'Tis the Season

Chapter 19: Snow Day!

Chapter Nineteen: Snow Day!

"Naomi, wake up!" Carson shakes my shoulder and I grumble sleepily.

"Carson?" I open my eyes and notice that there's no light coming in from the window. "What time is it, babe?"

"Four in the morning," he announces proudly, and I groan louder.

"And why are we waking up at four in the morning, babe?" I shut my eyes determinedly, hoping that he's only here to cuddle me back to sleep.

"Because, it's snowing! Come on, get up!"

I open my eyes and squint, trying to make him out in the darkness. His expression is so pure that I sigh heavily and get up without any further arguments.

"I hope you know that you are the only person who could wake me up this early with the intention of taking me outside in my least favorite weather and survive to tell the tale," I mumble, blindly throwing a sweatshirt and socks on and grabbing my mittens and scarf before heading out of my room behind him.

"You'll enjoy this, I promise. You haven't experienced snow with me yet," he tells me and I roll my eyes.

We tug on our coats and boots and quietly head out the front door. The snow has just started to stick but it's coming down heavily in fat, cold flakes. I shiver and button up the top two buttons of my coat.

Carson runs around his yard excitedly, trying to catch the snowflakes on his gloved hands and jumping around with joy as I watch on in amusement. I love seeing him this happy. He's absolutely adorable and his energy is contagious- I can already feel myself waking up a bit more.

He notices that I haven't left the porch and runs over to drag me down the couple of steps into the snowfall. I laugh as he pulls me along the pathway, zig-zagging us across the lawn as we stare up at the brightening sky where the flurries are tumbling down towards us from.

"Do you have a sixth sense or something? How did you wake up just as it started snowing?" I question him. He gives me a big grin.

"Remember the story I told you on our first non-date?" I nod. I remember everything Carson tells me, whenever he's around me he holds my complete attention.

"Well, just because my dream of being an elf has been put to rest, does not mean that I gave up my love for snow altogether. Now I know I can check the weather app on my phone and narrow down the hour the snow will start, so I don't ever have to repeat my mid-shower panic." I chuckle and wrap my arms tightly around myself as we quietly let the snow fall over us.

Since my mother showed up not even a full twenty- four hours ago, I haven't been able to get my mind off my almost confession of love. I keep analyzing and reanalyzing the situation in my head. Did I mean to say it; do I really feel it? Or, did I just get caught up in the moment? I had just partaken in a very emotional talk with my mother, and Carson had rushed out and defended me. Could it have just been the overwhelming feeling of safety and protection he provided me with that drove me to want to say I loved him?

I'm starting to think it wasn't just an average slip of the tongue or exaggeration of feelings because standing here now, watching Carson open his mouth wide up at the sky with his tongue flopped out as he tries to catch a snowflake on it, I have the inexplicable urge to say it again. To grab his face and kiss the hell out of him while I tell him over and over again how much I love him.

But that would be crazy, right? This whole relationship I have started with Carson has moved insanely quickly- too quickly for any logic to help make it make sense, but falling in love with him after 11 days of knowing him? That's too quick, even for us. Right?