The snow quickly escalated into a full on snow storm. I kept a death grip on the steering wheel the entire time that we drove. I could tell that it was even freaking Justin out because he didn’t say a word the entire time.
At some point I gave up trying to locate his hotel. Our cell phone signals came and went and without them Siri couldn’t find the nearest Ritz Carlton. Taking it upon myself I made the executive decision and just go to the one place I was familiar with.
My fingers flicked my turning single on and I took a left turn off the main road into a residential area. Once he noticed we weren’t going to make it the next 20 miles to Denver he sat up straight. “Where are we going?”
I wanted to laugh at the obvious nervous tone in his voice. He could without a doubt pick me up with one arm and toss me a few yards, and yet I was the one who had just made him nervous. “To my apartment. Don’t spazz out okay? It’s just until the storm lets up then we can head back towards Denver.”
He kept his gaze out the window as we drove past snow covered houses and yards. He seemed fixated on the scenery. There were so many things going through my mind, I could only imagine what was going on in his. He was probably regretting going to that Christmas party now.
Taking a final right turn, I pulled up against the curb in front of my apartment complex. Shutting off the engine I wasted no time in getting out and heading up the walk way towards the door. I wanted to be warm and out of my cold wet clothes. He followed behind me and didn’t waste any time letting himself into the warmth of my apartment. “Holy shit. How do you live in this weather?” He asked, shaking the snow out of his short wet brown hair.
I kicked my shoes off and peeled my socks off right behind them. “When you’ve lived here all your life, you just accept it.”
He pulled off his coat and hung it on my key rack. His sweater was sticking to his body, and his cheeks were pink from the cold. The next words that were going to come out of my mouth were going to seem completely inappropriate. “If you strip down to your boxers I can toss your clothes in the dryer. That sounds really bad, but unfortunately I have no male companion to leave his clothes here for you to borrow.”
He cocked an eyebrow at me and then looked down at his wet clothes. “Alright. I guess it’s only fair since I’ve seen you without yours…” His sweater came up over his head, and his jeans went down just as easily. My eyes widen from both surprise and pure wonder. He pulled his phone and wallet out of his pockets before handing his clothes over to me.
Slowly, I took them from him and then gave him another glare. He was really good at making my cheeks burn. “I take it you get undressed on command often?” I made my way into my kitchen and over to the small laundry area. He grabbed the quilted blanket off the back of my couch and wrapped to around his shoulders, holding it closed with his hand as he followed behind me.
“Yes and no.” He responded while standing in the middle of my kitchen. “It’s not the first time I’ve been asked to take my clothes off though.”
I shoved his clothes into the dryer and grabbed a clean pair of yoga pants and an over sized sweater out of the laundry basket. As he was occupied with my pictures and magnets on the fridge, I took the opportunity to change clothes and hang my now ruined festive sweater over the dryer.
“Do you want coffee? I can make us some…” I grabbed my stainless steel tea kettle off the stove and filled it with water. I could feel his eyes on me as I put it to boil over the stove.
“You don’t have to be so nervous.” He laughed, leaning against my kitchen sink. His eyes were bright, and I could tell the glazed over look that the alcohol had given him was starting to wear off. “Is this your mom?” He pointed to a picture of me, my mom, and my sister at her high school graduation.
“Yes, and I’m not nervous. This is just weird. It’s not you it’s me. I’m weird.” I grabbed the coffee out of the cabinet followed by my french press coffee maker.
He smiled as he admired the picture a bit more. “You look like her.”
“I know. People tell me that all the time. I take it as a compliment.” My fingers fidgeted with the french press a moment.
“It is. You should be flattered she’s a good looking lady.” Clearing his throat, I watched him out of the corner of my eyes rock on his heels. “So you don’t usually bring fairly intoxicated guys home with you in the middle of a snow storm?” His tone was a teasing one ,while pulling the quilted blanket tighter around his shoulders.
“I don’t bring many guys home period.” I blurted out, making myself feel even more like a loser. “I work a lot.” I added. As if that would make what I’d just said any better.
“So do I. This is a nice little apartment.” He stated, ignoring my comment about bringing boys home as he moved back into the living room. “So what kind of work do you do?” His eyes landed on my small 5ft Christmas tree.
“I’m sure everything here is mouse sized compared to what you’re used to.” I sighed, pulling the kettle off the burner as it went off. “I work as a supervisor at a call center. I had to work today and we had our ugly sweater contest…I won.” I stopped talking as I watched him stand in front of my heater that posed as a fake fire place. He pulled the blanket off and and carefully set it over the arm of the couch. I took a moment to appreciate every muscle on his arms and shoulder blades. I really wanted to look further down, but I knew I couldn’t do it without looking like a pervert.
“Sounds like a pretty complicated job. Do you like it?” His eyes stayed on me the entire time. It was making me uncomfortable, but at the same time I enjoyed it.
“I’d be surprised if someone else won. Those lights were a really nice touch.” He pointed out.
“My job is stressful, but I worked hard for it so yeah I guess I like it.” My shoulders shrugged, and I quickly pulled my sweater back up over my bare shoulder that had been exposed.
“It was nice being able to go to a Christmas party like that. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to one.” I could tell he was trying not to make this an awkward situation. Either that or he was also uncomfortable and trying to get to know me better was his only solution.
I added the coffee and hot water into the french press and pushed down on the lid. “I hate Christmas parties.”
“Don’t be such a Scrooge.” He moved back into the kitchen with me. “How do you know Logan?” His eyes landed on the gingerbread cookies I had sitting in a ziplock bag. I watched him slink closer to them.
“I don’t know him. I just met him tonight. My friend I was with, she’s been dating him for a couple of weeks. She failed to mention the band he was in is yours.” I opened the bag of cookies and put one on a napkin for him. He smiled a smile of thanks and wasted no time biting its arm off.
“Maybe she knew if you found out you’d end up brining me home with you.” He shrugged innocently and I finally took the opportunity to slug him on the arm. Of course it didn’t phase him as he bit off the other gingerbread arm.
“Don’t get cheeky.” I warned, as I pulled two coffee mugs out of the dishwasher. I poured us both some coffee and grabbed a cookie for myself before taking a seat across from him. “So this is perfectly normal for you? Stranded in some weird girl’s apartment, eating gingerbread men and drinking french press coffee?”
He was quiet a moment before finally making eye contact with me again. “Actually no. I’ve never done this before. I live in hotels and temporarily my own home. It doesn’t feel like this though. “ He looked around my kitchen once more and we sat in silence again, aside from the light noise the dryer was making. “What does this feel like?” I asked, burying my face in my coffee mug.
He looked down at the table as he stirred a few spoonfuls of sugar into his coffee. “Like a home? It’s small but it’s nice. I don’t mind it. Sorry, that probably sounds weird.”
I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. I knew exactly what he meant. My apartment wasn’t much, but it was cozy and warm. “That’s probably the most non-weird thing you’ve said all night.”
