Let It Snow
Gabriella had somehow convinced her mother to let her go to the Evans' this afternoon despite the heavy snowfall that graced New Mexico this December. Ryan had invited her earlier in the week to spend the evening with him; however, he did not anticipate the approaching snow storm.
Gabriella arrived at the Evans' around four in the afternoon bundled up in a long coat, Wellington boots, gloves and a scarf. Sharpay greeted Gabriella at the door with an amused smirk. She was wearing a plush pastel pink robe with fuzzy pink slippers; her hair was still wet from her mid-day shower. Gabriella stepped inside of the house pushing past Sharpay and took off her coat saying, "Have a nice shower?"
Sharpay just gave her a fake grin and then called up the stairs, "Ryan, she's here!" She turned and walked into the kitchen leaving Gabriella standing in the entryway. Sharpay still didn't like the idea of Ryan and Gabriella dating.
Gabriella hung up her coat and pulled off her boots and other winter accessories, revealing a light, purple sweater and black pants with black flats. Ryan raced down the stairs a few seconds later in a red and white striped shirt and khaki pants. He picked up Gabriella by the waist and spun her around. "Hey, Gaby!"
She giggled as he set her back on her feet.
"Hey, Ry." Gabriella gave him a peck on the cheek; he grinned.
"So," Ryan said as he grabbed her hand, leading her into the den, "are you ready?"
"Yep!" Gabriella said excitedly. They had planned to spend the evening watching Christmas films—of Gabriella's choosing of course.
The den was very large and set up as a private cinema. There were rows of big, red, comfy arm chairs and couches for seating. In the back were the projector and a kitchenette complete with microwave, fridge, and sink. Gabriella gaped and awed as Ryan led her behind a curtain to where another large room held many shelves and racks of DVDs; it was like being in a Blockbuster. Ryan pointed to a shelf on the wall on his left.
"These are all of our Christmas films," he said proudly.
Gabriella gaped. "There must be around a hundred movies here."
"Well, some of them are remakes of the originals. So, I dunno-"
Gabriella cut him off when she found her favorite film. "You have the original Miracle on 34th Street with Natalie Wood!" Ryan smiled and watched as she pulled the film off of the rack and hugged the box to her chest. "It's my favorite!" She relished. In only a few minutes, Gabriella had a pile of over 20 DVDs that she wanted to watch.
"Gabriella," Ryan said smiling. "We only have time to watch about three of those." He pointed to the pile on the floor. Gabriella sat on the floor with crossed legs and sighed. It took her a full 20 minutes to narrow the pile down to only three. As she discarded a film, Ryan returned it to its proper place on the shelf; all of the movies were organized by category and alphabetically.
Gabrielle stood up from the floor holding onto the final three films. She turned to Ryan.
"A child's believing in Santa film," she said as she showed him Miracle on 34th Street. "An adults believing in Santa comedy," she held out The Santa Clause. "And a love story," she held out The Holiday.
Ryan smiled and picked up Gabriella so that she was sitting in his arms.
"Good. Let's go," he said to her as he carried her back into the den. He plopped her on the love seat in the first row, her feet hanging over an arm of the couch, and held out his hand to her. "I'll take those, thank you."
Gabriella handed him the DVDs.
Ryan went to the back of the room to set up the projector and put a bag of popcorn in the microwave. He scanned the DVD boxes for any sign of one of them being a musical: no luck. He sighed. He would have preferred White Christmas but he said that Gabriella could choose tonight. Honestly, Ryan probably hadn't seen even close to a quarter of the films in the back room and most of the ones he watched were musicals. Well. There's a first time for everything, he thought to himself.
When the microwave sounded, Ryan grabbed the popcorn, poured it into a bowl from the kitchenette and pressed play on the DVD player. He walked back to Gabby who looked a little bored, but she brightened up when she saw him arrive with the popcorn.
"Sorry I took so long, Gaby," he apologized.
