CHAPTER FIFTEEN

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3

ARYA STARK

"Sansa!"

No response. Arya was clad in the dress that she and Sansa had bought yesterday afternoon for her, still no shoes on her feet yet, hair a mess, hurrying back and forth between the hallway, her bedroom, then the bathroom attached between her room and Rickon's, and back out to the hallway again. She looked over the railing to the large decorative wall clock in the living room and saw she only had fifteen minutes until Gendry was supposed to arrive. Seriously, Sansa, where are you when I need you? You promised you'd help me get ready for this.

"Sansa!" Arya yelled, louder this time, while hanging as far as she could over the railing looking down to the first floor. "Gendry's gonna be here in like, fifteen minutes and my hair's a fucking mess! Get up here and help… um, please?" she added politely, hoping it'd help.

"Language, Arya Stark!" she heard her mom yell from downstairs.

As soon as she yelled sorry down to Catelyn, she heard Sansa coming around the corner. "I'm coming, I'm coming. Gosh, Arry, hold on a minute, it can't that ba— Oh. Sweet Mother, what'd you do to yourself? " Sansa asked, stopping just short of running into Arya, but stopped herself in time. She ran her hand quickly through Arya's hair before grabbing her arm and pulling her back into the bathroom. "I only left you alone long enough to get dressed. Did you put your finger in an electrical socket?"

"Is it that bad?" Arya sat down on the cushy chair that was still kept in front of the vanity from back when the adjoining room was Sansa's instead of Rickon's and took a look at her hair. I don't know how I messed this up. All I tried to do was curl it and try to make it look nice... but I look more like Rickon after that one time he got lost in the Wolfswood for three days and mom got the round brush stuck in his hair afterwards.

"It is pretty bad, but no worries, I've got this covered. Hand me that round brush over there, the hairspray, and the curling iron. Oh, good, good, it's still hot," Sansa said, cracking her knuckles as Arya made quick work of handing her what she needed. She felt like she was becoming the assistant to a surgeon. "Alright, little sister, time to watch me make the magic happen."

GENDRY WATERS

Gendry was almost positive that he'd never been this nervous in his entire life. He'd listened to Meera, Bran, Hot Pie, Jeyne, most of his coworkers, a stranger in the grocery store who'd overheard the name 'Arya,' and everyone else that had wanted to give him advice. They all said almost the same thing, verbatim – Arya Stark is not a romantic. She doesn't want flowers, or chocolates, or pomp and circumstance. Her idea of an ideal date was low-key and laid back, watching a B-science fiction movie about killer tomatoes or zombies, a plateful of Meereenese takeout resting on her knees, listening to Joy Division albums on vinyl, and drinking some sort of trendy small batch beer, that's what Jeyne had told him. Maybe take her for a moonlight tromp through the woods on snowshoes, but that's as romantic as you can get with that one. Gendry trusted Jeyne, she'd known Arya for all her life and believed her when she said that was what Arya would plan for a perfect date. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy crappy old movies about alien invasions, takeout, and he'd be lying if he said he hadn't worn out his cassette copy of the Unknown Pleasures album in high school, but something about that plan didn't seem right to him.

I'm aiming to be different, he told himself, adjusting his tie one last time. To be the one that stands out. Tonight, Arya Stark is going to be wooed, wined and dined, and shown the best ridiculously over the top date that I can arrange on two and a half days' worth of notice. I can't let her see that I'm nervous. I think I've texted and been on my phone in the past 48 hours than I have in the past ten years.

He reminded himself that he had thought of everything. He was, after all, currently riding down the snowy streets of the Winterfell Resort in a horse-drawn carriage to pick her up. Since he'd arrived at the resort he'd seen the carriages taking people around the streets during the day and thought it would be the perfect way to let Arya know that this date would be different right from the start, as if asking her to wear a dress hadn't alerted her to that already.

The carriage driver stopped in front of the Stark's condo a few minutes before six-thirty and Gendry pushed open the half door on the side, walked the seemingly long fifty feet up to the front door, and rang the bell. After a few seconds, he heard two sets of footsteps, one running towards the door, one at a normal pace, both followed by a man's voice just inside the door.

"Alright there, mister, you go back to your dinner before it gets cold. I'll get the door," the voice said as the door opened, and he quickly recognized Ned Stark from a few days ago and saw a boy skidding around a corner on socked feet back to what must be their dining room.

"Evening, Mr. Stark. I'm Gendry Waters, here to pick up Arya." He quickly and confidently shook Ned's hand, who for some reason had a dumbfounded look on his face as he looked him up and down. Why is he giving me that look? Did she not tell them I'd be picking her up? Oh, man, can he see the carriage outside?

"Nice to meet you, Gendry. Arya's told me about you and your internship at Baratheon, but now that I look at you, I can't exactly place it but you look very familiar. You're originally from Kings Landing, correct?"

"Correct, sir," he answered as Ned led him into the foyer. "Maybe you've seen me there? I used to wait tables at Meraxes in the financial district and I was a valet for a while at one of the fancier hotels downtown."

