"Hello?" I answered my phone half asleep.
"Fayrene, where are you? Do you know what time it is?" My boss asked when I answered.
I looked at the clock, it said 8:30 am.
"James, I'm on leave till Friday." I answered.
"Who approved your leave?" He asked, annoyed.
"You did. I applied for it last month. I also informed you last Friday." I replied.
"You did? Can't you drop by the office real quick?" He asked.
"I can't. I'm out of town." I replied.
"Do you have your laptop with you?" He asked.
"I don't." I answered and he took a deep annoyed sigh.
"Fine. See you monday." He huffed and ended the call.
"Did your boss ask you to go to work?" Skyler asked sleepily.
It seems like I woke him up. He looked so handsome even when he just woke up. It must be nice to wake up with this view every morning.
"Yeah. He must have forgotten I'm on leave." I replied as I tried to bury myself in the blanket.
"Your boss has really annoying timing. It seems like he's out to get me or something." He said and I looked at him confused.
"He's the one that called you that morning too, right?" He asked and I remembered that morning.
I feel my face heating up.
"Can we go back to sleep? I'm still sleepy." I said, changing the topic.
"But it's already 8:30. It's time to get up. We agreed last night we'll go to the lake by 10 am." He replied.
"Have I ever told you that I'm not a morning person?" I asked.
"Yes, yes you did. I lost track of how many times you told me that. Now get up and wash up. Unless you want to wash together with me." He said and I immediately got up from the bed.
"I'm up." I said as I dragged myself to get my clothes and head to the bathroom.
It's not like I don't want a repeat of that time but it just feels like if we did it again, it would destroy whatever it is that we have now. I don't want to lose this friendship we have. I really like having him around. He's been my source of comfort these day.
We finished getting ready after an hour and we arrived at the lake around 10 am. Skyler said that the place would have all we need for ice fishing including tents and cooking utensils.
We bought some food on the way here in case we couldn't catch anything for lunch. The place also had a guide and he helped us get settled to a certain spot. He even helped us set up our tent, drill a hole to fish and taught us how to fish.
We started preparing our breakfast since we didn't have one before coming here. Our breakfast consists of instant coffee and bread we bought on the way here.
We both ate in silence while both staring at our fishing lines. I know I'm not that excited to come here yesterday but now that we are doing this I'm feeling energetic. The weather is not that cold either.
The whole morning passed and we didn't catch any fish. Skyler had asked the guide to help us drill another hole.
"I'm bored." Skyler exclaimed after we ate our instant noodles for lunch.
"Didn't you say you wanted to go ice fishing?" I asked.
"Yeah but I didn't expect it to be like this." He replied.
"Fishing requires patience." I told him.
"Yeah, I just had some self discovery, I don't have the patience to sit and fish." He replied and I couldn't help but laugh.
I was surprised yesterday when he suggested doing this activity because it doesn't feel like something he would do. He's someone who likes to move about so I figured he wouldn't enjoy fishing.
"How about you do something else while we're waiting for a fish to get caught." I suggested.
"Like what?" He asked.
"I don't know. Read a book? Ahh… write songs?" I suggested.
"I thought we came here for vacation? Why are you asking me to work?" He asked.
"Fine then. What do you want to do?" I asked.
"I heard from the guide that there's a small slope where you can sled down close to here. Wanna go there?" He asked.
I looked at his happy face and I couldn't find myself to say no to that.
"Let's pack up then." I suggested.
Skyler happily packed up our stuff and returned the things we rented from the guide. Our ice fishing ended up with no fish caught and a bored Skyler. I, on the other hand, liked the stillness of it. It gives you time to appreciate the moment.
The guide gave us directions on how to reach the place and when we arrived there, there were a lot of families with children already playing.
"Wow. So many people." I exclaimed.
"Let's go." Skyler said and dragged me to the line for sledding.
We waited for our turn among the children and teenagers. There weren't a lot of couples or adults like us around, probably because it's Monday.
The place didn't only have this slide but also had some snow/ice structures too. Skyler and I played to our hearts content. We even had a snowball fight with some children.
I only planned to stay outside by 3pm but it's already 7 pm now and we're still here. We had dinner somewhere close here. We heard from the kids that this place has some nice illumination at night so we came back here after eating dinner.
Now, we're walking around watching the beautiful lights hand in hand because Skyler was afraid I would get lost in the sea of people. There weren't that many people.
"It's really pretty." I commented when I saw a big dressed up snowman in front of an igloo which was also decorated with different lights.
"Why don't I take your picture?" A mother who was standing beside us offered.
I smiled gratefully at her and handed her my phone.
"You're a cute couple. My husband and I were like that too during our younger years. He even proposed to me here that's why we visit this place every year." She shared after she took a picture of us.
"Thank you and your husband has a good taste. I also think this is a good place to propose." Skyler commented.
"Oh, are you going to propose to her here too?" She asked excitedly.
"We're still not in that stage of our relationship." I explained awkwardly.
"But maybe someday. Thank you for your recommendation." Skyler said and we excused ourselves.
"Someday? Are you thinking of proposing to someone here someday?" I asked curiously.
"Not exactly but I'll put this place as one of the possibilities." He replied vaguely.
"I think that person would like this place." I commented.
I mean what's not to like? Snow, lights, and the million of stars above. I think this place is romantic. I wonder who that lucky girl is.
"Do you?" He asked.
"I'm sorry. Do I?" I asked back.
I didn't hear what he said as I was busy admiring the place.
"Do you feel cold?" He asked.
"I do actually but I still wanna stay for a while. The stars look beautiful tonight." I said.
"Yeah. You do." Skyler said quietly.
"Sorry?" I asked.
I think I did not hear that right.
"Why don't we find somewhere to sit?" He suggested.
There were a few benches but most of them were occupied. We found one a little bit farther from the illumination.
"Come closer to me, if you're cold." He suggested and I took that offer.
I sat close to him and he put his arms around my shoulders.
"It's really pretty. You couldn't see so many stars like this in the city." I commented.
"I thought you would be asking to go home by now." He said.
"I honestly would have but I like this place. I like to watch the liveliness of this place and the stars looked so pretty tonight. How about you?" I explained.
"I like to see you beaming right now. You look alive." He commented.
"Of course I look alive. What did you think I was? A zombie?" I asked while laughing.
"I meant you look alive and not just existing." He explained.
"I like it here and you're not bad of a company." I said and smiled shyly.
"Then next time, let's go to places that you like." He said.
"Aren't you a busy person?" I asked.
"I'll always make time for you." He said and I blushed again.
I swear he's the only guy who can make me blush like a teenager. What to do? I think I'm really falling in love with this guy.
We walked around a bit more before deciding to finally go home. I didn't have enough strength to soak in the hotspring. After I change into comfortable clothes, I head to bed and fall asleep.