"No worries. You're here now," she said and scooted over on the couch so that he could sit beside her. Ryan placed the bowl of popcorn in Gabriella's lap and sidled into the seat. He put his arm around her as the opening credits of Miracle on 34th Street began.
By the time that Ryan and Gabriella had finished all three films it was already very late into the night. Gabriella had snuggled up to Ryan somewhere in-between the Santa Clause and The Holiday; her head lay on his shoulder, her hand on his chest. Ryan wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on top of hers. They sat like that for a while letting the end credits of The Holiday scroll, not really paying attention until Gabriella's watch beeped. It was officially 11:30 pm. She groaned and held on to Ryan even more.
"What's up?" He asked softly.
"It's 11:30. I have to go."
Ryan shifted a little on the couch so that he could hold her closer. "I don't want you to go," he fake pouted. He even stuck out his lip even though she couldn't see it.
She giggled. "I have to. My curfew is midnight." She began to sit up. Ryan's arms loosened only a little, keeping her trapped against his warm body. She looked up into his eyes. They were filled with so much love and the blues of his eyes seemed to shimmer as the light from the screen reflected in them; she wanted to melt right there in his arms. Her watch beeped again, bringing her out of her reverie. She sighed again and gave an 'I'm sorry' smile. "Ry, I really have to go."
Reluctantly, Ryan let her go and stood up from the couch. Her hand slid down his chest as he did this making his insides tingle. He held out a hand to Gabriella, which she took, and he gave her tug. She was thrust out of her seat and fell against Ryan's chest. He wrapped her in his arms and gave her a quick snog before picking her up and carrying her to the front door.
Ryan set Gabriella down by the stairs and attempted to look out the window pane in the front door but it was completely frosted over. Gabriella began to pull on her boots and jacket when Ryan opened the door, then immediately closed it. Gabriella turned around when she heard the door shut.
"Ryan, why-" she began, but Ryan interrupted her.
"You're not going to need those." Ryan said pointing to her jacket and boots.
"Why not?" Gabriella asked curiously.
Ryan smirked. "Because you'll never find your car." He tried to hold back his laughter as Gabriella's eyes nearly popped out of her head.
"What do you mean?" She cried as she rushed to the door pulling on her gloves. She yanked open the door and looked around at the snow-covered streets and houses. A blizzard was blowing so fiercely that she could hardly see beyond the Evans' front porch, though she hardly needed to; the elevated porch was covered with about 3 inches of snow. Gabriella slowly closed the door and leant back against it, closing her eyes.
"My mother is going to kill me," she said to Ryan.
Ryan laughed out loud. "Just call her. She'll understand. There's no way she could expect you to come home in that."
Ryan leaned against the door with only one arm supporting him. With his free hand, Ryan caressed Gabriella's cheek, and then gave her a light kiss on the lips. She opened her eyes and sighed into his mouth; he chuckled.
"You seem to be doing a lot of that recently."
"Doing what?" She asked.
Ryan imitated her sighing. She giggled and playfully smacked him on the arm. Just then they heard footsteps on the stairs as Sharpay made her way down, still dressed in her pink robe and slippers. She only made it a little way when she noticed them. She smirked, "Oh. It's Gabryan." Sharpay knew that Ryan hated the stupid nicknames people gave couples so when he started to date Gabriella she made up 'Gabryan'. Ryan made a face.
"Keep it down would you?" Sharpay continued. "Some of us like to sleep." And with that she abruptly turned around, her hair whipping behind her, and went back to her room. Gabby looked at Ryan who still looked annoyed.
"She's right. I should call my mom and tell her I'm staying over." Gabriella walked into the living room and stared out the large window at the blizzard as she called her mother. Ryan smiled at the thought of Gabriella staying the night; an added bonus to their wonderful evening. Ryan walked down the hall to grab a pillow and some blankets, singing to himself, "Let it snow, let its now, let it snow."
