Reckless

Thirty

*Lil*

"Why does it look like it's gone 5 rounds with Mike Tyson?" I snickered at our very poorly made snowman. It had been snowing for a few days in the lead up to us coming home. Almost non-stop. Leaving us with perfectly soft, deep snow. So, after leaving the ice, me and Grace had decided to make the most of it, wrapping up a little warmer and trudging into her back garden to act like kids again.

Building snowmen was a lot more difficult than I remember it being. It took a lot of upper body strength to push the snow around into the balls and then lift them onto the others. Us laughing and slipping in the snow hadn't helped the matter.

"He's got a right bruised head bless him." Grace rubbed her gloved hand over the slight muddy spot on his face to rub it off. "Oops. I'm making him flat."

"Oh my god grace, stop you're- HE LOOKS LIKE HE'S RUN INTO A WALL." I grabbed her arm as I burst into laughter. "This is officially the worst snowman I've ever seen."

"I don't know. The one we made 3 years back was bad."

"Don't you dare shit on Mr Toasty." I giggled, standing up and tipping my head at the snow.

"Thought you two were at the rink today?" I looked over my shoulder, giving Carter a quick smile before going back to trying to work out how we could save this poor snow man from his horrible certification.

"We were but Pippa showed up and started acting like a brat so we just left." Grace shrugged. "The girl needs to find another past time." I grunted in agreement. If she put half as much time into skating as opposed to trying to destroy her competition, she might be able to beat them without the whole bitchy thing.

"Did she say anything?"

"What do you want Carter?"

"I wanted to tell you your snow man's trash." I gasped, turning to face him again.

"Don't you talk shit about our snowman Carter. You'll hurt his feelings." He chuckled.

"He's got a fat head."

"You've got a fat head."

"Best you could do Cupcake?" I scowled at him. "I'm gonna go make hot chocolate if you want some?"

"I'll think about it." I could feel Grace rolling her eyes behind me. Carter's cute. Stupidly cute. Blue-grey eyes that looked like a snow globe. With the snow falling int he reflection. Pull yourself together Lilah.

Carter turned to walk away and I smirked, bending down and collecting some snow, patting it into a ball, tossing it at his head as hard as I could. He turned around quickly and I pointed at the snowman with Grace but I don't think he bought it.

"You want to go there?"

"It wasn't me." Don't laugh. Don't laugh.

"Oh no. So, it was the snowman huh?" Carter grabbed himself some snow and I giggled. "The inanimate, pile of snow?"

"Mhm. He just grabbed some and tossed it at you. Very bizarre. Maybe he thinks you're an ass." I gasped as he stood up, tossing the snow at my chest. "Ok, now I think you're an ass."

"I'm going inside." Grace grumbled. "I am not getting caught in one of your guy's snowball fights again. You're both too aggressive." Probably a good idea. These often got out of hand and ended in one of us getting hurt or our parents forcing us to stop. Not today though. I was a little pissed with Carter. If he hadn't have kissed my cheek and made his stupid demands, I wouldn't have realized what I did and I'd still have Theo and everything would be fine. I grabbed some more snow, aiming straight for his face.

I moved quickly, dodging his as I tried to hit him as many times as I could without getting hit myself. It was difficult moving through the thick snow and dodging him and making more.

"You've got terrible ai- OW!" I snickered, landing one right on the tip of his nose.

"What was that? I've got terrible aim?"

"Oh, you are in for it now." Carter wiped his face on the sleeve of his coat, taking a few giant steps towards me.

"Uhoh."

"Uh-oh indeed Cupcake." I laughed, trying to back up but I'd gotten myself into a corner. "Come here."

"No." I laughed, I'm stuck. He bent down, filling his hands with snow and pushing it into my face. Laughing so hard I swear he might have peed. "CARTER."

"Payback gorgeous."

"You're going down." I grabbed the zip of his coat, deciding in all of my wisdom that trying to push an almost 6 foot hockey player to the floor was my best next move.

"Are you trying to pull me to the floor?" Carter chuckled, barely moving.

"Shut up." I wrapped my leg around his, pulling in the hopes of removing his feet from under him.

"It's adorable how you think you're making any difference right now." I scowled but his foot slipped an inch and within seconds, I was on the floor, surrounded by snow with a cackling Carter covering me. He stopped, looking at my confused face. I'd done it. I mean, I'd pulled myself down too but I'd pulled him down. I was a hell of a lot stronger than I thought I was. "Your snowman started this."

"Do you think he has some ulterior motive?"

"What other than getting me on top of you in the snow?" I snickered. "How's your fling going?"

"Hm?"

"Back at uni. The guy you're seeing."

"Ugh. Him." Carter smiled. "Long gone."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." Carter moved his hands from above my head. "Your cheeks are so red."

"Lil?"

"Mhm?"

"I'm going to kiss you now." I nodded quickly. Not really knowing why. Not really realizing I'd done it until his breath fanned over my face and my heart jumped in my chest. He was frozen. His nose pressing against my cheek. But his lips. They were so warm. Warm and soft and he tastes like gingerbread and chocolate chip cookies. He pulled a hand up to my cheek, slowly lowering his body down until it was pressing flush with mine. It was such a soft kiss. Soft but not delicate. This whole moment was so intense it had my blood rushing through my ears and when he eventually pulled back, it took me a few moments before I could open my eyes. "Kissing you feels so much better than I thought it was going to." Goosebumps. He's giving me literal goosebumps.

"You've eaten one of my cookies."

"2, actually." He breathed heavily, still not moving. "I'm so glad you came home."

"Only for a few weeks."

"Whatever, we'll make it work when you go back. I've waited too damn long for this."