Run

Run Together: Part 04

Chapter05: Run Together Part 04

Gwenand her family were shivering by the time Carl opened the door, thetemperature had dropped 20 degrees in the short drive it took to getto Ben's house.

Theywere quickly ushered inside and offered warm drinks, the heater inthe house going full blast to keep them all warm.

Gwenwas still shivering, her freezing fingers wrapped around a hot mug ofchocolate, the pain of the heat on her frozen appendages was painfulbut more than welcome. She sighed as she took a sip of the warmingliquid, her eyes closed in bliss. She could hear similar sounds fromher parents. She smiled as the warmth flooded her body.

Openingher eyes she glanced out the window and saw it was getting darker,while it was only five in the afternoon, with it being winter the sunwas going down much earlier, but she could tell this darkness wasn'tentirely from the season. The unexpected storm clouds were dark andheavy as they hovered over the city.

Gwenwas pulled away from her musing on the weather by the sound of feetpounding down the stairs.

"Gwen!"Ben called as he slid into the kitchen on his socked feet. He eagerlygrabbed one of her hands and began jumping in place as he held it,oblivious to the adults in the room.

"Gwen,"he repeated, "the weather says it's going to snow!"

Herjoy at his presence dropped when she heard this, her family hadn'tput on anything warmer than a jacket as the weather was stillpleasant when they left. If it snowed, she wouldn't be able toenjoy it with Ben.

"Comeon," He said as he began to pull her hand, "I want to show yousomething."

Hissmile was infectious as he pulled her up, the mug being carefullybalanced in the other hand.

Gwengiggled as Ben eagerly pulled her up the stairs and to his room,their parents, all except Natalie, smiled at the interaction.

Oncethey were safely in his room, the mug carefully placed on the desk,Ben pulled Gwen to him and eagerly kissed her, their arms wrappingaround each other to hold the other close.

"Ben,"Gwen whispered when they pulled apart for air, a smile on her face asshe looked at the boy she loved.

"Gwen,"Ben replied as he placed a gentle kiss on her lips before pullingaway with a huge grin on his face. Taking her hand he pulled her tothe window so she could see the outside.

"Look,"he said as he pointed at the scattered snowflakes that had begunfalling, giving the ground a light dusting of white.

"Snow!It's actually snowing!" She said as she pressed her face againstthe freezing glass to see it. "We haven't had snow in Bellwood inyears."

"Iknow," Ben replied with a grin as he bounced on his feet, eagernessradiating off of him. "I can't wait to play in it."

"ButBen, it's gotta be freezing out there and we don't have any warmclothes."

Hegiggled and rushed forward to kiss her lips again before he grabbedher hand and pulled her to the closet.

"Butwe do my beautiful Gwen," he told her as he pulled the door openand showed her two sets of winter clothes.

"Ben,"she said as her eyes lit up in delight. "You dug through yourentire closet to find these?"

"Ofcourse," he said with a smile at her happiness, "I knew that youwould want to play outside and couldn't do it if it was freezing,so I started digging and found these. They may be a little small, butthey should keep us warm."