Adeline sighed as she stepped out of the comforting heat of the car and into the cold wind at the entrance of the swanky ski resort her parents had insisted on visiting for winter break. A family vacation... Adeline said, a scowl forming on her doll like features. A family vacation that my parents wanted...

She heaved her suitcases into the hotel lobby, the books she had brought weighing them down considerably. She still had an english paper to turn in the day after break that she had yet to finish. Or start. It wasn't like Adeline to procrastinate on her school work. She was after all the first in her class as well as one of the most involved in school activities.

Shaking her head to clear it of school, Adeline waited patiently as her parents got their room keys. A bellhop appeared, placing her baggage on a hotel cart. "Fifth floor." Her mother called back to Adeline, tossing her a room key. "You're father and I will be down here. We have some clients to meet. We'll meet you up there later." She called.

Right... Adeline sighed. Family vacation...

((Sorry it took me so long to reply. Haven't been feeling up to much of anything lately.))

David stood outside the elevators, jamming his finger into the button for the fourth time in a row, muttering under his breath. He'd only come back to the hotel so he could get his goggles that he had accidentally left sitting on the counter in his room. He and his buddies had decided to take a snowboarding trip up to this resort and he seemed to have lost his head, forgetting things left and right. He wasn't normally forgetful but he was just overly excited about this trip. He had spent the past few months working on and off as a substitute in random schools near his district and he was so sick of being around kids. Having the time to spend with his buddies was such a relief that he seemed almost giddy most days. He hoped soon to find a permanent position but had not had such luck yet. He cringed at the thought of returning home to more job applications. He relaxed, remembering he was on a vacation right now and could just shirk of responsibilities for a few more days, at least.

All this stuff is way too hot David thought as the elevator doors slid open, then chuckled softly looking down and studying the gloves, boots and jacket he had on in preparation for the snowboarding he was about to embark on. He chuckled again, pulling the beanie that was snuggle fixed to his head off and tucking it into his pocket, along with the gloves. he smiled happily to the people exiting the elevator, stepping to the side so they could get passed, waving to a few familiar faces that he had seen when he'd first arrived here earlier that morning.

Adeline waited by the elevators, seeing a man in a snowboarding jacket and boots getting off. Someone's hitting the slopes... Adeline thought as she entered the elevator with the bellhop at her side. She hit the 5th floor button and waited patiently, or attempted patience, as the elevator seemed to stop at every floor on the way up for other people.

Once the elevator hit the fifth floor Adeline led the bellhop down to her room, number 564 according to the card. She slid the card through the front of the door and the small light turned green instantly. Sighing, Adeline held the door open for the bellhop to place her suitcases in the room. She gave him a small tip before he left and closing the door quickly, and perhaps a little rudely, after he'd left.

Adeline stood at the foot of her bed, her parent's bed being through the bathroom into a joined room. She fell backwards against the bed and felt the down mattress seem to lift her back up. At least she'd be able to sleep well while she was here.

David smiled at a pretty lady getting onto the elevator, even though she looked a bit annoyed. He shrugged it off and headed out towards the doors, returning his hat and gloves to their proper position and swinging his goggles off of his finger and coming to stop just outside the door, looking around at the mountain they were standing on taking in a deep breath. The cold air singed his nostrils and he smiled to himself turning in a small semi-circle as he heard his name called from the distance. He waved to his buddies and did a slow jog over to them.

"About time, man!" said his friend Michael as David reached them, "we're about to be caught up in a wave of skiers if we don't move now," he finished it somewhat grumpily. David only smirked in response, following his friends along as they all chuckled their way to the ski lift, having picked up their boards from the side of the wall where they had held them earlier.

As David sat down on the ski lift he slid his goggles into place and turned to his friend at his side "There's quite a few good looking ladies around here," he said with a wink and a nudge of his elbow, pointing to the lift just below him. One of the things David loved most about being around his friends is he could allow himself to be a little immature at times and not have to worry about squinted eyebrows being turned in his direction. He smiled as he friend let out a low whistle and nodded in agreement.

They mumbled small conversations to each other as they reached the top of the mountain, having tied his board on immediately after sitting down. He turned to his friend, a huge grin plastered on his face "You ready for this?" he said as he slid himself from the sit and let himself fly down the mountain. The cold wind slapped his face and offended his nostrils -- he loved every minute of it. He didn't look around to see where his friend was, he kept his legs braced and continued down the mountain, completely unaware of any of his surroundings. This is when David seemed to feel the most free from everything, gliding down the mountain just did not give him anytime to think.

