"That is because I told them extra whip cream and asked for a pump of peppermint." He announced proudly as they turned down the road with all the houses with insane amounts of Christmas lights and decorations. Sansa instantly was glued to her window, eyes wide with excitement as she took in all the different colored lights.
Theon slowed his speed so she could take in all the lights. He enjoyed this as well, but he enjoyed watching her be happy more. "White Christmas" by Bright Eyes came up next on the playlist that was on and Theon couldn't imagine a more perfect song to take in scene before him. White snow, white and rainbow lights glowing brightly, and the girl who had somehow worked her way into his heart marvelling at it all.
"Theon look how pretty all those trees look! Oh, and they have those fake deers with lights on them too!" She remarked with delight as she was practically glued to his truck window.
"Yeah look over there, all the trees are a different color." He pointed out to her as he took a sip from his hot chocolate, keeping one hand on the wheel.
"And that one is in all blue lights, how pretty!" She exclaimed. Every house they saw brought her joy and like it was the first time she was seeing something like it. Her favorites were the ones with blue, green, and pink lights. They gave the white landscape a new view.
They drove until there were no more houses to see and there was no more hot chocolate left to drink. The music was still playing and Sansa was going on about pretty all the houses were.
"Thank you Theon. This was really fun." She began. "Also, I'm sorry about storming out on you last night."
Theon looked over at her. She was looking down and messing with the hem of her sweater. He didn't want her to feel bad, he felt bad. He was the one who brought up everything.
"Sansa, you don't have to apologize." He spoke softly, keeping his eyes on the road and fighting the urge to look at only her. "I shouldn't have asked you about that stuff."
"You were only asking because you care."
He did care, more than he wanted to admit and more than she would ever know.
"Well I'm here if you ever need me." He assured her. They were quiet as the music played and the mood felt tense. Suddenly Theon had an idea.
"What?"
"What what?" Theon replied smirking. Sansa raised a brow at him.
"You look like you're plotting something." She stated. Theon's smile only grew. He was plotting something.
"Nah, just remembered a funny joke is all." He responded. Sansa didn't believe him. She believed him even less as he drove into an empty parking lot covered in snow.
"What are we doing?" She was looking around as if she was missing something.
"Buckle up buttercup." Theon instructed as he began driving and turning the truck, spinning it in circles.
"Theon!" She half shrieked half laughed as Theon spun the truck into multiple doughnuts. He was laughing and smiling the whole time as they slid around. So was she.
The ten minutes they spent there felt like hours as they laughed and Sansa held on for dear life. Theon looked over at her and would forever replaying in his head. Sansa was laughing and smiling big, her long red hair flowing around her. Their eyes met for a moment and he knew right then and there that he would do anything for her.
Once they reached the house everyone was pretty much asleep or just getting asleep. The living room was dark with the exception of the Christmas tree which glowed with piles of presents under it.
"Thanks again for tonight." Sansa thanked Theon again as they came through the door.
"Anytime princess." He grinned at her as he called her the nickname. She used to get annoyed when he would say it, now she just shook her head and smiled at him. "We better get to bed, you guys like to do Christmas early around here."
"Yeah, you're right." Sansa nodded. She went to turn to walk up the stairs but changed her mind. Instead turning back towards Theon and hugging him tightly.
Unlike the first time, he didn't hesitate and instead returned her embrace and took in every second of it. He would have kept her in his arms forever if he could. As they pulled away from each other, Theon had to fight the urge to kiss her. He didn't want to ruin a good thing.
"Goodnight." She whispered with a smile and quietly went up the stairs as he walked down the hall to the guest room which really was his room at this point.
Once inside her bedroom, Sansa changed into her pajamas. Margaery wasn't in her room which meant...that she was in Robb's room. Sansa shuddered at the thought but pushed it out of her head as she laid back on the bed. She wasn't quite ready for sleep so she scrolled her social media. Facebook was dull and didn't have much happened. Snapchat was filled of stories from everyone. She did enjoy Arya's video of her and then Reed kids playing hockey.
Then there was Margaery's video from her point of view running up to Robb at the airport. It was cute and Sansa felt sad for a moment. Joffrey would never be that happy to see her or even show such joyous affection towards her. She wondered if anyone would. She shifted from Snapchat to Instagram and scrolled through and liked all her siblings post. Jon had actually posted a picture if him and Ygritte and Sansa smiled at that, he was always so private and lone wolf like that the idea of him finding someone who makes him happy made her happy.
The next picture was one that made her heart warm. It was the picture Theon took of them earlier in the night. He captioned it "Denim Devils" and she chuckled to herself. It was right before she had started laughing and she looked so happy. What she liked about this too was that Theon also looked happy as he had his arm around her. She double tapped liked the picture. True to his word he hadn't tagged her in it, which Sansa was grateful for. If Joffrey Had seen it...well she didn't know anymore. She tried to push the thoughts out of her mind and just focus on the great night she had.
It wasn't that simple though, her mind was instead focused on Theon. It sounded strange and if these thoughts had come into her mind months ago she would have probably assumed she was sick or something. But even that felt like a lie. Though he was raised around her like a brother, he most definitely was not. The few hugs they have shared didn't feel like the hugs she got from Robb or Jon. She didn't feel the same around him as she did Robb or Jon either. What was happening? Things were changing. Something had changed and it all started back at the Halloween party. But she couldn't let the truth in, couldn't accept it. She was with Joffrey and he would be furious if she tried to end things with him. So for now, she had tonight's memories.