AwkwardWinter rolled around once more, covering the Dojos--and their dog--in a fresh blanket of snow.
Nora decided that the other household pet wasn't so bad either. Plus, she
had promised Weston to she'd look after Athena. Who knows, maybe if she kept at it, she'd even become an equestrian like Weston.
Speaking of Weston, he still hadn't asked her to prom, despite the not so subtle hints she'd been dropping. It always seemed like his thoughts were somewhere other than on romance, while she couldn't think of anything else.
Pat, on the other hand, was still having trouble understanding the meaning of "just friends."
Nora: "Sorry, buddy. No mistletoe kisses for you!"
The family threw one of its traditional Snow Flake Day parties, which was less jam packed than usual, seeing as how the extended family was dying out in droves.
Weston got her a cookbook, which was really pretty thoughtful, even it wasn't the sort of romantic present she'd been hoping for.
Weston: "I've got a little something else for you too," he said, after the party. "Look up."
Nora: "Huh? Oh, mistletoe!"
Weston: "What do you think?"
Her heart nearly leaped out of her chest.
That was, until he went for her cheek, she went for his lips, and he winded up planting a kiss on her nose.
Well that couldn't have possibly been any more awkward! 
But the awkwardness didn't stop there. Prom was looming ahead in the not-so-distance future, and over the next couple of days the tension came to a head.
She shouted at Weston, randomly, although she couldn't have explained why.
And when he tried to ask her what was wrong, she just told him to shut up and do his homework.
Weston: "Look, Nora, um . . . about prom tonight?"
She just sighed; she was used to the disappointment by now. "Yes, I have a license. I'll drive you."
Weston: "What? . . . oh."
Nora: "That
is what you were going to ask, right?"
Weston: " . . . Of-ofcourse!"
And so they went, together, but separate.
