Winter's Kiss

Chapter 2: The Date Pt.1 Waiting

The mall was extremely crowded. People bustled from shop to shop, their hands full with either holding mountains of bags filled with goods and clothes or chatting on their phones. The restaurants were packed, hardly any seats left to just sit down and eat. Rachel and Alisha waited patiently at a nearby café close to the ice rink, which fortunately had a few seats to spare.

They haven't been there long, but the guys were late; they decided to sit down and have drinks to warm themselves up before they go skating on the icy floor. A hot chocolate with cream swirled to the rim of the tall glass, hot chocolate powder and chocolate flakes sprinkled on the very top for Rachel, and a black coffee with at least 6 spoonfuls of sugar and a peanut butter and vanilla cookie on the side for Alisha.

Rachel eyed Alisha warily as she drank the coffee. "Hey, are you sure you want to drink that?"

"Why not?" Alisha threw her a questioning glance as she nibbled her biscuit. She wasn't one for vanilla flavored things, but since the Café didn't have anything with plain peanut butter, she decided to go for a combo. At least the peanut taste was stronger than the vanilla, otherwise she would have puked.

"Well you're already giddy and won't shut up unless you're drinking or eating your cookie. Don't you think you'll have a sugar rush?"

"So?" The blonde sipped some of her coffee and neatly placed it down back onto the saucer. "Nothing bad'll happen."

Rachel snorted and gulped down the rest of her now cold chocolate drink. Alisha raised a brow. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just that I still can't get my head around the fact that you get 'amnesia' when you get sugar high."

"You make it sound like I get high on coffee."

"No. I'm saying you do get high on coffee. With lots and lots of sugar."

Alisha stared at her friend with a blank face. "How else am I supposed to drink black coffee?"

"Get something other than black coffee!"

"No. Black coffee is like my elixir. Take that away and I wilt. Like a flower in the shadows. Because I don't have the sun to keep me growing." Alisha gulps down the rest of her coffee, set the cup down once more and thought for a moment. "Wait, do all flowers die when they don't have sunlight, or is that just me?"

Rachel sighed and shook her head. When were the guys getting here? It's already been 30 minutes past the time they were supposed to meet. She glanced at the watch on her wrist. 10:24.

"Hey, Al? When are they getting here?" Rachel spoke quietly. The brunette looked down at her empty glass of chocolate foam. She was still a bit nervous of meeting Blake for the first time.

"Hmm? Oh, I don't really know. But they should be here any minute now." Suddenly Alisha gasps loudly, causing a few passer-biers to look at her funny. "What if we're being stood up? What if Nathan said never mind because I'm ugly? But if they do come, do you think he'll like my outfit?"

Alisha was wearing black skinny jeans with an over-sized cream jersey that comes below her mid-thighs, brown boots that stopped midway on her calves, and a green bag to match her earrings and necklace. Her hair was tied back into a bun, a band pushing back the rest of her baby hairs that escaped the elastic pom-pom.

Rachel came more prepared than her friend. She wore a long-sleeve top, black in the middle and the sleeves became a lighter shade, turning into a dark grey. She wore a black jacket with a furry hoodie, completed with a grey beanie and see-through black scarf. Her navy blue jeans looked dark under the table; they were hiding her black ankle boots.

Rachel was silently watching her friend who wouldn't stop asking questions about how Nathan wouldn't like her or her outfit.

The brunette reached down, slowly into her friends bag and pulled out a purple phone. She opened the phone and typed the password in; Lovebug.

Alisha was a huge fan of horses and always dragged her group of friends to watch herself preform in her horse shows. Her horse's name was "Love That Moves", or as she likes to call him, Lovebug. He was previously a racing horse before he moved to the riding school, where Alisha now leashes him to practice and perfect her riding.

Rachel scrolled and swiped, looking for the Message icon. She couldn't understand how many apps the girl had on her phone; how much space did she have left? Finally coming across the green text box with a smiley face, she scrolled around for Alisha's lover boy's name. Soon enough, she read Nathan Kennedy's name dotted with hearts and clicked into the chat. Ignoring the messages that came up, she started to type her message.

She silently slid the phone back into the green bag and looked up at her friend. She was slapping her cheeks trying to calm her nerves, obvious to what her bestie had just done. Rachel sighed and grabbed her friend's hands and pulled them forward onto the table, minding the cups and saucers that were still in front of them.

"Hey, hey! Stop hurting yourself! You look beautiful, and if Nathan can't see it, he'll need glasses. So suck it up Buttercup, we're already here and they should be here soon, just like you said." She reasoned. Alisha stared blankly at her and her face broke out into a wide smile and nodded.

A waiter walked up to their table and asked them if they wanted anything else or if they wanted the bill.

"Yes, can I please have another Café Noir?"

"No!"