Not a Love Story

Forty-Eight // Sledding

Benjamin Jones

I was still in bed scrolling through my phone when the silence was interrupted by ringing. Ollie's name popped up on my screen, making my lips quirk up as I accepted the call.

"Hey." I greeted.

"Have you looked outside?" Ollie excitedly asked.

"What?" I asked, pushing myself up and out of bed to look out of my window.

"Outside! It snowed!" he exclaimed as I pulled back the curtains, seeing the ground blanketed in snow, large flakes still slowly drifting down from the sky.

"I see that." I smirked.

"Let's go sledding." Ollie suggested.

"Where?" I asked, lightly chuckling.

"Hollows! There's that big hill, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Damn I haven't been there in forever." I said.

"So? Can we go?" Ollie asked.

"Sure. I'll pick you up in ten." I said.

"Yay! See you then." he excitedly answered, hanging up. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. I grabbed a sweatshirt and threw it on before brushing my teeth and jogging downstairs.

"Where are you going?" I heard my dad ask from the living room.

"Sledding." I answered, pulling a hat on and shoving gloves into my jacket pockets.

"Sledding?" he asked.

"Yeah. Ollie wants to go." I elaborated, smiling. My dad nodded, understanding. I put my shoes on before grabbing my keys and heading out to the car. I cranked up the heat as I drove to Ollie's.

I saw Ollie and Henry in the open garage, arguing with one another as I pulled into the driveway. Ollie looked over at me, immediately smiling when he saw me park and get out of the car.

"What's going on here?" I asked, joining the two in the garage.

"Henry won't give me the sled." Ollie whined, gesturing towards Henry, who sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I thought Ben would bring one!" Henry defended.

"Sorry, I don't have one." I admitted, earning a groan from Ollie. Henry pulled out his phone, a noise prompting him that he had a text.

"Oh never mind. Jay has one." Henry said, handing Ollie the sled.

"Yay! Bye, Hen." he said, grabbing the sled and walking over to me, a wide grin on his face. "Ready?" he asked. I nodded, leaning forward and pressing a light kiss to his lips.

"Yep." I answered. I saw a light blush dust his cheeks, his eyes darting towards his brother who just rolled his eyes at us before going inside. Ollie put the sled in the back seat while I got in and turned the car on.

"Are you excited?" he asked as he buckled in.

"Clearly not as much as you." I joked.

"Sorry. I really like the snow and Henry mentioned sledding and I thought of you and yeah." he rambled sheepishly. I looked over at him, placing my hand on his knee.

"You're cute." I said, glancing over at him. Ollie mumbled a thanks, gently placing his hand over mine.

The Hollows parking lot was a lot less full than I was expecting. There were kids running around, up and down the hill with sleds in their hands. Ollie's face lit up and he jumped out of the car, grabbing the sled.

"Come on!" he called to me. I shook my head and closed the door, locking the car and putting my keys in my pocket.

"Alright, alright." I said, jogging over to him. We trudged together in the snow, dodging kids sledding down the hill.

When we finally reached the top of the hill, Ollie set the sled down and looked out at the park. The trees were covered in snow, making everything look just like a winter postcard.

"Wow." he whispered.

"Yeah." I agreed. A kid screaming at the bottom of the hill made us look down, seeing her laughing as her and her friend had flipped their sled. Ollie chuckled and looked at me.

"Let's go." he said, pulling his navy hat down to try and contain his brown curls. He adjusted his gloves and sat down at the front of the sled. "Ben! Come on!" he laughed, gesturing at me to join him.

I sat behind him on the sled, adjusting myself so Ollie was between my legs, his back pressed against my stomach and my legs of either side of him. I wrapped my arms around his midsection, placing my chin on his shoulder. "Here we go!" Ollie called, pushing off and down the hill.

I tightened my grip around him as we picked up speed, laughing along with Ollie all the way down the hill. We sat at the bottom of the hill, both hysterically laughing.

"Again?" I asked. He eagerly nodded, rolling off the sled and standing up, offering his hand to me. He pulled me up and I grabbed the sled rope. We walked back up the hill, going up and down the hill at least 15 times.

The snow was still softly falling and the sun was almost completely set. We were the only ones left on the hill.

"Alright, last one?" he asked. I nodded, looking down at my nearly soaking jeans.

"Probably a good idea." I chuckled. Ollie sat down and I sat behind him, pushing off and heading down the hill.

"Ben! Oh shit!" Ollie cried, seeing a large bump in the snow ahead. Ollie desperately tried to dodge it, but the sled slid right over it, throwing both of us off and into the snow. Ollie and I rolled down the hill, the sled softly hitting me in the side as we reached the bottom and came to a stop.

I looked over at Ollie, both of us bursting out into laughter. He turned his head and looked up at the sky, cloudy with snow gently falling. I admired him, watching the snow gather on his hat, on his stray hairs, his eyelashes, his lips.

His eyes suddenly met mine, his smile softening. I reached forward and gripped his face in my hands, his lips colliding with mine. He eagerly responded, his glove covered hands on either side of my face as he rolled over to straddle me. His lips were cold, his nose brushing against mine. He gently removed his hands from my face, pulling his gloves off and tossing them to the side before running his hands through my hair, running his thumb along my cheek.

"Your hands are cold." I murmured against his lips. He chuckled, placing another light kiss on my lips.

"We should probably go warm up." he mumbled. I nodded.

"Yeah." I slowly sat up, wrapping my arms around his waist so he wouldn't fall off my lap. "Hot cocoa?" I asked. He eagerly nodded.

"Definitely." he answered, grinning. He slowly stood up, helping me up before grabbing his gloves. I held the sled rope in one hand and Ollie's in the other, our fingers intertwined.

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23k reads?!?!? Thank you all so much, you have no idea how much your love for this story means to me! Reading your lovely comments absolutely makes my day:) Thank you all so so so much!!

x, Anne