Once upon a time, a beautiful young girl fell in love with a frog. Now, I know what you're thinking. Hasn't this story already been told before? Yes, it has but this time it's different. See, this time the princess's name is Julie, and the frog is her childhood friend that she hadn't seen in years. His name was Luke. When Julie first met Luke, it was at one of her parents parties. His parents were friends with her parents and introduced the young six year olds to each other.


"Want to play with our four wheelers?" young Julie asked. Luke agreed and the two ran off with their parents yelling for them to wait for an adult. Some years past, Luke and Julie grew up going to the same school in mostly the same classes. They were the best of friends, but Luke wasn't growing in the attractive direction. However, Julie was gorgeous with her ice blue eyes and soft blond hair. It became so hard for them to be friends. Julie's other friends used to tease her about hanging out with Luke. They slowly faded apart.

One day, Julie received the startling news that Luke would be moving. After that, Julie spent as much time with him as possible. They laughed and joked until the day that Luke moved away. They still stayed in close contact by email, text message and occasional Skype. It was different without him around. Julie still had fun and laughed with her friends, but something was missing.


In the summer before Julie's junior year, she learned that Luke would be moving back to New York. Julie had conflicting emotions towards this. The last time she saw him he was a gawky, teenage boy with glasses and big ears. However, Julie remembered Luke being fun and easy to talk to. Still, she wasn't sure what to think up until Luke's arrival.

He was taller than she remembered. That was Julie's first thought when her family met his at the airport. As they got closer, she noticed that he was better looking too. Actually, he was really hot. Julie's eyes grew wide as he got closer. Her heart was beating at apace of 300 in her chest. Luke smiled and dropped his bags. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a bear hug.


"It's so good to see you." he said. Julie couldn't help but smile. She was going to enjoy this.


"You too." she said happily. He released her as their parents caught up to them.

Julie spent most of the summer catching up with Luke. He was just as fun as she remembered. She found herself wanting to spend more time with him and less time with the spiteful friends that drove her from him all those years ago.


When school started, everybody asked Julie who the new guy was. She answered with the truth. She tried not to like the jealous looks in girls' eyes but she couldn't help it.


Luke received plenty of attention on his own. He was everybody's best friend and every girls dream. A few girls gathered the courage to ask him out, but he always politely declined. Julie was grateful and never asked him why because she was afraid of his answer. By the time Snow Ball came around, she had fallen head-over-heels for Luke.


Then, the unthinkable happened. Luke declined twenty-three Snow Ball invitations and asked Julie instead. Rumors started flying around immediately. Julie ignored them because she was happy.


Everything was typical for the first part of the night. Luke came over to her house and her parents took pictures. He told her she looked beautiful and she smiled. It all seemed so rehearsed like she was part of a movie with her lines already written out.

The dance was okay. The DJ never stopped playing music and Luke was never far from sight. He didn't dance with any other girls and didn't accept any invitations to after-parties. The slow songs were the only point in time where Julie felt like she was close to Luke and even then, he wouldn't look her in the eyes. He seemed nervous and that worried Julie.

After the dance, Luke led Julie outside into the snow. All of the other girls in dresses twirled around beneath the crystals falling from the sky. Luke saw this and smiled. Suddenly, Julie saw an idea form in his mind. He took her hand and led her away from the school. Despite her protests, he wouldn't tell her where he was taking her. Across the street and back behind some buildings was an old playground. It looked like it hadn't been used in a long time and snow was beginning to pile up all over the rusty metal. The centerpiece was a tall gazebo. In the middle of the snow, Julie had no idea why Luke had brought her here.

"I'm freezing." she said. Luke looked down on her with his gorgeous eyes.

"I knew you would be." he said. Julie raised her eyebrow at this answer. It wasn't what she expected or what she wanted to hear. Luke walked her over to the gazebo through the snow.

"Close your eyes." Luke said. Julie was reluctant, but she did as he asked. The sound of wires clicking and humming echoed through the air.

"Okay, open them." Luke said. She opened her eyes and her jaw dropped. The entire inside of the Gazebo was lit up. Tiny Christmas lights decorated the wooden beams that made up the ceiling. In the center was a table with an IPod dock on it. Soft music was playing from it. Luke was standing in front of her offering her a warm coat. She took it graciously and slipped it on over the blue dress she was wearing. She noticed that it matched, but didn't say anything. In fact, she was too awestruck to speak at all.

"Do you like it?" Luke asked. Julie grinned and nodded. It was perfect.


"Do you want to dance?" Luke asked gracefully. He held out his hand to her with a smile. Julie bashfully took it and he led her to the middle of the Gazebo. Luke put one hand on her waist and took her hand with the other. He must have been taught some sort of ballroom dancing because he was leading her in a snowy waltz.


Snow was falling all around them and with the soft music playing; it was like something out of a fairy tale.

"I was really nervous to be with you tonight. I wanted it to be really special because I have liked you for a long time." Luke admitted. Julie felt herself turning pink, but she couldn't tell if it was from the cold or her heart beating so fast.


"I really like you too." she managed to say. Her voice sounded like a squeak but Luke didn't notice. He was smiling and his face was getting closer to hers as the song ended.


"I remember when we were little and I had the biggest crush on you and always wanted to tell you, but I couldn't." Luke said. Julie smiled up at him with her sparkling blue eyes. Then, he started to lean closer. Luke kissed her softly on the mouth. It was as if butterflies were massaging her lips. It was warm in the freezing cold night.