Characters
Nick - 23, main character
Evi - 20, housemate
Irene - 24, housemate
Brian - 18, new housemate
Fleur - 26, Housemate, dating Steve
Steve - 31, dating Fleur
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It isn't that unusual for it to snow this early in the year. It is the 18th of December after all. But the winter is much colder than normal this year. Previous year around this time it did snow as well, but it was warm enough for the snow to melt as soon as it hit the ground. The kind of snow that left the roads all wet with a nasty mix of half molten snow, road salt, and all the other debris on the streets. This year is different.
It has been well below zero degrees for several weeks now. The people driving, cycling, or taking public transport have been getting used to this. weather. Today was the first time some real proper snow hit the Dutch city of Utrecht. The trees are getting covered in a light layer of glistening white snow. It would not be unimaginable that photographers were already busy taking pictures of the beautiful sights at the city canals. The traditional canal houses would look incredible.
Nick had gone for a walk around the city center early in the morning. By then the snow was already falling steadily and slowly covering everything. Some people just like Nick had gotten up early as well to enjoy the snow, but most people were likely still in bed. Being one of the first people to walk through the fresh snow was very satisfying, although it also gave Nick a bit of a guilty feeling to disturb the peaceful image. It was fun to walk outside in the snow, watching the different styles of christmas trees people had set up in their homes. The bridges over the canals had become a bit slippery, but the sights had totally made the early walk worth the effort.
Nick returned home at around eight o'clock in the morning. He lives at the edge of the old city center in a rental building for students. As a 23 year old student Nick was very happy with the house. It is an old building from the early 19th century. A traditional townhouse that once belonged to a jeweler. The store used to be on the ground floor, with the family living above it. Because it was a beautiful and well built building it was preserved over the years. The building had been rebuilt years ago to be purely residential. These days it was rented out to students.
The ground floor is shared, but on the second and third floor there are separate rooms. Nick rented the largest room on the second floor. This was his third year living there. On the second floor there are two more rooms and a small bathroom. Evi had moved in two years ago, and Brian had moved in after the summer holidays.
Their rooms had ceilings quite a bit higher than a regular house these days. This was nice, but in the winter it took a lot of fuel to properly heat the place. Living in a relatively fancy building close to the city center with large rooms was great, but the gas bill was a big downside. Thankfully his landlord was not the worst, so Nick still counted himself lucky.
The third floor had a lower ceiling because of the sloping roof, but the rooms were joined together. Fleur lived there. At 26 she was the oldest in the house. In the winter she was very happy having her place on the third floor, but in the summer it could get too hot there. At times when the summer was especially hot, she would sometimes just walk topless to and from the bathroom. The first time Nick was a bit shocked to see her large milky white breast. But Fleur would just smile and keep going. During the winter Nick sometimes missed seeing her walking around like that.
However, Nick wouldn't be there in the house for much longer. The 18th of December is the first day of the winter holidays that year. Because of a local holiday the winter holidays were extended a few more days. A lot of students would soon leave the city to go back to stay with their parents for christmas. Nick too would go visit his family on the outskirts of Amsterdam. He was planning to go there in a few days. First he would take a couple of days to build his energy back up after a long period of studying. The feeling of finally not having to do anything was liberating.
After walking in he quickly closed the front door. Between the five of them living there they had agreed to take off their dirty shoes in the hallway. None of them liked cleaning, and this just made it easier. Now that it was snowing it also meant they didn't drag moisture into the house. Instead of his shoes Nick put on a pair of thick woolen socks that his grandma had made for him.
Walking into the living room he noticed that none of his housemates were up yet. They were probably sleeping in. It was still dark outside after all. They would probably wake up with the sunrise. The coffee machine on the kitchen counter looked very appealing. Taking an early morning walk was worth it, but it drained his energy.
After having his morning coffee he quietly went upstairs. He did not want to wake his friends up unnecessarily on their first day off. But when he was halfway up the stairs the door of Evi's room opened and she walked out. She was wearing just a plain pair of bra and panties. She closed the bathroom door after her softly, clearly trying to not make a lot of noise. She had not noticed Nick walking up the stairs. Maybe she didn't even know he was awake yet.
When she walked out Nick had taken a quick glance at her butt. She hadn't seen him, and her butt was at an interesting angle from his perspective. Evi always looked amazing, and even better in just her underwear. At 20 years old she still had that slender teenager look with perky boobs and a tight ass. It wasn't like Nick had not seen her in her underwear before, but he still felt a bit embarrassed for staring at her ass. In their house they hadn't any rules for clothing standards. You could just wear whatever you were comfortable with. They had a sort of unspoken agreement to not stare at each other.