"That's probably it. Robert did always like to eat at Meraxes every chance he got. Always said it had the best boar in tow," he agreed. "And cut it out with the 'sir' crap. Makes me feel old. Ned's fine, or Mr. Stark if you must. But anyways, where is that daughter of mine? Arya?" he called up the open staircase, "Gendry is here to pick you up. It's not nice of you to keep him waiting."

In an instant, they heard a door open and shut and then Sansa quickly ran down the stairs, long coppery hair flying out behind her, in black flared yoga pants with an oversized baby blue sweater hanging off her shoulders, more casually dressed than Gendry had ever seen her.

"She'll be down in three seconds, I promise," Sansa said, standing by her dad. "Come on, dad, let's go back into the dining room and finish eating before dinner gets cold. I'm sure you've intimidated Gendry quite enough for one evening. Not only are you his boss but now he's taking out your youngest daughter," Sansa continued jokingly. She threaded her arm through Ned's and led him back to the kitchen. She stopped for a second to wink at Gendry and said, "Don't worry. You'll be fine. You look very nice."

Once he was left alone in the foyer, he'd wished that Sansa and her father had stuck around those last couple of moments, maybe he would've made some small talk with Ned for a minute or two, mostly about the weather and how he was fitting in with his internship and job, but when he heard the clack of high heels against hardwood floor and looked up to see Arya coming down the stairs he was glad it was only him.

He didn't need Sansa having the ability to gossip to everyone at the resort about the awestruck look he knew he had… and he certainly didn't need her father recognizing the distinct look of sheer want plastered across his face.

She was two rungs from the bottom when he saw her roll her eyes at him, and he realized she was aware of the look on his face. "Are you ready to go, or did you wanna stand there at ogle me for a little while longer?"

"Sorry, it's just…" he started. Come on, Waters. Tell her how beautiful she is, you can do this. "I guess I've just never seen you with so little clothes on."

He internally winced as the words left his mouth, but Arya didn't seem to notice the lack of compliment. It was true though. Most of the time it was jeans and some sort of hoodie, or snow pants and a ski jacket. She had worn those bright red shorts at Jon's party, but this was different. This was clingy grey fabric, not making Gendry's imagination work very hard. This was a skirt that was holding on for dear life to the outline of strong legs that were made to look even longer thanks to a ridiculous pair of heels. This was a high neckline with a deep plunge from clavicle to navel between her breasts, and he quickly realized there was no way she had a bra on under it.

"Shit, you're right. I can't wear my ski jacket with this..." she said, looking around the foyer in nervously. "Mom! Can I borrow your nice coat? I know you wouldn't want me to wear my ratty ski jacket with this nice new dress."

Almost immediately, Mrs. Stark answered from the dining room. "Of course, Arya. It's in the hall closet like usual. Just be careful with it, it's dry clean only." There was a pause for a second. "You know, sweetie, maybe we should come in there and take some pictures of you and Gendry in front of the firep—"

"Nope, sorry, mom," she interrupted and starting pushing Gendry at the door. "Gotta go."

ARYA STARK

I cannot believe he picked me up at my house in a horse and fucking carriage. Did Sansa put him up to this?

"So," Arya started, getting seated and settled in the back of the carriage. Her mother's coat was long on her and heavy as well, dark black with a reddish colored fur around on the collar. She almost had to ask for help maneuvering up the steps to the carriage with it on. "Did someone tell you that I was into this type of thing? Because if so, you've been lied to."

Well, not fully lied to, she thought. Getting to see Gendry look ridiculously hot in a suit is something I could definitely be into. He might've unaware of how obvious his eye-fucking was when he saw her walk down the stairs, but she knew how to keep hers under wraps.

"Actually no, I wasn't lied to. I was told that this was a horrible idea and you'd rather get takeaway, watch a movie with really awful special effects, and listen to late 70s punk rock. I thought this would be much more memorable."

"Oh, I'll definitely remember it," Arya said, and immediately saw Gendry cock one of his eyebrows up as he entered the carriage, wondering the actual meaning of what she'd just said. She smirked when she realized the only place for him to sit was a cozy spot on the bench next to her. "That is, ugh, I mean… I've just never had someone plan this much for me. I didn't even have a graduation party. Like I said, it's not really my scene, ya know?"

"It's not mine, either, but I thought we could make it fun. Plus, I actually want to get to know you, that's why I decided I'd ask you out if I won the bet, and it's a lot easier to do that with what I've got planned."

"Okay, I'll play along, Gendry Waters. Arya Stark is more than happy to play pretend with you on our fancy first date."

"Oh, if you think this is fancy, you just wait." He had a smug look on his face which made her nervous about what he had planned next. The carriage took a turn at the end of Arya's side street, heading towards the resort, which didn't surprise her. Another turn, and the ride took them through the main village.

