As soon as we stepped outside, a small breeze blew by. It was dangerously cold, but my neck was the only thing that was exposed really. There were snowy paths everywhere lit by yellow and blue lights built into the ground. I began to walk down the well trodden trail away from our house and into the main one. Park walked pretty far behind me.
I marveled at the snow. It wasn't like I hadn't seen it before, but snow always brought out the childish side of me. When you came from the southern countryside, snow seemed like all of the joy and wonders in movies. I picked up a clump of snow and rolled it into a ball in my hand. The snow was sticky and molded perfectly, although the top layer was fluffy. There had to have been a flurry earlier in the day. Once I had packed it pretty well, I stopped in my tracks, a devious smile curling into my face. I turned casually towards Park.
"Park! You're lagging behind!" I said with as much innocence in my voice as possible. He caught up to me in a moment, the tip of his nose was red.
"I'm simply doing my job," he said with a lifted eyebrow. Before he could close the distance between us, I rose my arm and flung my snowball at him. He ducked easily. "And my job is to be perceptive. I saw you pick that up a while ago," he bragged.
"Oh so you think you're hot stuff now?" I asked, upset that he caught me before I could have any fun.
"Hmm, no. But once I hit you I'll be," he said with a shrug.
"What do you- AH!" I barely dodged a snowball aimed squarely for my face. I lost my balance as I leaned to the side and started to fall. Park caught my elbow before I hit the ground and righted me. "You jerk!" I slapped his hand away. He had an amused smile on his face.
"Perceptive," he said again with a shrug.
"Tch. You've been wanting to do that from the moment you met me!" I argued with him. He shook his head.
"Not the very moment...only after I got to know you," he replied. I couldn't tell if he was serious or joking. I gasped loudly.
"Oh I'm going to wipe that smug look off your face!" I said with a flushed face. I was slightly embarrassed that he thought that, but I also didn't blame him. I grabbed a snowball and rose my hand to throw it again. I felt something cold hit me first. It dropped from my face down to my neck and seeped into my shirt. I let out a scream and I wiped snow away from my face.
"How could you do this to me?!" I shouted as he laughed. I threw my snowball at him and he still managed to dodge.
"I didn't know your face could be so red!" He laughed at me. I felt my anger spike a little and I raged off. He continued to laugh, staying behind me. After a while, we left the ski lodges and arrived at a slew of shops. The smell of freshly baked gingerbread and apple cider washed over me. I felt my mouth water and my stomach gave a very audible grumble. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and that had only been a few crackers to stave off motion sickness.
I looked at the stores in wonder. There were people milling about as laughter rang out from a group of teenagers a little ways away. I entered a little coffee shop and saw cute little cupcakes advertised in the display case.
"Hello! How can I help you?" A pretty Asian girl with dyed brown hair and blue lens contacts asked me. She had a slight accent, but it wasn't very noticeable.
"Hmm, yeah! I'd like that cupcake," I pointed at a white frosted cupcake that had green gummies on top. It looked like a mistletoe. The lady didn't respond because she was looking at something behind me. I turned to see what she was looking at. There was a little old couple that had walked in, but otherwise nobody really worth looking at. I saw Park bent over a different display case of cakes. I turned back to the woman and cleared my throat. "Ma'am?"