Nick tried not to let any dirty thoughts about her get into his mind and just walked into his own room. With a sigh he realized he should probably just tidy up his room. It wouldn't be great to come back from the Christmas break into a messy room. Nick started organizing his books. Slowly the world around him started waking up. After organizing his books he cleaned up his closet. From the sounds in the house Nick could make out that everybody was in a good mood. The old house was built well, but the sound insulation wasn't great. He could easily hear that Evi had finished her shower, and that Fleur was now happily singing in the shower. Nick was ironing his shirts when Irene knocked and came into his room.
"Good morning, have you seen my hair clips by any chance?"
"No? Why would I have your hair clips?" Nick said.
Irene looked like she had just woken up. Her hair was messy and she wore baggy clothes.
"I am not saying you have them, just that I can't find them. Maybe you just happen to have seen them."
"Do you want me to help look for them?" Nick asked.
"If you want to, yes please. I could help you iron your shirts in return if you want?"
"Haha, no thanks. I'll help you look, but I can manage my own shirts."
"Thank you. And to be fair, you are better at ironing than me anyway," Irene said.
Nick turned the appliance off and followed Irene into her room. They all knew cleaning up wasn't Irene's strong suit, her room was even messier than usual. Together they started looking around. But it didn't take long before Nick was practically beginning to clean up. Searching through the mess would take a while so he might as well help her out. She had helped him study a lot the last few weeks, so it felt to Nick like a good time to return the favor.
"Why do you need your hair clips now all of a sudden? I don't think I've seen you wearing them recently."
"Well I am going to travel to my parents in Germany in a few days, and I wanted to try something fancy with my hair," Irene explained.
She told Nick what she wanted to try and showed him some pictures. Irene had long blond hair that had a little bit of natural curls. Nick himself did not think too much of the pictures she had shown him, but he did not tell her that. Her natural hair was already astonishingly beautiful, and he actually liked when it was a bit roughed up. However, Nick also understood the desire to try something new and daring. Irene and Nick had a close bond, and he knew her well enough to know not to argue with her about her hair.
After pulling a whole lot of her clothes from the floor and throwing them on a pile they found the hair clips. Somehow they had ended up in the pocket of a sweatshirt.
"If you have any laundry you need washing you could give them to me. I think I am going to do the black laundry first," Irene said.
She separated her laundry in black, whites, reds, and the rest. Nick noticed himself staring at her while she was picking through her clothes before breaking off his gaze and heading back into his own room. He had some socks and boxers in his own laundry basket. He pulled those out and brought them back to Irene. They did not wash their clothes together often, but now it was probably easier. Irene, Evi, Brian and Nick were all going to go to their families for christmas, and everybody would want to use the washing machine. So it made sense for them to wash their clothes together.
After finishing up the laundry together they went downstairs. In the living room Evi and Fleur were talking and giggling. When they saw Irene and Nick walk in they stopped their conversation, as if they were hiding something.
"Whatcha talkin' 'bout?" Irene asked.
"Just girl talk," Evi said with a cheeky smile.
"Oh it's alright, they can hear it too," Fleur said. "Steve is coming over today and he will be staying the night. He said he wanted to meet my parents during the Christmas break."
"Cool, so it is getting serious? At what time does he get here?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, I think it is becoming real now, meeting my parents and everything."
"Well finally, I thought he might have some commitment issues. Good to see he is making the next move. Good for you girl," Irene said.
"He is coming here in an hour, he wants to get here before the snowstorm. It seems to be getting worse than they had expected," Fleur said.
"Yeah, about that, maybe we should get some groceries before the storm hits. You never know, we may get snowed in. Does somebody want to go to the supermarket with me?" Evi asked.
"Sure, I'll come with you. I think I'll buy some wine for us as well. If there is going to be a snowstorm we should make it fun indoors right?" Irene responded.
Evi jumped up from the couch and went to the hallway to put on her winter boots. Nick and Fleur talked about Steve for a while. They had been dating for almost a year now. It was clear that Fleur was very happy that she managed to get a man that was willing to have a real long term relationship with her. She had dated other guys before, but somehow they always just wanted to keep it casual. Fleur did not mind keeping things casual at first, but now that she was 26 she had properly figured out what she wanted. She said she was ready for something serious now. After talking for a while she started daydreaming and sort of drifted away.
Nick let her enjoy herself in the living room and went back upstairs. He was happy for Fleur, but there was also a bit of jealousy. His last date had ended with a bad fight after four months of having a great time together. He did not like to think about it anymore, so he quickly tried to push those bad memories out of his mind. Instead he went to check in on Brian. He hadn't heard from him today yet. Brian was the youngest in the house at just 18. He was a really friendly guy, but also a bit of a geek who kept to himself sometimes when he wasn't feeling great.
