Chapter Eight

Zane

 

“So we’re really doing this tonight?” Zane stood outside the science center entrance. The wind ripped around them viciously, and there was more snow in the forecast.

He looked up into the night sky at the building that was a huge staple in his childhood. He had avoided the holiday train display for many years. The memories he held close were no longer painful, and for the first time in a long time, he was looking forward to experiencing this from a new point of view with Lily.

A snowflake landed on his cheek, and a memory of him as a child standing here on this sidewalk with his mom and dad waiting to get inside and see the train display flashed through his mind.

He put his hand out to catch a few flakes. They were small and melted as soon as they hit his gloved hand.

Spencer had already been complaining about the few inches that were on the ground, but Zane never minded the snow. Unlike his cousin, he was able to find joy in every season. He enjoyed summer and all that came with it, but snow gave him that Christmas feeling.

The science center always had a gigantic train display at Christmastime. That was tonight’s event. He thought a prize pack like this might have a more elaborate event than a local train display but part of him was appreciative of the laid-back evening.

“Yeah.” Lily looked up at him with childlike excitement. Her eyes sparkled as she smiled. “Fun, right?”

“Yep. Fun.” He wasn’t sure how this was going to take an entire evening to walk through. Remembering the last time he was here, there was plenty of time afterward to go out for dessert and still watch a Christmas special once he got home.

Lily pursed her lips and put a hand on her hip. “You don’t look enthusiastic. If you didn’t want to do this you should’ve said something.”

Her brashness caught him off guard and had him taking a step back and evaluating his words before speaking.

“No, it’s not that I don’t want to. It has been a long time since I was here. And it is definitely a holiday outing. But…”

“But what? Too cool for train displays?” she teased, her tone now softer.

Zane shook his head. If only she knew how hard it was going to be for him to walk in those doors again. “No.”

“Good, then let’s go.” She grabbed his arm with her mitten clad hand and pulled him through the entrance. “This was always a favorite of mine as a child.”

He agreed. “That’s the last time I was here.”

Lily’s mouth dropped open. “Really? Me too!”

Zane nodded as Lily dragged him into the science center. He held his breath as they crossed the threshold. Closing his eyes, the warm air from inside the building hit his face when the doors closed behind him. Opening his eyes, it was a relief to see the inside had been remodeled and was nothing like those memories that he held so dear.

Still giddy like a child, Lily pulled him toward the steps leading down to the basement conference room where the massive exhibit was set up.

“Easy, you don’t want to fall,” Zane said, halting her at the top of the stairs. He took her hand properly and began walking with her down the steps.

He didn’t think twice about slipping his hand in hers. Now that they were holding hands, he forgot all about his surroundings. Instead, his focus was all on her.

He couldn’t help but stare at her. The way the strands of her hair slipped out of her knit hat and hung around her face. The way her eyes sparkled. The sound of joy in her laughter.

Holding her hand seemed natural. They entered the maze of train tracks and walked together through the darkened room. The miniature houses in the towns were lit up as well as the skating rinks, retro drive-in theatres, and even a blimp with Santa in the basket.

Lily stopped abruptly to admire part of the display. Turning to say something, she ran right into his chest. When she looked up at him, her lips were just inches from his.

They stared at one another as if time was standing still.

Zane grabbed her so he wouldn’t knock her over. “Woah, sorry about that.”

The dim room placed shadows on her face, but the lights from the display made her eyes sparkle. “No, it’s my fault.” Her voice was soft and breathy as her gaze moved to his mouth.

“Excuse me!” A little boy shoved his way between them, pushing them apart and ruining their moment.

“We should keep moving anyway,” Lily said nervously as she pulled away.

“Right.” Zane did his best to smile and find something interesting to point out as they walked through the display, except all he really wanted to do was kiss this girl.

“Mommmmm!” That same little boy ran between them again, this time screaming for his mom and stepping right on Zane’s foot in the process.

“Ow! What the heck?” he gasped.

“Sorry, mister!” the little boy called from across the room.

“He’s fast,” Lily commented. “Are you okay?”

He couldn’t help but laugh at her first comment. “He’s fast? Your first thought was how fast he was?”

“I mean, he did come barreling through here. My second thought was are you okay. That counts,” she said confidently.

“I guess.” He shrugged, amused. He couldn’t remember the last time he spent time with a woman who made him genuinely laugh as much as she did.

“And I mean, he is just a little boy. He couldn’t have hurt you that bad, the big strong college man that you are.”

