Just Play Along

Forty-Seven & Forty-Eight

PART FORTY SEVEN

“What do I do?” I asked as I stood at the top of the hill.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Aston asked me.

I looked at a small child, maybe five years old, standing next to me. Quickly the child set down their sled and climbed on, grabbing the rope at the front like the reigns of a horse and scooting forward just enough to hit the incline of the hill. The sled started to slide and soon was careening through the snow, the child screaming with delight.

“That looks terrifying,” I said.

“You’re joking, right? That child was like four.”

“Shut up,” I said, swatting Aston’s arm. “You go first.”

“Fine,” he said, setting the sled down and sitting on it. Before I could react he’d leaned over and grabbed a hold of me, holding me in place on his lap.

“AST!!!” I screamed, just as the sled started to slide down the hill. I could feel him laughing away the entire time, the sled finally coming to a stop when we were well down the hill. “I can’t believe you just did that!” I exclaimed, climbing off of Aston quickly.

“It was fun!” Aston laughed, his teeth showing in a bright smile. The first smile I’d seen off of him in hours. Finally our tense moment had passed.

“It was, exhilarating,” I replied, trying to pick the correct word.

“Come on, let’s go again,” Aston said, grabbing the sled and my hand, dragging me back up the hill.

We went up and down the hill about ten times. Sometimes we’d go together, other times separate. Each time I started to enjoy myself just that little bit more.

It was when we crashed into a bump in the ground having been sledding down together, that we decided to call it quits. We’d ended up in a heap in a big mound of snow.

“I’m soaked,” I moaned, brushing the snow off.

“Awwww poor baby,” Aston muttered, “Come on, we’ll walk over to a café I saw across from the park for a hot drink instead of getting in my car all wet.”

“Sure,” I replied.

We ditched the sled at the car, wandering through the park with our eyes on the lookout for this alleged café Aston had found. It took a bit of hunting around before we finally got there.

“Have a seat,” Aston said, pointing to a table in the back. It was next to a radiator, so we could warm up and dry off before finishing our drive to London. “What do you want?”

“Espresso,” I shrugged, “Two shots.”

“Nasty,” Aston muttered, wandering off.

I sat and stared around at the café for a minute, playing with my coat. I’d left my phone in the car so I wouldn’t ruin it sledding, which meant I had nothing to distract myself with.

“Here we are!” Aston declared brightly, placing a mug before me.

“This isn’t espresso,” I said, peering at the drink.

“Nope,” he replied, “Hot chocolate with cream.”

“But…”

“Its like, tradition to have hot chocolate after spending time in the snow.”

“Oh,” I replied, eyeing up the drink and taking a sip. It was far too sweet for my tastes, but I pretended to enjoy it for Aston.

“I also got this,” Aston declared, just as a waitress came and dropped off a massive slice of chocolate cake.