"I am not good at this at all!!" you practically scream at the top of your lungs, cut off by your laughter blending with your boyfriend's at the same time.
"You'll get the hang of it, I promise!" Shawn yells in response, hardly able to control his chuckles, holding his arm out so that you can hold onto him for balance. You were slipping and sliding all over the ice, off to the side of the public ice skating rink, holding onto the railing.
The street was decorated nicely, with glowing lights twinkling all around you in blurs of color, strung across every building, every window, every planted tree. The air was layered and gelid, but you were bundled in Shawn's heavy coat, which you had grabbed from his house when he surprised you with "date night" for Christmas Eve Eve.
"I have already fallen on my ass three times," you point out, your hand snaking all the way around his upper back until your fingers were on the back of his freezing cold neck.
"Well, three is enough. Three is enough."
"It's not fair that you played hockey for, like, ten years."
"More like four years," Shawn states plainly, pressing his lips together in that you just said something inaccurate way. "And you've played with me before, so it's not like you're inexperienced."
"If I remember correctly, that-- "
"Shi.t, I know, whoops. That didn't go well, did it? Just come on, keep holding onto me, we're gonna get out to the middle."
"Please don't make me do it," you whine. "I'm gonna fall again!"
"Don't let go of me," he smiles. "If you fall, I'll go down with you, sweetie."
You pause, looking up at him and meeting his eyes, trying not to laugh again.
"You are so cute," you say with a giggle.
He grabs your hand, pulling you out towards the middle of the ginormous rink, dodging all the other people skating around you.
He was a lot faster than you, slipping over the ice with such ease, you felt immediately jealous.
You let go for just a second, keeping your legs straight as you drift behind him, your arms wrapping around his waist as your chest pressed to his back.
He reaches down to your hands, humming slightly as he places his own over yours, running circles, keeping them warm.
He skates, and you just hold tightly to his body, being pulled like a dog on a leash.
You got out to the middle of the rink, where you were pretty much alone, just the two of you, since everyone else was skating in circles around you.
Still keeping a firm grip on your hands, he slowly unwraps them from your body, letting go of one as he makes an attempt to pull you around to face him.
But, his attempt fails, and with a last minute scream and a trip of your feet, you ended up, for the fourth time, laying on your back flat on the ice.
He looks down at you, smirking.
"Ah," he says, "I like a girl on the bottom."
"You're so disgusting," you laugh, pulling your feet towards your stomach and trying to stand up without his help, which made you look like a fish flopping around on land.
He outstretches his right hand, lowering it so that you can grab onto it and he could help you up. But instead, you grab his hand and yank him down with you, his figure flying towards you suddenly as he goes down stomach-first.
"Y/N!" he squeals, before he suddenly smacks down onto the ice with you.
Your butt was freezing off, but it didn't matter, since you got to witness Shawn wriggling around like a worm trying to sit up straight. You couldn't stop laughing for the life of you.
"Stop!" you scream. "My lungs are going to burst!!"
"I hope they do, you pricky s.hithead."
"Love you too," you manage through fits of laughter.
He laughs back, his body so close to you that his visible breath was right beside your face, slightly heating you. As he was laughing still, in the middle of the rink with almost everyone staring at you, he looks up at you and mumbles, "be my wife."
You freeze. You already felt frozen, due to the extreme outdoor weather and the fact that you were literally sitting on ice, but your whole body clams up, and your jaw drops quickly.
"Wait, w-what did you say?"
He stops laughing, too, but his smile remains. He doesn't even hesitate.
"Be my wife," he repeats. "I want to do this every year for the rest of my life, so even though this is not how I planned it, please tell me you want that too."
You couldn't even respond. You were still replaying everything he just said in your mind, trying to figure out if he was kidding or not. It was unbelievably sudden, so sudden that it could have all been for naught, it could've been a joke, it could've been your mind playing tricks on you.
He keeps his gaze on you, his hands still holding yours, which you desperately wanted to bring towards you and rub together, fiddle with your fingers, bite your nails, find some sort of nervous distraction. But you couldn't move.
"Y/N," he says slowly, his voice quiet. " ...Will you please marry me?"
Your shock fades away soon, his anxious face wishing for an answer.
You blink twice. "Well... since you begged."
He smiles the biggest smile in the world, which you didn't get to see for much longer because he immediately presses his fingers into the small of your back, drawing you towards him and crashing his lips to yours effortlessly, his smile still there, not disappearing for the rest of the night.
You knew for sure that no matter how many Christmases there were to come, this one would forever be one that you remember.
***