Five Month Lie | t. holland

February | II

2:05 rolled around and you hadn't reached the tree you were to meet Peter at. Cursing silently at yourself, you trudged through the half foot of white powder beneath you.

As the tree came into view, you could just make out a boy standing under its canopy of snow. You couldn't decide if your footsteps got lighter, heavier, or stayed the same as you neared the tree.

You hadn't gone out with someone since a few months ago with your boyfriend. But you'd ended that almost as soon as it started, right as you found out about his cheating.

You thought that this wouldn't turn into much, probably just a date. He didn't live on campus anyway.

Peter turned and smiled when he realized you were almost to him.

"Hey," You said, slightly out of breath from the walk.

He held out his hands to catch you as you'd almost fallen forward because you hadn't seen that one cursed root.

"Woah, you alright?" He laughed a little and his breath brushed your nose suddenly.

Apologizing out of breath, he assured you it was nothing to worry about.

"Shall we be going then?" He offered his arm.

"Shall?" You took his arm as you mimicked his strange choice of words. "What, you British now?"

He laughed it off. "I have English relatives, I guess a little has rubbed off on me."

He directed you both to the nearest cocoa shop he'd evidently scoped out just after lunch.

After both of you had ordered your drinks you found a table and sat opposite each other.

"So, ___, sorry, I guess it was so sudden of me to just ask you out like that. You caught me off guard I guess," he smiled a rosy cheeked plea at you and you could feel yourself tinge pink. Taking off your scarf and mittens, you replied,

"Oh, its no big deal. I haven't been out like this in forever, it's about time I got back into it. And guys who just go with instinct are the good kind."

You two flirted back and forth about it until the cocoa came.

Peter insisted on paying and he even tipped the waiter a few dollars.

"Okay, so you obviously aren't from around here," you ventured into deeper waters. "So... who are you? I'm on a date with a stranger." A smile played on your lips before you took another sip of your dark-mint-chocolate drink.

Peter clasped his hands together and set them on the table all professional like. You raised your eyebrows playfully at his joke. "Well," he began. "As you already guessed, I'm Peter." He took a sip.

"Peter..." you made an impatient hand motion, signaling him to elaborate.

He just about choked on his cocoa and some sort of realization seemed to hit him as his eyes widened. "Uh, Smith." He cleared his throat. "Peter Smith."

You decided to brush your confusion away. "Smith, okay."

"And you are?" He raised his eyebrows, completely calm now.

"___ ___."

Peter bit his bottom lip. "I like that name." He flirted.

The two of you talked till your cocoa went cold and classes started up again. But today was your free day, so you didn't have to go.

You leaned that Peter was twenty one- two years older than you-, you learned he held a job in Hollywood on film sets, that he had a dog, his family was originally from London, but he lived here in the states now, and you learned that he was visiting your college because he hadn't been to an American college before and wanted to see one of the biggest ones while he was in town. He saw you walking and had decided to grab a date with you before he left again later that week back to Hollywood.

It sounded like he had an exciting life. You told him about yourself, about coming to college almost two years ago now, and you told him where your family was from. Peter seemed interested particularly in the fact that you were at college for design. He had assumed you could take that course simply online. Britts. You mentally rolled your eyes and laughed.

By the time your date ended, you had gone out into the snow again and were walking around campus, talking and you pointing out college based landmarks to him. He asked for your phone number so he could contact you again and "maybe do this again before I leave on Friday?".

So with a smile on both your faces, he pulled you into a hug at your dorm entrance. "Thanks for taking your day off with me." He smiled a cheeky grin.

"Call me," you smiled as you walked inside and made you way to the stairs.