Trapped with the Blizzard (19 page)

Bryan slipped his arm around my waist and leaned my head against his chest.

“You know,” he said, leaning close to my ear, “I have that Santa costume upstairs. We never got to use it.”

I reclined and looked at him incredulously. “You really are something else, aren’t you?”

“What? I’m just saying… It’s a healthy way to release stress. Plus, I’m pretty sure Santa told me he got you something special this year,” he said with a sideways grin. He jiggled me, pulling me close to his chest, running his fingers into my hair as he kissed the top of my head. “You have been a very good girl.”

As I laughed, a weird thought occurred to me.
This sort of craziness has now become our new normal. Even with everything that’s happening to us, he and I are capable of laughing about it…

Between the sound of the wind outside and the faint crying of kids all around me, there was absolutely no way I was going to sleep. I rolled back and forth on the pathetic pile of blankets; it was the best Liz and Bryan could do given such short notice. Of course, they had matching His and Hers super-duper sleeping bags zipped together. I punched the pillow under my head, rolled over onto my back, and huffed as I stared at the ceiling.

It wasn’t at all how I imagined my winter to start off. In less than a month, I’d embarrassed myself in front of the whole town, met a guy who made me act like a complete twit, and got into more fights with Liz than I thought possible. I glanced over at her sleeping soundly with Jack in her arms. I’d heard Bryan get up maybe an hour before. The scraping of shovels against pavement outside echoed through the quiet hall, the maintenance crew taking turns every thirty minutes to clear the walks.

I laced my fingers behind my head and closed my eyes, willing myself to at least pretend to be asleep. Usually if I faked myself out long enough, the real thing would eventually come. All I wanted was a few minutes of rest. Just a couple.

I began to drift off and an intrusive thought popped into my head.
I wonder how Mom and Dad are doing… she must be worried sick.
I considered texting her at least, but I knew how hard it was for her to get any real sleep. I’d feel even worse if I woke her up only to worry her.

With all hopes of going to sleep dashed, I rolled over onto my stomach. I pulled the blanket over my head to block the glow of the phone. It had 30% battery left and the 3G symbol flickered on and off. I imagined a single wire barely holding the tower up, the entire structure waving with each gust of wind. I supposed it was inevitable we’d lose cell service.

As much as I knew she would be worried about me, it made me a little glad. The darkness in my chest swelled at the thought, even.
Serves her right for dumping me on Bryan and Liz
.
Abandoning her only child.
But with the phone in my hand, I knew the seriousness of the situation required me to try to ignore that spite. Before I thought too much about it, I quickly typed up an email.

Hey Mom. We’re fine, haven’t frozen to death yet. Up at Powder Mountain with the rest of the rednecks.

My finger hovered over
Send
as I tried to think of a good way to close the email.

Merry Christmas.

It’d be enough. Wanting to save as much power as I could, I switched off the phone. Just as I pulled the blanket from my head, a hand brushed my shoulder. It was a small miracle I didn’t cry out and wake up the entire lodge. I was suddenly face to face with Miah, his bright blue eyes almost glowing in the faint light. He held a finger to his smiling lips and knocked his head behind him. With a lump in my throat, I nodded and carefully slipped out of the blanket so I wouldn’t disturb Liz and Jack. A little thrill shot through me as he reached back and threaded his fingers through mine. He led me through the maze of feet and sleeping bags to a quiet spot near the cafe at the front.

“I couldn’t sleep and saw you were awake,” he whispered. “You wanna hang out for a bit?”

“No thanks,” I replied as I turned to walk away. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me back with a chuckle.

“I asked for that. Hang on.” He picked up a round table and moved it to the side so we were able to sit with our backs against the wall, tucked away and private.

“So, couldn’t sleep?”

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. It was the first time we were completely alone. I still hadn’t wrapped my head around the things he made me think and feel. “Yeah, it’s the wind. Every time it gusts, I’m expecting a tree to come crashing through a window. I’ve always hated the wind.”

“I can’t sleep with all these people everywhere. And even though I know she’s fine, I’m lying there listening to each breath Marie’s mom takes.” He chuckled and shook his head sadly. “I think I’ve actually gotten used to the sound of the respirator so much I can’t go to sleep without it.”

I know exactly what you mean,
I almost said before I bit my tongue. I couldn’t just say that without admitting I’d straight up lied to him earlier about my dad.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to get all deep on you again. I swear I’m not normally like this,” Miah said as he placed his hand on my leg.

“No, it’s fine. I don’t mind deep,” I replied.
Why do I feel like everything I say around this guy sounds so stupid?

“Well, then can I ask you something serious?” His hand slid from my thigh down to my knee and back.

I shrugged, a knot forming in my stomach. “Yeah, whatever.”

"Are you sure? I mean this is really serious."

"God! Just ask it already," I said with an exasperated laugh.

"All right. How old are you?"

I met his gaze, almost laughing at the eager expression. I resisted the urge to mess with him, telling him I was something like thirteen and three quarters while holding up my fingers. “Apparently young enough you feel the need to ask that question.”

He looked back and forth between my eyes and I thought, for one brief moment, he was going to kiss me. But instead, he leaned against the wall and shrugged. “Fair enough. What should we talk about instead? Maybe our favorite colors or, wait, I know! The best flavor of ice cream. Strawberry for
eva
,” he said in a high-pitched voice.

I snorted and chewed my lip. "Totes. How old do you think I am?"

