One Winter's Day

Chapter 5

"So, how did it go?" Sara asked eagerly the next morning. I had elected to go to sleep the night before since I had stayed up three more hours talking to Mikkel over the phone once he'd finally gotten back to his cabin.

"Yeah, spill, Elle!" Mia said while taking a bite out of her protein bar. She always says that she's on a diet, but the chocolate chips in her protein bar said otherwise.

"It was magical. Mikkel borrowed two horses from a friend and we rode for, like, two hours," I said, head in the clouds. "He's such a gentleman." The girls were silent until Mia finally said,

"So?" I looked over at her. She had finished her protein bar and had moved on to a blueberry muffin. 

"What do you mean, 'so?'" I asked. Sara said,

"She was asking if you guys kissed." I choked on my orange juice. Mia looked at me like I had three heads.

"Did you or did you not?" I felt like I was being circled by vultures, or like a spotlight was being shown on me but I was supposed to be part of the ensemble.

"Er, well--" 

"It's a yes or no question, Princess," Mia interrupted. I glared at her.

"Yes. Yes, we did kiss." Sara squealed. Mia jumped up and down.

"You player! Three years with Darren, you break up, and now you're kissing some guy while you're still on your first date!" Mia exclaimed. Sara gasped. 

"Mia, that's literally so rude," she said. I slid her a grateful look, and she smiled slightly then turned her mouth into a frown, rounding on Mia. 

"Jeez, I was just teasing. Lay off," Mia spat. Sara backed off. Mia got like this sometimes, going to lengths that could probably hurt someone if she said what she was thinking. We both knew she didn't mean to, but Mia doesn't have any siblings, so she grew up with the boys of the neighborhood and us. 

"Mia, please. We know you're teasing, but that was a little mean," I said, trying my hardest not to sound pissed. 

"Sorry," she grumbled. 

"It's whatever," I said brightly, "How about we go get some coffee at the cafe and then go skiing? I want to try the black diamond today." Sara nodded. 

"Let's do it!" She said. We both turned to look at Mia.

"Whadda you think? Hit up the cafe for some coffee?" I knew she couldn't ever resist coffee, and as always, I was right.

"Sure. Might as well. I didn't sleep at all last night," she muttered. 

***

The cafe was really crowded today, which was strange. The last few days we have been coming here, there have only a few people here and there and I suspected that the rest of the people staying here were on the ski trails. 

But today it felt different. There were a lot of people with cameras and mics, some with their phones out. There were actually a few news crews, complete with cameras, boomsticks, and glammed up reporters singing into their microphones. As we walked by, I tried to hear what the reporters were talking about. I caught only fragments of their conversation:

"...Scandinavian Mountains Winter Flower Resort..."

"...this small cafe..."

"...reportedly seen yesterday conversing with a group of females...."

"...seen on one of the mountain trails encompassing the resort..."

"...seen walking a girl back to her cabin..."

All of these comments sounded like they fitted the criteria of my first meeting and date with Mikkel. But right as we were walking into the cafe, I heard one male reporter say something that shook me straight to my core.

"...the Prince of Sweden is here..."

I'm ninety-nine percent sure that I kissed the Prince of Sweden last night.