It was a cold night. The rain only made things worse. It was almost zero degrees. Any colder and it would have been snowing. I could see my breath. I needed to hurry inside before I caught a cold.
At the moment, I was living with my friend, Cici. I had just finished my teaching program and obtained a job as a call in substitute teacher at a school nearby. This way, the eight hundred dollar rent for a rundown house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms house in the middle of nowhere could be split between us to be more affordable. Cici was still in school, studying political science. She still had not decided what she wanted to do after graduation even though she was certainly going to graduate this year.
I fumbled my keys as I tried to warm my fingers so they were not as stiff. I could feel my hot blood rushing through my hands, desperately trying to keep my fingers warm. Once I was inside, it was completely different. It was a little warmer.
"Is that you Calvin?" Cici asked.
"Yeah," I answered.
"I have the heat on in my room," said Cici. "Hurry up."
I quickly made my way to Cici's room. It was much warmer and I was able to remove my layers of clothes. Cici was wearing her pink pajamas with flowers. She had already showered and let her hair down. It reached just down to her shoulder blades. She wore glasses like I did because she had very poor vision. I had thought mine was bad when I could not see more than three feet in front of me without glasses, but she could not even see me when I was standing two feet in front of her.
We were both the same age and had been friends since third grade. I realized that I thought of her more than as just a friend at some point during high school, but I kept my feelings repressed. Why? Because I valued my friendship with her and I did not want to do anything that might jeopardize that relationship.
Today was the first time that it was ever this cold. In the past, it was at least ten degrees at night, but today, it was actually at zero. I did not think that it was possible to go that low, even in a desert at night.
Cici was curled up in her bed with several blankets and sipping on hot tea while watching videos on her computer. "So how was your day?" she asked.
"I was teaching math today," I answered.
"Good class?" Cici asked.
"There's usually one or two bad ones, this one was no different," I said.
I grabbed my clothes that Cici had set aside for me and quickly showered before it got any colder. After refreshing myself, I headed back into Cici's warm room and sat next to her in her bed. I grabbed the chicken noodle soup in the corner that Cici had left on her hot plate to keep warm for me. "What are you watching?" I asked.
"Reruns," said Cici as she continued to sip her tea.
I took a look at the screen and saw that she was watching an action anime. She often did this to refresh her memory before the start of a new season. I joined her, staying just a few steps to her side. "You can come closer," said Cici.
"I don't want to mess up your bed," I replied. "I'm going to finish eating first before I join you."
After eating I sat down next to Cici in her bed. This was a routine that we had long established by this point. I looked at Cici who was focused on watching the video running on her laptop. She did not notice as I looked at her. At this distance, I could smell the shampoo that she used.
Cici leaned on my shoulder and began to speak, "It's so cold today."
"Yeah," I said. I tried to not let it bother me, but I could feel my heart rate began to increase. I reached my hand around to Cici's right arm and pulled her in closer.
"You're warm," said Cici as she leaned in.
At this angle, I was able to see the several layers of clothes that she was wearing and feel her hair against my neck. I began to rub my hand on Cici's arm when I felt how cold she was. "You should have turned up the heat more," I said.
"No, too much and it dries out my mouth and makes me cough," said Cici. "This is the highest I am willing to set it."
I could feel Cici's warmth as well. Body warmth felt a lot better than the warmth from a heater. But, I felt that it was awkward and tried to avoid it. Cici did not seem to mind though. She would sometimes even pull me in closer just so that she could lean on me if I did not sit close enough.
After a while, I yawned. "Are you sleepy?" Cici asked.
"Yeah, I usually get up real early," I replied.
"I'll turn off the lights and face away from you then," said Cici.
"No, I'll head back to my room," I said.
"Not tonight," said Cici. "It is way too cold and your room only has air conditioning, you will catch a cold."
"What about you?" I asked. "You need to sleep as well."
"Just stay on one side of the bed," said Cici. "When I sleep, I'll just get on the other side."
"You can't be serious right? You want us to share a bed?!?" I was surprised by this.
"I don't want you to get sick and have to take care of you!" Cici shouted back.
It had happened before. Since then, Cici made sure that we always had either the air conditioning on or heater on when the temperatures were too extreme. She did it so that neither of us would have to take care of the other. Most of the time though, it was just a little cold, nothing that extra clothes or blankets could not fix. Today was the only time in several years that it was this extreme.
Cici turned off the lights and pulled out some earphones. She turned her laptop to one side so that the light would not bother me. I did not want to argue with her anymore, so I just accepted it and went to sleep. When I fell asleep, Cici was still watching videos, but remaining completely silent in the corner.
When I opened my eyes it was still dark. It was still very cold. I took a look at the clock in the corner. It was only six in the morning. I was used to sleeping early and waking early because I worked at a school. But today was Saturday, and I did not need to work. I realized that there was a strange pressure on my chest. I looked down and saw that Cici's arm was across my chest. She was sleeping on her side and her face was less than a few inches from mine.
I was probably not going to be able to move without waking her even though she was a heavy sleeper. She was used to her family waking her up, so just moving her shoulder was sometimes enough to wake her. All I could do was wait a few hours otherwise she would be have asleep and grumpy all day.
I looked closely at Cici's face. I had never seen her wear makeup. She liked the way she looked and did not care much about fashion. The only fashion she had were a few seasonal dresses, but she wore them out of practicality more than for appearance. I wish I could tell her how much I loved her, but I knew that would jeopardize our friendship. More often than not, falling in love with a friend ruined that friendship. As much as I wanted her, I valued my friendship with her and did not want to risk losing it just for a chance to be with her. But, if I knew she wanted to be with me as well, then it would be different.
"Mmm," Cici groaned as she pulled herself against me.
I could feel that she was cold. I realized that the heat was off. Leaving the heat on all night was costly, so she probably turned it off before crawling into bed. I pulled up the blankets a little more with my free hand so that it was just covering part of her face. I could feel her body pressing against mine. My heart rate was still elevated. It was going to be a long two hours.
When it was eight, I began to shake Cici by the shoulder with my free arm. She had not moved at all in those two hours. "Hey, wake up," I said.
"It's too early for the weekend dad," Cici responded as she pulled the blankets up completely over herself.
"I'm not your dad," I whispered.
"Huh?" Cici was still a little dazed as she looked at me. She reached around for her glasses and put it on. She took a look at herself and realized. "Did I wake you?" she asked.
"No, but you stopped me from getting up," I said.
"What happened?" Cici asked.
"You were pressed up against me for warmth," I said. "I did not want to wake you that early, so I just waited."