He shook his head hard enough that his hair fell out from behind his ear. "There is no way in hell I’m answering that question."

“Then I guess you don’t really need to know the answer that much, do you?”

Miah shifted, sitting cross-legged so he faced me. There was a now-familiar flutter in my stomach, a reaction he seemed to pull out of me with ease. “But I do want to know, because I wanna make sure that what I’m about to do is legal.”

Knowing full well what he meant, but still needing to diffuse the situation out of nerves, I joked, “I think it’s illegal in every state to expose yourself to somebody in public, regardless of how old they are.”

His lips curled into a crooked smile as he leaned forward, his hand slipping under my chin and tilting it up. Our eyes met. “You really are the strangest, most interesting person I’ve ever met. I’m not sure where you came from, but I’m glad you’re here now,” he said as our lips touched.

The world around us faded to black. The wind disappeared, replaced by the thudding of my heart in my ears. Shivers of cold became shivers of excitement. The kiss itself was practically chaste, but the way he made me feel was anything but. This wasn’t fooling around with Fitz because I was bored. This was genuine. Real. Connection.

Miah pulled back and studied my eyes for a moment. I didn’t know what to say, to think, to feel. So, of course, I filled the silence with a stupid comment. “You think I’m strange?”

He laughed and kissed me softly on the cheek. “In the best way possible.”

The sexual tension between us eased as we sat and talked in low whispers. We must’ve been there for over an hour, holding hands and sharing stories. I’d never felt so instantly comfortable around someone before and given the circumstances of our meeting, I was even more surprised. Eventually, I couldn’t stifle my yawning any further.

“I’ve kept you up long enough,” he said as he patted me on the knee. “Let’s get you back to bed.”

He helped me to my feet, but before I stepped back, he pulled me into a tight embrace. I stiffened, my prickly nature working on instinct, but there was no sign he’d noticed. With my head tucked just under his chin, I eased into the hug, breathing his scent deeply. I wanted to crawl up inside his sweatshirt and fall asleep on his chest.

“Thanks for keeping me distracted for a little while,” he whispered into my hair. “Want me to walk you back?”

I shook my head and glanced towards the bathrooms. “No, I’m all right. See you at breakfast?” My stomach fluttered again as I realized we were saying goodbye.
Is he going to kiss me again?

He flashed his crooked smile and nodded. “It’s a date.” He bent for a quick peck on the cheek, gave my hand a squeeze, and disappeared into the darkness.

Using my phone as a makeshift flashlight, I practically floated into the bathroom. I didn’t even think to look around when I pushed through. When a voice spoke right beside the door as I walked in, I just about pissed myself.

“Aren’t you fucking adorable?”

“Holy shit,” I gasped. My grip on the phone loosened and I had to juggle it back into my hand. It took a second for my brain to process, but I recognized the voice. “You scared the shit out of me, Marie,” I said as I tried to catch my breath.

“You two are getting pretty cozy.”

She switched on a small camping lantern, placed it on the counter, and pushed herself up beside it. “Sorry,” she replied with fake sweetness.

My heart pounded in my chest. Once I had a moment to collect myself, I realized how truly odd this whole situation was. As comfortable as I felt around Miah, I still wasn’t used to Marie. Her behavior was all over the place. “What, were you just hanging out in here or something?”

“Waiting for you,” she said flatly. The shadows cast across her face made me shiver.

“You were…”

“I’m kidding!” she laughed. “I had to take a piss. Saw you two sitting all tucked away together over there. When I heard footsteps, I figured it was you.”

The story made sense, but her tone made me cautious. There was an edge there I couldn’t ignore. “Yeah, well… surprise,” I muttered. I tried not to show my discomfort by casually walking to the furthest stall. “You can’t sleep either?”

“Oh no, I hardly ever sleep. Between all the energy drinks and the fact I’m practically a vampire, I’m up all hours of the night.” She made a weird tapping sound which I almost asked about, but she carried on. “So, what were you and Miah talking about?”

There it was again, that edge. Friendly banter tainted with subtext I wasn’t too fond of.

“Nothing much,” I replied through the stall door.

“Nothing much,” she mimicked. “You two talked about nothing much for over an hour?”

I couldn’t make sense of her attitude. I flushed the toilet and emerged with a frown. “What does it matter what we talked about?”

Marie’s curls bounced as she shrugged. “It doesn’t, really.” She tilted her head and watched as I washed my hands. “You know he has a bit of a reputation, right?”

At this point, I was more than a little tired and fed up with whatever game she was playing. Even after one day of knowing her, I was already getting kind of sick of her penchant for shit-stirring and lies. She was the sort of girl who claimed to hate drama but was the root cause of it all.

“No, but I’m sure you’re gonna tell me all about it, right?” I replied dully.

“I’m just trying to save you some heartache, girlfriend.” Again, her tone was clipped. Friendly on the outside but stained with something else…

I wiped my hands on my sweatpants and faced her. I ran my tongue along the inside of my cheek as I chose my words wisely. “If you’re into him or whatever, why did you tell him to ask me out to the stupid blizzard bash?”

Marie’s loud bark of a laugh echoed off the tiles. “Me into Miah? He fucking wishes. He’s been chasing me for years,” she said with a toss of her hair. “I know too much about his past to go anywhere near that hot mess. Besides, he’s more of a tit man than ass, so…” she trailed off as her eyes fell to my chest.