He reached the bottom first and began unstrapping his board, looking around for Michael.

"Hey man," he called and walked over to his friend "I think one runs enough for now, it's starting to get pretty busy," he commented, pointing to the line of people now gathering around the ski lift.

Michael nodded in agreement "Yeah, lets go to the room and change then grab some food," he suggested. David headed off in that direction of the hotel quickly, carrying his board with him and sliding his goggles onto his forhead. They continued their conversations all the way up to the fifth floor, where their room was. His friend Michael grew a little louder and more ridiculous and he stepped off the elevator with David and set off down the hallway together. They were laughing and talking about the trip down the mountain.

Adeline sighed as she unpacked her things. Finishing putting away her clothes, Adeline moved to the bathroom to set her things in order. Shampoo on the right and conditioner on the left... Adeline sorted as she laid her cosmetics in a straight line on the bathroom counter. She'd always been a bit obsessed with having everything in a perfect order, probably a cause of her perfect grades at school.

Adeline prided herself on her high grades and attention for detail. Smirking at the bathroom which was now in order, Adeline frowned when she saw a towel hanging sideways. After correcting the towel, Adeline returned to her suitcase and set her books upon the nightstand. She still had to finish reading Hamlet in order to write her outloine for the 3 page essay she had yet to finish.

Adeline grabbed the book off the table and left the room. She'd seen a very comfy looking fireplace with a couch that had almost obnoxiously large cushions and figured it'd be a very relaxing place to read. Adeline hit the down button of the elevator and waited patiently as the lights above the elevator changed to show where the elevator was.

David shook his head as Michael did a double-take at a young lady walking down the hall towards the elevator's they had just exited and wasn't surprised to see him spin around and walk towards her. David, who was not normally very aggressive towards women knew that Michael had seen someone that caught his attention and David followed behind him, whispering "You know, Mike, not every woman in this hotel is going to take kindly to your aggressive approach, you may want to tone it down a bit" as Michael came to a stop a short distance away from the girl and let out a low whistle. David only watched, studying the young lady from a distance. He noticed the book in her hand and wondered if that was just recreational reading, which would surprise him because he only had read Hamlet because it was thrust upon him. He leaned against the wall, wanting to see what the young lady's response would be.

Adeline's eyes shot wide open as a man whistled at her. Looking over she realized that he looked to be a few years older then her. Adeline fought her shyness into the back of her mind, deciding she didn't want to be a wallflower all vacation. "Can I help you?" She asked as she expertly raised one eyebrow with a hand on her hip while the other dangled the book. Adeline looked over the man's shoulder, seeing a much more handsome man who still seemed obviously older then her but didn't seem nearly as agressive.

David watched the girls response with a small smirk on his face. There was no way Michael would get to this one. He stepped forward and placed a hand on Michael's shoulder, pushing him to the side a little and addressed the girl himself. "Sorry," he said "you know how men are. In there twenties and they act like fifteen year olds."

Michael gave David an irritated look, but stepped back. It wasn't often that his friend David took the initiative to talk to a woman. He smiled and said "Sorry, miss," with a little wink and said "just noticed how your hair shined, even in this cheap lighting." He heard the breath that David exhaled and laughed inwardly.

David tried to direct his attention away from the horrendous pick-up line Mike just used and extended his hand out towards the young lady, who appeared to look a bit younger than him, though he couldn't say how much younger. "I'm David he said," and the gestured with a thrust of his elbow "This is my buddy, Mike," who also extended a hand.

"I'm Adeline." Adeline said as she reached her own hand forward and shaking David's before taking Micheal's. "What are you two doing here, you know, besides picking on girls with shiny hair?" She smiled as she placed both of her hands on her copy of Hamlet. She knew the men had to be far older then her but she'd spent enough time at school as the shy smart girl. Maybe a little risk was what she needed. After all, this was vacation.

David chuckled and took a step in front of Michael, who gave him a reproachful look but stepped aside "We're on well-deserved vacation, just doing some snowboarding," he said and the gestured with his thumb "We have a couple more of our buddies around here somewhere," but he shrugged it off "How about yourself, Adeline?" he asked, repeating her name as an attempt to committ it to her memory "business or pleasure?" he finished, studying the girls features, glancing to the side now an again in an attempt tothe fact he was staring.

