Hot Sledding, Cold Hearts

Story Submitted by Leila:

I had a great idea for my first date with Jeff: sledding.  I had felt criminal for not having gone in recent winters, but no more.  I had a sled, I had a date.  It was on.

Jeff was an interesting creature.  He worked to raise money for a lobbying group with some pretty conservative interests, but he himself was a staunch liberal.  He told me that he was "working to bring them down form the inside," but I knew that he was in it for the pay.  He told me so himself, at any rate.

Sledding and hot chocolate.  What could be better?  I pitched him the idea, and he was all in favor of it.

I pulled on my snow pants, layered up like crazy, grabbed my sled, and set off for the biggest hill I knew of.

He met me there without a hat or gloves.  I asked him, "Have you ever gone sledding before?"

He said, "Yeah.  Just be careful not to tip us over."

For me, half of the fun of sledding was tipping over.  Problem?  Yes, indeed!

We weren't out for more than ten minutes before he started moaning about the cold.  I felt bad for him, but I wasn't sure what he had expected.  Sledding is done when it's cold out, and it requires (at least on my part) a significant time investment.

"I've got snow everywhere," he complained, "Up my jacket, down my pants, in my hair..."

I asked him if he wanted to sit out a few rounds before we packed it in, as I wanted to sled down a few more times.  He watched me race some neighborhood kids down the hill for a little bit, and then we took off, earlier than I would have liked.

Hot chocolate, though, would probably lift his spirits, right?  Who doesn't like hot chocolate?

"I don't like hot chocolate," Jeff said, and I asked him to repeat it, as I thought I was hearing things.  He explained, "It has too much sugar."

He ordered a Pepsi.  When I informed him that Pepsi also contains sugar, he said, "Yeah, but not chocolate-sugar."

Fair enough, Jeff.  Fair enough.  Pepsi-sugar, as we all know, is far healthier.

Jeff asked me if I had ever been married.  I told him that I hadn't.  He asked me if that made me feel guilty, to which I replied that it probably made me feel about as guilty as a little kid does when she squishes an ant.

"I don't think this is going to work," Jeff decided, standing up, "I leave you to your hot chocolate."

Jeff slipped on the ice outside, doing a merry little dance to keep his balance.  It brought me joy, and no guilt at all.