What is this? It's Saturday frickin' evening and he's got the driver taking us through the square... with the fountain, and weirwood trees, and everyone and their mum at the ice skating rink. I'm never gonna hear the end of this at work on Monday. She noticed him looking over at the ice skating rink, which was full of people as usual on a Saturday night. The temperature was hovering just below freezing, perfect weather to bring people out to skate. It was a lively evening in the square, more so than Arya had seen yet this season, with people not only at the rink but also groups sitting around the large fire pits off to the side. As usual, the trees were all decorated with white lights. A number of pop-up stands selling hot chocolate, beaver tails, or Winterfell's ubiquitous maple syrup on a stick had groups of people lined up in front of them.

"They're all staring at us," Arya said, barely above a whisper.

"Us? With the way you look tonight I doubt they've even noticed I'm here," he explained. "Why are looking at me like that? You know look amazing, don't you?"

"What?"

"You do. I'm sure the way I was staring earlier gave it away though. Sorry about that, by the way. I should've told you instead of just staring. You probably hate it, but thanks for playing along and dressing up for tonight."

She knew at that point she had to be blushing, and she hoped that he wouldn't notice, or maybe just think her cheeks were rosy from the cold air outside. "It's fine. Just don't get used to it."

Once they passed the square, the carriage made one last turn and stopped smoothly in front of the main gondola station. The little wheels inside her head had been turning at warp speed trying to figure out what exactly he had planned for the evening, and at that moment she thought she'd figured out at least part of it.

"Wait, we're going to Castle Black for dinner? Why is the gondola station not packed?" she asked. The driver of the carriage walked around to open the door, and Gendry got out first. He offered his hand out to help her down the fold-out steps, and while it was her immediate reaction to say something about how she was more than capable of doing it herself, she remembered the height of the shoes she was wearing, and decided she could let him be chivalrous. Just this once, she told herself. Besides, it's much more favorable than breaking an ankle. She took his hand and let him help her down, having every intention of letting go as soon as she was on solid ground, but standing she was no longer able to hide her hands from the cold inside her coat, and gods, how are his hands so warm? Okay, we can hold hands. It's a necessity. Totally Darwinian. Protection against frostbite. Yes, totally that.

"I didn't want to deal with the rush, so I talked the reservations guy into getting a table for a half hour after their normal first seating," he explained, quickly looking down to their still-joined hands before guiding her away from the carriage. Whoever he'd talked to on the phone the other night has explained that there was a first seating at six thirty, and then a second at eight thirty, neither of which he wanted. It took a bit of hassling, maybe dropping the Stark name, and there was a corner booth for Waters, party of two, at seven. "Besides, I've got another surprise planned and I don't really want a crowd for it."

"What kind of surprise?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. Really though? I've got no clue what the hell else he's planning. Could be anything. Gondie full of puppies for all I know, she thought. That'd actually be awesome.

"You'll see," he said, smiling as he opened the door to the gondola building. "I didn't plan all of this to spoil it for you."

As they turned the corner towards where the cabins were each loaded, walking through what normally was jam-packed full of people all day long, she noticed what he must've been talking about, and stopped dead in her tracks, right arm going out to stop him.

"Gendry, stop. Did you do this?" She pointed at the gondola cabin that was stopped at the loading point, waiting for its passengers, lit up with some sort of holiday Winter Solstice lights.

"Of course. The gondies don't usually come decked out in rope lights, do they? Because shit, that would've saved me a ton of legwork and double-A batteries."

She rolled her eyes at him, but finally continued to walk towards the waiting gondola car. The doors were already open, and the one worker who was there closed the doors and re-started the cables once they were seated.

Arya had taken the gondola up at night a couple of times before, mostly just with friends or when family was in town and wanted to see lights of the resort and the town at night, but she'd never seen a gondola like this, not for any occasion she could think of. There were rope lights going up the four corners to circle on the ceiling, which was what she'd initially noticed, and there were a handful of glittery snowflake decorations hanging from the ceiling. Across from the door was a space heater that must've been going for at least fifteen minutes already judging by how toasty it was inside, and there was a portable Bluetooth speaker that was playing a song which she immediately recognized as Rancid's Ruby Soho. Hmm, I've found a guy that pays attention it seems, she thought to herself, trying not to smile too much.

"So let's see, we've got a horse and carriage ride, a hand-decorated gondola complete with a heater, and now dinner at Castle Black," Arya said, a few moments after the gondola took off from the station, after she'd had enough time to take stock of everything in the cabin. She'd sat on the bench opposite of him, purposely. "I've got to say, I'm pretty impressed so far."

"Really?"

"I mean, yea. Hells, Gendry, you've only lived here for like two weeks, and we only had this date planned for two days and you've gone so far out of your way for this. Logistically, I have no clue how you got all of this done," she explained, gesturing to the inside of gondola and back down towards where the carriage had been left behind. "I have a hard time managing my work schedule and remembering when I made plans with people."

"Well, I told you I wanted this to be memorable, right?" he replied. "And logistically… let's just say I've used about every single connection I've got at the resort to pull this off. I owe about a million people favors by now, but it'll be worth it."

"How do you know that?"

He leaned back against the glass of the gondola and crossed his right leg over his left, then shrugged. "Just a good feeling I've got."