"Pleasure." Adeline smiled, tilting her head to the side so that her long, black hair fell over her shoulder. Relived that they hadn't realized how young she was, Adeline smiled sweetly as she held her book in both hands. "I needed a vacation from college." She laugh, lying perfectly as she was used to doing with her friends to avoid parties. "Though you can never really escape the work." She sighed as she held the book up slightly. "I'm just glad its my last year." She lied again, glad that only her closest friend was able to read through her facade. "College gets very boring once you get past the whole party stage."

David studied the girl's features closely. She had to be younger than him but she was in college and he just graduated, though early, just within the last year, so she couldn't be that much younger than him. He thought it would be rude to ask her age already so he just continued to speculate. Laughing, he looked down at the book "I hated Hamlet when I had to read it," he said gesturing towards the book "Shakespeare never really made much sense to me. I found most of the characters in that play a bit...pompous," he smiled. Afraid to look like a fool because he never partied while he was in school, David chose not to comment. He had spent most of the years in college working twice as hard so he could get done twice as fast. Unfourtunately, however, David forgot that his friend Michael was standing next to him. Michael chimed in with a "David wasn't really the party type, you know?" a shook his head "I, on the other hand, I'm always looking for a good time." He gave Adeline a little wink.

Adeline gave Micheal a small smile before turning to David again, not bothering to dignify his remark with a response. "I actually like Hamlet better then some of the other plays Shakespeare has wrriten. Though I'm a sucker for his sonnets." She laughed, blushing slightly. Fantastic, she sounded like the typical college nerd who lives in the library. Though it wasn't much of a stretch from her life in high school. She felt bad that she was lying to the two men but couldn't bring herself to admit the truth. She was already to deep in anyways, Adeline decided so there wasn't much harm in just lying for a bit longer. It was only her age afterall and it wasn't as if she was going to see either of them after vacation anyways.

David smiled inwardly when she blushed. There was nothing more adorable and fetching to him then a girl who blushed. "If I had to choose a poet," he said with bit of a smile forming "I'd choose Whitman, every time." He finished, not even noticing Michael's presence anymore. Running his hands through his hair in an almost nervous fashion, David smiled at Adeline and said "I was just about to get changed and go get something to eat," he paused for a moment then in one breath said "Maybe we could meet in the lobby in ten minutes and you could join me?" he clamped his mouth shut, though he hoped he wasn't oozing embarrassment from every pore.

"That sounds like fun." Adeline smiled, her body humming with excitement though she tried to keep herself calm in front of them. It was sweet how nervous he seemed. No boy had ever been nervous around her before unless you counted the time in 5th grade when one of the nerds at her school had asked her to dance. She'd said no, too nervous herself to dance with a boy. But David was interesting and it was obvious how much more mature he was then the guys from her school. Maybe she should go out on a limb, it was vacation and she needed a break from stress. "I'll see you down there." She smiled, hoping it came out as a little flirty, before stepping into the elevator and pressing the button to go down to the lobby.

David smiled widely as Adeline stepped into the elevator and the door closed. He turned around and saw Michael staring at him, one of his eyebrows arched "What the HELL was that?" Michael said with laughter in his voice, "you need to flirt more, you sounded like a nervous school boy!" He gave David a slight punch on the arm and laughed again.

"She was cute, Mike, I couldn't let you taint that one with your evil," he mocked, turning on the heels of his boots and strutting down that hallway. He'd suddenly picked up a bit of a swagger as he went, Michael was following behind him shaking his head.

"Well," Michael said quietly "This could be good for you," and he stepped in front of David, slipping the key card into the door and swinging it open, giving a half-bow to David as he held open the door. David threw him a light punch on the arm as he went in and immediately began on undressing and walking towards the bathroom. He quickly hopped into the shower and did five minute wash-up of his body. He stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. Michael had plopped down on the couch and was watching something on the TV. David shut the door to the room that held the beds and dressed himself, quickly in a pair of dark-wash jeans and a simple, white button-up shirt.

Luckily, he never took much time to get ready. He looked in the mirror and ran his fingers through his damp hair once the strolled out the door. "You want anything?" He called to Mike but Mike shook his head "I'll be down in a little bit to crash this dinner date," David could hear him mumble as the door shut behind him. He shook his head, he was more than likely telling the truth.

Hurrying now, thinking that he didn't want to be late, David walked down the hall. He felt his pockets for the three essentials: phone Check, wallet check and room key check. He smiled to himself as he climbed into the elevator and headed towards the lobby.

