Cursed

Chapter 8

Winter took a deep breath before opening the door. Christopher stood in the doorway, wearing a collared shirt and jeans. His eyes went wide when he saw her. 

"Wow," he said, stumbling over his words. "You... you look... you look... wow."

Winter laughed and nervously tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Thanks," she said. "You clean up nice yourself." 

"Are you ready to go?" Christopher asked. Winter nodded. Christopher took her hand and led her to his car. 

"Wait, weren't we going to Culver's?" Winter asked as they pulled into the parking lot another restaurant. 

"I thought this might be more of a first date restaurant," Christopher said. Winter got out of the car to see that they were at Olive Garden. 

"How did you know that Olive Garden was my favorite restaurant?" Winter asked excitedly. 

"I didn't," Christopher laughed. "I just kind of hoped that you'd like it."

They walked inside and got a table. They ordered their food and started talking. 

"So tell me about yourself," Christopher said. 

"What do you want to know?" Winter asked.

"Um, how about twenty questions, date style?" Christopher suggested.

"What does that mean?" Winter laughed. 

"We take turns asking each other twenty questions about each other," Christopher explained. 

"Okay," Winter said. "You go first."

"Okay," Christopher said. "Where in Illinois are you from?"

"Springfield," Winter said. They went on like that until their food came. Then they ate and talked all through the evening. 

***

"That was amazing," Winter said as they were driving home. "Thank you for tonight."

"You're welcome," Christopher said. 

They pulled into the driveway. "I'll see you on Monday," Winter said as she got out of the car. Christopher got out and kissed Winter's cheek. Her face flushed bright red. She smiled and hugged him. 

"Bye, Winter," Christopher said. 

"Bye, Christopher," Winter said. She pulled open the door, where Summer was waiting for her. 

"How was it?" Summer asked, smiling. "Tell me everything. Did you go out for dinner? Did he dress nice? Did you guys kiss? Was he a good kisser?"

"Summer!" Winter exclaimed. 

"I'm sorry!" Summer said. "I'm just so excited for you and I need to know everything about your first date!"

"Okay," Winter laughed. "Well, we went Olive Garden for dinner. We basically talked all night."

"What did you talk about?" Summer asked. 

"All kinds of things," Winter said. "We went back and forth asking each other questions about each other to get to know each other better."

"Ooh, what did you find out?" Summer asked, raising her eyebrows at Winter.

"Summer!" Winter exclaimed again. "Withhold your curiosity."

"I can't!" Summer said. "Oh my god, did you guys have-"

"Summer!" Winter exclaimed, her mouth dropping open. "Gross! It was our first date and I'm sixteen. Of course we didn't... you know." 

"Sorry, I can't help myself," Summer said. "Anyways, I'm glad you had a good time. But we need sleep. We have training early tomorrow morning."

"Ugh," Winter groaned. "I don't want to get up early. And these heels are killing my feet."

"Well, take them off, dummy," Summer said, playfully slapping her sister on her arm. Winter rolled her eyes and pulled her heels off. "C'mon," Summer said, grabbing her sister's arm, "let's get you to bed. You look exhausted." 

"I am exhausted," Winter sighed. She let her sister drag her into their room to get some sleep.

***

Winter woke with a start when she heard her alarm clock blaring. Summer was already awake and racing back and forth between the room to get ready. "Wake up, Winter!" she shouted from across the room. Winter groaned and pulled her pillow onto her head. Summer sighed and stomped across the room to steal Winter's pillow. "I said wake up, Winter."

"I don't want to!" Winter said, pulling her covers over her head. Summer stripped the sheets off of the bed, leaving Winter in the fetal position, still fighting for sleep.

"Yoy have to," Summer said, exasperated. "We have training. Julian will kill us if we're late."

"Goodbye," Winter said, pulling her arms up to protect herself from the light of the room.

Summer grinned like the Cheshire Cat. "Lucas will be there."

Winter shot up from her bed and rushed to pick out an outfit. Summer giggled. "Tsk tsk. You have a boyfriend, Winter," Summer scolded.

"What does that have to do with training?" Winter asked, playing dumb.

"I'm not stupid, Winter," Summer sighed. "I know you like Lucas."

"I do not!" Winter lied.

"You're emotionally cheating!" Summer said. "It's not okay."

"Don't tell me what's okay and what's not," Winter exclaimed. "I realize that having a crush when you have a boyfriend is not okay. But I can't help my feelings, Summer. Feelings aren't a choice. Trust me; if they were, my life would be so much easier."

"I understand," Summer said. "But you either need to get Lucas out of your head or break up with Christopher and be with Lucas."

"I'm not breaking up with Christopher," Winter said. "I'll just have to deal with it."

"Okay," Summer said. She didn't believe that Winter could really keep Lucas from getting in the middle of her relationship, but she didn't convey that to her sister. She wanted to support her sister, even if that meant sitting back and watching her destroy her relationship.