Have you ever known someone who was good-looking, has an awesome body, was from a upper middle-class family, and had a personality that should be clobbered with a 2 x 4. I have known Theo since elementary school and he was that guy. He was great looking and had a body had women salivating. Unfortunately, he was usually a jerk. He wasn't a jerk all the time, but it seemed like he was more often than not.
Theo and I belong to the same gym and I often see him there working out with his buddy, Joey. After working out, they usually go have a beer before Theo gives Joey a ride home. I on the other hand work out and then walk 8 blocks to get home.
It's early February. The weatherman is calling for heavy snow to begin after midnight so I don't think there should be any problem getting a workout in the late afternoon. As usual, Theo and Joey are at the gym also. Today, we are leaving at the same time. When the three of us walk outside, we discover that the weatherman was a little off on his timing of the storm. It's snowing hard. In the hour and a half we were in the gym, more than an inch had fallen and it is coming down heavy and fast.
Remember how I said sometimes Theo wasn't a jerk. Today was one of those days when he is being nice.
I curse as I start walking home. I hear Theo calling my name.
"Amy, let me give you lift home," he says.
"Huh?" I am surprised at his offer.
"The way it's coming down, you'll end up with hypothermia if you try to walk home in this."
"Um. OK," I reply, still a little surprised.
"I am parked right over here," Theo says as he leads us to his Explorer.
After we get into his truck, he asks "do you mind if we run Joey home first?" Even though he really isn't asking. "He lives out on the county road and you know how bad that can get. Besides, you and I live in the same neighborhood."
It did make sense, so I agree.
The ride out to Joey's is a little dicey. I wouldn't want to make it in anything smaller than Theo's Explorer, or without 4-wheel drive.
We drop Joey off and turn around and head back into town. The road we are on is a pretty well-maintained county road that mostly goes through farmland. There are a couple of barns that have been deserted and have definitely seen better days.
As we drive in the near whiteout conditions, Theo asks, "I know you don't like me much. We have known each other for a long time. Why?"
I am surprised by the question, but I answer very bluntly, "because you act like a jerk so much of the time."
"You think I am a jerk?" he asks.
"Not always, but a lot of the time, yes," I reply.
I continue, "you come across as this entitled asshole so often, that sometimes it is easy to forget that sometimes you can be a nice guy. Like tonight, when you offered to drive me home. I have also seen you help Mrs. Rees carry her groceries in and know that you shovel some of your neighbors walks. Of course, you usually do it when no one will see you."
Theo kept driving, but with a stunned look on his face. I took advantage of his surprise.
"That's the boy I remember when we were kids. Somewhere, you decided you had to act like the big man around town and like you are better than everyone. Why don't you let the nice guy show more often?" I asked.
"Wow!" he says. "I guess I never realized what I was doing. I started acting like that because all the guys in school looked to me to be the big man. They seemed to like me better that way. I felt important and liked how it felt. I figured I had to always act that way to get anywhere."
We continue driving in silence for a couple of minutes. We pass one of the old barns that used to belong to the family of one of the kids we went to school with. But his parents died and he moved away. Now the only thing the barn hold is memories.
I break the silence. "Remember that party we had here when we were in high school?"
Theo laughs. "Yeah. I remember that one. I also seem to remember you getting caught in the hay loft with Mike Burns. You didn't have your shirt or bra on. I seem to recall that he had his hand down your pants, too."
"You would remember that, wouldn't you?" I say, laughing. "Of course, I think the only reason we got caught is because you had similar plans with Becky Merino."
He grins when he gives his one-word reply, "guilty."
Suddenly, he isn't smiling anymore and the next words out of his mouth are "shit! Hold on!"
We hit a patch of black ice and are sliding off the road and into a ditch. We are right in front of the barn we were just reminiscing about. Theo tries to get us out of the ditch, but with no luck. The tires only spin on the slick ground.
"FUCK!" he yells in frustration. "Now what are we going to do?"
I try to be a calming voice when I offer my suggestion. "Do you have any blankets in here? We can either stay here in the truck and freeze, or we can go see if that old wood burning stove is still in the barn and hope there is some wood to burn."
"Yeah, I have some blankets in the back," he answers. "Do you really think it will be better in there than out here?"
"If we stay out here, we can keep the heat on until the fuel runs out or the battery dies. Then we freeze. If we go inside, we might have a stove to offer some heat until the wood runs out. If we go in and the stove isn't there or there isn't any wood, we can always come right back out before it gets much worse."
He agrees, "yeah, that makes sense. Let's see what's in the barn. I'll grab the blankets out of the back."
While Theo gets the blankets, I grab my backpack and start wading through the snow that is up past my ankles. I can't get the door to open. When Theo gets there, he hands me the blankets and, after a few tries, get the door to open enough that we can get in.
"Well, the stove is still here," he observes.
"And it looks like there is plenty of stuff to burn," I add.
"Um, Amy...do you happen to have a match?" Theo asks.
I pull a disposable lighter out of my backpack. "I always carry a lighter."
"Great. Let's get this thing started before it gets too dark or any colder."
It takes us a couple of tries, but we get the stove lit and soon a little warmth comes out of it. Not enough to heat the air more than a couple feel away.
"I think I saw some old blankets in one of the stalls. You think we can try to make a little room and keep the heat in a smaller area?" I ask.
"We can try it," he replies.
We find not only a pile of blankets, but a coil of rope. We use the blankets and rope to put up make shift walls a few feet away from the stove. We want to keep the heat in a smaller area, not burn the place down.
Even with the stove and the walls and one of the blankets from Theo's truck wrapped around me, it is still cold. Soon, I start shivering. When Theo sees this, he tries to give me his blanket.
"Theo, no. You'll freeze without it," I say.
"I'll be ok. You're shivering," he explains.
"Then, let's share," I suggest. "We can both wrap up together in the blankets. Besides, the shared body heat should help."
I can see just a little bit of a blush start to creep up Theo's neck at my suggestion. He seems to think about it for a minute before deciding that my suggestion made sense.
Even sitting close side by side with both blankets wrapped around us and the stove putting out as much heat as it can, I start shivering again.
"Damn, Amy," Theo exclaims. "You are still freezing."
