This one is cute, fluffy, and seasonal because I've been enjoying the snow and the cozy winter vibes lately.

Skating

Luke breathed in the brisk, clear winter evening air and smiled. He knew what he wanted to do tonight, and he just had to convince Julie to join him.

The band had just finished up rehearsal for their show the next day in Seattle and Julie was packing up. She waved at them and walked out of the studio, but Luke ran to catch up with her before she got too far.

"Julie, Julie, Julie, I have an idea!"

She looked at him cautiously. "That's never a good sign…."

He pouted at her. "Oh come on, I'm full of great ideas. Anyway you'll like this one."

She looked at him expectantly, waiting for whatever he had in store for her. "Skating," he whispered dramatically.

"Luke, we're on tour, we need sleep, or at least I do. This trip has already been exhausting even though we're just going up and down the west coast. Plus, my dad is waiting for me back in the hotel."

Luke frowned at her lack of enthusiasm. "Exactly, we're on a tour, we should be seeing things and exploring and having experiences, not just staying in hotel rooms and playing shows. You live in southern California, don't you want to really experience snow and the cold? Just text your dad and tell him rehearsal is running late because we're working on a new song or something."

She shook her head but smiled at him. "Fine. You have an hour. And I don't have skates, but I'm sure you've got some plan for that." She rolled her eyes, but he was already bouncing up and down in excitement. As soon as she finished texting her dad, he grabbed her hand and started pulling her down the street from the practice space.

"I saw a little hidden-away skating rink just around the corner!"

Before Julie even knew what was happening, they were at a little square tucked between tall city buildings. It had trees lit up with lights ringing a small skating rink. It was late and the rink was closed. Luke held up his finger, indicating that she should wait where she was, and then poofed into the little skate rental booth that was locked. A moment later he was back with a pair of skates for her.

"What about you?" she asked after she had tied her skates on.

He just smiled, closed his eyes, and focused really hard. A moment later he had skates on his feet.

"I guess we haven't talked about this but I played hockey growing up. It was a huge part of my life and I was banking on the fact that it was probably as tied to my soul as my guitar."

She was surprised, but liked that he was sharing this other passion with her. "Okay, but I've never skated before so you're going to have to help me," she said, knowing he would help her whether she asked or not.

He dramatically bowed to her and held out his hand. She took it and wobbled forward on her skates onto the ice. Almost immediately she fell down. She frowned and looked up at him from the ice to see him trying to suppress a smile.

"Start by holding onto the sides of the rink and onto me. Have you roller skated before?"

"Yeah, when I was a kid a few times," she muttered as she pulled herself up. She did as she was told and started to move forward while holding on tightly to the edge of the rink.

"It's just like that, you've got to bend your knees for a little balance and then slide your feet back and forth. Less like walking, more like gliding." He watched her feet closely as she tried to incorporate this advice. Soon she was moving a little more confidently, and he grinned at her progress.

"You keep working on that, I'll be back in a minute," he said. Then Luke skated off and started cruising around the whole rink. First, he skated forwards and did figure eights on the ice, and then he started skating backwards and practiced stopping quickly, as if he were in hockey drills. Julie stopped trying to skate and just watched him in awe. Then, with renewed determination she picked up the pace a little.

A few minutes later, Luke skated back to her and said, "Come on, time to take those training wheels off." He held out his hand to her, which she gripped tightly before letting go of the side. He skated backwards, gently pulling her along and going progressively faster until she felt like she was flying. The lights in the trees around them glittered and the whole atmosphere was purely magical. Julie was so glad she had agreed to come along on this little adventure.

Then they were skating slower side by side, but still holding hands. It felt like the warmth of his hand touching hers was keeping her whole body warm, and she couldn't help laughing out loud and reveling in the freedom she felt on the ice.

Abruptly, she found herself on her butt again, still laughing. Luke skated circles around her waiting for her to get up, but she just laughed more and then yanked his hand so he fell down beside her.

"Heyyyyy," he said, jokingly shoving her on the shoulder.

"Hey yourself, I thought you should experience a little humility," she teased him.

"I'm plenty humble!"

Julie just rolled her eyes and laid back on the ice. Luke watched her for a moment, loving the peace and relaxation spreading across her face, and then laid back with her. He realized they were holding hands again, and couldn't figure out which of them had initiated it.

Just then, it started lightly snowing. They looked at each other and grinned. Could this night get any more magical? Julie stuck out her tongue to catch some of the snowflakes.

Eventually they sat up. Julie knew it was late and she was going to have to hurry if she was going to make it to her hotel room without arousing her dad's suspicion.

"I should go…" she started, but the lights shone against Luke's eyes, his cheeks glowed a bright pink from the cold and the laughing, and she found him irresistible. She leaned in and kissed him quickly, enjoying the brief sensation of his soft warm lips against hers. Before she could pull back far, his hands went to her face and pulled her lips back to his. They were their own little island of heat and feelings in the middle of the cold winter night.

But Julie was nothing if not responsible, and she eventually pulled away. She had no words to express how she was feeling so she just pulled off her skates and handed them to him before running off the ice, putting her normal shoes back on, and running back to her hotel. She only paused to give him one long look and smile, but Luke saw all the ecstatic feelings playing across her face in that moment.

Luke was left sitting on the ice, grinning for several minutes before he eventually returned the skates and left to find the boys.