Melting On Ice

"Are we almost there?" I whined to Derek. We had been driving in his car for a while and I had no idea where we were going since he had wanted to surprise me.

"Yes, almost." He laughed. I looked down impatiently at the shoes that he had let me borrow since I had come to our date in flip-flops, and apparently wherever we were going you weren't allowed to wear open-toes shoes. They were very large on me and I could already imagine myself falling flat on my face in them. As I looked out the window, I noticed that all I could see was endless rows of corn and it seemed like that was all we were ever going to see.

He suddenly swerved down a nature-made road that I didn't notice and followed it down to a farm. "We're here!"

"You brought us to a...farm?" I failed at my attempt to keep my tone of voice from being rude. It's just that this was not what I was expecting.

"Yeah." His face fell slightly. "Come on, I'll show you around." I followed him into a small building that was filled with horse stalls. "Do you know how to horseback ride?"

I watched as he opened the door and pet the horse gently. "Well I took one day of horseback riding lessons when I was five, but I was so scared that I would fall off the horse that I quit." He smiled at me as he led the horse by and started brushing it. He had stopped the horse so that the back of it was right by me. I flinched as the horse's tail snapped. "And the one thing I learned was to never stand at the back of the horse cause they might kick you."

He smiled at me and rolled his eyes. "Sparkles is pretty calm." He pet the horses nose as he spoke. "But if you really want to, you can stand in the stall."

I look questioningly at the empty stall behind me. "Um...I don't know it looks pretty nasty in there."

"There is just mud and horse poop in there." I couldn't tell if he was being serious or not but I stepped in anyway.

"Oh good because I was expecting something even disgusting to be in there." He laughed at my sarcasm as he saddled up the horse.

"Put this on." I caught the helmet as he threw it to me.

"Why you don't expect me to...." He smirked at me as he put on his own. "No way."

"Time to get over your fears." He grabbed my hand but I didn't budge. "Come on, I'll be right with you the whole time." I reluctantly followed him over to the horse and I could already picture this turning into an episode of "Animals Gone Wild". I flinched when Sparkles stomped her hooves. "Relax she's just swatting flies." He laughed at me.

"I'm glad your enjoying this." I said, as he helped me onto the horse.

"Sorry," he stifled a laugh. "It's just that there is nothing to be afraid of. Trust me." He got up on the horse in front of me and I grabbed onto his waist and closed my eyes as we started to move. He make the horse canter until we reached a pasture and slowed her down to a walk. "Are you okay?" He asked. I nodded into his back. "Then open your eyes."

I slowly opened my eyes, one at a time. "Hey it's like a ride." A slow smile crept across his face as he nodded and I knew that he was enjoying this way too much. I sat up straighter and looked around the pasture and saw some cows eating grass in the distance. As he came over a small hill, we had a perfect view of the sun setting. "Wow," I whispered. "It's beautiful."

"Yes you are." He stole the line right out of a cheesy romantic comedy. I didn't know what else to do as he leaned forward and let his lips gently brush mine but sit there in shock. He turned fully around so that he could look back and smile at me. As he started to lead the horse back to the barn he said, "So enough of this, are you ready for the second part of our date?"

* * *

"Wow," Patrick whispered as I walked slowly down the stairs and brushed the wrinkles out of my dress. It was white with a brown belt and had pink and brown flowers all over it.

"Patrick?" I felt my cheeks burning as I walked over to him. "What are you doing here?" I had stopped back at mine and Miranda's shared apartment to change for the dinner Derek was taking me on.

"I wanted to see if you wanted to go see a movie." He looked me up and down one more time before continuing. "But it looks as if you already have plans."

I grabbed my purse and smoothed out my hair. "I do have a phone you know," I said, slightly annoyed.

"Where are you going?" He asked as I went to get the door when I heard Derek knock on it.

"Oh, to a new restaurant called 'None of your Business.'" I smiled at Derek when I saw him.

"Wow you look amazing." Derek said, as he leaned in and kissed me lightly on the cheek. "Ready to go?"

I nodded as I waved goodbye mockingly to Patrick and left him standing in my apartment.
We pulled up to a very fancy restaurant. One that looked like it cost a hundred dollars just to look at it. Derek opened my door and held my hand as we walked inside. "Table for two please." Derek said to the hostess as I looked around. There was a pianist playing in the back corner and there was a giant glass chandler in the middle of the room. The walls were all painted a light gray and all of the wait staff wore tuxedos. It was defiantly a lot fancier then any place I had ever been to. I tried to ignore how the hostess was batting her eyelashes at Derek as she led us to our seats. He studied me as I looked around. "Too flashy?"