“Are you teasing me now?” he asked, grinning at her.

“Maybe.” Lily shrugged. She put out her hand to him. “C’mon, let’s go check out the part with the North Pole. Maybe Santa will give you a candy cane to help your ouchie.”

Again, he took her hand like it was the most natural thing to him. “My ouchie?”

“You know, your boo-boo.”

“Let me guess, you used to do a lot of babysitting when you were younger?”

Lily shrugged and an adorable smirk crossed her lips.

“You were serious? There’s really a Santa over there.” The man in the big red suit had him stopped in his tracks. Zane had forgotten all about this part of the display.

“Of course Santa is here, silly. It’s Christmastime.”

“Ho-ho-ho, Merry Christmas!” Santa bellowed when they walked up to him.

“Hi, Santa. Merry Christmas!” Lily said sweetly.

“Merry Christmas, my dear.” Santa handed Lily a candy cane. He turned his attention to Zane. Nodding, he handed Zane a candy cane and said, “Ho-ho-ho. Merry Christmas.”

“Santa, has he been a good boy this year?” Lily mused.

Santa nodded. “I believe this one is on my nice list as well as you, my dear. And I think everything you want will be by the tree this year.”

Zane tried not to roll his eyes when they walked away. Every Santa Claus says that. No one wants to hear that they were bad this year, or what they really desire won’t be under the tree on December twenty-fifth. He learned that early on when he asked Santa for only one thing every year—for his parents to come back.

Shaking off the sad memories, he looked at his watch and saw the night was still young. He was right about it not taking all evening to walk through the exhibits, even if he was a bit sad that it was over.

Walking outside, the ground was covered in white fluffy snow, and it was still coming down quickly.

There was a faint aroma of popcorn in the air from a street-side stand, and it made his stomach growl.

“Wow, it really snowed while we were in there.” Zane bent down and picked up a handful. “There’s got to be four or five inches.”

He mashed the snow around his hands until it formed a ball. Looking from the snowball to Lily, he wondered, should I? He didn’t know her well enough to know if she would appreciate having a snowball thrown at her or not. Some young women liked the snow and would have fun with it, but some would get angry. It could ruin the evening and possibly their blossoming friendship, if she was the latter.

While debating his next move, he was hit on the shoulder with a snowball.

“What the…?” Looking up to find where it came from, he locked eyes with a hysterically laughing Lily. “You just hit me with a snowball.”

Lily innocently smiled. “Who? Me?”

“Don’t play coy. It’s on now.” His decision was made for him. It was a snowball fight.

Lily had some kind of arm on her, and she came close to hitting him a few times.

“You might need to be a little quicker,” he teased as he ducked out of the way from another snowball. “My cousin and I had many epic snowball battles growing up, so I’ve had plenty of practice.”

The snowball fight got so wildly fun that he forgot his opponent was Lily. Tossing a tightly packed snowball across the yard, he hit her right in the face. Realizing what he had done, Zane immediately began apologizing and silently scolded himself. That is the kind of thing he would do to his cousin, not a young woman that he barely knew.

Zane hurried over to Lily, who was bent over and had her mitten clad hands cupped around her nose and mouth.

“Lily! I am so sorry! Are you okay?” He bent down to check on her. “I didn’t mean to—”

Suddenly, Lily removed her hands from her face, grabbed two handfuls of snow and shoved it all down the neck of his coat while she laughed. “Is that quick enough for you?”

Zane couldn’t help the high-pitched yell that escaped his lips as the ice-cold snow slid down his back. “You tricked me!”

Lily snickered as she shrugged devilishly.

There were remnants of his snowball still on her knit hat and a little in the curls that fell by her cheek. Always the gentleman, Zane took off his gloves and gently brushed the snow off her hat and then ran his knuckles over the snowflakes that sat on her cheek.

Her beautiful eyes had his attention, and he couldn’t help but admire her rosy cheeks and plump lips. Surely he was staring, but he couldn’t help it. Zane wondered what it would be like to kiss those beautiful lips.

Her gaze lingered with his. Her beautiful blue eyes locked with his for what felt like forever.

Soon, Lily dropped her eyes to the ground as she took a half step back. The silence between them quickly crossed that fine line from passion to uncomfortable.

He cleared his throat and fumbled with his glove as he contemplated his next move.

Breaking the nervous silence, Zane asked, “Do you like fresh kettle corn?”

The air between them relaxed as she responded with an abrupt, “Who doesn’t?”

