Snow It Up [Shake It Up]

chapter sixteen

The air was filled with laughter as CeCe and Gunther ran out into the nighttime. The frigid air bit at CeCe's face, so she pulled her scarf tighter. Even with the snowpants, jacket, gloves, hat, and scarf, CeCe was still cold. Little snowflakes landed on her as they fell from the sky, and they didn't immediately melt. It had to be super cold out, which made her slow down. 

"Are you sure we should be out here?" she said, looking up at Gunther. She stopped before they reached the snowy street. "I'm afraid we'll both freeze to death. I know for sure that if I let you die, Tinka would kill me before the cold did."

"We are bundled up, CeCe," Gunther said, letting out a sigh. She could see his breath in the air, which made her frown. "I promise we will not freeze to death."

"How can you be so certain of that?"

"Because I just am." He raised his eyebrows, making them disappear in his hat. "We are right across the street from your apartment anyway. We will be fine."

"Do you remember that my apartment doesn't have power?" CeCe asked, crossing her arms over her puffy jacket. "The heat won't be able to save us once we get frostbitten because there is no heat!"

"Calm down," Gunther said, taking a step closer to her. That did not calm her down whatsoever. "We will be okay."

"If you say so," she said, trying not to make her voice shake. Gunther was super close to her, which was throwing her off. She didn't want him to see through her facade because that would just be embarrassing. She didn't even know why she felt that way about him or where it had come from. Last time she had seen him, she didn't feel this way. What was the deal? "Let's go, then."

CeCe took a step forward, sinking deep into the snow that covered the road. Her new snow boots basically glowed in the dark, the bright pink shining through the snow. That was too bad. That meant that Gunther would be able to see her if she tried to sneak up on him. It didn't help that her jacket was pink as well. Her snow pants were white, which was great if she tried hard enough to hide. 

"Hurry up!" Gunther whined from behind CeCe. She gave him a look over her shoulder before facing forward again. She slowed her pace with a grin on her face. Her grin widened when she felt Gunther collide with her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, saying, "I know you did that on purpose."

"Of course I did it on purpose," she said smugly. "You do not tell the Cecelia Jones to hurry up, Gunther. You should have known that." The grip on her shoulders tightened, making her heart rate pick up. Gunther pushed her forward slightly, so she said, "Stop doing that."

"No," he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. "If you did not remember, I liked to disobey orders that were told to me. That much has not changed." He pushed her forward again, making CeCe slip in the wet snow. She yelped, throwing her arms out to catch her if she was going to fall. "Whoops."

"Gunther, you're going to make me fall!" CeCe said loudly, digging her feet into the snow. That just allowed him to push her forward easier. Right when they made it to the other side of the road, CeCe fell into the snow with a groan. Gunther had shoved her as hard as he could, it felt like, and now she was laying face first in the snow. "Really? You had to shove me?"

"Why not?" CeCe flipped onto her back, staring at Gunther. She wasn't really sure if he was smiling since the scarf covered his mouth, but his eyes were sparkling mischievously. He stuck his gloved hand out to help her stand up, but she had other plans. CeCe grabbed glove and tugged as hard as she could. He didn't fall over because she had only pulled his glove off. She threw it at him and he caught it. "Did you really think you could make me fall?" 

"Yeah." Gunther quickly stood back up and ran away from CeCe. She sat up and watched as he ran through the snow. "Where are you going?"

"I am running away from you," he called out, dropping down into the snow. "Let us have a snowball fight!"