"No," I continued to look at the exotic decor that decorated the room. "This place is amazing."

He sat back, relieved in his chair. "Good. A lot of my friends recommended this place."

"You must have rich friends," I mumbled. I looked up and saw a very familiar looking man out of the corner of my eye. He was dressed rather strangely with all long, baggy clothes on, a large top hat, and sunglasses. To say the least, he didn't look like he fit in.

"Mr. Peterson, table for one," I hardly hear him because he was talking so quietly.

"So, did you have fun today?" He leaned forward with his elbow on the table.

I nodded absentmindedly. "Mhm." I watched as Mr. Peterson sat down. Where the heck did I know him from?

"Yep, I have been horse back riding for about 18 years and I have never ever gotten hurt so you had absolutely nothing to worry about."

I smiled and nodded politely, still not taking my eyes off that man. "Wow 18 years? Do you own that farm?"

"Yep" he nodded as the waitress walked over to us. "And I don't want to sound obnoxious or anything but that's actually the third farm that we have purchased."

"Really?" I moved my head, annoyed as the waitress blocked my view as she set the waters down on our table.

Derek gave me a strange look but continued to speak. "Yeah, my father owns an oil company up in Alaska so we own a lot of land in different places."

I smiled, pretending to be impressed. I tried to read Mr. Peterson's lips as he said something to the waitress. His eyes caught me staring and I quickly shifted my gaze to Derek. "Interesting, like where?"

"Pretty much everywhere. New York, Paris, Ontario-"

"Ontario?" I lifted the menu up to my face so it would be less obvious that I was watching him. "I love it there! I went with Patrick when he played for the Knights."

I saw Derek's face fall a little when I mentioned Patrick's name, but I didn't understand why. "Wow that's cool. Yeah, I really enjoy it there too." He squinted his eyes at me for a moment. "Who are you looking at?"

I grabbed his hand as he started to turn around. "No one! There was just an um..." I searched my mind for something to say. "A spider! Yeah, there was a spider on the wall and it was um, creeping me out." I made a face and shuddered so that he would be more likely to buy it.

As he called the waitress over to tell her, I saw Mr. Peterson get up to leave. As he walked passed our table, he brushed his hand against my arm. The pieces suddenly clicked and I instantly knew who it was.

* * *

"I swear, if I didn't love you so much for introducing us, I would kill you for not telling me you knew them." Miranda and I were painting each others nails as she told me about what happened with Jon yesterday in more detail and I told her about my date with Derek.

"Well I wanted to make sure that you were cool first," I said as I added another layer of clear coat. "Do you know how many crazy fans girls out there would pretend to be friends with me just to get a chance at meeting them?"

She shrugged. "Yeah I guess, they are pretty amazing."

I rolled my eyes as she giggled like a little girl. "Did he kiss you?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

Her face formed a small pout. "No."

"It's alright," I assured her. "He's just the shy type. You know, the complete opposite of you."

She smiled down at her toenails. "Yeah, I guess, but I wish that he would just hurry up already!" She shook her head as she grabbed another color to add to my already rainbow looking feet."So...has Derek kissed you yet?"

My face burned as I shrugged. "Yeah, but it was just a small one."

"So that still counts!" She squealed. "Even though I know your not going to count it because your waiting for Patrick."

My jaw dropped in disbelief. "What?"

She rolled her eyes at my overreaction. "Oh please, it's so obvious that you are like, totally in love with him."

"I am not." I said, blowing on my nails. "Besides, he already has a girlfriend."

"Um so?" She acted as if this factor completely didn't matter.

"So," I continued. "It means that he has no interest in me."

"Your so dumb, that's not true." She spoke as if this was completely obvious. Which it wasn't.

"I'm just confused I guess." I walked on my heels over to the bathroom to get the blow-dryer to make our nails dry faster. "I mean Derek's nice it's just that I've known Patrick for like, ever."

Coincidentally, my phone started blasting and Patrick's name flashed on the screen. "Hello?" Miranda leaned forward on the bed, trying to hear what Patrick was going to say.

"Hey, just wanted to remind you not to make any plans for tomorrow cause we have a party to attend." I switched my phone to the other ear.

"Don't worry Mr. Peterson," I smirked. "I haven't forgotten."