“Right?” he agreed. He pointed to the popcorn truck parked on the side of the road. “Well, this company has the best kettle corn. You’ve never tasted more delicious popcorn.”

“Sounds good. I am getting hungry.”

Stopping at the popcorn truck, Zane ordered each of them a bag. They snacked on their bags of hot buttery popcorn in silence. It was not the typical wintertime treat, but it felt perfect for tonight.

“You’re familiar with this part of town, right?” Zane asked.

“Yeah, kind of. Why?”

“Well, have you ever been to the hot dog shop that’s down there on the corner?” Zane pointed down the perfectly decorated street.

“Actually, no. My roommate has on occasion raved about it, but I’ve never had an occasion to stop.”

“Well, you’re in luck.” Zane held out his arm to her. “Because I’m treating.”

Walking in the hot dog shop, a welcome wall of heat hit their faces.

“So what’s good here?” Lily asked with a smile, which made him think she was trying to be funny.

“Since you’ve never been here, do you mind if I order for you?” he asked, eager for her to taste the deliciousness this place offered. “It’s okay if you don’t want me to, but I don’t think you’ll regret it either.”

“Okay.” She shrugged. “Order away.”

Looking around the little shop, Zane pointed to an empty table. “Do you mind grabbing that table while I order? Tables are hard to come by in this place, and I really don’t want to have to stand outside and eat in the cold.”

“Sure, I’m on it.”

As Lily went to save the table, Zane didn’t have to study the menu, he knew exactly what they were eating. After all the Christmas adventures that were basically her turf, it was nice to be on his for a change, and even nicer that he was able to show off a little.

Zane took their food to the table. The aroma of hot dogs was already making his mouth water. Normally, he would’ve had a bite before he even got to the table, but tonight he wanted to see Lily try hers first.

“These smell so good,” he said and set her food in front of her and waited.

“Why are you staring at me?”

“I want to see your reaction to your first bite.”

“You’re for real? It’s just a hot dog,” she stated.

“Just a hot dog?” He grabbed his chest like she had wounded him. “Lily, this is like no other hot dog you’ve ever tasted. This is the hot dog.”

She shrugged. “If you say so.”

His stomach growled as his hot dog teased his senses while he eagerly waited for her to take a bite.

“So.” Lily picked up her hot dog and examined it. “It just has chili, cheese, and onions on it.”

“There’s nothing simple about that dog. Just wait till you try it.”

Lily looked unconvinced but flashed him a grin, probably to appease him since she ran him all over the place for numerous Christmas events, and he took her to a hot dog stand.

He watched as she took a bite. While she chewed her first bite, her face went from uninterested to ‘wow’. He couldn’t wait to sink his teeth into his own hot dog but couldn’t take his eyes off the adorable smudge of chili she had on her cheek.

“You’re staring. Oh no, is my face a mess?” Lily frantically moved her napkin to everywhere on her face except where the chili was.

Zane tried not to laugh. “Here, let me.” Taking his napkin, he gently wiped the chili off her cheek.

Her face turned red as she thanked him. “Well, you were right. This hot dog is the best hot dog I’ve ever had. I don’t know what it is, but the chili is out of this world, and the hot dog is…I don’t know how to describe it. Delicious doesn’t seem to do it justice.”

“Right?!” He took two quick bites of his and his stomach grumbled a thank you. “The onions look like they are just a garnish, but once you take a bite, they help to elevate the flavor of the whole sandwich.”

Lily covered her mouth as she laughed. “So, you are like a secret hot dog aficionado and didn’t tell me?”

“Well…” He cleared his throat. “That is what secret means. If I go around telling everyone then it’s no longer a secret.”

His words had her cracking up. “You are so right. Undercover hot dog aficionado.” Lily set down half her hot dog to take a drink.

“You going to finish that?” Zane reached for her dog.

To his surprise, she playfully slapped his hand away. “I am, thank you very much.”

“So, now I know you like big ol’ burritos and hot dogs.”

“Are you trying to say I’m a cheap date?”

“Not at all. I’m saying you’re an awesome date. What guy wouldn’t love a night out for Mexican or hot dogs? Best date ever!” he teased.

An odd look crossed her face.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I was just wondering if it would be terrible for me to order another hot dog?” she asked, her words bashful.

“Hell no!” Zane laughed. “I was just thinking the same thing! Now I have an excuse to go order another. Girl after my own heart.”

It was just something people say, but for some reason, with Lily, it felt like more.