I was so glad when the weekend rolled along. I was still doing training at work, which exhausted my brain, but I was still enjoying my time there. I was slowly getting used to the whole nine to five thing. Jason was his normal self at work, talking to me as if nothing had happened the weekend before, so it seemed like all was forgiven.
Now that it was a weekend, I was ready to forget about the stresses of work. Especially because today I was going out with Max. He still hadn't told me where he was taking me, no matter how much I had begged him all week. All he would tell me was to wrap up warm. I looked in the mirror, hoping my comfiest jogging bottoms and silver puffer jackets with my matching grey bobble hat would be warm enough. not exactly what I would imagine myself wearing on a first date.
Max came right on time and smiled as I opened the door for him. He himself was decked out in a thick black jacket.
"Wow, you look ...warm" Max chuckled.
"Yeah, you left me no choice. I just wore everything warm I could find just in case"
"Did you bring gloves?"
I looked down at my bare hands, knowing I had forgotten something. "Oh shoot, just wait a minute" I said as I trudged back up the stairs to find a pair of gloves. I eventually found them, with Max chuckling at my silliness, and we made our way to wherever it was we were going.
"Can you tell me now why I'm dressed up like an inflatable snowman?" I said, starting to feel the heat under all these layers.
Max chuckled from the driver's seat "I think you look like a cute snowman. But no, I still want it to be a surprise"
I groaned and sat with my arms folded for the rest of the car journey, the music of the radio providing background noise. It didn't take us long to get there and I furrowed my eyebrows once we arrived.
There were people walking in and out of this building, dressed similarly to how we were.
"What is this place?" I asked. "I don't think I've been here before" We were in the middle of an industrial estate full of big businesses, one was a trampoline place and another building was a mini golf place.
Max smirked and went out the car, opening my own car door. "You'll see. It's a new place that's just opened. Everything will make sense soon enough". I shook my head and followed him inside, eager to find out what this big surprise was.
We entered the building which stood in between the trampoline and golf place. Max ushered me in quickly, so I didn't get to see the name of the place.
But I didn't have to. As soon as we walked in, a cold blast of air hit us, and I could now see why. Behind the reception desk was a floor to ceiling window which showed snow. Lots and lots of snow. I couldn't help the grin that grew on my face at the sight of people skiing up and down the indoor ski slope.
Max checked us in and turned to see my reaction. "I'm so glad you like it. I remember you once mentioning you wanted to go skiing in , so I brought you to the next best thing" he chuckled.
I laughed "Close enough. I can't believe you remember me saying that. I don't even remember having that conversation with you"
He shrugged it off "Strangely, it was one of the things I do remember from our time at college"
I smiled, loving how sweet Max was being. As far as first dates went, this was high up on the list of great first dates. And we hadn't even started yet.
"What are we waiting for, lets go" I said eagerly, taking his hand and making our way through the doors to get kitted up.
My dad had taken me skiing to the local indoor ski slopes whenever we went away on holiday every summer. It was something I had grown up to love. My dream was to one day try out the actual ski slopes around the world.
We had been equipped with our skiing gear. I preferred skiing whereas Max preferred snowboarding which I had never tried before. The place accommodated for both as well as other fun snow filled activities. We compromised and decided to do a bit of both. We first decided to try the skiing.
The slope was divided into various parts. One part was for skiing, another for snowboarding, with small bumps here and there to do tricks, and another for sledging which a lot of families and young kids were trying out.
As I slid down the slope in my skis, my heartbeat picked up as the cold wind bit my face. My face flushed as I made it down to the bottom of the slope. I felt such a thrill sliding down the slope and was looking forward to going again. I noticed Max still at the top of the slope. I tried to hold my laughter as poor Max held onto the ski poles as he tried to figure out how to use them.
I laughed as I caught up to him "Do you need a push?"
"I'll get the hang of this. I just need to get my footing right"
"Are you sure you don't need a hand?"
Just then, a little kid whizzed by, bumping into Max, making him slide right down the slope, with Max screaming as he did so. He dropped his ski poles halfway and his arms flailed around as he tried to hold his balance. He was doing well until he reached right to the bottom, where he fell face first. That looked painful.
I slid down the slope with ease, just stopping right before reaching Max. One of the staff members was already attending to him. "Are you okay?" I asked, crouching down to see his face. His face was slightly red, but I could see no visible damage.
"I'm fine. Just took a little tumble"
"I could see that"
"He'll be fine" the staff member said, helping him out. "Maybe you should take some time out before going back up the slopes" he suggested, before leaving us to it.
I felt guilty as I was the one that had roped him into trying the skiing. At least he wasn't too badly hurt. We made our way to the changing room where he took a seat, gladly taking off his skis.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked once again, hoping he wasn't hurt.
"I'm fine" he smiled. "Really, you don't have to worry. I think I just need five minutes to get my breath back"
"Maybe we should give the snowboarding a go now?"
"I like the sound of that" he smirked.
"I'll just watch you. I don't think I'll be any good on the snowboard"
"Hey, if I managed to go on the ski slopes, you have to join me on the snowboarding"
"I'd much rather watch you and maybe one day I'll be brave enough to try snowboarding"
"If you can master the ski slopes, I'm sure you can master snowboarding"
I rolled my eyes. I didn't think he was going to give in. "Fine, I'll give it a try. But only once. Then I'm sitting out and watching you for the rest of the time"
"Deal" he nodded with a smirk.
