Dancing In His Arms

Chapter 32

Coming home from her second date with Luke, Aria is startled when a lamp is suddenly turned on by Donny.

"So... how was your date?"

Placing her coat on the rack along with her purse, she turns to her roommate. "You know you sound like a dad right now."

Patting the spot next to him on the couch, he waits till she is sitting to continue to talk. "Well since Mr. Thompson isn't here to do it, it's my job to make sure he is a proper gentleman to you."

Trying to stay mad at her friend she can't help but smile at his protective behavior. "Fine. Cliff notes version or nothing, deal?" Nodding his head looking like a lost puppy, Aria can't help but laugh a little at his excited nature. "Ok so he made dinner for us."

"What he make? What he make?" practically sitting on the edge of his seat, Donny get's a playful shove.

"Mushroom risotto as promised."

"Oouuhh, I remember a deal being made where if you liked it he would get another date." Wiggling his eyebrow he asks "So?" earning a nod. "Eeekkk tell me more, tell me more. When is it? Or have you guys not planned that out yet?"

"Next Sunday the 11th. We are gunna go to a street fair."

Sighing wistfully, Donny plays on the dramatics pretending to faint into the couch, speaking in a false high-pitched voice "Aaaahhhhh greasy food, local bands and hours in the sun. What more could a girl ask for?"

Shoving a throw pillow in his face, Aria gets up and heads to her room. "Oh hush up. I'm going to bed, goodnight"

...

Parking in a spot relatively close to the entrance, Luke gets out of his car and collects Arias hand as they head towards the street fair together. Since it was December the fair happened to have a Christmas theme. Many people came to look for unique gifts to give their loved ones for the holidays or to just look at all the beautiful decorations.

Living in Nevada they find the brisk 58 degrees quite chilly, thus dressing in jeans and both wearing a jacket.

"You know if someone from up north were here they probably would be in shorts and a t-shirt." commented Aria.

Raising an eyebrow at her for her random remark, Luke can't help but concede "True. We are lucky to even be in the double digits, let alone above freezing. Other states aren't as warm as it is here."

"Yeah, but they get to experience snow. Snow! I know it can be dangerous but when it's calm and covering everything, completely untouched it just- I don't know, it looks so beautiful. At least it does in movies."

Noticing her mood dampen slightly he can't help but ask "You've never seen snow before?"

Shaking her head "No, not even on those rare occasions when Nevada did get snow it never happened where I grew up."

"That's...so sad. Everyone should be able to see it snow at least once in their lifetime. The way it softly floats down, building a snowman, having a snowball fight with friends just to warm up by the fire. It's relaxing."

Looking up at him from an ornament on display, Aria sees the seriousness on his face and can't help but crack a little smile towards him. "You sound like you speak from experience."

Feeling a little embarrassed about how worked up he got over something as simple as snow, he rubs the back of his neck hoping she thinks the red on his face and neck is from the cold wind. "Yeaahh, uhm, sorry. I went a little overboard didn't I. It's just when my mom was alive we would sometimes take a holiday trip together. Dad actually got off work to spend time with us." Seeing the far away look in his eyes, Aria gently rubs up and down on his arm gaining his attention.

Nodding her head for him to continue, she lends her support to him as he relives his past.

"Sometimes it was somewhere warm and tropical. A beach of some sort. But others.... Others we would go up into the mountains or somewhere cold, and there it would be. Snow. Mom would always insist we make at least one snowman before we left. Even when we were in a hotel she would drag us out to a park just to make a snowman, then we would head back and sip on some hot chocolate together."

Hugging his body close to her own, Aria mumbles into his chest "That sound like fun. Maybe one day I can know what that's like."

Thinking to himself, Luke can't help but want to give her snow like she desires.