Stacy told me that she would pick me up to take me to my winter wonderland at 9pm. I was all packed and ready to go, bags by the door and heavy winter coat on, by the time I heard her honk to indicate her arrival. “Perfect timing,” I mumble to myself as I check my watch and lock the door.

“Hey, Stacy, thanks again for picking me up!”

“Don’t mention it; anything for our VIP ticket holder,” she cuckles. “Do you need any help with your bags?”

“Nah,” I smile as I close the hatch to her Subaru and slide into the passenger seat. “I’m good.”

Stacy peels off the side street and makes the short trip over the Lebanon Municipal Airport. She’s not the best driver, but I appreciate her driving so my car doesn’t get stuck at the airport for two weeks. 

I was actually a bit surprised when Stacy told me that we would be going to the airport. I thought for sure New Hampshire would be the perfect location for a ‘winter wonderland’ get-away, and that the location must be within driving distance, or at least train distance. When I mentioned this thought to Stacy, she only chuckled and said that while the location could be accessed by car, it was a lot easier to access by plane. I was not about to argue.

“Are you sure that you’re good with taking me as your ‘plus-one’?” Stacy drew my attention back to her from my daze out the window.

“Absolutely!” It’s not like I have a partner, and all my friends back in Florida would gag at the idea of my holiday movie dream coming true, not like I would tell Stacy that. My Florida friends love me, and want the best for me, but they have witnessed too much holiday horror for them to then see me experience it in person. They knew I would want to experience every cliche possible. Luckily for me, Stacy loves cliches and will probably initiate them for me. I think one of the reasons Stacy and I clicked so well was because of our mutual love for all things cliche, even if it was never explicitly expressed. 

“Great, then let’s get going.”

The walk into the airport is cold, but I am bracing myself for our even colder destination. As we walk, I am mentally preparing myself to be ready to lay down in some snow and make a snow-angel. I am so engrossed in my day-dream that I didn’t even notice Stacy stopping in front of me, and I accidentally ran into her.

“Oof, I’m sorry.”

“Not a problem, I am the one who suddenly stopped,” Stacy reassures me with a soft smile that slowly got bigger. “Once we knew that I was going with you on this trip, the rest of the department and I decided that we wanted the destination of the trip to be a surprise. Is that okay with you?”

She points to my scarf and airpods. “Sure, that just adds to the wonder, right?”

“I knew you would think that way!” Stacy helps me pull the scarf up after I adjust my airpods, playing downloaded music so I wouldn’t affect the plane. She is lucky I trust her, because if I didn’t know better, this was starting to sound like an actual holiday horror.