Adeline dismissed the girlish squeal she'd had in the elevator as nerves. Smoothing out her hair, Adeline leaned against one of the leather couches in the lobby as she waited for David, watching her feet intensely. She'd never been on an actual date before and though this hardly counted as one in her book, her nerves were still almost uncontrollable. Taking a few deep breaths as she waited, Adeline calmed her nerves. It wasn't that big of a deal if she messed it up. She'd never see him again anyways. It was fine.

However as soon as Adeline heard the bell of the elevator ring her heat leaped to her throat as she realized that the calming she'd done had gone straight out the window.

David stepped out of the elevator and turned his head from left to right as though looking to cross the street. He spotted Adeline near one of the couches and strode over to her, sucking in a deep breath to calm himself. He'd been on plenty of dates but never with someone he'd just met in the hallway of the hotel he was at. The smile that crossed his lips when he saw her again was so effortless he was almost surprised. He stopped beside and looked intently at her face again, she looked so young, and pretty. "You ready?" he asked as he gestured towards the other side of the lobby where the resteraunt inside the hotel was "I figured we should just eat over here," he said and smiled, waiting for her to take the lead towards the resteraunt.

Adeline nodded simply, feeling strangely calm yet giddy at the same time. Leading David to the resturant, Adline retrieved some of her courage to speak. "So where are you from?" She asked as they walked across the lobby, figuring she should know something about him besides the fact that he was incredibly handsome with slightly damp hair. She almost immediately regretted not having changed out of her clothes she'd drove here in. Though the simple black scoopneck and somewhat faded jeans had gotten her this far. At least she had her grandmother's locket on, that made her feel slightly better about how she looked. Adeline had to remind herself not to play with the end of the locket, a habit she'd taken that he rmother detested though she played with the locket when she was in school most of the time, whenever she was concentrating.

David placed his hand on Adeline's lower back, half-leading her into the restaurant, stopping only at the sign that told him he needed to wait to be seated. "As of this moment," he said dropping his hand to his side "I live in California," he said then added "but more specifically I follow the job openings." He smiled down at her, pushing his hands into his pocket as the hostess came up and asked if it was just the two of them, he gave her a brief nod and gestured for her to take the lead again. As he sat down at the table and took the menu from the waitress he returned the question "And yourself?"

"I live in San Fransisco." Adeline said. "I go to the university there." She smiled shyly, afraid that he'd catch on to her lies. She hated lying to him, especially when he was so sweet but if she told him the truth then he would leave her and she liked the attention. "I'm studying to be a doctor." She smiled, not an entire lie. She was studying hard so that she could become a doctor. "What kind of job are you looking for?" Adeline asked as she skimmed the menu. The chicken caesar salad looked delicious, and was one of her favourites.

He returned the smile. In fact, his jaw hurt slightly because of all the smiling he seemed to be doing. "I'm a teacher," he said "Or at least that's the job I want," he finished, studying the menu himself. He wasn't terrible hungry but if there was anything that sounded good the alfredo had to be it. He folded his menu and set it to the side of the table, his way of letting the waitress know he was ready to order. He folded his hands together and placed them on the table "A doctor, huh?" he said with a bit of awe "I could have never done that," he commented "I think that sort of job would expose me to too much death, I like the idea of learning and life so much more."

((I'm going to be out of town until Sunday/Monday. ))

"Well, I''m just studying now." Adeline said, setting her menu on top of David's. "I still have to graduate and find a job. But I think I'd like to work most in the maternity wing." She admitted. "I'd love to deliver babies. What do you want to teach?" She asked, starting to wonder if it was a bad idea to pretend she was older. She wasn't even sure if it was legal. But David was sweet and there was really no harm in leading him on, especially when she was starting to like him.

David smiled. He loved kids, which is part of the reason he wanted to be a teacher. He already liked the fact that she wanted to work in a field the inspired life. "I'm actually hoping to be an English or a History teacher," he said "I majored in History, really, but writing is one of my passions," he could feel himself blushing slightly. He crossed his hands in front of him one the table and as the waitress stopped he gave his order "I'll have the chicken alfredo, please," he said and ordered the salad with ranch dressing for his opening dish. He had several more burning questions but wanted to wait until the food had been ordered before continuing their conversation.

"I'll have the chicken cesear salad." Adeline smiled politely before taking a drink of water, sad that their conversation had been interrupted. He seemed so sweet. So mature. And so unlike any of the boys at her school. Probably because the boys at her school weren't in their twenties but she shook that thought away. At least she'd have someone to keep her from being lonely here, assuming he didn't see through her lies and leave her on the spot.