Once Max was a little better, we got kitted up for the snowboarding slope. I had never tired snowboarding before, skiing was more my thing. With skiing, I could control my balance, I was not looking forward to seeing how this would go.
My heart beat rapidly as we made our way up the slope. Max smirked, sensing my nervousness. "Don't worry, I'm right behind you"
We reached the top, my palms now sweating. I watched as others expertly slid down and flipped their boards as they pushed against the ramps. This was not going to end well for me, I could just tell.
"Why don't you go first?" I said "Show me how it's supposed to be done"
"Sure" he smirked, positioning himself on the snowboard. He slid down easily, balancing perfectly on the board, as he swayed between the obstacles with ease, flipping his snowboard as he made his way through the ridges. I was in awe of his skills. For a moment, I forgot where I was as I watched Max fly through the slope. I was brought back to reality as a staff member tapped me on the shoulder, telling me it was my turn on the slope.
I looked to Max at the bottom, who gave me an encouraging smile from below. I squealed as I felt my feet lift from the ground. My hands flailed as I tried to keep my balance and dodge the obstacles at the same time but was proving to be unsuccessful.
I managed to dodge the first net that came my way and then swayed as I almost hit a ridge. I was getting closer to the bottom of the slope; I could see Max's smiling face. I was concentrating on Max and making it to the bottom that I didn't see the ridge that was coming my way, and didn't dodge it in time, resulting in me flying through the air and landing with a thump by Max's feet.
"I'm guessing I maybe shouldn't have picked the snow slopes as our first date, huh?" Max chuckled.
"It would have been a less painful first date, yeah" I agreed as I got up off the ground, dusting off the snow of my legs.
A member of staff came around, the same one that attended to Max, and suggested we sit out for five minutes.
"Are you okay?" Max asked as we sat in the changing room once again.
"I'll be fine. Might have a bit of a headache tomorrow morning" I chuckled.
"This has to have been the most painful first date ever" Max joked.
I laughed, making my already painful sides, hurt even more. "How about we try something a little tamer next? Like the sledging slope?"
"You still want to continue with this date?" Max asked, his eyes wide in shock.
"Why not?" I shrugged. "This date hasn't been a complete disaster. It's definitely something we're going to laugh about in a few years' time, c'mon" I said, standing up "We can still salvage this date"
Max chuckled and followed me as we made our way to the sledging slope. The sledging slope seemed much more family friendly and a lot more fun. Children cheered as they slid down their sled, the excited screams whirring through the air. I think this was definitely more my speed.
We stood in line with our sleigh, watching as families and friends smiled as they whizzed down the slope.
"Do you want to go to the front of the sledge or should I?" Max asked.
I shrugged "You can go at the front" he noted, and it was soon our turn.
He placed himself at the front of the sledge with me tucked in closely behind him. "Ready?" he asked but before I could respond a rush of cold air whipped my face as I wrapped my arms around Max's waist, screaming as we slid down the . I placed my face against the crook of Max's neck as we slid down, Max chuckling as I did so. Before I knew it, we had arrived at the bottom off the slope.
"I was not ready for that" I groaned as I tumbled out of the sledge.
"Do you want to go again?" he smirked.
Did I want to feel the cold air whipping my hair, the thrill of having my heart in my throat all whilst being cuddled up against Max?
I grabbed the sleigh from him and ran up towards the slope "Race you" I shouted, giving him my answer.
As if the indoor ski slopes weren't good enough, they also had an ice bar. A bar ... made out of actual ice. The seats were ice, the tables were ice, and the glasses were.... well, you got the picture.
"Thanks for reminding me about the gloves" I said to Max, as I raised my ice-cold glass to him.
"I didn't want you freezing to death on me. Now, that would have made for an interesting first date" Max laughed.
I shivered slightly as I lifted the glass to my lips, the ice-cold drink a new sensation on my mouth.
"I have to admit, I had lots of fun, despite our impending bruises" I chuckled.
"We're going to feel them in the morning" Max smirked as he rubbed his leg.
"It's definitely a date to remember"
"I should have just stuck with the zoo. It would have been less painful"
"I think anywhere would have been less painful than this" I laughed. "But I had a great time. Thanks Max"
He smiled "I had fun too. I promise next time will be less painful. Unless, this has put you off completely going out with me again" he said, pushing his hand through his hair.
"It definitely hasn't put me off" I laughed.
He sighed in relief "That's good"
"How did you even know about this place?"
"A friend of mine works here and told me about it. It opened not long ago"
"I didn't even know there was supposed to be one here. I'm so coming back here, only to do skiing though. No snowboarding" I pointed out.
Max laughed "Yeah, probably for the best"
"I think they need to add penguins in here and it would then definitely feel like the Arctic" Max shook his head and laughed "I did enjoy the sledging, that was my favourite part of today" I admitted, my cheeks heating up despite the bitter cold of the ice bar.
"You know, when penguins are courting, the male penguin will give the female pebbles. I suppose that's their way of getting a kiss out of them"
I froze, and it definitely wasn't the ice bar that made me freeze in shock and bit my lip. I didn't know how to respond to that, so instead I leaned in and kissed him, his lips cold against mine. I didn't know what possessed me to do so, maybe the coldness of the ice bar froze my brain or I had brain freeze from my drink.
Our kiss was light and quick, both of our cheeks flushed with pink once we let go. I bit my lip once again, trying to hold back the smile that was threatening to take over my face. Max smiled back. This had definitely been a successful date.